City of Mesa – �鶹��Ƶ

Recycling Right & Natural Gas Safety Message Development

Ada Inman — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 19:15:52 +0000

As a city of over 500,000 residents, the City of Mesa is dedicated to fostering a safe and sustainable future for all by offering high quality services from all municipal departments, including the Solid Waste Department and Energy Resources Department. Both departments interface frequently with Mesa citizens via a variety of communication media to advance departmental goals. The Solid Waste Department shares goals and strategies around how to “Recycle Right” via a municipal website accessible to residents and businesses, as well as print tags shared directly with homeowners on recycling containers. The Energy Resources Department shares customer safety information with affected publics, including those who live or work near natural gas pipelines, via customer letters and surveys. During the Fall 2024 semester, these media were evaluated by graduate students studying user experience who provided recommendations on messaging improvements. To implement these recommendations, graduate students studying technical communication develop a set of digital and print pamphlets focused on key Recycle Right messages and a set of digital and print pamphlets focused on key natural gas safety messages. These pamphlets will aim to provide action-oriented information design to encourage Mesa residents and community members to divert waste from landfill by recycling properly and to gain awareness on how to take action in the case of a gas leak or other related gas emergency. Students will divide into teams to develop the pamphlets, so a variety of options are provided to consider for incorporation into digital and print messaging efforts throughout the City of Mesa.

Recycle Right & Natural Gas Safety Messaging Evaluation

Ada Inman — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 18:35:42 +0000

As a city of over 500,000 residents, the City of Mesa is dedicated to fostering a safe and sustainable future for all by offering high quality services from all municipal departments, including the Solid Waste Department and Energy Resources Department. Both departments interface frequently with Mesa citizens via a variety of communication media to advance departmental goals. The Solid Waste Department shares goals and strategies around how to “Recycle Right” via a municipal website accessible to residents and businesses, as well as print tags shared directly with homeowners on recycling containers. The Energy Resources Department shares customer safety information with affected publics, including those who live or work near natural gas pipelines, via customer letters and surveys. To evaluate the effectiveness of existing “Recycle Right” and natural gas safety messaging, the City of Mesa collaborated with graduate students studying User Experience to identify and recruit target audiences and develop messaging evaluation interview protocols, then interview key individuals to gather user experience data. Students then analyzed collected data to develop and propose strategies for improving future messaging around recycling and natural gas safety throughout the City of Mesa.

Exploring Strategies & Opportunities for Developing Municipal Green Teams

Ada Inman — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 18:12:36 +0000

The City of Mesa and City of Glendale are fast-growing municipalities located in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area in central Arizona. While Mesa is located in the East Valley and Glendale is located in the West Valley, both communities share a commitment to advancing sustainability throughout the region and state. Currently, sustainability leaders from both cities are interested in exploring strategies and opportunities for developing and implementing Green Teams to bolster sustainability efforts and initiatives across departments. Green Teams provide an opportunity to better connect staff and leadership throughout each municipality, creating new and innovative pathways for sustainability action within municipal operations as well as in the surrounding community. Therefore, the City of Mesa and City of Glendale collaborated with graduate Master of Sustainability Leadership students to explore opportunities provided by the development and implementation of Green Teams, as well as identify best practices and lessons learned from municipalities and other relevant organizations locally and globally. Leveraging these findings, MSL students will determine the benefits and drawbacks of implementation, then propose structures, policies, and processes that may be used to support, implement, and evaluate a successful Green Team in these communities, as well as in other communities in the state and region.