Ideas for Stealing: The Great Renovation Badgeboard
When you walk through your city and see scaffolding, do you ever wonder what’s actually happening behind it?
Are they just repainting? Adding insulation? Swapping the heating system? Installing solar panels? And wouldn’t it be nice if we could actually tell – and maybe even turn it into a game?
I’m writing this because, over the years, I’ve pitched ideas like this in public tenders that never went anywhere. However, I don’t want those ideas to just sit in a drawer, so I’m throwing them up here in the hope someone picks them up and make them real - and ideally involve me in the process, too.
What’s The Great Renovation Badgeboard?!
Back in 2022, we pitched to lead the communications around Erlangen’s Klimaaufbruch – the city’s plan to go climate neutral by 2030.
According to their plan, one of the biggest pieces of the climate neutrality puzzle is upgrading buildings. And because I like the medium to be part of the message (see my concept for the bulky waste campaign in Neukölln, where the message literally went onto piles of trash), I thought: what if buildings could show off their renovation progress?
Two things sparked the idea:
Those plaques in Vienna that tell you which famous person once lived – or in Mozart’s case, apparently just slept over 🤷🏼♀️
My old love for Foursquare, back when you could collect fun badges just for checking into places.
So here’s the thought: a plaque on a building with nine possible badges. Each one stands for a renovation milestone. As a building upgrades, it earns badges. Suddenly, it’s visible how far along it is – and you’ve got a bit of friendly competition between buildings.
How it could work
The municipality of Erlangen owns about 155 buildings. That would’ve been the perfect starting point. Lead by example, then roll it out to housing associations, businesses, and so on.
And to add another layer: a digital leaderboard. Imagine opening a map of your city and seeing which buildings have leveled up, when they earned their last badge, and which one they’re aiming for next.
I believe if you’d see this in a city you’d get curious and try to understand what it’s about. Finding that leaderboard, the idea could spread way further than to just one city.
The Nine Renovation Badges
I settled on nine. Odd, yes, but also memorable if designed well. I used ChatGTP to give the badges fun names so here we go:
1. The Scout – Building Assessment
2. The Cocoon – Insulation & Airtightness
3. The Heat Hero – Heat Pump
4. The Shield – High-Performance Windows & Doors
5. The Sun Catcher – Solar Panels
6. The Power Bank – Battery Storage
7. The Fresh Breather – Heat-Recovery Ventilation
8. The Water Saver – Low-Flow Fixtures
9. The Green Guardian – Outdoor Sustainability
Downsides
Sure, it wouldn’t be simple. You’d need to design the plaques, set up the system, fund it, manage it long-term. Classic bureaucracy. But the upside? Once it’s there, it becomes part of the city’s DNA. A quiet reminder that sustainability isn’t abstract – it’s happening right here, on this wall.
So, which city is brave enough to try it first?
Why this matters
Most sustainability communication is either too vague or too preachy. It works best when it’s specific and shows you what’s possible – and ideally when it’s fun.
When I pass construction sites, I almost never know if what’s happening makes the building greener. That’s what led me to this idea: The Great Renovation Badgeboard. A way to make progress visible, a little playful, and – if we’re lucky – contagious.
Here is what ChatGTP came up with as a first draft. Neat, isn’t it?!
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