The Pathways to Sustainability and Urban Futures Studio groups at Utrecht University embarked on generating this Atlas of Universities for Sustainable Futures as part of a broader research project to inspire and inform our own efforts to become a Sustainability University.
The research project began with a large-scale search of a broad-array of literature, databases and rankings to find innovative and beyond-the-status-quo approaches that universities and higher education institutions are taking to address the climate crisis and just sustainability transitions
We selected some of the most innovative thought leadership and examples of sustainability in higher education, categorized different sustainability approaches, and conducted in-depth case studies with select universities. To share all of these resources, we created the Atlas of Universities for Sustainable Futures to serve as a central place of inspiration for individuals, groups and whole institutions seeking to innovate their sustainability curriculum, campus or entire institutional approach.
The institutions represented in the atlas are not intended to be comprehensive or provide a normative definition of what a Sustainability University is; they are rather intended to highlight innovative and beyond-the-status-quo thought leadership towards sustainability in higher education.
This is intended to inspire university stakeholders and change-makers to imagine and realise visionary transformations.
This approach is inspired by the Seeds of Good Anthropocenes project which identified and mapped projects and agents of socio-ecological transformation in order to empower people to plant these ‘seed’ visions of aspirational futures. Institutions were identified via a semi-structured literature review and systematic searches through databases, whole catalogues of specific relevant journals and journal collections and higher education rankings and reporting systems.
Approximately 5000 institutions were iteratively explored and appraised via their websites, institutional strategies and policies and peer-reviewed articles describing their approach. This led to researchers selecting institutes with a beyond-the-status quo approach to sustainability, and the generation of categories of sustainability approaches. Six universities were selected for a more in-depth case study, using an adapted transition management framework.
Pathways to Sustainability is an interdisciplinary, university-spanning group at Utrecht University which aims to foster radical innovation and transdisciplinarity among the broad university communities concerned with sustainability.
Pathways funds innovative and inter- and transdisciplinary projects in sustainability, performs its own research on sustainability approaches, and organises a wide array of dialogues, events, conferences and outreach initiatives. As one of the four overarching strategic themes of Utrecht University, Pathways is also composed of 9 thematic communities spanning multiple diverse sustainability challenges and approaches. The Pathways core team initiated the research project underpinning this atlas, with the aim of inspiring, informing and guiding its own efforts at rethinking sustainability approaches in higher education at Utrecht University and beyond.
Learn more here.
The team from Utrecht University supporting the Universities for Sustainable Futures Atlas
