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Students as change agents in a town-wide sustainability transformation: The Oberlin Project at Oberlin College
Abstract
Free copy available on Science Direct until Sept 30 2015: http://authors.elsevier.com/a/1RWc5_ghvFLLCb
An increasing number of colleges and universities are playing a crucial role in driving societal transformations and creating the physical and social conditions for accelerating progress towards sustainability. The potential of multi-stakeholder partnerships to enrich sustainability education through experiential learning is well documented. Yet there is less knowledge about the impacts on partnerships that result from student participation and the models that facilitate students to serve as agents of change and research. To address this knowledge gap, we examine the Oberlin Project at Oberlin College, an ambitious community partnership aimed at town-wide climate neutrality and sustainability. Findings show that contributions to stakeholder learning and partnership progress can occur through student participation models such as project-based learning, transacademic research, and internships.
... Nonetheless, performing carbon inventories of campus trees can comprehensively improve the greenhouse gas inventory of universities (Silva et al., 2024) and help universities reach net-zero carbon goals (De Villiers et al., 2014). Moreover, campus tree inventories can be extended to the potential local implementation of carbon neutrality policies through cooperation with local governments (Daneri et al., 2015;Poudyal et al., 2010). Our case study and global review imply that integrating future assessments of carbon inventories of campus trees into campus sustainability programs can provide actionable insights and guide policy adjustments to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Campus trees have significant potential for sequestering carbon in urban environments and improving civic life quality; however, few inventories of university campus trees have been constructed worldwide (excluding North America). This study briefly overviews the current status, challenges, and prospects of inventorying campus trees and provides a case study of a campus tree inventory and carbon assessment through a student participatory program in South Korea. Campus tree maps from 25 universities in eight countries were investigated. A campus tree inventory usually consists of various data on the tree species, dbh, and biomass, and it is often prepared through a capstone or student project in the university. This review identified the following challenges: (1) Few cases have been reported outside North America, (2) publications and data sharing are limited, and (3) participants' experiences have not been evaluated. The case study on inventorying and mapping campus trees was performed by integrating drone‐based orthographic images and field censuses of tree data (species, diameter, GPS coordinates, etc.). A total of 2341 individual trees belonging to 73 species were surveyed over 28.7 ha of green spaces on campus, and various thematic maps were created online. In 2021, the aboveground carbon storage was 263.9 Mg C, and it increased annually by 5.62 Mg C. This study presents the first attempt to evaluate and report a campus tree carbon inventory at an East Asian university. Additional advancements in monitoring techniques and practices for campus trees may contribute to the sustainability of university campuses and local communities.
... Given the large pool of human capital, intellectual capability, and research capabilities of academics, universities can act as catalytic tools for transforming society and rallying society towards SDGs realisation (Mawonde & Togo, 2019;Trencher et al., 2017). Daneri et al. (2015) argue that students working under the supervision of academics can act as catalytic agents who can help in learning and bridging various sustainability stakeholders, such as business and society, fostering progress towards SDGs achievement. Thus, academics can publish their works. ...
The year 2024 marked nine of the 15-year timeline towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Consequently, questions arise regarding the progress made. Based on a survey (n=290), key informant interviews (n=31), and archival sources, this paper explored the role and perspectives of academic staff in localising the SDGs within Zimbabwean universities. Despite high awareness of SDGs among academics, with 82.07% indicating prior knowledge, there remains significant gaps in the promotion of SDG-related initiatives in core mandates. Few academics have published SDG-related works, highlighting a disconnect between awareness and scholarly output. Institutional engagement and readiness for SDGs localisation appear limited, with a significant proportion of respondents expressing unfamiliarity with institutional policies and SDGs projects on the ground. The study also identified several barriers to effective SDG localisation, including inadequate funding, demotivated staff, a lack of top management support, and additional workload without proper incentives. While there is a clear recognition of the importance of SDGs and their commitment to their integration within Zimbabwean universities, significant challenges impede their full localisation. The study recommends enhanced financial resources, institutional support, and policy development to empower academics and institutions to meaningfully contribute towards achieving the SDGs by 2030.
... Education, therefore, is crucial for the achievement of sustainable development." Universities are responding to this call for educating "sustainability change makers" by embracing interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability programs as part of their mission (Beynaghi et al. 2016;Rosenberg Daneri et al. 2015;Trencher et al. 2014;Wals, 2014). The objective of these interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) programs is to train students in sustainability problem-solving and "produce graduates who can help societies and governments solve pressing technical, management, and policy problems involving natural resources, environmental quality, and social justice" (Clark et al. 2011, pg. ...
Growth in the green jobs sector has increased demand for college graduates who are prepared to enter the workforce with interdisciplinary sustainability skills. Simultaneously, scholarly calls for interdisciplinary collaboration in the service of addressing the societal challenges of enhancing resilience and sustainability have also increased in recent years. However, developing, executing, and assessing interdisciplinary content and skills at the post-secondary level has been challenging. The objective of this paper is to offer the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) Nexus as a powerful way to achieve sustainability competencies and matriculate graduates who will be equipped to facilitate the transformation of the global society by meeting the targets set by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The paper presents 10 curricular design examples that span multiple levels, including modules, courses, and programs. These modules enable clear evaluation and assessment of key sustainability competencies, helping to prepare graduates with well-defined skillsets who are equipped to address current and future workforce needs.
... To foster sustainable projects with external organizations, such as government or companies can connect a university to a broader group of stakeholders and help drive local innovation or create community-level projects (Rosenberg Daneri et al., 2015). However, sustainability often sits on the margins of mainstream subjects, with academic work in the field largely separate from campus operations and community service such that universities struggle to integrate sustainability into their governance and business models (Evans et al., 2015). ...
This paper elucidates a co-design process with entrepreneurial university students to develop a food service that deals with artisanal gastronomic products. Employing the Design Science Research methodology, the study unfolds across three distinct yet interconnected cycles: relevance, design, and rigor. This systematic approach materialized as a tangible collaborative commercial service, considering the concepts of service design and co-design in the construction of the artifact. The result of this process includes the implementation of activities with an interdisciplinary team of researchers, as well as the participation of entrepreneurs in co-design workshops. The solution is a service implemented for collective entrepreneurship for university students working around the contexts of sustainable gastronomy. The obtained findings can promote insights into new service offerings that promote sustainable gastronomy entrepreneurship in academic environments and help qualify students as entrepreneurs through co-design and service design approaches.
... Universities can provide diverse opportunities for students and faculty to engage with urban environmental transformation processes, using them as platforms for experiential and project-based sustainability education [114,115]. ...
Policy initiatives from the United Nations and EU institutions have emphasized the need for higher education institutions (HEIs) to fulfil a significant role in green transitioning. However, they tend to fall short of the achievement of this objective. Multiple studies indicate that HEIs assign high importance to the integration of environmental sustainability on a strategic level but generally lack dedicated policies of integration in operational aspects. This paper’s research aim is to provide a meta-study that reviews, analyzes, and assesses the state of the art on research on HEI sustainability. The paper also contributes to the state-of-the-art by mapping institutional sustainability self-assessment models, tools, and guidelines in four prominent research areas: (1) sustainability integration in educational activities, pedagogical perspectives, and systemic transformations; (2) benchmarking sustainability of organizational transformation and operational optimization, and links between developmental priorities and educational settings; (3) whole-system approaches focusing on the design and implementation of whole-institution sustainability plans; and (4) HEI sustainability culture and operations. The paper’s final contribution is the presentation of best practices and emerging trends in the literature. These practices were selected on the following qualitative methodological criteria based on the systems-thinking approach to whole-institution assessment: (1) the effectiveness of self-assessment models, tools, and guidelines in each respective research area; (2) the degree of integration of systems thinking and/or modeling; and (3) the incorporation of qualitative indicators for stakeholder engagement.
... University-led urban reform can function as a driver of green building innovation and environmental improvements [110] 31. Universities can generate diverse opportunities for students and faculty to exploit urban environmental transformations processes as platforms for experiential and project-based sustainability education [111,112] 32. Economic orientation 33. ...
Policy initiatives by the United Nations and EU institutions have emphasized the need for higher education institutions (HEIs) to fulfill a significant role in the green transition, and that they tend to fall short of the achievement of this objective. Multiple studies indicate that HEIs assign high importance to the integration of environmental sustainability on a strategic level but generally lack dedicated policies of integration in operational aspects. This paper analyzes the state of the art on research on HEI sustainability and maps institutional sustainability self-assessment models, tools, and guidelines. The mapping was conducted in four prominent research areas: 1) sustainability integration in educational activities, pedagogical perspectives, and systemic transformations; 2) benchmarking sustainability of organizational transformation and operational op-timization, and links between developmental priorities and educational settings; 3) whole-system approaches focusing on the design and implementation of whole-institution sustainability plans; and, 4) HEI sustainability culture and operations. Best practices were selected on criteria of 1) the effectiveness of self-assessment models, tools, and guidelines in each respective research area; 2) the degree of integration of systems thinking and/or modelling; and 3) the incorporation of qualitative indicators for stakeholder engagement.
... Oberlin College, the Oberlin City School District, and the City of Oberlin collaborated to develop a thirteen-acre Green Arts District, shift Oberlin City and Oberlin College to renewable energy sources, and create an alliance of local colleges and schools (Oberlin Project n.d.). Oberlin College and Oberlin City also collaborated to engage students in project-based learning, internships, and research involving community sustainability issues (Daneri, Trencher, and Petersen 2015). Initiatives such as these benefit the community while promoting the development of new skills and knowledge. ...
