The Role of University Campuses in Reconnecting Humans to the Biosphere

Johan Colding and Stephan Barthel
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Johan Colding: The Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 50005, Stockholm, Sweden
Stephan Barthel: Stockholm Resilience Center, Stockholm University, Kräftriket 2B, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 12, 1-13

Abstract: In this paper, we explore the potential for integrating university campuses in a global sustainability agenda for a closer reconnection of urban residents to the biosphere. This calls for a socio-cultural transition that allows universities and colleges to reconnect to the biosphere and become active stewards of the Earth System. Recognizing their pivotal role of fostering coming generations of humans, university campuses represent a unique socio-cultural setting to promote sustainable development in practice. Among others, this involves the nurturing of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Antropocene era, which is characterized by ongoing climate change and massive loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. We explore the traditional campus setting, its role as a community for rejuvenating town planning and its role as a governance authority that may promote or retard sustainable development with an ecological focus. We explore the “sustainable” university and describe the campus as an ecosystem and how a resilient campus can be designed to meet the novel and critical challenges of the Anthropocene. We conclude by providing some policy recommendations for higher educational institutes to speed up their ambitions in the area of sustainable biosphere management.

Keywords: sustainability; transition; universities; colleges; biosphere; urban; biodiversity; ecosystem services; management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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