Construction of Environmental Citizenship: The case of the Neighborhood Association Quintas El Mirador, Puerto Madryn, Argentina

Abstract

Recognizing the environment as a common and shared responsibility implies transforming it into a space for communication and democratic exercise, for which citizen commitment is required. Neighborhood Associations are organizations that represent a neighbors meeting space. The present work analyzes an experience carried out by the Neighborhood Association Quintas El Mirador, in the city of Puerto Madryn, Argentina, during the years 2016 to 2018. The purpose of the study was to propose a neighborhood approach through the construction of environmental citizenship as a way of experiencing Environmental Education (EE). The work methodology was mixed and organized in four phases: design, implementation, evaluation, and communication. As a result of the experience, it was possible to address 74 % of the problems mentioned in an initial survey, evidencing the potential of a neighborhood as a scenario for the construction of environmental citizenship in an EE context. The proposal’s originality was the socio-environmental approach at the neighborhood level, undertaken by twenty neighbors in the form of an environmental project. The results invite us to repeat the experience in other neighborhoods and contexts.