... Hesselbarth and Schaltegger (2014) also support the idea that a person "on all levels internal or external of an organization" can be a sustainability change agent regardless of their position (p.26). Daneri et al. (2015) note that students can be sustainability change agents while still in the learning process. This approach, according to the authors, can involve students to facilitate addressing sustainability issues and can be achieved through certain learning approaches, including "project-based learning, trans academic research, and internships." ...
Humanity is facing environmental, social, and economic challenges, including climate change, inequality, and poverty. Different initiatives, such as the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations and the Paris Agreement are introduced to deal with these challenges. Furthermore, several researchers conducted studies to identify sustainability competencies (SCs), i.e., integrated knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to contribute to a more sustainable future. These studies are typically conducted based on Western worldviews. As a result, the existing SC frameworks are not comprehensive enough to include non-Western worldviews, contexts, and related indigenous knowledge (IK). This dissertation argues that sustainability challenges are complex, and that the collaboration of several stakeholders and the use of diverse worldviews are required to address them. For sustainability challenges to be effectively addressed at the global level, integrating non-Western perspectives in the development of SCs is essential. The 2021 UNESCO report ‘Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education’ strongly advocates the inclusion of IK in education worldwide. The dissertation articulated the SCs that are specifically needed in this respect and assessed teaching methods by which they can be developed in higher education. The studies in this dissertation focused on identifying competencies that facilitate efforts toward a more sustainable future and exploring different means of fostering these competencies. Accordingly, the first study identified SCs for the Ethiopian context, as a country with different socioeconomic characteristics than Western contexts. The other studies focus on fostering SCs of higher education students, future sustainability change agents. These studies explored the potential contributions of using IK with modern education in Ethiopia. The studies also proposed education design principles of integrating IK with modern higher education systems. One of the studies on enhancing SCs explored the contributions of multiple learning approaches in a real-world environment to fostering the systems thinking competence of learners. The findings of this dissertation contribute to theoretical discourses on sustainable development, competence, SCs, education for sustainable development, the constructivist learning literature, and IK. The findings also have societal implications related to the SDGs, education and training in sustainable development, the role of stakeholders, including policymakers, teachers, and students.
Keywords: sustainable development; sustainability; indigenous knowledge; education for sustainable development; sustainability competencies; education for sustainability; ESD; competencies; Ethiopia; base of the pyramid; sustainability competence; corporate social responsibility; systems thinking; mobile learning; real-world learning; field trips; learning approaches; education design principles; Delphi; exploratory experimental design; focus group.
... The current situation in education, revealing the limitations of the "techne" principle, showed the relevance of the transition to the "payday" principle as a desire for philosophical reflection on moral and ethical education and culture (Rosenberg, Trencher & Petersen, 2015). The fact that any weakening of the scientific nature and soundness in education leads to easier public perception of parascientific schemes also adds to the urgency of the problem of fundamentalization of education. ...
The article outlines peculiarities of the paradigm of fundamentalization of education in pedagogical higher educational institutions (HEIs) of Ukraine on the basis of the concept of sustainable development, namely: 1) performance of three interconnected functions of education — training, education, development; development of students’ ability to understand and implement sustainable development strategy in their future professional activity; 2) compliance of the paradigm with modern principles of structuring scientific knowledge, which are based on the internal logic of science, its place and role in the development of civilization in the 21st century; 3) ensuring the integrity of knowledge by integrating it around the core of fundamental scientific concepts; concentrated presentation of the fundamental laws and principles of science from a single methodological position, which allows building bridges between different subjects, without destroying their subject certainty; 4) formation of the theoretical type of scientific thinking of students; creation of intellectual, ethical and cultural foundation for personal self-development; 5) knowledge of modern information and communication technologies; oral and written communication in a foreign language. To acquaint students with the latest scientific achievements of mankind, the teacher must constantly “keep abreast” of socio-economic and environmental achievements of civilization on the basis of sustainable development, transform them into the content of the subject, as well as develop quality teaching and methodological support for its further understanding by future specialists. Given the rapid reduction of time between the invention and its widespread use, the content of subjects quickly becomes obsolete, which causes the inevitable lag of professional training of students behind the needs of modern society. To trace the synergy of humanization and ecologisation in the context of the fundamentalization of education on the basis of sustainable development, we studied the curricula of a number of pedagogical HEIs of Ukraine, namely: National Pedagogical Dragomanov University, Oleksandr Dovzhenko Hlukhiv National Pedagogical University, Volodymyr Vynnychenko Central Ukrainian Pedagogical University, Rivne State Pedagogical Institute, Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University.
... • Assessment: In projects or systems with clear boundaries, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Mass Flow Accounting (MFA) provide good guidance. LCA for instance uses the very clear parameters such as climate change, depletion of material resources, land use impacts and water use impacts as well as toxicity and acidification impacts (Curran, 2015). ...
Universities are enhancing their contribution to a sustainable world by developing sustainable campuses and by stimulating implementation of scientific findings, among other things. However, for university managerial, strategic or support staff responsible for this transformation, there is no appropriate, available material on how to do this. Instead, an abundance of material is available on why it is important and there are several reports in scientific journals on the expertise behind that. This puts great pressure on those staff members, who have scarce time and money and need to reliably generate
results but have to learn on the job or gather information through peers in oral or case study form.
The goal of this handbook is to help practitioners increase the speed of putting sustainability science and education into practice by maximizing the possibilities of campuses and to speed up sustainability in campuses by maximizing researcher
and student input. The book builds on hands-on experience and analyzing operational practice in Living Labs on campuses and in the literature.
The booklet takes a pragmatic approach; therefore, we have limited references to those necessary and given a mix of theoretical and scientific papers, workshop reports, websites and more experience-based books to guide interested readers and practitioners. While writing the booklet, we have assumed that your university already has some sustainability program in place.
This booklet is the first version. The authors are fully aware of the wealth of experiences generated in universities around the world. Therefore, all remarks, comments and suggestions will be gathered through our website www.campusaslivinglab.org and will be discussed and used by practitioners and co-writers.
As experience grows, we envision this handbook becoming part of the standard material for university sustainability coordinators around the world, staying up-to-date through
their input and acknowledging the value of that co-creation process.
We hope that it helps university sustainability offices as well as all stakeholders involved in sustainability education, innovation and implementation.
... The model of engagement (illustrated in figure 1) and proposed actions (presented in table 2), outline the NIZAC philosophy and scope of collaboration, which seeks to align and build on the inherent focus on community participation, commonly attributed as, a zero waste approach (Allen et al., 2012;Lombardi & Bailey, 2015). This can be recognised as seeking to foster and model participatory social innovation, equitable local / international enterprise networking, with the aim of advancing, balanced sustainable development, inclusive of environmental, economic, social / cultural considerations (A Beynaghi et al., 2014;A Beynaghi et al., 2016;Filho et al., 2015;Rosenberg Daneri, Trencher, & Petersen, 2015;United Nations, 2012). This outline is provides the framework for drafting an agreed formal written MoU which can be signed by participating individuals / institutions, as the NIZAC concept and work programme grows. ...
Waste, is one of the most challenging and complex problems confronting human communities today. Studies indicate that significant improvement in global waste management systems is needed in order to avert a worsening public and environmental health emergency. The global zero waste movement exists within the spectrum of contemporary reaction and response to the growing sense of crisis and urgency around waste issues. The theory of zero waste reconceptualises, waste as a resource, which must be conserved, used efficiently and cycled back into the economic system. Zero waste seeks to assertively redirect the focus of society’s innovation, investment, education, R&D and government, business and community policies and programs away from value destroying ‘burn-bury’ disposal practices. In this sense, zero waste is strategically controversial in challenging society’s dysfunctional and wasteful status quo, as well as the vested interests, which promulgate and profit from this. The international zero waste movement demonstrates alternative approaches, which have a positive track-record of cost effectively addressing waste issues and supporting the innovation required to transition towards a circular economy and more sustainable forms of development. Emerging case studies from within industry, community and city contexts, demonstrate that zero waste approaches are framed in a continuum of learning and evolution and can be successful, scientific, measurable, a good economic investment, socially and culturally beneficial and democratically popular. However, it is also recognised that these positive indicators, are just the precursor of the level of transformational leadership and innovation, which is required in future across spheres such as: policy, programme, technology, education, research and product design, in order to realise the future zero waste city concept. Recognising the phenomenon and positive challenge of zero waste, a cluster of universities/organisations are seeking to catalyse a nexus for international zero waste academic collaboration (NIZAC). The core objective of NZIAC is to facilitate education and research to drive progress towards future zero waste cities, which are critical to realising the concept of a circular global economy and to addressing the interrelated challenges of climate change and sustainable development. A key strand in the discussion and experience informing the development of the NZIAC, is the opportunity of ‘living labs’ research theory and practice to support the co-generation of innovation in a ‘university and host city—community’ context. This paper seeks to provide an overview of relevant research theory, the background experience of project partners, the formative consultation and collaboration process and outcomes to date in exploring the proposed ‘nexus for international zero waste academic collaboration’ (NIZAC).
... Students were targeted for this study because of their perceived awareness of environmental issues and knowledge about environmentally friendly products (Bong Ko & Jin 2017). In addition, they are considered as opinion leaders on many issues in society (Daneri, Trencher & Petersen 2015) and, therefore, their views on environmental concerns are critical in understanding the consumption of green products in the Zimbabwean context. More importantly, college students are on the verge of gainful employment and, therefore, are potential consumers of green products in the future. ...
Orientation: Environmentally friendly consumption behaviour is one of the topical issues in
contemporary marketing discourse. However, this subject has received considerable research
attention mostly in middle- and high-income markets at the expense of developing world
contexts.
