The MISTRA application for the Göteborg Center of Excellence for
Sustainable Urban Futures
CONTENTS
1. Summary of the center vision, critical issues and Consortium strengths 2. Organization of the center –principle characteristics
3. Funding: 2010 -2011 First two years of the establishment of the center
1. Summary of the center vision, focal issues and strengths
The vision
The world leading Göteborg center provides innovative solutions for sustainable urban development globally that are academically excellent, practically effective and socially relevant.
The center goals
We will fulfill our vision by:
o Improving understanding of how economic, social, environmental and technological changes interact to shape sustainable urban futures.
o Establishing meaningful meeting places for collaboration, communication and learning between research and practice.
o Developing and spreading the capacity for transdisciplinary collaboration within research, practice, decision-support, assessment and dissemination.
o Influencing both local and international debate and policy making about how change can be shaped to promote the sustainability of cities and urban regions.
o Developing and maintaining a high profile, robust reputation as a world-leading national and international center of excellence and social relevance.
Critical challenges for sustainable urban development
Cities and urban regions around the world are the most important and decisive arenas for human activities. Urban areas contain the driving forces and mechanisms for socio-economic growth, production and consumption as well as constitute the habitat of a rapidly growing share of the world’s population. Urban areas are both the drivers and victims of climate change and resource constraints. Thus, it is in cities and urban areas that the necessary interventions for efficient use and fair distribution of resources and mitigation of environmental problems as well as the promotion of human well-being and health have to take place. One of the most crucial problems today is how to mobilize the necessary will and
capacity of all stakeholders to build shared awareness and shape joint intentions and actions
that can both promote change and innovation and at the same time address the conflicting social interests involved. Mobilizing this will and capacity is the overall focus of the Göteborg Center – to make real change happen.
What are the critical issues?
In an initial collaborative process involving international and local partners, three critical
1. Urban Livability and Health
o Social and natural conditions for well-being and health o Healthy buildings and attractive and safe public spaces o Innovative developments for social entrepreneurship
2. Urban Structures and Growth
o Urban mobility and access
o The built environment and technical support systems o Urban-rural interactions in functional urban regions o Environmentally sound economic growth
3. Urban Environment and Climate Change
o Effective energy use and urban energy systems o Consumption, well-being and climate impact o Risk mitigation and Eco-Security
These critical issues will be the focus areas of the initial projects and research that is undertaken at the center. They will be approached from four thematic areas which are of great relevance to the challenges of sustainable urban development and will therefore constitute the broader framework of the research at the center. These are: Metabolism & Land Use,
Socioeconomics & Culture, Understanding Complexity and Governance. These areas
cover essential fields of disciplinary knowledge and expertise where relevant performance and assessment criteria can be generated and experts for transdisciplinary work can be recruited. The links between these thematic areas represent the challenging interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary questions that must be addressed for sustainable urban development. For example: What kinds of social and economic systems have the best potential to mitigate the risks linked to global environmental changes? How can environmentally sustainable economic growth be promoted? How can the limitations and constraints of existing knowledge be effectively understood and managed in urban development processes? Approaches from transdisciplinary capacity building will identify and address crucial knowledge gaps within and between these areas as well as their relevance for the critical issues outlined above.
How will this be done?
Research at the center will be conducted in transdisciplinary settings around selected topics within the above presented critical issues in comparative case studies and in critical assessment of on-going projects and processes locally and internationally. More action-oriented approaches for demonstration and application will occur in application platforms that will be linked to ongoing processes and projects in the Göteborg urban region and/or to the urban regions of our interaction partners. There will also be a separate unit for developing educational opportunities for both researchers and practitioners which will focus on the theoretical, methodological and individual skills necessary for successful transdiciplinary collaboration. The center will be organized in the following meeting places, processes and activities:
o Collaboration processes for dialog and cooperation among and between researchers, practitioners, decision makers in private and public sectors and stakeholders from community organizations.
o Application platforms for testing and comparing concrete cases, projects and demonstrations.
o Communication arenas for the collection, organization and dissemination of results on sustainable urban development including active knowledge
translation for bridging the gaps between different types of stakeholders.
o Capacity building activities such as training and courses as well as developing skills, theories, methods and tools needed for transdisciplinary collaboration, research and social learning.
