Sustainability Dialogues

Universities are not only the engine of thought and solutions for sustainable development - their activities shape current and future societal approaches to social and environmental sustainability - but are also arenas to experiment in complex social transitions.

The polycrises of our time demand that we transition the complex structure of higher education towards future-proof education, practice, operation and societal inclusion. This transition poses many questions, such as: 

• What decisions will allow us to steer away from ‘unsustainability lock-in’?  
• What could the sustainability university of the future look like? 
• How can existing examples and visions of sustainable, visionary and future-proof universities guide prefiguration, planning and realization of a future-proof university? 
• How do we coalesce the many ambitions within UU and create momentum for an (or many) ambitious and transformative sustainability approach(es)? 

These questions have a multitude of answers, and decisions made in the present and coming years have the power to make-or-break how future-proof the university will become. Prefiguring (imagining) a radically innovative and sustainable university of 2050 is one method of back-casting from where we would like to be to the changes and actions needed in the present. Guided by case study examples and speakers with bold ideas concerning the future of the university and the society of which we are a part, participants will engage in a prefiguration exercise around a sustainable future UU of 2050. 

Speakers

Adele Tufford from the Urban Futures Studio will spark our imaginations by discussing existing visions of Sustainability Universities. Ozan Alakavuklar from the Utrecht School of Governance will then discuss Utrecht’s role as an anchor institution for social change as a part of sustainability transformations. Karin Rebel, Professor in the Faculty of Geosciences and Director of Education at the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, and Sebastiaan Steenman, Professor and Director of the undergraduate school at the Utrecht School of Governance, both from the Sustainability Education and Engagement Community, will explore how sustainability can be embedded in all education programmes; and the roles that inter- and transdisciplinarity, such as community engaged learning, could play in that development. Lysanne van der Lem, director of the Sustainability Office, will discuss sustainability strategy, vision and ambitions at the level of UU governance. 

Guided by the speakers, participants will then engage in a prefiguration exercise where a sustainable future UU of 2050 is imagined.

The urban-rural divide is of all times, but seems to be increasingly mentioned in diverse discussions in recent years. The plans to tackle the nitrogen problem led to considerable unrest in Dutch society. This resulted in a huge election victory for the BoerBurgerBeweging in March. Many saw this as the result of a growing division between city and countryside or the `common people' and the urban elite: farmers produce the food for city dwellers, who then decide what the countryside should look like. Six months after the elections, we look at what is left of this supposed separation between city and countryside: what is it about when people talk about a divide? To what extent is there actually a divide or are urban and rural areas more intertwined than thought? 

Liesbeth van de Grift  will introduce us to the idea of the urban-rural divide: What is it about when people talk about a divide? Where does the idea historically come from and how does it take shape in our society? Liesbeth is professor of International History and the Environment. She specializes in the history of political representation through the lens of rural and environmental governance in the twentieth century. 

Sybe de Vries will share something about European legislation and the effect on the regional level. How much space does European legislation give to find solutions fit for a region? Sybe is professor of Public Economic Law. His research and education focus on EU Single market law, the twin green and digital transition of the EU Single Market, the social dimension of the EU internal market and the interconnection between EU free movement law, fundamental rights and public interests, including environmental, health, consumer and cultural interests.

A possible bridge between the urban and rural might be found in regional food strategies: Lucie Jeandrain (Amped) will talk about developments in the province of Utrecht. Currently Lucie is working on enhancing transparent multi-level collaborations to foster regenerative, robust and regional food systems in The Netherlands as well as the EU.

The discussion will be led by Evert Meijers. In the essay `It’s the politics, stupid: het Rijk en de spreiding van welvaart over het land’ (in Dutch, here) he addresses the regional distribution of welfare in the Netherlands and its political dimensions. Evert is associate professor in Economic Geography. In his work he aims to develop empirically underpinned territorial strategies that make cities and regions better able to satisfy human and societal needs.

The globalized food system plays a major role in some of societies’ most pressing challenges. It is a major contributor to biodiversity loss, climate change, disruption of the biogeochemical cycles of nitrogen and phosphorus, and land use change, which currently all exceed our planetary boundaries. At the same time, the diet associated with this food system brings major health risks linked to the high share of animal-based products, low share of fruit, vegetables and nuts, and dominance of highly processed foods rich in fat and added sugar, while lacking essential nutritional quality.

It is clear that drastic changes in our food system are needed if we are to solve these issues. But do the changes needed to tackle the environmental impact align with those needed for a healthy society? What would diets that are healthy for the planet, animals and humans look like? How can the current food system be restructured to produce those diets?

These are the main questions we will discuss with Prof Detlef van Vuuren (UU and PBL), Prof Yvonne van der Schouw (UMCU) and Ilse Geijzendorffer (Louis Bolk Institute). Moderator is Herman Lelieveldt (University College Roosevelt).

In this Sustainability Dialogue, we went beyond narrow understandings of citizen engagement as ‘public participation’. Instead, we sought to open the conversation around the questions i) ‘what’ citizen engagement in the energy transition (in the future can) consist of, ii) what this implies for the forms, processes of citizen engagements, and iii) what this suggests for ways in which researchers can contribute to more meaningful and effective forms of citizen engagement. The topic will be introduced through short pitches by Annelies Huygen, professor Energy Markets and Regulation (REBO), Irene Bronsvoort, PhD candidate 'Rethinking citizen engagement for an inclusive energy transition' (Urban Futures Studio & Copernicus, GEO), Sanne Akerboom, assistant professor of Regulation and Governance of the Energy Transition (Copernicus Institute, GEO) and was moderated by prof. dr. Albert Meijer. 

Irene Bronsvoort discussed her experience with developing the documentary ‘New Connections’ as a part of her PhD research into citizen engagement in the energy transition. The documentary is used as a ‘reflection tool’ in conversations with citizens, policymakers and others. The documentary can be viewed online.

While sustainability may at first appear to be an all encapsulating concept, it is also contested. Underlying the term are deeply political questions about the tensions between economic, social, and ecological goals; between the Global North and the Global South, and between future generations and the present. The new community Critical Pathways seeks to address such questions out of a deep conviction that only through critical (self-)examination and pause are we able to rethink and move forward. 

This Sustainability Dialogue addressed two such questions and discuss the following positions:

1. The intrinsic value of non-human nature should be recognized and underpin sustainability agendas more so than is currently the case.

2. Despite consensus that global warming and environmental degradation are caused by human activities, it remains difficult to hold people accountable within existing frameworks. Therefore, we need to rethink the categories of responsibility and accountability, as well as violence and agency.

Speakers Merel Soons, Professor of Plant Dispersal Ecology & Conservation and Vice-Chair of Future Food Utrecht; Franck Meijboom, Associate Professor of Ethics of Human-Animal Interaction; Daan van Uhm, Associate Professor in Criminology, specialized in Green Criminology; Susanne Knittel, Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and former Chair of the Utrecht Young Academy; Liesbeth van de Grift, Professor of International History and the Environment.

From the various areas of expertise within Pathways to Sustainability - energy, agriculture, nature, water, cities, living, working and economic developments - we will look at the ideal picture of the Netherlands in 2100, and in particular what challenges and obstacles we will encounter along the way. Are these challenges the same per area of expertise, different or conflicting? What difficult choices have to be made now and in the future to achieve a common goal? With the experts Gert Jan Kramer, Marjolijn Haasnoot, Martin Wassen, Hens Runhaar, Peter Pelzer and Ron Boschma.