Research purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore if there is a dichotomy between
gender groups on the following consumer attributes: green attitude, green personality, green
values and green purchasing intention. Producers and retailers of environmentally friendly
products need to understand the profile of their customers if they are to effectively segment
and target them.
Motivation for the study: The study is motivated by a need to understand any potential
differences in customer attributes in green markets. An appreciation of such differences will
supply marketers of environmentally products with critical information which can help them
to design and position their value propositions.
Research design, approach and method: An exploratory and cross-sectional survey design
was used. Data were collected from a total of 284 respondents using a self-administered,
structured questionnaire. The student’s t-test and multiple regression analyses were used for
data analysis.
Main findings: The study unveiled significant gender-based disparities in social altruistic
values, but none in green personality, green attitude and green purchasing intention. Moreover,
it was discovered that green attitude, green values and green personality had different levels
of influence on the green purchasing intention of different gender groups, with a stronger
impact observed among the sample of male respondents. The implication is that marketers of
green products should consider gender-informed disparities in various psychographic
attributes of consumers of environmentally friendly products.
Practical/managerial implications: The findings of this study can assist producers and
marketers of environmentally friendly products to develop value propositions that are
appropriate for young consumers who belong to different gender groups.
Contribution/value-add: Very little research in the Zimbabwean context exists with specific
reference to how gender affects the green attributes of young, college-level consumers. This
article adds value by unravelling some of the factors that influence the green purchasing
intention of college students in Zimbabwe.
... The field of sustainability science has identified key roles of students through internships and project-based learning in contributing to transitions to more sustainable systems. Specifically, students are important change agents within transacademic research, which is transdisciplinary and engages academic and non-academic stakeholders in knowledge co-creation (Rosenberg Daneri et al. 2015;Trencher et al. 2016). However, students' roles in facilitating two-way communication of knowledge have been unrecognized and underutilized (Trencher et al. 2014). ...
Collaborations between researchers and stakeholders can facilitate novel and effective approaches to addressing water resource management challenges, such as restoring river systems. Managing the boundary between researchers and stakeholders is key to ensuring the credibility (produced by scientific inquiry), salience (value to stakeholders), and legitimacy (reflecting differing stakeholder perspective) of knowledge produced that informs restoration processes. Boundary organizations provide an institutionalized approach for stabilizing researcher-stakeholder collaborations. Using qualitative methods, we contrasted the science-policy boundary within two watersheds pursuing river restoration, focusing our research on factors contributing to the potential roles and emergence of boundary organizations. We found that perception of restoration state influenced the identified roles of boundary organizations. Stakeholders noted their value in shifting public perception and measuring restoration progress in more impaired systems, while also noting their importance in leveraging restoration gains into community benefits in more restored systems. Our research highlights the importance of flexibility in managing the science-policy boundary. As restoration gains are achieved, the role boundary organizations play may need to be reevaluated to leverage these gains. Researchers and stakeholders described time and resources as key barriers to transitioning informal researcher-stakeholder collaborations into new boundary organizations. Existing collaborative mechanisms can facilitate such transitions. We identified a potential role for students as boundary emissaries in managing the science-policy boundary. Our findings suggest students and student learning are important for fostering collaborations and stabilizing researcher-stakeholder partnerships that contribute to achieving river restoration gains.
... Research projects can provide an active learning-teaching-research environment for engaging 26 and educating students Wiek et al., 2014a). In recent years programs 27 that apply problem-based or project-based learning approaches have increasingly been 28 established (Brundiers and Wiek, 2013;Rosenberg Daneri et al., 2015). These learner-centered 29 approaches change the traditional role of teachers to coaches and facilitators, empowering 30 students to decide themselves what and how to learn (Brundiers and Wiek, 2011;Stauffacher et 31 al., 2006). ...
... More formal institutional spaces for transformative sustainability science projects on salient and existential issues with key stakeholders are required, formalization is expected to stabilize these as learning environments. Approaches such as those described by Evans et al. [39] and Rosenberg et al. [40] in this volume seem complementary to the approach of building a dedicated study programme to build capacity for engaging scientists and citizens in sustainability science. Possible forms for such institutional spaces can include multi-year research projects. ...
The objective of our social project was to improve agroforestry production systems through the reforestation of multipurpose plant species and to counteract the effects of climate change. Over the course of 24 months (in 2016–2018), 14,125 trees were planted, reforesting 50 farms in the Luz de América rural parish, Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas province, Ecuador. The project became an activity integrated into rural communities where 25 community leaders were trained on establishing techniques, planting density, and forest management of several species, such as black and white guayacans, cedar, Honduran mahogany, dyer’s mulberry, Brazilian fern tree, laurel, and Colombian timber bamboo. The leaders were regarded as multipliers of the knowledge acquired on the farms and actively collaborated with the University of the Armed Forces (ESPE). A group of teachers of social engagement, 58 agricultural and livestock engineering students from ESPE, and 151 community beneficiaries carried out data collection and cultural work. At the end of the project, the survival rate of plants was 82.01%, and the total investment was USD 18 thousand. Among the project’s indirect benefits, we can mention an increase in water sources in the area, the control of erosion in degraded areas and steep slopes on farms, mitigation of climate change, and improvement of the economic conditions of the residents.
This paper reports on a comprehensive study, which has investigated the approaches, methods and tools being deployed in implementing living labs among higher education institutions (HEIs) around the world. Two methods were employed. First, a bibliometric analysis of the current emphasis given to living labs in a sustainable development context and in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Second, an empirical study aimed at identifying the use levels of living labs at HEIs. This was accomplished through an analysis of selected case studies that showcased successful approaches to SDGs implementation with living labs, and resulted in a framework for action. There are three main findings from these analyses. The first is that the multidisciplinary character of living labs in the context of sustainable development needs to be considered, to maximize their impacts. Second, most of the studied living labs focus on SDGs 4 and 11, which deal with providing quality education and ensuring the sustainable development of cities and communities. Third, the challenges encountered in the implementation of living labs refer to (1) the complexities in institutional administration, (2) the tensions between different groups of interest that need to be addressed by enhanced communication, and (3) the necessity to pay attention to the demand of using sustainability and innovation as a strategy in the operations of living labs. The paper draws from the experiences and lessons learned and suggests specific measures, which will improve the use of living labs as more systemic tools towards the implementation of the SDGs.
Purpose
By using exploratory mixed methods, this study aims to present the investigation of the existing situation of private off-campus student accommodation at the University of Allahabad (UoA) in Prayagraj city.
Design/methodology/approach
This study explored the geographical variability of student’s private rental housing in Prayagraj city of India through 721 responses from an online semi-structured questionnaire, together with 12 interviews. Moran’s I and LISA were used to determine spatial clustering of rents paid by male and female students.
Findings
Results of this study reveal prevalence of unregulated with poor quality of off-campus housing in general and expensive rents in the proximity of UoA.
Research limitations/implications
Obtaining less responses from the female students was one of the important limitations.
Practical implications
A win-win strategy might be formulated with a mix of innovative solutions inclusive of public private partnerships and social economy solutions woven with need-based rental housing, rekindled as the affordable rental housing complexes after COVID-19 pandemic.
Social implications
This study is highly beneficial to improve liveability in the student housing segment.
Originality/value
This paper develops extensive understanding on the potential student housing segment in the Indian cities. Additionally, this paper demonstrates weak coordination between the central government policies, educational administrators and municipal officials.
Successful implementation of solutions to reach the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) depends on harnessing synergistic interactions among SDGs and effective engagement among a diverse group of societal stakeholders. This paper presents a framework and case study for a design and engagement process in which the university takes the lead in the co-creation of SDG solutions. The model supports university-led efforts by leveraging three elements: (i) inherent synergies across SDGs, (ii) modes of solution identification, design, and implementation, and (iii) modes of stakeholder involvement and interactions. Using an integration of human-centered design (HCD) and shared-action learning (SAL), we document a case led by a large, public, research-oriented university on how different stakeholders participated in the co-creation process to find solutions. Based on the experience of about 50 students over 4 years in support of SDG implementation in Indonesia, the initiative leveraged synergies within SDG 1, 2, and 5 (related to increasing income-generating power for women and indigenous people) and SDG 7 (use of solar energy for fish preservation and crop processing). Throughout the process, interactions with stakeholders took place during design workshop courses, community consultations, mentoring and internships programs, partnering with companies and local universities and government, site visits, and immersions in local communities. The HCD-SAL model established a system for monitoring impacts across all stakeholders, particularly how the projects helped increase communities' economic well-being. This model provides guidance for universities to develop genuine stakeholder engagement and support for finding and continuously improving SDG solutions.
Supplementary information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11625-022-01128-9.
South Africa’s interventions to address complex social challenges rely on coordination across several sectors and between different levels of government and society. Improved alignment, planning and coordination are needed when addressing the causal factors of these social challenges. These causal factors include the environments in which people live and their behaviours. Furthermore, emphasis is placed on the recurring engagement of civil society, especially of marginalized stakeholders, as participants in the efforts to address the challenges. The study draws from the promise shown by stakeholder networks, termed Innovation Platforms, in other Sub-Saharan Africa countries to address such complex social challenges. The study aimed to improve the understanding of how a stakeholder network’s engagement practices impact the effectiveness of the network. To this end, a conceptual framework and management tool for stakeholder engagement in IPs is proposed. The study followed the conceptual framework analysis procedure to develop, evaluate and refine the conceptual framework. The article describes the core research outcomes of the framework development approach, starting with a systematized literature review to identify core concepts, followed by interviews with experts and a case study to refine the framework content. The case study applied the framework to develop recommendations for improved engagement in a stakeholder network which has been established around the challenge of vagrancy in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The result of the approach is a multidimensional framework for conceptualizing stakeholder engagement practices in a variety of contexts. The focus of the framework content remains on the practices of engagement which enable effective and fruitful stakeholder interactions within and around a network. The study delivered valuable insights into the nature of some development initiatives in South Africa and the impact of stakeholder engagement on them.
