https://www.uu.nl/en en Sat, 27 Apr 2024 03:22:00 +0200 Thu, 25 Apr 2024 10:00:00 +0200 https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/sustainable-belonging-in-a-migratory-world From most people’s gut perspective, belonging is rooted in a kind of from-ness. Like a tree, you are rooted in a place. Though it’s not easily admitted in liberal society, one’s rootedness is usually detected by skin colour and facial features. Even amongst the most welcoming of insiders, there is an unspoken assumption that those here first get to decide how things ought to be. On a secondary level, cultural behaviour confers belonging. “Okay, their grandparents aren’t from here, but at least they get our way of life.”​​​​​​​ But what is this “our” anyway?​​​​​​​ 139954 Thu, 25 Apr 2024 10:00:00 +0200 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/around-the-future-in-eighty-worlds Throughout history, people have tried to give shape to the future. This piece offers no comprehensive tour of this history. Yet it does share some glimpses of how we might see the future in different ways, or rather different worlds. Here we begin our journey around the future in eighty worlds, even if we visit just a few for now… 139166 Thu, 28 Mar 2024 12:00:00 +0100 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/opinie/thinking-from-the-north I just returned from a train trip up north with my partner and two-year-old daughter. Specifically, to Kiruna and Abisko in Sweden. Partly, I wanted to meet one of Europe’s peripheries and, in so doing, better understand its centres. Most of all, I hoped to engage with the Sami, the EU’s only recognised indigenous group. I was sorely disappointed. 138309 Thu, 07 Mar 2024 10:00:00 +0100 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/background/turning-the-classroom-into-a-social-movement Between November 2023 and January 2024, the Urban Futures Studio turned its’ annual Mixed Classroom into a fictive social movement. What can we learn from this experiment? 137887 Mon, 26 Feb 2024 10:00:00 +0100 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/notes-on-the-utopian-classroom Having spent much of my life in classrooms — as student or teacher, I have seen that learning goals and content only go so far. We must fundamentally reimagine the form of the classroom. Here I share my recent experiment in creating a utopian classroom. 137857 Fri, 23 Feb 2024 12:00:00 +0100 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/post-fossil-freedom Freedom remains one of the most evocative political rallying cries around the world. It is central to the notion of humanitarian intervention, which has dragged Western nations into war since the 18th century. It was successfully mobilised to found the welfare state. And it is now a buzzword for the nativists being swept to power across the world…Even if the urge for freedom speaks to something deep within us, what it means changes from place to place, and from one generation to the next. Both lessons are crucial for those wishing to mobilise environmental action. Those who write the book of freedom gain huge political rewards. 137546 Thu, 08 Feb 2024 11:00:00 +0100 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/an-experiment-in-musical-dreaming When offered the chance to perform a live musical opening for the 14th International Sustainability Transitions Conference, Josie Chambers, Steve Williams & Noor Noor sought to connect emotionally to where we are with sustainability transitions, yet also offer a glimpse of what could be. In this first blog they explore the question: can music deepen our reflection and imagination in global spaces? 137204 Mon, 29 Jan 2024 10:00:00 +0100 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/i-think-therefore-im-not-towards-another-way-of-knowing In David Abram’s enchanting The Spell of the Sensuous, he tells the story of how he lost the ability to commune with the more-than-human world. For me, one of the surest paths to losing connectedness was analysing my experiences for academic purposes. 136447 Tue, 19 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0100 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/spreading-the-climate-movement-beyond-the-vanguard-left-the-power-of-tradition The term 'tradition' is widely used to refer to indigenous wisdom and fossil-free farming. Such thinking is important in challenging modernist techno-optimism. But it also makes tradition seem like something that belongs to the past and political margins. 135062 Wed, 01 Nov 2023 12:12:00 +0100 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/magical-technology-and-the-colonialism-vanish-trick Many have long marvelled at humans’ capacity for technological innovation. Especially now, amid cascading environmental crises, technology seems to take on a magical quality. We acknowledge the many great things technological innovation has achieved. But holding faith with technological innovation alone is not only high risk: it ignores the exploitation of people and planet on which it depends. 133734 Wed, 20 Sep 2023 08:00:00 +0200 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/news/reflecting-on-the-sustainable-futures-summer-school Looking back on the summer school that took place from 3 - 7 July 2023 at the UU Botanical Gardens, organised by Urban Futures Studio. 132236 Thu, 20 Jul 2023 11:45:00 +0200 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/liberation-rituals-collective-liminality-for-transformative-change When it comes to environmental politics, everywhere we look, there’s a feeling of being stuck. UN summits take one step forwards and two steps back. Scientists are gluing their papers to buildings and their hands to the road because governments are failing to act. Most of us look on dejectedly, wondering what we’re supposed to do, or why we should do it if no one else does. 131558 Wed, 21 Jun 2023 12:12:00 +0200 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/news/new-database-of-sustainable-infrastructure-initiatives-from-africa The Urban Futures Studio and the African Centre for Cities launch www.infrahub.africa - a online database featuring sustainable infrastructure case studies from Africa as an entry point for imagining more sustainable, equitable cities. 131410 Mon, 05 Jun 2023 11:12:00 +0200 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/myths-of-a-sustainable-future In contemporary conversation, “myth” is commonly used to mean “misconception”. The usage stems from colonial times when anthropologists differentiated between primitive religions, replete with myths, and the scientific worldview. But in creating this dichotomy, the children of the Enlightenment have been doing themselves a disservice. 130486 Wed, 17 May 2023 12:12:00 +0200 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/opinion/why-religion-matters-for-climate-change-whatever-you-believe When you hear the words religion and climate change, many think of evangelical climate deniers and conspiracy theorists. Very few think of the pristine boardrooms of scientists and policymakers... 129567 Tue, 11 Apr 2023 14:09:00 +0200 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/news/share-your-vision-for-a-more-sustainable-future-and-win The Good Living 2050 contest aims to fill the gaps in our collective imagination by challenging contestants to develop images of what everyday life might look like in 3 decades’ time. 126973 Mon, 23 Jan 2023 12:03:00 +0100 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/news/documentary-new-connections-is-now-available-online The documentary 'New Connections', about the impact of energy transition in Rotterdam's Bospolder-Tussendijken neighbourhood, is now available online. The film is made by the Urban Futures Studio as part of a research project. 124465 Thu, 20 Oct 2022 13:09:00 +0200 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/background/students-and-policy-makers-in-one-classroom-learning-together In this field story we highlight the 'Mixed Classroom', an educational innovation developed by the Urban Futures Studio in which students from different disciplines and policy makers are part of one classroom where they learn from and with each other. 124209 Thu, 13 Oct 2022 08:34:00 +0200 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/news/join-our-collaboration-on-urban-sustainability-transformations We invite you to explore the options for your collaboration on transforming cities towards sustainability. 97097 Thu, 11 Jun 2020 12:22:00 +0200 Nieuws https://www.uu.nl/en/background/accelerating-the-sustainability-transformation How do we speed up to achieve breakthroughs in the sustainability transformation? Insights from the Pathways to Sustainability Conference 2020. 93625 Mon, 30 Mar 2020 12:46:00 +0200 Nieuws