Reassembling Our Climate Future: What’s next for solar in South Yorkshire?

This interactive event, part of LightFest 2025, will invite citizens to imagine how South Yorkshire might achieve one of the recommendations produced by the 2023 Citizen’s Assembly:

Recommendation no. 11: Create a solar scheme for all without means testing with commercial solar fields and/or roofs creating community energy through power banks.

Drawing on your lived experiences and knowledge of where you live, you will take part in scenario building exercises that invite you to imagine how this recommendation could be implemented in your area.

You will be inspired by an interactive documentary and a series of animations produced by a team of citizen researchers that show a range of ‘climate futures’ that respond to some of the other Citizens’ Assembly recommendations.

This event aims to inspire hope and action in the face of seemingly insurmountable, global climate issues using a creative and fun visioning methodology. No specialist knowledge or preparation is needed to get involved!

Arundel Room, The Millennium Galleries, 48 Arundel Gate, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 2PP

In late 2023, the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority conducted a citizens’ assembly on climate change. One hundred citizens of South Yorkshire came together to learn and deliberate on climate action. They produced 33 recommendations for climate action and resilience.

The Climate ReAssemblies project at The University of Sheffield posed the question, ‘what next?’. We worked with a small group of citizens to create scenarios based on the assembly recommendations. The scenarios were then animated and included in an interactive documentary. The aim was to inspire hope and action in the face of seemingly insurmountable, global climate issues.