This chapter discusses Florida Gulf Coast University’s (FGCU’s) experience using our own built environment as a “living lab.” Using the campus in this way has enabled FGCU to expand the classroom, to engage students in measuring and monitoring sustainability initiatives and sustainable practices, and to demonstrate how innovation and change can be proposed and tested, and occasionally implemented. The FGCU example is informative, showing how the built environment provides an excellent test bed for students to examine alternatives to improve sustainability. The opportunity to work on and possibly change real things in their own world gives students ownership and responsibility. The difficulty students and faculty encounter in implementing ideas also highlights the complexity of actually getting things done and highlights the disparities between talk and action, which can lead to student and faculty empowerment to identify and expunge hypocrisy. The inherent resistance of Higher Education Institutions to convert the experimental test beds of their campus infrastructure into actual action and change is a recurrent theme.
ამ სახელმძღვანელოს მიზანია უნივერსიტეტების დაინტერესებულ ლექტორებსა და აკადემიურ პერსონალს მისცეს შესაძლებლობა, განახორციელოს შემთხვევის შესწავლის ტრანსდისციპლინური საველე კურსი, რომელიც უკვე შემუშავებულია, აპრობირებულია და ინტეგრირებულია სსპუ და თსუ კურუკულუმებში.
სახელმძღვანელოს პირველ თავში მოკლედ არის განხილული ფუნდამენტური კონცეფციები, რომლებიც აუცილებელია ტრანსდისციპლინური მიდგომების საფუძვლიანად გაგებისათვის. სახელმძღვანელო მოიცავს მოსაზრებებს და მაგალითებს სასწავლო დავალებებისათვის, ასევე ლიტერატურულ წყაროებს და სარეკომენდაციო მასალებს, რომლებშიც დეტალურად არის გაანალიზებული აქ მოცემული კონცეფციები.
სახელმძღვანელოს მეორე თავში წარმოდგენილია კონკრეტული წინადადებები, თუ როგორ არის შესაძლებელი შემთხვევის შესწავლის აკადემიური კურსის განხორციელება. ამ ნაწილში მოცემულია თსუ და სსპუ ლექტორების რჩევები, რომლებმაც CaucaSusT პროექტის ფარგლებში პირველად განახორციელეს ასეთი ფორმატის სასწავლო კურსები.
მრავალი მაგალითი, რომელთაც ჩვენ გთავაზობთ სახელმძღვანელოში, არის დაკავშირებული ტურიზმთან. ეს განპირობებულია CaucaSusT პროექტის შინაარსით და იმ ფაქტით, რომ ტურიზმის მდგრადი განვითარება წარმოადგენს რეალურ კომპლექსურ გამოწვევას. ის განსაკუთრებით აქტუალურია მთიანი ადგილების, სასოფლო თემების გამოცოცხლებისათვის. ასევე, ადგილობრივი მოსახლეობის საარსებო პირობების გაუმჯობესებასა და კულტურული და ბუნებრივი მემკვიდრეობის დაცვას შორის სათანადო ბალანსის მოძებნის თვალსაზრისით.
ამავე დროს, შემთხვევის შესწავლის ტრანსდისციპლინური კურსის ფორმატი შეიძლება გამოყენებულ იქნეს სხვა საზოგადოებრივი გამოწვევების გადაჭრისათვის როგორც სასოფლო, ასევე ურბანული განვითარების კონტექსტში. ის შეიძლება დადებითად აისახოს ამ კურსის განმახორციელებელი ლექტორების, კურსში ჩართული სტუდენტებისა და მონაწილე თემების მოსახლეობის შესაძლებლობებსა და ინტერესებზე.
Non-technical summary
There is a call to change societies to become more sustainable. We examine how the concept of sustainability transformation has been used and find that it has been defined in many ways. The concept is still used without many real-world examples – we found only four studies that had assessed whether a multi-sectoral sustainability transformation had taken place. There is a need to further clarify what sustainability transformation means and how it can be assessed.
There is an increasing need for urban sustainability transitions, though empirical cases that focus on the governance of these processes over time are not plentiful. This study addresses that gap by examining the governance of an urban transition in an eco-neighbourhood in Helsinki, using the framework of a multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions and modes of governance. This study shows how the modes of governance have changed from the start of the planning in 1994–2018 and how the different dimensions of the urban planning regime have enabled or constrained a sustainability transition, based on a document analysis and semi-structured expert interviews. As for the modes of governance, hierarchical and network were most widely used. The plot assignment stipulations that contained sustainability requirements, as well as the collaborative area working group method, have been scaled up city-wide since. This study concludes that more process-focussed policy instruments are needed.
We developed a case study for estimating carbon stock (stored and annually sequestered) in aboveground and belowground portions of all the live trees located on the main campus of the University of Georgia. We recorded species, diameter at breast height, and height of trees located between East Broad Street and Carlton Street (north–south direction) and East Campus Road and Lumpkin Street (east–west direction) covering an area of 94.1 hectares. We used i-Tree Eco V6 for estimating carbon stock. There are 6,915 trees in the study area, out of which 73.0 percent (5,049 trees), 32.3 percent (2,236 trees), and 0.7 percent (50 trees) are native, understory, and invasive, respectively. The total carbon stored in trees is 3,450.4 t (SD = 65), and the annual sequestration rate is about 65 t. The University of Georgia should adopt a multifaceted approach for offsetting or reducing the overall carbon emissions, as annual sequestered carbon in measured trees is only 0.11 percent of the total carbon emitted by the university in 2018. This study highlights the role of trees in meeting the carbon reduction challenges faced by colleges and universities across the United States and beyond, and contextualizes the role of green spaces in general, and trees, in particular toward the ongoing movement of sustainable universities and campuses worldwide.
Study Implications: Across the United States and beyond, universities and colleges are actively exploring ways to reduce their overall environmental footprint for achieving sustainable development goals. Trees located on the campuses of universities and colleges provide various ecosystem services, including carbon storage and annual sequestration. We advise that universities and colleges should explore other options to reduce or offset their annual carbon emissions, as the quantity of carbon annually sequestered in trees located on the main campuses could be small relative to their overall annual carbon emissions.
Higher education institutions are increasingly engaged with society but contemporary higher education teacher competence profiles do not include university-society oriented responsibilities of teachers. Consequently, comprehensive insights in university-society collaborative performance of higher education teachers are not available. This study empirically develops a teacher profile for an exemplary university-society oriented, multi-stakeholder learning environment and builds an argument for university-society collaborative additions to existing higher education teacher profiles. A showcase example of a new university-society collaborative, multi-stakeholder learning environment, the Regional Learning Environment (RLE), provides the context of analysis. Thirteen RLE establishments were included in the study. The study uses a descriptive qualitative design, triangulating data from RLE documents, teacher interviews and focus groups with teachers and managers on RLE teacher roles, tasks and competencies. The resulting RLE teacher profile comprises nine roles, nineteen tasks and 21 competencies. The new profile echoes scattered indications for teacher responsibilities as identified in previous studies on teaching and learning in university-society collaborative learning settings. The study argues that the role of broker, including boundary crossing competence, and the competency ‘stimulating a collaborative learning attitude’, might be added to existing higher education teacher competence profiles. Adding this university-society engaged perspective to existing teacher competence profiles will support higher education institutions in developing their university-society collaborative responsibilities and subsequent teacher professionalisation trajectories.
Purpose
Universities can do more to deliver against the sustainable development goals (SDGs), working with faculty, staff and students, as well as their wider stakeholder community and alumni body. They play a critical role in helping shape new ways for the world, educating global citizens and delivering knowledge and innovation into society. Universities can be engines of societal transformation. Using a multiple case study approach, this study aims to explore different ways of strategizing sustainability toward delivering the SDGs are explored in a university setting with an example from the UK, Bulgaria (Europe) and USA.
Design/methodology/approach
The first case is a public UK university that adopted enterprise and sustainability as its academic mission to secure differentiation in a disrupted and increasingly marketized global higher education sector; this became a source of inspiration for change in regional businesses and the local community. The second case is a business sector-led sustainability-driven transformation working with a private university in Bulgaria to catalyze economic regeneration and social innovation. Finally, a case from the office for sustainability in a major US research university is given to show how its engagement program connected faculty and students in sustainability projects within the institution and with external partners.
Findings
Each case is in effect a “living lab,” positioning sustainability as an intentional and aspirational strategy with sustainable development and the SDG framework a means to that end. Leadership at all levels, and by students, was key to success in acting with a shared purpose. Partnerships within and with universities can help accelerate delivery of the SDGs, enabling higher education to make a fuller contribution to sustaining the economic, environmental, cultural and intellectual well-being of our global communities.
Originality/value
The role of universities as the engine of transformational sustainability toward delivering the SDGs has been explored by way of three case studies that highlight different means toward that end. The collegiate nature of the higher education sector, with its shared governance models and different constituencies and performance drivers, means that sustainability at a strategic level must be led with leaders at all levels acting with purpose. The “living lab” model can become a part of transformative institutional change that draws on both top-down and bottom-up strategies in pursuit of sustainable development.