Why Göteborg?
The Göteborg urban area and region is currently at the forefront in multi-level governance and cross sector activities, supporting processes that are innovative and pioneering both at local, regional, national and international levels. Göteborg, a coastal city in West Sweden and the main port to Scandinavia, faces challenges similar to cities and urban regions in the world that constitute the future habitat and life world of a majority of the growing world population. Specific processes and projects address societal responses to climate change, sustainable mobility and urban development, resource constraints as well as socioeconomic and cultural challenges and provide examples of good practice and strong leadership worthy of research for the dissemination of new knowledge and experience. These efforts are guided by the politically adopted vision of ‘The Good Life’ in Västra Götaland and its local interpretation for ‘Sustainable Growth’ in the Göteborg urban region. These established political and implementation processes already provide existing forums, arenas and platforms for collaborative capacity building. The University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology also have strong research capacity, (f. ex. 40% of environmental research is conducted in the Göteborg region), and extensive international networks within the relevant areas, (f. ex. Chalmers is the Swedish partner university for the UN-HABITAT and part of the Alliance for Global Sustainability (AGS)), and are well prepared for the challenges of integrating excellence and relevance. Thus work at the center can start immediately and have direct impact in local as well as international contexts.
The MISTRA Difference
The MISTRA investment in the center will enable the Consortium partners to take better advantage of and further develop their existing strengths, by creating the time and space needed for collaboration, learning, reflections, testing, assessment and interaction on local and international levels, all of which are necessary for the establishment and long-term development of the functions and activities of the center including an enhanced capacity for local and international integration and collaboration. Overall, the MISTRA difference will enhance the center’s ability to establish and maintain a high profile, robust reputation as a national and international center of excellence for promoting change and influencing local and international debate regarding the sustainability of cities and regions. More specifically, it will also enhance the center’s ability to:
o Develop and spread the capacity for transdisciplinary collaboration within and between research, practice, decision-support, assessment and dissemination.
o Establish an academically world leading research tradition on
transdisciplinary theory, methods and collaboration, fostering a new
generation of capable teachers, researchers and practitioners.
o Carry out comparative case studies by linking results from local transdisciplinary research and practice with comparable cases and projects from within our international interaction platforms.
o Create a Knowledge Hub for effective organization, communication and translation of research and practice results, both locally and internationally.
2. The organization of the center
The center, owned jointly by the consortium partners who are represented in the Steering Committee, will provide a stable platform that is neutral, inclusive, transparent and flexible to changed priorities according to changed requirements in a long-term perspective. It will be linked to international interaction platforms with similar visions, as well as to a broader sphere of interested local, regional and national partners in relevant networks. This center offers a unique opportunity to directly link local and regional actors with international research and practice through the international interaction platforms. Staff at the center working for the local interaction platform will be engaged both from the partner organizations, to ensure active collaboration, and internationally for complementary skills and excellence. Partners from business and civil society will be represented in the Advisory Board together with key persons from local and international research and practice partners. The center will have a permanent location in central Göteborg for the leadership, supporting staff, guest researchers/practitioners, and facilities for meetings, workshops, information and education activities etc. as well as semi-permanent platforms on sites where studies and collaboration take place locally or internationally.
The principle characteristics of the center organization will be:
o A unique and equal partnership including universities, public agencies, and research institutes with well represented decision-making and strategic planning.
o Broad expertise in our Advisory boards from research, businesses and community groups to ensure academic excellence, practical efficiency and social relevance of the work that is carried out at the center.
o An innovative structure and leadership focusing on building collaborative forums, communication arenas, educational opportunities and practical platforms for demonstrations and applications.
3. Funding 2010 - 2011
The center will be funded by both external funding from MISTRA and matching funds from the Consortium partners. (See the Excel file).
