6. Time for UniverCities

In Lund, Sweden, which is a university town of about 100,000 people, the local municipality and Lund University have recently established a collaboration to explore how the city and university can better work together on climate change and sustainable development in the local urban context. It is in fact rather disturbing how little universities and cities actually collaborate. A fact that has been highlighted in several reports and research projects. But we do appear to be seeing a move towards closer partnerships between cities and universities around the world, as local municipalities grapple with the weight of expectations that they can transition or transform into low-carbon, resilient and liveable/attractive cities. At the same time, universities are becoming more open to engaging with key local stakeholders, such as cities, to bring about much needed change to respond to global and local challenges. I will embark on a small research project to look at what Melbourne is doing on this front. As a first step I met with key people at the City of Melbourne to learn about what is happening today, and what might happen in the near future. As a city with a critical mass of universities and high ambitions to be in the “top ten” of the most sustainable and liveable cities in the world, it is fair to say that much greater and more innovative collaboration is needed in Melbourne (and this is similar for other cities around the world). But it seems the time might be ripe for some new and more “radical” suggestions on how universities and cities can move towards UniverCities – in other words breaking down the signifcant boundaries between these organizations? An immediate idea would be to place researchers inside city administrations for short and medium stays, so that (among other things) organizational workings can become much clearer. ICLEI has started such a program. This works both ways of course. A further idea is engage large numbers of senior students at universities in visioning and engagement exercises within cities. Something that VEIL is doing. I will return to this theme later in the year!