Pressure to change the design of the doctorate is increasing, causing a tension between a politically driven emphasis to prepare PhD researchers for mobility beyond academia and current, scholarship-oriented, practices of traditional doctoral education. Research typically advocates that doctoral students need support to mobilise their expertise across boundaries, but there is a paucity of empirical studies investigating how such support could be provided and how different aspects of the required expertise might be developed. In this thesis, I therefore seek to understand and intervene in the development of boundary crossing collaborations, focusing on developing the forms of expertise required to prepare students for a relational future.
My analysis draws on data from an 8-month long Change Laboratory research-intervention, which brought humanities doctoral students from a university together with non-academic professionals working for a UK charity. Applying relational working as an analytical framework, I trace the extent to which common knowledge, relational expertise and relational agency developed over the course of the intervention and highlight aspects of the intervention design that were most influential on that development.
The findings suggest that incorporating additional practitioners, external but connected to the host organisation’s activity system, stimulated the development of common knowledge. Additionally, introducing the mediating stimulus of an activity system model, which participants perceived to be a ‘neutral’ focus for discussion, supported relational applications of individual expertise. Furthermore, the shared responsibility for producing data encouraged throughout the intervention seemingly fostered the internal and external verification of researcher expertise. Overall, I propose that interventions of this kind have the potential to become a new pedagogic medium, the Relational Change Laboratory (RCL), whose aim is to stimulate accelerated reciprocal learning within humanities doctoral education. Such an intervention, I argue, can alter the boundary crossing practices and outcomes for both students and host organisations.
This study explores the relationships between environmental attitude, green product knowledge, attitude towards purchasing green products, green product purchasing intention, and green purchasing behaviour. Using a cross-sectional survey approach, a random sample of 284 undergraduate students in a Zimbabwean polytechnic completed a self-administered questionnaire. Structural equation modelling (maximum likelihood estimation) was used to analyse the data. The findings indicate that there are positive associations between the following pairs of variables: environmental attitude and attitude towards green purchasing; green product knowledge and green purchasing intention; green product knowledge and green purchasing behaviour; attitude towards green purchasing and green purchasing intention; green purchasing intention and green purchasing behaviour; as well as a non-significant relationship between green product knowledge and attitude towards green. The findings reported that the Theory of Reasoned Action fully supported the students’ intention to buy green products, which then affects their green purchase behaviour. The inclusion of additional constructs to the proposed model was partially supported. The study results highlight the importance of considering product knowledge and other attitudinal factors—specifically environmental attitude and attitude towards green purchasing—when marketing environmentally-friendly products to college-level students.
Keywords: attitude; green purchasing intention; green purchasing behaviour; theory of reasoned action; Zimbabwe
Engaging students at universities to create change and make positive social and environmental impacts is not an easy task to accomplish. Many of these initiatives, even when defined as “successful” by the organizers do not always reach their inner goal: to engage students and partner for collective action for change. This paper aims to understand the role of extracurricular events in creating engagement of students and their actions for sustainability in campuses. This topic is relevant since it lies at the nexus of three areas of research: sustainability leadership of universities, students’ engagement at campuses and the analysis of students’ perceptions on sustainability initiatives. Starting from the analysis of these three bodies of literature, the study will introduce the case of a national event on sustainability and CSR designed and promoted by a private business at the national level and organized locally with the partnership of the University of Florence. The scope is to add new perspectives on challenges and opportunities universities face in promoting sustainability in campuses, so that it could contribute to an area of research still to be developed, that is the organization of extracurricular sustainability events on campuses promoted and leaded by private companies with the partnership and support of local universities. Main findings will be discussed and lead to insights for future research, action, opportunities and challenges.
Higher education institutions (HEI) have the potential to engage local and global communities in transformative learning for sustainable principles and practices. However, transforming a university campus into a model of sustainable development and best practice is a challenging task. It is only possible by engaging students, faculty, staff, and the campus community, as well as local and global partners. During the last decade Canadian universities have ramped up their efforts in order to support community engagement and partnerships. They aim to connect their research and innovation capacity with the policy and implementation challenges of partner organizations. The University of British Columbia (UBC) has actively pursued sustainability goals and targets for over twenty years. By establishing the University Sustainability Initiative (USI), UBC went a step further than other Canadian universities. The paper presents an overview of the evolution of the university’s sustainability strategy and focuses on sustainability-related developments within the last decade. It discusses five on-campus and off-campus engagement programs that contribute to UBC’s sustainability goals: the SEEDS program, Sustainability Ambassadors, “UBC Reads Sustainability”, Student Sustainability Council, and Sustainability-in-Residence, the Greenest City Scholars at the Point Grey campus in Vancouver, Canada. These programs exemplify joint efforts for promoting sustainable behaviors and practices that contribute to a net-positive campus and promote human and ecological wellbeing. Developments and findings discussed in the paper could be of value for many HEI interested in successful ways to engage students, staff, faculty, and the broader community in the practice of sustainability.
University-community partnerships provide opportunities for collaborations and meaningful engagement with community partners, in order to promote sustainable community development. To date, studies on university-community partnerships have largely neglected partnership potential and readiness prior to partnership formation. These factors enable expectations and targets to be negotiated and potential problems to be anticipated, prior to any formal collaboration. Hence, this study investigates the optimal preconditions—including environment, resources, and motivation—to facilitate successful university-community collaboration for local urban planning. Specifically, a sample of local government units (LGUs) and universities in the Calabarzon region of the Philippines were interviewed and observed to determine their needs and access to planning resources at universities, as well as factors that would ensure sustained partnerships. The results show that there is a need for university-community partnerships in local planning, since LGUs have limited technical capacity in preparing comprehensive land use plans, particularly with respect to data analysis, technical writing, project development, and hazard mapping. Conversely, LGUs have more financial resources than universities. Local universities were determined to be uniquely suited to meet the technical and human resource needs of LGUs. Importantly, though, previous partnership experience was found to dramatically influence both parties’ decisions regarding whether or not to pursue a partnership. Accordingly, there is a need to temper the desires and expectations of partner organizations, and lay down the foundations of sustainable university-community partnership prior to partnership formation. Toward this end, policies that bolster partnership institutionalization, funding, and systematic monitoring and evaluation systems can enhance the utility of such partnerships moving forward.
Young learners represent a source of renewable energy that could benefit communities worldwide. While there are a growing number of isolated case examples of successful community engagement projects led by youth and their educators from around the world, a gap remains regarding a mechanism by which these projects can be connected to share best practices. In this article, we introduce a core curriculum for civic engagement (CC4CE) that can serve as a mechanism to bring various community engagement projects together through collaborative learning networks. The focus of an ongoing international research project, the primary objectives of the CC4CE are to (a) optimize school-led community improvement initiatives worldwide, (b) support youth and adult learning across academic disciplines and, (c) promote the development of 21st-century knowledge transfer skills. The design of the CC4CE is particularly suited for guiding community collaboration and implementation of appropriate technology through service learning. Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research methods, and the discipline of Integration and Implementation Science are utilized to guide collaboration and teamwork within CC4CE networks and social action during community outreach. Development of the CC4CE seeks to empower learners with the skills and confidence needed to take-on the mounting social and environmental challenges of our time.
As institutions of higher education, universities have a significant impact on society and can play a key role in sustainability provision. Particularly, it is expected that green universities, because they are becoming more widespread, would contribute to the sustainability performance the most. However, none of the case studies have analysed the differences in sustainability performance between the “green” and the “non-green” universities from the perspective of the students. Therefore, the objective of this study was to contribute to this topic and compare students' attitudes towards sustainability in Vytautas Magnus University (a non-green university) and Kaunas University of Technology (a green university). According to a survey conducted in 2015, the differences in campus sustainability, environmental information, the university's role in sustainable development, students' attitudes to the university's self-presentation as green, and students' involvement in sustainability in these two universities were analysed. Results indicate that there were no significant differences regarding sustainability aspects in general, but green university students more often agree that their university presents itself as environmentally friendly. They get more environmental information and more often participate in sustainability activities compared with students from the non-green university. After applying the regression analysis, it was found that only campus sustainability and environmental information determined students' involvement in sustainability significantly. This suggests that official declarations and commitments should be realised in particular activities on campus and via information campaigns to contribute to sustainability provisions in a more holistic manner. Otherwise, commitments will remain as statements only.
In 2015, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) announced that the Science Year 2015 would focus on the “City of the Future”. It called for innovative projects from cities and communities in Germany dedicated to exploring future options and scenarios for sustainable development. Among the successful respondents was the city of Lüneburg, located in the north of Germany, which was awarded funding to establish a community learning project to envision a sustainable future (“City of the Future Lüneburg 2030+”). What made Lüneburg’s approach unique was that the city itself initiated the project and invited a broad range of stakeholders to participate in a community learning process for sustainable development. The authors of this article use the project as a blueprint for sustainable city development. Presenting a reflexive case study, they report on the process and outcomes of the project and investigate community learning processes amongst different stakeholders as an opportunity for transformative social learning. They discuss outputs and outcomes (intended as well as unintended) in relation to the specific starting points of the project to provide a context-sensitive yet rich narrative of the case and to overcome typical criticisms of case studies in the field.
Purpose
This study aims to examine and compare faculty perceptions of the process of institutionalizing sustainability, developing sustainability pedagogy and activating key sustainability competencies between the University of Oklahoma (OU) and Arizona State University (ASU).
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 professors in the Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability at OU and 10 professors in the School of Sustainability at ASU.
Findings
The results highlight the complexity of teaching sustainability in an interdisciplinary manner in both programs. Professors are incorporating many of the key competencies of sustainability teaching, but in a patchwork manner that does not necessary follow the comprehensive frameworks from the literature.
