19. Sustainability or survival

A new scientific report by the World Bank called "Turn Down the Heat" says the world is heading down a path to heat up by 4 degrees (keeping in mind the scientific world thinks we should remain below 2 degrees) at the end of the century if the global community fails to act on climate change, triggering a cascade of major changes that include extreme heat-waves, declining global food stocks and a sea-level rise affecting hundreds of millions of people. President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim says the world must tackle the problem of climate change more aggressively. It seems to me we are shifting from a discussion on sustainability to that of survival. Perhaps this might jolt us into action!

18. Creativity and Sustainability

The last couple of days I have spent at the Thriving Neighbourhoods Conference in Melbourne.This event brought together a diverse range of people from around Australia, as well as from New Zealand, Canada, USA (virtually via video link), South Africa, Japan and Europe. The topic under discussion was how do we move towards thriving, resilient, sustainable communities. Based on the idea that it is communities or neighbourhoods that make up our cities, and cities that make up our countries. Among many interesting presentations, we were able to hear from and speak to Richard Florida, author of several major books on creativity, via video link from the USA. This was a great example of how well virtual meetings can work! Richard spoke for 30 minutes about his work and how his ideas link directly to the conference theme of thriving neighbourhoods. He then answered questions from the audience for about 30 minutes. By the end, I think I can say everyone in the room was inspired by this interaction and excited about the prospects of how such virtual communication could be greatly expanded at conferences (especially in Australia, which is quite a long way from just about everywhere). The content of the talk and discussion with Richard raised some big questions about how we can better integrate creativity with sustainability. It's not a given that more creativity equals more sustainability. I think this is a key area of research and action.

17. Thriving Neighbourhoods

Next week I will be attending and speaking at the Thriving Neighbourhoods Conference in Melbourne. It is a conference on emerging global approaches to the planning, design and management of communities and cities that are set to radically improve the sustainability, liveability, health, and productivity of communities. Here is what I will be saying and presenting ...

Advancing Sustainable Urban Transformation: Learning from the Future?

Diverse processes of transformation, which lead to altered urban functions and new local needs and opportunities, constantly influence cities. Interpreting these different development processes and identifying and realising opportunities are growing challenges. There are exciting prospects for creating more sustainable and liveable urban environments because cities are focal points for creativity that provide possibilities for technological, organisational and social innovations. However, in spite of increased awareness and ambitions, there are few powerful initiatives that decisively shift urban development in a sustainable direction. A complex array of reasons is responsible for this situation, encompassing a lack of urgency of getting on with the changes that are needed and therefore inadequate political, business or broader social support, fragmentation in research activities as well as in urban practice and planning, and a significant separation between science and practice. The emerging concept of sustainable urban transformation places a strong emphasis on structural transformation processes – broad, multi-dimensional and radical change – that can effectively direct urban development towards sustainability. This involves understanding cities as a source of possibilities, promoting active collaboration among diverse stakeholders (particularly researchers and practitioners), and integrating different perspectives and bodies of knowledge and expertise. This presentation is based on a Special Volume of the Journal of Cleaner Production on Advancing Sustainable Urban Transformation, which contains 20 articles with experiences, insights and outlooks from over 40 cities in a diversity of countries around the world. This Special Volume contributes to knowledge and understanding on governance and planning, innovation and competitiveness, lifestyle and consumption, resource management and climate mitigation and adaptation, transport and accessibility, buildings, and social interaction and public space. Importantly, the lessons from this Special Volme are not only from the past and present, but from the future visions, plans and strategies for cities and communities in the context of sustainable urban transformation.

16. Massive Open Online Courses and Education for Sustainability

I have recently become rather interested in the development and possibilities of Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs and Education for Sustainability. These two themes clearly fit together. MOOCs are free, online courses often delivered by universities. Essentially, the number of people that can take a MOOC is unlimited. It's fair to say that education for sustainability could be making a much greater impact through MOOCs. Check out this short film for a nice introduction to what a MOOC can deliver and how it works.

At my work in Sweden, we have been using online, distance education for our Masters Program for some years now. This is of course limited to only the 30-40 students who make it into our Masters Program each year. But the idea of developing a MOOC on sustainability makes a whole lot of sense. Interestingly, Melbourne University just joined Coursera which is a company partnering with top universities  to offer MOOCs. It is easy to see how this can lead to opening up knowledge and understanding that is locked away in universities to millions of people around the world. Wow!

15. Living Labs

I just had a very interesting phone meeting about the design and implementation of a new Cooperative Research Centre (or CRC) on Low Carbon Living in Australia. A substantial amount of funds has been invested into this initiative with the aim "to provide government and industry with social, technological and policy tools to overcome identified market barriers preventing adoption of cost effective low carbon products and services, while maintaining industry competitiveness and improving quality of life". Sounds impressive, and the list of key partners is also a good mix of industry, government and academia. I was discussing the concept of living labs and experiences from Sweden and Europe. In short, living labs can be described as a concept or model for better collaboration, which integrates research and innovation processes in a private-public-people partnership. There is growing interest in living labs, how they work, how they start and develop, and what kinds of impacts can flow from them. The European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) provides a good overview of activities in Europe, which is now spreading out around the world, including Australia. I get the feeling there is great opportunities here for collaboration between Sweden/Europe and Australia!