The ARK in practice

How learning, community, and bioregion interact in concrete terms

The ARK is not scaled through central programs, but through real projects on the ground. Schools, communities, and civil society actors use the ARK to permanently link learning, participation, and ecological responsibility.

1.6. What kinds of projects are created with the ARK?

ARK projects are place-based learning and participation formats, e.g.:

• Learning and adventure trails on water, biodiversity, or landscape
• School and community projects in public spaces
• Bioregional education formats across community boundaries
• Combinations of analog experiences and digital mapping

Practical examples:

• Groovy Garden Otto Glöckel Elementary School (vegetable beds for project class)
• Groovy Garden St. Georgen Middle School (vegetable beds with planning competition)
• National Park City of St. Pölten (pilot project for an urban conservation and learning space enhanced by the IoN)
• Womb Waters Ober-Grafendorf (learning in the local community about water bodies, urban nature, and human-nature interaction)
• Interreg Project Mura Calling (cross-border learning about the region, water bodies, ecology, and history)
• Peter Pan in Herzogenburg (learning in the local community about urban nature and history)
• Josef Schöffel Nature Conservation Award (application as an innovative tree register for the protection of old trees)

1.7. What role does the smartphone play in ARK?

With ARK, the mobile phone is transformed from a distraction to a learning and design tool:

• Natural and cultural elements are mapped directly on site
• Places, species, stories, and contexts are recorded as points of interest (POIs)
• Photos, observations, and contextual knowledge remain publicly accessible
• Learning combines movement, perception, and digital documentation

The smartphone is not used for consumption, but for actively engaging with one’s own living environment.

1.8. How do schools or municipalities start an ARK project?

Not with a grand concept, but with a specific location.

Typical starting points:

• a stream, park, schoolyard, or town center
• an ecological or cultural theme
• a school class, project group, or interested community

The entry level is low and grows with experience.

Are you a teacher or school principal? In past school projects, there have been many questions that we have collected here in this special FAQ for schools.

Are you an administrative employee in a municipality or city and would like to learn more about the applications of ARK? Then read on in this special FAQ collection for municipalities.

If you can’t find what you’re looking for, try either the AI-powered chat, which has been fed with our previous experiences and reports, or send us an email at [email protected]

1.9. How does a project become something permanent?

ARK projects are designed so that:

• Results remain visible, documented, and usable
• Learning locations are maintained and further developed
• Knowledge is anchored in schools, communities, or regions

The key to this is clearly defined roles and qualifications.

1.10. Can the functions of the ARK be learned in a practical way?

Yes. Green Steps offers

Community Mentor training

• Moderation of learning groups (e.g., school classes, learning locations)
• Design of place-based learning activities
• Use of smartphones for mapping and documentation

Commons Mentor training

• Working with public places and common goods
• Establishing and maintaining learning and adventure trails
• Linking education, participation, and conservation

Ecoregion Mentor training

• Embedding local projects in bioregional contexts
• Connecting multiple communities or learning locations
• Scaling without centralization

The training courses enable immediate entry into practical work with the ARK.

1.11. For whom is the ARK particularly relevant?

Schools & educational institutions

• Students as active learners in real-life environments
• Teachers as facilitators or mentors in the learning environment
• Project-based and interdisciplinary teaching
• Connecting schools, communities, and nature

Communities & municipalities

• Education as part of local and regional development
• Meaningful citizen participation
• Maintenance and activation of public spaces
• Long-term formats instead of individual projects

Civil society & NGOs

• Visualizing cross-organizational cooperation
• Contributing thematic expertise as a community or eco-region mentor
• Scaling projects with regional impact

Regional networks & initiatives

• Building bioregional identity
• Collaborating across municipal and institutional boundaries
• Learning along real ecological contexts

Applying the ARK means: learning on site, mapping with a smartphone, qualification through roles – and lasting impact.

1.12. What does phase 3 have to do with education?

Phase 3 builds directly on educational processes – it rewards what learning makes possible: competent, responsible action in the community and in ecosystems.

Education as a prerequisite for Phase 3

In the ARK, education is not preparation for work, but rather:

• learning how to carry out regenerative activities
• Learning how to maintain common goods
• Learning how to take responsibility in the context of place and bioregion

Without education, there can be no Phase 3.
Phase 3 does not reward participation, but rather demonstrable contributions that can only arise through learning processes.

The logic across all phases

Phase 1 – Learning by doing

• People learn in real places
• Education becomes practical, collaborative, and visible
• Competencies emerge (ecological, social, organizational)

Phase 2 – Learning within the system

• Learners understand bioregional connections
• Knowledge is networked (species, places, patterns)
• Education becomes systemic rather than isolated

Phase 3 – Education becomes socially effective

• What has been learned flows into concrete contributions:
  • Care for ecosystems
  • Educational work
  • Common property management
• These contributions are recognized and remunerated

Phase 3 is therefore not a social measure, but an education-based recognition logic.

1.13. What are “regenerative activities” in the context of Green Steps ARK?

Regenerative activities are actions that actively improve ecological, social, or cultural systems rather than merely maintaining them. These include, for example, caring for trees, mapping and protecting natural and cultural elements, passing on local knowledge, community education work, or upgrading public spaces.

In the ARK, such activities are made visible, documented, and embedded in learning and community contexts.

1.14. What is the difference between “sustainable” and “regenerative”?

Sustainable means limiting damage and using resources in such a way that they are not depleted in the long term. Regenerative goes one step further: the goal is to heal damaged systems, increase diversity, and create new living and learning spaces.

The ARK follows a regenerative approach by empowering people to actively contribute to the improvement of their local commons and ecosystems.

1.15. What does “social and economic recognition” mean?

This refers to the recognition of people and their contributions to the common good.
Social recognition manifests itself, for example, through visibility, roles, trust, and responsibility within a community. This should lead to economic recognition, for example through new job profiles, educational pathways, funding models, or commons-based value creation.

The ARK creates the basis for this by transparently documenting contributions to the education, care, and development of commons.

1.16. What makes the ARK unique? — Brief overview

1.17. What are the unique selling points of ARK compared to other well-known educational platforms?

Green Steps ARK is not a single learning tool, but an open, role-based system that combines education, community engagement, and environmental responsibility in the long term. While other tools either learn, play, document, or evaluate, ARK integrates all of this into a place-based, scalable impact model – from the school classroom to the bioregion.

Comparison at a glance

18. Which tool is useful for whom?

Questions? Ideas? Dialogue welcome.

The ARK develops through dialogue. If you would like to explore content in greater depth, critically question it, or contribute your own perspectives, we invite you to become part of the public impact dialogue.

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