Practical implications
The comparative analysis leads to recommendations for teaching sustainability in higher education.
Originality/value
This study contributes to theories of sustainability teaching by identifying gaps between what professors are actually doing and experiencing and a set of best practices from the literature.
Entender quais as contribuições da Universidade para a criação de cidades sustentáveis, já que as cidades estão se tornando essenciais acerca da promoção do desenvolvimento sustentável, com a finalidade de tentar analisar quais as contribuições cientificas a cerca deste tema, foi o objetivo deste artigo, o mesmo foi produzido através de uma revisão sistemática da literatura e de uma meta síntese qualitativa, onde procurou-se obter uma resposta para a seguinte pergunta de pesquisa: De que forma uma Universidade Sustentável pode contribuir para a sustentabilidade/desenvolvimento sustentável do espaço urbano em que se insere?. Publicações e documentos foram selecionados a partir de três bases de dados: Science Direct, Scopus e Web of Science. Após realizar uma seleção das publicações mais relevantes entre 2000 e 2015, foi realizado uma análise mais profunda dos mesmos, através desta análise é possível perceber que o estudo a cerca deste assunto ainda é muito recente, o que mostra a necessidade de estudos mais aprofundados.
Universities are under mounting pressure to partner with societal stakeholders and organizations to collaboratively create and implement sustainability-advancing knowledge, tools, and societal transformations. Simultaneously, an increasing number of societal organizations are reaching out to partner with universities to achieve organizational objectives and increase the effectiveness of strategies to further societal sustainability. Using a conceptual framework of " sustainability co-creation " , this study empirically examines the historical and ongoing experiences of five organizations in Japan that actively partner with universities to enhance sustainability activities and strategies to transform society. We examine motivations for partnering with universities, innovative models of practice, factors hampering the co-creative potential of the university, and desired changes to overcome these. Our empirical study leads to the proposal of a typology that might assist in categorizing and understanding key attributes of differing types of sustainability co-creation. We build our typology from two perspectives: First, in terms of the primary objective of the co-creation (ranging from knowledge production to the transformation of society), and second, in terms of the approach taken (ranging from either socially or technologically-centered). We then reflect on the organizations' experiences to offer several strategies that could increase the effectiveness of the university when partnering with stakeholders in sustainability co-creation. We also highlight several factors effecting the university's capacity to move beyond knowledge production towards implementation measures to transform society with external stakeholders.
This article proposes an alternative spatial form for a university campus, which embeds itself within the region, in which it is located. The proposed campus spacing is inspired by recent research from the environmental psychology discipline, around Attention Restorative Theory, along with its central four principles. Furthermore, the article explores how a critical interpretation of Foucault’s six heterotopic principles, following Harvey, maps onto Attention Restorative Theory principles and reflexively unmasks the dialectic tensions of what is termed ‘restorative, heterotopic spacing’. Focusing on the potential implications to campus sustainability, a specific campus initiative called the Oberlin Project will be critically explored, in relation to the potential enactment of Attention Restorative Theory, from an academic and local community perspective. It reflects on the significance of an artistic, regional set of trans-disciplinary integrated initiatives for such restorative spacing, within the expanded urban and regional notion of Oberlin campus. However, it concludes by expressing a concern over the extent to which the generative embrace of diverse Oberlin actors, both on and off campus, is being fulfilled.
Purpose
This paper describes the sustainability partnership between the City of Vancouver and the University of British Columbia (UBC) and, in particular, the co-curricular Greenest City Scholars graduate student internship program, which has been developed by the two organizations. Through the program, UBC graduate students work on projects at the City that help to advance sustainability targets. The paper aims to explore the successes, challenges and lessons learned from the program.
Design/methodology/approach
This case study uses literature and document review, observations, program participant evaluation surveys and project impact survey feedback.
Findings
The Greenest City Scholars program model has contributed to the sustainability goals at UBC and the City of Vancouver and has supported the partnership between the two organizations. The program has grown over its five-year history and is considered to be a central part of the partnership. Breadth of student participants from across the university and high participation from City departments have been achieved. The model is now being adapted to be delivered within other partnerships.
Practical implications
The experiences presented in this case study can help other higher education institutions understand how a co-curricular graduate student work experience program could help to bolster their own sustainability partnerships.
Originality/value
This paper makes a contribution by providing insight into the use of a graduate student program to advance the goals of a university–community sustainability partnership.
International scholarship on student geographies and urban change continues to advance knowledge of the intense commodification of student lifestyles and student housing. The main aim of this paper is to consider some of the hitherto under-researched wider knock-on effects of more commodified student housing markets. Here we present findings from the first-ever empirical study of de-studentification. Using the case study of Loughborough, we demonstrate how de-studentification is a process of change that has been stimulated by the increased supply of purpose-built student accommodation. We show that de-studentification leads to the depopulation and decline of some classical studentified neighbourhoods. Moreover, these urban transformations have several significant implications for pre-existing conceptualisations of urban change and student geographies. Notably, the impacts of de-studentification pose important questions for the conceptual boundaries of studentification – a prerequisite of de-studentification – and although, to date, dominant conceptualisations of studentification are wedded to upgrading-led representations of urban gentrification, it is shown that de-studentification, conversely, leads to physical downgrading and emptying of neighbourhoods in distinct phases. We therefore argue for a process-led definition of de-studentification, to illustrate how studentified neighbourhoods are gradually ‘emptied’ of student populations and student housing. More broadly, it is asserted that new student geographies are being created by the deepening neoliberalisation and commodification of higher education, which, in turn, will have unintentional consequences for wider social, cultural and economic relations in university towns and cities, such as emergent community cohesion and changing senses of place.
Accompanying realisations that engagement of multiple societal sectors (academia, industry, government, citizenry) and disciplines is required for formulating effective responses to complex sustainability challenges, calls for new forms of knowledge production are increasing in magnitude, both inside and outside the university. In parallel, experiences from the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development have highlighted that collaborations with societal stakeholders and experiential approaches are desirable for effective sustainability education. This article examines activities at three institutions—Lund University, Oberlin College and the University of Tokyo—to identify potential models for integrating students into the co-creation of transformational knowledge and sustainability experiments with faculty and multiple stakeholders. We examine the types of outputs that can ensue differing participation models, whilst also considering their impact on university and stakeholder efforts to advance societal sustainability. We argue that transformational sustainability partnerships integrating students can foster the alignment of the three university missions of education, research and community engagement with place-specific needs and sustainability challenges. Accordingly, efforts to promote experiential forms of sustainability education with societal stakeholders should refrain from focusing uniquely on education and encourage synergistic linking of all university missions.
As achievements of the completed United Nations Decade (2005-2014) of Education for Sustainable Development are contemplated globally, along with potential steps forward for the future, Member States have urged that this decade continue after 2014 through “The Future We Want”; the outcome document of the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. More recently, commitments to furthering the advancement of sustainable development through education have also been re-enforced in the recently adopted post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.
This study aimed to systematically analyze the implications of sustainable development trends and future directions universities might take under a potential second decade (2015-2024). For this purpose, a model for generating “trend-based scenarios” is proposed, based upon a combination of various futures studies methods. Results suggest that the advancement of sustainability through societal collaboration and various functions such as education, research and outreach will increasingly constitute a core mission for universities. Projecting this trend out into the following decade, the authors frame possible future orientations through three unique scenarios; namely, a socially-, environmentally- and economically-oriented university. Pursuit of sustainable development through each of these would see unique and fundamental changes. These would affect the principle university mission, focus areas, emphasized disciplines, view of Education for Sustainable Development, core external partners, key projects, research and educational activities and outputs with societal stakeholders, geographical focus, and main functions involved. The authors then examine how one or more of these scenarios might be actualized through various external and internal policy and incentive measures. The depiction of these three scenarios, along with potential measures to guide universities to either of these, provides scholars, university leaders and government policy makers with some conceptual and practical instruments to consider strategically how any of these futures might be realized.
Purpose
– The article aims to describe the problem- and project-based learning (PPBL) program and the institutional context at Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability (SOS), with the goal of offering experience-based guidance for similar initiatives in sustainability programs around the world.
Design/methodology/approach
– This case study presents the diverse PPBL activities that SOS offers on the undergraduate and the graduate levels and examines the institutional structures in place that support these activities. Data were collected through literature and document reviews, observations, interviews, student evaluations and faculty surveys.
Findings
– The review of the PPBL program at SOS illustrates a case of successfully inaugurating a PPBL program in sustainability at a major university in the USA. Yet, a key challenge for this program and similar programs around the world is how to maintain the institutional momentum and make advances after the initial takeoff. SOS is attempting to address this issue by developing greater program cohesion and coordination, synthesizing past products and learning, monitoring and evaluating impacts, and developing PPBL training programs for faculty and graduate students.
Practical implications
– The experiences and findings presented can help other programs to articulate the benefits of a PPBL initiative, anticipate implementation challenges and successfully support their own PPBL initiatives through adequate institutional structures. The review points to the fact that the major impact on both student learning and outcomes for partner organizations is achieved through a concerted effort by the organization as a whole. Successful PPBL programs require both top-down commitments from the administration and bottom-up drive from interested faculty and students.
Originality/value
– This case study discusses the PPBL program at SOS. The findings can inform and support the ongoing transformation in sustainability education with the ultimate objective to build students’ capacities to address and solve wicked sustainability problems in the real world, competently collaborating with partners from government, business and civil society.
