HumanFactor Co-Creation Workshop in Innsbruck: Uncovering Human Levers for Alpine Sustainability

Jun 27, 2025

 

On June 25, 2025, the “HumanFactor” project brought together around twenty practitioners, researchers, and field actors in Innsbruck for a day of co-creation focused on a key question: how can we better understand the psychological and social barriers to adopting sustainable behaviors in the Alpine context?

This workshop is part of the HumanFactor project, supported by the Interreg Alpine Space Programme, which aims to better integrate behavioral sciences and human dynamics into sustainability policies and practices across the Alpine region. The Innsbruck event was designed to generate concrete support ideas for practitioners, contribute to the design of practical tools (skillbox, trainings, community of practice), and define a second thematic focus for the project.

A Participatory Approach

The day combined focused presentations and participatory formats (World Café, small group discussions, collective brainstorming) to foster interdisciplinary and interregional exchanges.

Two World Cafés helped identify both the most significant barriers (deep-rooted habits, social norms, emotional resistance) and practical solutions already implemented or envisioned to address them. The discussions were supported by visual aids, flipcharts, post-its, and prioritization tools to structure collective thinking.

A group exercise followed, where participants tested and enriched the project’s initial ideas for practical tools: a skillbox, targeted trainings on human factors, and an interregional community of practice.

Finally, a collective prioritization activity led to a first selection of ideas for the project’s second thematic focus—to be developed alongside the current topic on sustainable behavior in mountain sports.

Outcomes and Next Steps

The rich discussions of the day will feed into the design of future HumanFactor activities. A detailed report, including selected visuals and a summary of proposals, will be shared with participants.

An online follow-up will also be offered to those wishing to delve deeper into specific themes or take part in co-developing the tools currently under design.

A big thank you to everyone who joined us in Innsbruck for their commitment, creativity, and valuable expertise!