Topic Room "Steering our Cities towards Sustainability"

Workshop Sustainable university cafeterias

Giulia Fontana, ETH Zurich (Switzerland) Rosa Brown, University of Zurich (Switzerland) Lorenz Keysser, ETH Zurich (Switzerland)

The very first workshop in this topic room “students driven change on campus” was held by Giulia Fontana and Lorenz Keysser from ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

Photo: KNU/Wegener

They introduced their audience to the sustainability week which has been organized in Zurich yearly since 2013 focusing on the climate impact of food. Part of their project was to question what it takes to change people’s patterns of consumption towards a more sustainable model. They observed that people need intrinsic motivation and conviction to support a sustainable transformation at universities.

The participants learned about specific details which they could apply to their own universities, such as methods for establishing projects, ideas on how people can be persuaded to join and how greenwashing can be avoided. There was room to form tangible strategies and actions in accordance with each institution's own vision. It became clear that the situation at every university is unique and various factors need to be considered. Nevertheless, everyone agreed on universities having a responsibility to set good practice examples.

Photos: unsplash

The workshop was a great opportunity for everyone to discuss the current situation and problems they are facing, exchange ideas and get a new perspective on the circumstances at their university. It was motivating to see so many different people with similar dreams and visions for a sustainable university.

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Poster Active involvement of students in climate friendly behavior – the climate savings book (“Klimasparbuch”) as good practice example for community based change	The Universität Hamburg Center for a Sustainable University (Germany)
Workshop Learning by climate-friendly appropriation of space	Dr. Julia R. Kotzebue, University of Hamburg (Germany)

On Wednesday afternoon Dr. Julia R. Kotzebue from Universität Hamburg started the workshop with a presentation about “Learning by climate-friendly appropriation of space”. The audience were introduced to the project “Climate sustainable integrated campus” and learned about the need for a supportive environment for example in lecture rooms. Pictures of innovative buildings were shown and ideas for a “climate-friendly appropriation of space” such as green roofs or urban gardening projects led to an interactive discussion.

Photos: KNU/Westholm

Following this introduction, all participants started a campus walk to get a new perspective on the campus and to collect ideas on how it could become more sustainable. After the walk the participants were eager to present their creative ideas such as green roofs, solar panels, hanging gardens for the “Philoturm”, fruit trees and vegetables.

Photos: Daniela Friedrich

It was an eye-opening “walkshop” which motivated everyone to thinking beyond what we already know and are used to relating to architecture and construction of the buildings at the campus.

Presentation The university mobility management role in promoting accessibility, right to education and sustainability in Italy	Massimiliano Rossetti; Mario Boffi; Associate Prof. Dr. Matteo Colleoni, University of Milano Bicocca (Italy)
Presentation Defining a strategy for urban sustainability using the ‘vision zero’	Christina Kakderi; Nicos Komninos; Artemis Psaltoglou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)
Presentation Port Centers: a new tool for sustainable port-city relationships	J. M. Pagés Sánchez, HafenCity University Hamburg (Germany)
Presentation Landscape devastation as a result of poor sustainable urban development practice in Montenegro	Kosara Kujundzic, University of Belgrade (Serbia)

In slot 5 on Wednesday we had the pleasure to listen to three presentations concerning different spatial approaches for a transformation towards sustainability.

Workshop The application of sustainability thoughts in bioenergy development	Dr. Kesheng Shu; Kaili Wei, University of Hamburg (Germany)
Poster Sustainable Campus Management at FU Berlin	Andreas Wanke, Unit for Sustainability and Energy Management, Freie Universität Berlin (Germany)

The final workshop took place on Thursday, by Dr. Kesheng Shu and Kaili Wei, both from Universität Hamburg (Germany) and had the title “The application of sustainability thoughts in bioenergy development”.

Biomass power plant
Wikipedia / Rasi57

First, they gave an introduction to the topic of bioenergy and showed the underlying conflicts of interest. For the second part, the group was divided into a pro and a 'for' and 'against' team. Both groups started collecting arguments for their side. In the final discussion aspects like community benefits, climate change, social impacts, distribution and transportation, substitutions by the governments, problem of monocultures, forest fires and illegal burning and its effects on the ecosystem and the role of the bioenergy industry were discussed.

The discussion provided many insights, especially as some of the participants could even contribute personal experiences from their home countries (e.g. Mexico and Australia).

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