Designing Responsible
Universities
The case of sustainability
A Global Responsibility
“We assume a collective responsibility to
advance and strengthen the interdependent and
mutually reinforcing pillars of sustainable
development – economic development, social
development and environmental protection – at
local, regional and global levels”
Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development
Emerging consensus
S&T for Sustainable Development
Nature and society are increasingly tightly coupled system at
all scales, goals for each must be pursued jointly
(i.e. sustainable development)
S&T must be a core component of strategies for attaining
those joint goals
Gaps persist between what science knows and what is
needed, accessible to support decisions
Research is required on how to build research, observation,
assessment and decision support systems that better bridge
the gap.
Innovative Approaches to Global Challenges
The role of the University
Time for universities to accelerate movement to
integrated science stage
Time to focus on outcomes as a new strong driver of
science
Time to embrace complexity
- Education
- Research
Sustainability Issues
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Urbanization
Water
Health
Energy
Agriculture/Food
Biodiversity and Ecosystems
Equity and Justice
Education
Sustainable Development
The role of science
Sustainability Science focuses
on the dynamic interactions
between nature and society,
Economic
Development
with equal attention to how
social change shapes the
environment and how
environmental change
shapes society.
Environmental
Protection
Social
Development
Sustainability Metrics
What gets measured, gets managed, and
what gets managed can be improved
Economic Sustainability
Productivity,
Technological Growth,
Profit and Employment
Sustainability
Issues
Environmental Sustainability
Human Health,
Ecosystem Health,
Biodiversity,
Natural Resources:
Protection and Restoration
Societal Sustainability
Informed Citizenry,
Stakeholder Participation,
Social Justice and Equity,
Consumer Choices, Provide
Opportunity for Useful And
Productive Lives
Vibrant, Economical
Sound and Livable
Communities have
realized the benefit of
promoting all three
attributes.
Core Research Questions
a)
b)
c)
d)
How do research, monitoring, assessment and politics
interact in shaping social responses to global
environmental change?
What makes some scientific assessments exert more
influence on decision making than others?
How would R&D agendas differ if we took goals of
sustainable development more seriously?
What are the barriers to implementing such agendas of
S&T for sustainability? What institutional reforms could
lower those barriers?
Science
Approaches to Inquiry
5,000 Years Before
1700
1700 - 2000
2000 -
Pre-Science
• Look at nature.
• Make educated guesses as to how it works.
Traditional Science
• Study nature.
• Hypothesize how it works.
• Test hypothesis.
• Make a very educated guess as to how it
works and what it means.
• Build theory (predictions).
Integrated Science
• Traditional science
• Expand and link
•Observation
•Experimentation
•Modeling
• Integrate with natural science.
• Integrate beyond natural science.
Outcome Based Inquiry
Outcome
Traditional
Science
Key
Questions
Specific
Tools/Understanding
to attain Outcome
Ensure environmental sustainability
Enhance economic and social development in less developed
areas of the United States and beyond.
Improve long-term quality of life through science-based solution
options
Science and Outcomes:
Examples of Integration
Outcome
Ensure Environmental
Sustainability
What science needs to be done to move toward this outcome?
Integrate
Ecosystem Science
and
Climate Science
• Everglades
Sustainability Forecast
• Colorado River
Basin Alert
Integrate
Physical System
Models and
Meteorology
• Habitat Threat Alerts
• Slope Stability Alerts
(Hurricane Mitch)
Integrate
Fishing
Management
Science and
Meteorology and
Climate Science
• Real Time Fishing
Limits
The Institutional Challenge
New institutional arrangements are
necessary to harness science and
technology to address the challenges we
face in reconciling our development goals
with the planet’s environmental limits.
Columbia Earth Institute
Cultural Core Driven
Arts & Sciences Core
Civilization & Culture
Quality-of-Life Driven
Health Sciences
Human Health
Economics & Social Needs Driven
Professional Schools
Professional Education
Sustainability Driven
Columbia Earth Institute
Global Citizenship
Columbia Earth Institute
History
A University-wide enterprise focused on Earth Systems (physical,
biological, and social)
A redesign of knowledge product mechanisms
A response to a critical societal need
Columbia Earth Institute
Addressing Global Challenges
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Climate and Society Interactions
Managing Water Scarcity
Clean Energy
Poverty Reduction
Ecosystems Monitoring
Global Public Health
Food, Ecology and Nutrition
Hazards
Urbanization
Columbia Earth Institute
Building Blocks
Deepen scientific expertise and understanding in its five core
disciplines (Earth sciences, engineering sciences, biological
sciences, social sciences, and public health sciences).
