Background Growing cities and changing lifestyles demand an ever increasing supply of natural resources. However, city managers have the opportunity and the means to drive forward change and reduce the negative impacts of urban development, such as urban sprawl and the growing demand for car-based urban transport. This can be done by developing and implementing new policies for urban planning, urban design, housing and local transport, that offer new opportunities for more sustainable lifestyles and quality of life. European policies on climate change and sustainable development identify the urban environment as a specific target area. Energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, noise and air pollution are some of the key problems that have to be addressed. Objectives The overall objective of the GREENCIT project was to demonstrate how environmental policy can be interpreted and implemented in the form of concrete, citizen-oriented actions, which motivate and help people to change their behaviour. Specific settings were selected for project actions, such as common waste management areas in residential blocks, energy-saving systems in residential buildings, and a sustainable city-region mobility system. The project aimed to design solutions for citizen awareness campaigns, to inspire and motivate people to change their behaviour and participate in the development process for policies and governance promoting sustainability. Results The GREENCIT project carried out a number of information campaigns to make the citizens of Umeå in northern Sweden more aware of how they can travel and live in a more sustainable manner. The activities in the project were divided into five categories: encouraging cycling; increasing the number of people who take the bus, train or car-share; increasing knowledge and awareness of sustainable travel and sustainable living; reducing energy use in residential buildings; and increasing waste separation in residential buildings and in public spaces. In total, the project performed and evaluated approximately 50 main activities. The message about living and travelling more sustainably was disseminated through several communication channels, and reached approximately 76 000 people per year. Each year, on average, 1 800 people took part in a project activity that required a change in behaviour, and about 500 people took part in some kind of competition. Over 20 000 visitors were logged each year on the project websites (www.greencit.se and www.begreenumea.se). People living in Umeå have also received project information by email or post, or via posters. The project established the ‘Be Green Umeå’ brand, under which it operated sustainability projects. The brand has become well-known in the Umeå city and region. The focus has been on simple messages and activities that encourage public participation, and it has made a considerable contribution to encouraging behavioural that enables people to live and travel more sustainably. People were encouraged to start cycling and to cycle more, for example, through bike rental outlets and the construction of lockable bike sheds at travel centres. GREENCIT activities contributed to more cycling and walking, which the project calculated gave public health benefits equivalent to approximately 9 million Swedish crowns in 2014. For public and private transport, ‘test travellers’ and travel surveys were used to collect data, which showed that short trips by car decreased, while trips by foot and by bus increased. At the regional level, a new car-share service was started that included a website to facilitate joint commuting. In the central areas of Umeå, car traffic was shown to have decreased, according to the official travel survey of 2014. The project’s air quality demonstrator showed the public how reduced traffic improved air quality (e.g. NOx levels went down by 14%). Among the activities demonstrating residential energy efficiency, associated beneficiary AB Bostaden installed interactive displays in 526 apartments for measuring the consumption of electricity and hot water; tenants in these apartments reduced their energy consumption. The campaign to increase levels of appropriately-sorted residential recycling focused on what happens to it after it is collected, while the project deployed interactive rubbish bin displays in public areas. The project contributed to national and EU policy goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (especially CO2 from transport), improved public health, reducing noise and improving air quality. At the city level, it helped create a more attractive urban environment with less traffic congestion. The project’s surveys showed that a total of around a quarter of all of Umeå residents changed their behaviour in some way as a direct result of Be Green Umeå activities. This means that almost 15 000 people have started to travel in a more sustainable way, recycle more, or reduce their energy use. The project organised two workshops to share experience and present their innovative solutions and approach, which could be replicated in many other European cities. The main lessons when transferring the methods would be to have a broad range of activities, communicate to people about available and more sustainable alternatives for travelling and living, and perform regular evaluations. The main innovations of the project were its interactive demonstration technology for sustainable travel and energy-efficiency in households; the combination of communication methods and interactive technology for solving urban environmental challenges, in terms of optimum cost-benefits, using focus groups and extensive environmental effect measurements; and the involvement of academic and business expertise in the field of interaction design methodology, which was used for the first time for promoting and enabling environmentally-friendly behavioural change. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).