INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVE:
In mid-2021, when the UN Conference of Parties 26, or ‘COP26’ was due to be held in Glasgow that same year, SCSN was keen to explore what impacts – in the immediate and short term – climate change could have on Scottish community safety. We believed this was a relatively, perhaps entirely unexplored theme; assessing the impact climate change will have on community safety.

METHODS:
In October 2021, following a rapid evidence review of key policy documents, SCSN facilitated an online workshop. Over 30 community safety practitioners from across Scotland took part. They shared rich local knowledge and professionally informed perspectives, from urban and rural experiences, on what changes to the climate might mean for their areas of work and communities. Data was collated and organised into a written report: https://www.safercommunitiesscotland.org/wp-content/uploads/Climate-Change-Workshop-Report.pdf This was published days before COP26 began. But we wanted our findings to be seen and heard and remembered, to help spark conversations. We were open to less conventional methods - more creative means - to achieve this. We hired a local illustrator and worked closely with her, to adapt our report and develop a new, abbreviated version of its contents. We transformed our report into a bespoke illustrated zine; a fusion of art, data and ideas.

RESULTS:
A ‘zine’ is shorthand for ‘magazine’. Typically, a small-circulation, self-published mix of illustration and text. We believed this would make the work feel more alive; capture attention; reach new audiences; and encourage existing partners to engage where they might not otherwise. We wanted to weave inviting aesthetics through co-created data: https://www.safercommunitiesscotland.org/new-climate-change-community-safety-zine/ We want this work to reach people, for it to be useful. The research – or what the zine tells us – adds weight and credibility, encouraging others to spend time and resource on this critical issue. From a chorus of informed, professional voices, we wanted our zine to spark dialogues between colleagues and neighbours, leaders and decision makers, and help advance conversations about the need to prepare for climate influenced change in community safety.

CONCLUSION:
We have shared copies with Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) across Scotland, and other relevant stakeholders. We have been encouraged by people’s enthusiasm for it. We are keen to share our experience – and our data – with safety colleagues across Europe.

KEY WORDS: Climate; safety; creativity; innovation; dialogue