Initiate and expand cross-cutting activities that tie the disciplines
together in pursuit of solutions to complex problems.
Promote and participate in the design of global observation
systems that span the Earth, life, health, and social sciences.
Enhance education about Earth, the environment and its
interactions with human society, helping to create an engaged
citizenry as well as skilled professional who are able to integrate
across disciplines.
Enrich the breadth of Columbia faculty with new talent.
Build a new community of young scholars through a highly
selective fellowship program
Arizona State University
Arizona State University
4th largest university in the country. Expected to become the nation’s largest
university as it grows to 90,000+ students on 4 campuses in the Phoenix
Region
A Carnegie Doctoral/Research University, it is one of the top 15 universities,
public or private, in enrollment of National Merit Scholars
City of Phoenix, Arizona
Nation’s 5th largest city
Land area greater than Los Angeles
One of the nation’s fastest growing cities & regions
Maricopa County
Nation’s fastest growing county by actual numbers and a leader by
percent growth
Institutional Change:
ASU Design Imperatives
The University Must Embrace its Cultural, Socioeconomic,
and Physical Setting
The University Must Become a Force, and Not only a Place
The University as Entrepreneur
Pasteur’s Principle
Intellectual Fusion
Social Embeddedness
Global Engagement
ASU
New American University Sustainability
Initiatives
Sustainability Research
Sustainability Education
Sustainability Solutions
Sustainability Technology Development
Sustainability Campus Operations
Sustainability Initiatives at ASU
Core Values and Principles
Highest quality science and technology are fully integrated
and dedicated to solutions to pressing sustainable development
challenges
Knowledge creation and its application are of equal value, and
those individuals dedicated to these are equally rewarded
At the foundation is the belief that for information to be truly
useful, it needs to be “co-produced” through close collaboration
between scholars and practitioners
Sustainability Initiatives at ASU
Core Values and Principles
Adaptive learning, evaluation and adjustment, and
Institutional flexibility is critical
Ensure maximum effectiveness through strategic partnerships
with other academic institutions, government agencies and
industry
ASU must go beyond the Phoenix area, and serve the nation
and the broader global community
Greater Phoenix 2100
Goals
Develop visualization tools to help
policy-makers better understand
implications of their decisions
Make science and engineering
results more accessible
Promote regional and long-term perspectives
Partner with businesses and state agencies
Greater Phoenix 2100
Atlas
Air and Water Quality
Water Availability
Housing Affordability
Population Growth
Education of Diverse Groups
Open space preservation
Urban Heat Island
Regional Transportation
http://ces.asu.edu/
Greater Phoenix
2100
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SIM Phoenix
Decision Theater
• Urban-SAT(s)
Tempe Town
Lake
100 Cities Project:
Standardized, repeated urban remote sensing
Partners
Existing
Negotiating
Planned
100 Cities Project
Landsat MSS 1979
Landsat TM 1991
Phoenix Metroplex
ASTER 2001
100 Cities
Different sensors = different information
Las Vegas, NV, 17-Oct-2000
Visible to near-infrared
15 m/pixel
Major land cover
classes
Vegetation health
Soil properties
Soil contamination
Shortwave infrared
30 m/pixel
Urban surface materials
Rooftop materials
Energy use
Fugitive dust production
Metal contamination
Ecological communities
Thermal infrared bands
90 m/pixel
Surface energy balances
Regional climate models
Anthropogenic heat sources
Heat island development
Greater Phoenix
Urban Heat Island
Quality of Life Issues in Greater Phoenix
Local Issues:
Urban Heat Island
Dust
Noise
Social Justice
Ozone nonattainment
Excess asthmas and cancers
Impact on local ecology
Open Space/ Access to Recreational Activities
Education
Regional/ Global Issues
Impoverishment of Plants and Animals to supply our Urban
Environment
Increasing environmental liabilities elsewhere instead of developing
long term endowments (renewable supplies, etc.)
Vision for Arizona
Arizona, building on its existing strengths, will become a
premier national and international center for
“arid lands livability,” employing sustainability principles for:
• Water management, from source to sink and back again;
• Harnessing the sun for power, fuel, food and medicine;
• Sustainable manufacturing industries, including those based on
natural resources, such as forests and agriculture.
Arizona will have policies and regulations, and a business
climate that encourages sustainable operations by all
segments of society, so that industry growth occurs in
harmony with the environment.
As a result, Arizona will be the model for quality of life in
arid/semi-arid lands, and will export systems and services
worldwide, creating jobs and wealth for its citizens.
“Freedom from want, freedom
from fear, and the freedom of
future generations to sustain
their lives on this planet are the
3 grand global challenges for the
21st Century”
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in his
Millennium Report to the General Assembly