Working towards sustainable solutions requires involving professionals and stakeholders from all sectors of society into research and teaching. This often presents a challenge to scholars at universities, as they lack capacity and time needed for negotiating different agendas, languages, competencies, and cultures among faculty, students, and stakeholders. Management approaches and quality criteria have been developed to cope with this challenge, including concepts of boundary organizations, transdisciplinary research, transition management, and interface management. However, few of these concepts present comprehensive proposals how to facilitate research with stakeholder participation while creating educational opportunities along the lifecycle of a project. The article focuses on the position of a transacademic interface manager (TIM) supporting participatory sustainability research and education efforts. We conceptualize the task portfolio of a TIM; outline the capacities a TIM needs to possess in order to successfully operate; and propose an educational approach for how to train students in becoming a TIM. For this, we review the existing literature on TIMs and present insights from empirical sustainability research and educational projects that involved TIMs in different functions. The article provides practical guidance to universities on how to organize these critical endeavors more effectively and to offer students an additional career perspective.
The increasing threat of climate change has created a pressing need for cities to lower their carbon footprints. Urban laboratories are emerging in numerous cities around the world as a strategy for local governments to partner with public and private property owners to reduce carbon emissions, while simultaneously stimulating economic growth. In this article, we use insights from laboratory studies to analyse the notion of urban laboratories as they relate to experimental governance, the carbonization agenda and the transition to low-carbon economies. We present a case study of the Oxford Road corridor in Manchester in the UK that is emerging as a low-carbon urban laboratory, with important policy implications for the city's future. The corridor is a bounded space where a public-private partnership comprised of the City Council, two universities and other large property owners is redeveloping the physical infrastructure and installing monitoring equipment to create a recursive feedback loop intended to facilitate adaptive learning. This low-carbon urban laboratory represents a classic sustainable development formula for coupling environmental protection with economic growth, using innovation and partnership as principal drivers. However, it also has significant implications in reworking the interplay of knowledge production and local governance, while reinforcing spatial differentiation and uneven participation in urban development.
The field of sustainability science aims to understand the complex and dynamic interactions between natural and human systems in order to transform and develop these in a sustainable manner. As sustainability problems cut across diverse academic disciplines, ranging from the natural sciences to the social sciences and humanities, interdisciplinarity has become a central idea to the realm of sustainability science. Yet, for addressing complicated, real-world sustainability problems, interdisciplinarity per se does not suffice. Active collaboration with various stakeholders throughout society—transdisciplinarity—must form another critical component of sustainability science. In addition to implementing interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity in practice, higher education institutions also need to deal with the challenges of institutionalization. In this article, drawing on the experiences of selected higher education academic programs on sustainability, we discuss academic, institutional, and societal challenges in sustainability science and explore the potential of uniting education, research and societal contributions to form a systematic and integrated response to the sustainability crisis.
Sustainability initiatives at the regional level play an increasingly important role in the implementation of the principles of Sustainable Development (SD) around the world. These activities successfully combine a wider ‘systems’ perspective with the benefits of the more ‘humane approach of the sub-national scale.’ The potential for academic institutions to play an important role in the success of these initiatives is significant, yet institutions of higher education need encouragement. This article outlines the most important factors which determine the roles of academic institutions in RSIs based on both a review of the literature and research findings from two questionnaires directed to people active in RSIs and higher educational institutions (HEIs). Results confirm the existence of widespread faculty interest in engaging in work within RSIs and also highlight the most important barriers to engagement.
The challenges formulated within the Future Earth framework set the orientation for research programmes in sustainability science for the next ten years. Scientific disciplines from natural and
social science will collaborate both among each other and with relevant societal groups in order to define the important integrated research questions, and to explore together successful pathways towards global sustainability. Such collaboration will be based on transdisciplinarity and integrated research concepts. This paper analyses the relationship between scientific integration and transdisciplinarity, discusses the dimensions of integration of different knowledge and proposes a platform and a paradigm for research towards global sustainability that will be both designed and conducted in partnership between science and society. We argue that integration is an iterative process that involves reflection among all stakeholders. It consists of three stages: co-design, coproduction and co-dissemination.
This paper explores a global trend where universities are collaborating with government, industry and civil society to advance the sustainable transformation of a specific geographical area or societal sub-system. With empirical evidence, we argue that this function of 'co-creation for sustainability' could be interpreted as the seeds of an emerging, new mission for the university. We demonstrate that this still evolving mission differs significantly from the economic focus of the third mission and conventional technology transfer practices, which we argue, should be critically examined. After defining five channels through which a university can fulfil the emerging mission, we analyse two frontrunner 'transformative institutions' engaged in co-creating social, technical and environmental transformations in pursuit of materialising sustainable development in a specific city. This study seeks to add to the debate on the third mission and triple-helix partnerships. It does so by incorporating sustainable development and place-based co-creation with government, industry and civil society.
Within the United States, public discourse on climate science and society's response to climate change are changing rapidly [Nisbet and Myers, 2007]. Awareness of the seriousness and urgency of the problem has been increasing, as has understanding of the complexity and scale of change in human behaviors and technologies that will be required to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate climate change (see a Yale University/Gallup/ClearVision Institute poll at http://environment.yale.edu/news/Research/5310/american-opinions-on-global-warming-summary/). A tremendous opportunity exists to build upon this nascent awareness and enhance the degree to which U.S. citizens are informed about, and are ready to take action on, this defining challenge of the 21st century.
Problem-and project-based learning (PPBL) courses in sustainability address real-world sustainability problems. They are considered powerful educational settings for building students' sustainability expertise. In practice, however, these courses often fail to fully incorporate sustainability competencies, participatory research education, and experiential learning. Only few studies exist that compare and appraise PPBL courses internationally against a synthesized body of the literature to create an evidence base for designing PPBL courses. This article introduces a framework for PPBL courses in sustainability and reviews PPBL practice in six programs around the world (Europe, North America, Australia). Data was collected through semi-structured qualitative interviews with course instructors and program officers, as well as document analysis. Findings indicate that the reviewed PPBL courses are of high quality and carefully designed. Each PPBL course features innovative approaches to partnerships between the university and private organizations, extended peer-review, and the role of knowledge brokers. Yet, the findings also indicate weaknesses including paucity of critical learning objectives, solution-oriented research methodology, and follow-up research on implementation. Through the comparative design, the study reveals improvement strategies for the identified challenges and provides guidance for design and redesign of PPBL courses.
Support for these activities was provided by two grants from the NSF Grants: NSF CCLI No. 0817589: Renewable Energy and Engaged Interdisciplinary Learning for Sustainability (REELS) PI‐Shakouri; NSF CCLI 0837151: SEED‐LP. PI Lipshutz. Bacon thanks the S.V. Ciriacy‐Wantrup Postdoctoral Fellowship for support. Tim Galarneau, James Proctor, and Max Boykoff shared insightful comments during panel at the Association for Environmental Studies and Sciences annual meeting in Wisconsin. The authors are also grateful for the ongoing curiosity, creativity and commitments of the many students involved in these courses and projects.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to summarize and discuss the results from the LIVING LAB design study, a project within the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union. The aim of this project was to develop the conceptual design of the LIVING LAB Research Infrastructure that will be used to research human interaction with, and stimulate the adoption of, sustainable, smart and healthy innovations around the home. Design/methodology/approach – A LIVING LAB is a combined lab-/household system, analysing existing product-service-systems as well as technical and socioeconomic influences focused on the social needs of people, aiming at the development of integrated technical and social innovations and simultaneously promoting the conditions of sustainable development (highest resource efficiency, highest user orientation, etc.). This approach allows the development and testing of sustainable domestic technologies, while putting the user on centre stage. Findings – As this paper discusses the design study, no actual findings can be presented here but the focus is on presenting the research approach. Originality/value – The two elements (real homes and living laboratories) of this approach are what make the LIVING LAB research infrastructure unique. The research conducted in LIVING LAB will be innovative in several respects. First, it will contribute to market innovation by producing breakthroughs in sustainable domestic technologies that will be easy to install, user friendly and that meet environmental performance standards in real life. Second, research from LIVING LAB will contribute to innovation in practice by pioneering new forms of in-context, user-centred research, including long-term and cross-cultural research.
Purpose
Academic sustainability programs aim to develop key competencies in sustainability, including problem‐solving skills and the ability to collaborate successfully with experts and stakeholders. These key competencies may be most fully developed in new teaching and learning situations. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the kind of, and extent to which, these key competencies can be acquired in real‐world learning opportunities.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper summarizes key competencies in sustainability, identifies criteria for real‐world learning opportunities in sustainability programs, and draws on dominant real‐world learning models including project‐ and problem‐based learning, service learning, and internships in communities, businesses, and governments. These components are integrated into a framework to design real‐world learning opportunities.
Findings
A “functional and progressive” model of real‐world learning opportunities seems most conducive to introduce students (as well as faculty and community partners) to collaborative research between academic researchers and practitioners. The stepwise process combined with additional principles allows building competencies such as problem solving, linking knowledge to action, and collaborative work, while applying concepts and methods from the field of sustainability.
Practical implications
The paper offers examples of real‐world learning opportunities at the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University, discusses general challenges of implementation and organizational learning, and draws attention to critical success factors such as collaborative design, coordination, and integration in general introductory courses for undergraduate students.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to sustainability education by clarifying how real‐world learning opportunities contribute to the acquisition of key competencies in sustainability. It proposes a functional and progressive model to be integrated into the (undergraduate) curriculum and suggests strategies for its implementation.
The benefits of a compulsory internship in environmental science education were investigated with respect to the three institutional goals of university education: (a) training for research, (b) professional education, and (c) general natural science education. A survey examined which student qualifications are improved by an internship complementary to traditional university education. The survey assessed 14 qualifications of students participating in a compulsory 15-week internship in the 5-year diploma program at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich). Pre- and postinternship questionnaires of 478 students and 293 supervisors are included. Results indicated that internships enhance general abilities and key qualifications, such as communication skills, report writing, organization of work, information acquisition, and the ability to operate independently. This suggests that internships are of high value to professional education. However, internships also seem to promote salient qualifications of complex environmental problem solving which are relevant for the development of research capabilities in environmental sciences. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 41: 24–46, 2004
Purpose
– This paper describes a set of recommendations that will aid universities planning to create sustainability education programs. These recommendations are not specific to curriculum or programs but are instead recommendations for academic institutions considering a shift towards “sustainability education” in the broadest sense. The purpose of this research was to consider the possible directions for the future of sustainability education at the university level.
Design/methodology/approach
– Through a series of workshops using a “value focused thinking” framework, a small team of researchers engaged a large number of stakeholders in a dialogue about sustainability education at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada. Recommendations were compiled from workshop data as well as data from 30 interviews of participants connected with decision‐making and sustainability at UBC.
Findings
– The recommendations include infusing sustainability into all university decisions, promoting and practicing collaboration and transdisciplinarity and focusing on personal and social sustainability. Other recommendations included an integration of university plans, decision‐making structures and evaluative measures and the integration of the research, service and teaching components of the university. There is a need for members of the university community to create space for reflection and pedagogical transformation.
Originality/value
– The intention of the paper is to outline the details of a participatory workshop that uses value‐focused thinking in order to engage university faculty and administration in a dialogue about sustainability education. Students, faculty and staff working towards sustainability education will be able to adapt the workshop to their own institutions.
This paper reviews recent achievements in sustainability science and discusses the research core and framework of sustainability science. We analyze and organize papers published in three selected core journals of sustainability science: Sustainability Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, and Sustainability: Science, Practice, & Policy. Papers are organized into three categories: sustainability and its definition, domain-oriented research, and a research framework for sustainability science. First, we provide a short history and define the basic characteristics of sustainability; then we review current efforts in the following research domains: climate, biodiversity, agriculture, fishery, forestry, energy and resources, water, economic development, health, and lifestyle. Finally, we propose a research framework for sustainability science that includes the following components: goal setting, indicator setting, indicator measurement, causal chain analysis, forecasting, backcasting, and problem-solution chain analysis. We emphasize the importance of this last component for improving situations and attaining goals.
2010 Sustainability Conference, Kansans Advancing Sustainability in Higher Education, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, January 29-30, 2010
Meeting fundamental human needs while preserving Earth's life support systems will require an accelerated transition toward sustainability. A new field of sustainability science is emerging that seeks to understand the fundamental character of interactions between nature and society and to encourage those interactions along more sustainable trajectories. Such an integrated, place-based
science will require new research strategies and institutional innovations to enable them especially in developing countries still separated by deepening divides from mainstream science. Sustainability science needs to be widely discussed in the scientific community, reconnected to the political agenda for sustainable development, and become a major focus for research.
Sustainability is being integrated into higher-education institutions' mission and planning, curricula, research, student life, and operations.
Now that the Earth has reached the limits of its biophysical carrying capacity, we have to change technologies, social practices and social norms relating to material production and consumption to ensure that we do not further jeopardize the functioning of our planet's life support systems. Through research, education and civic engagement, universities have a pivotal role to play in this transition. This timely book explores how universities are establishing living laboratories for sustainable development, and examines the communication networks and knowledge infrastructures that underpin impact both on and beyond the campus.
The first evidence linking climate change and human emissions of carbon dioxide was painstakingly assembled in 1897 by Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius. What began as an interesting but seemingly unimportant conjecture about the effect of rising carbon dioxide on temperature has turned into a flood of increasingly urgent and rigorous warnings about the rapid warming of Earth and the dire consequences of inaction. Nonetheless, the global dialogue on climate is floundering while the scientific and anecdotal evidence of rapid climate destabilization grows by the day.
There is considerable debate regarding the contribution to be made by higher education institutions and the researchers they employ in realising environmentally sustainable urban spaces, and the relationship between academic research and lay knowledge. Drawing on previous work, the paper identifies roles that may be played by academic researchers in building sustainable urban locations. Adopting a focus on sub-city scale phenomena the paper illustrates how the roles played are affected by structural and non-structural factors which also shape the nature of collaboration among university researchers and other participants in urban sustainability projects. The paper does this on the basis of analysis and reflection upon research and related activities taking place over the period 2007–2011 in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England, focussing on a project called Newcastle Low Carbon Neighbourhoods. The paper finds that academic researchers play multiple, sometimes conflicting roles in such initiatives, and that national structural and locally contingent factors affect the manner of collaboration with non-specialists and the durability of urban sustainability projects. It concludes that more conventional project arrangements may avoid some difficulties associated with such complex projects but potentially denude them of their richness and originality.
This paper provides and illustrates a generic framework for deep learning in a Sustainability-based course for higher education instruction. The use of Sustainability Consulting Projects is detailed with potential application to similar programs as part of their Sustainable Education curriculum. Using four disparate institutions of higher learning across the eastern coast of the United States we can complete an exploratory analysis of the framework. This analysis will provide us opportunity to identify and characterize community sustainability projects and their contribution to higher order, integrative and reflective learning. This deep learning framework and model will be helpful to curriculum developers and instructors who wish to introduce these types of projects into their courses and curriculum. These processes and tools may be integrated into current Sustainability Management courses or used as the basis for development of specific courses focused specifically on this topic; e.g., Sustainability Consulting or as a capstone course. Lessons learned and framework design and implementation provide opportunities for further research and development of these courses.
In universities, the need for education associated with sustainability is widely accepted and it is increasingly being introduced. However, the associated concepts and terms are contested—education for sustainable development and education for sustainability represent increasing levels of change required in curricula, while achieving sustainable education will require even greater change. A transformative pedagogy underlies and contributes to the extent of the change, as more argue for a range of analytical and context-related skills to be developed in students. To operationalize education associated with sustainability, teaching approaches must focus on elements relating to the processes of learning, rather than the accumulation of knowledge—to develop graduates with capabilities to improvise, adapt, innovate, and be creative. Skills such as interdisciplinary thinking, problem solving, team working, and holistic thinking are often mentioned. These skills are encompassed by the pedagogy of problem-based learning (PBL), which provides students with opportunities to learn to think, specifically ‘‘how to think’’ rather than ‘‘what to think,’’ and potentially within the framework of sustainability. Consequently, it is important to identify the commonalities of transformative learning, sustainable education and PBL. A key link here is critical thinking, and the challenge is to transform our pedagogy across all disciplines to have academics and students thinking critically. This article elaborates on these points and argues that the development of thinking is the critical element in education related to sustainability.
Despite a growing recognition that the solutions to current environmental problems will be developed through collaborations between scientists and stakeholders, substantial challenges stifle such cooperation and slow the transfer of knowledge. Challenges occur at several levels, including individual, disciplinary, and institutional. All of these have implications for scholars working at academic and research institutions. Fortunately, creative ideas and tested models exist that provide opportunities for conversation and serious consideration about how such institutions can facilitate the dialogue between scientists and society.
Purpose – The primary purpose of this paper is to provide a concrete example of how experiential learning approaches (from internships in global policy institutes to visiting communities in rural Amazonia to meeting with officials from inter-governmental organizations) can be implemented in order to most effectively meet specific educational goals in international sustainability studies. Design/methodology/approach – Using four key educational goals as the framework for discussion, the author presents a multi-dimensional international experiential program at American University as an example of how non-traditional educational approaches can be used to supplement the traditional lecture-based format. Findings – The case illustrates how experiential learning offers an educational experience that most effectively: connects the academic with the practice, fosters an effective interdisciplinary curriculum, links students to work experience and job opportunities, and engages and empowers students. Research limitations/implications – This paper contributes to the literature on experiential learning and sustainability studies and argues that experiential learning approaches deserve greater attention in theory and practice. Practical implications – The unique institutional and course structure presented in this case is unlikely to be replicated in most higher education settings, but select elements of this model can be incorporated into traditional institutional settings to enhance lecture-centric curricula. Originality/value – The paper takes on the difficult task of simultaneously addressing traditional goals (e.g. connecting theory with practice; preparing students for the job market) with less traditional goals (e.g. engaging and empowering students) in higher education. This paper illustrates how these goals are often mutually reinforcing.
Experience and Educationis the best concise statement on education ever published by John Dewey, the man acknowledged to be the pre-eminent educational theorist of the twentieth century. Written more than two decades after Democracy and Education(Dewey's most comprehensive statement of his position in educational philosophy), this book demonstrates how Dewey reformulated his ideas as a result of his intervening experience with the progressive schools and in the light of the criticisms his theories had received. Analysing both "traditional" and "progressive" education, Dr. Dewey here insists that neither the old nor the new education is adequate and that each is miseducative because neither of them applies the principles of a carefully developed philosophy of experience. Many pages of this volume illustrate Dr. Dewey's ideas for a philosophy of experience and its relation to education. He particularly urges that all teachers and educators looking for a new movement in education should think in terms of the deeped and larger issues of education rather than in terms of some divisive "ism" about education, even such an "ism" as "progressivism." His philosophy, here expressed in its most essential, most readable form, predicates an American educational system that respects all sources of experience, on that offers a true learning situation that is both historical and social, both orderly and dynamic.
Obra en la que se trata de repensar la educación para encaminar al individuo a entender que el medio ambiente tiene un propósito ligado a su existencia. No se insiste en enseñar únicamente los cuidados ambientales sino incluirlos como una práctica educativa de valor dentro del hombre y dentro de la supervivencia del mismo.
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