Designing%20Responsible%20Universities

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Designing Responsible Universities

• The case of sustainability

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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

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Emerging consensusST 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)
• ST 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.

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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

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Sustainability Issues

• Urbanization
• Water
• Health
• Energy
• Agriculture/Food
• Biodiversity and Ecosystems
• Equity and Justice
• Education

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Sustainable Development The role of science
Sustainability Science focuses on the dynamic
interactions between nature and society, with
equal attention to how social change shapes
the environment and how environmental
change shapes society.
Economic Development
Social Development
Environmental Protection
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Sustainability MetricsWhat gets measured, gets
managed, and what gets managed can be improved
Economic Sustainability Productivity, Technologica
l Growth, Profit and Employment
Environmental Sustainability Human Health,
Ecosystem Health, Biodiversity,
Natural Resources Protection and
Restoration
Sustainability Issues
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.
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Core Research Questions

1. How do research, monitoring, assessment and
   politics interact in shaping social responses to
   global environmental change?
2. What makes some scientific assessments exert more
   influence on decision making than others?
3. How would RD agendas differ if we took goals of
   sustainable development more seriously?
4. What are the barriers to implementing such
   agendas of ST for sustainability? What
   institutional reforms could lower those barriers?

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ScienceApproaches to Inquiry

• Pre-Science
• Look at nature.
• Make educated guesses as to how it works.

• 5,000 Years Before 1700
• 1700 - 2000
• 2000 -

• 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.

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Outcome Based Inquiry
Outcome
Specific Tools/Understanding to attain Outcome
Key Questions
Traditional Science

• 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

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Science and OutcomesExamples of Integration
Ensure Environmental Sustainability
Outcome
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

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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 planets environmental limits.

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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
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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

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Columbia Earth Institute Addressing Global
Challenges

• Climate and Society Interactions
• Managing Water Scarcity
• Clean Energy
• Poverty Reduction
• Ecosystems Monitoring
• Global Public Health
• Food, Ecology and Nutrition
• Hazards
• Urbanization

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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

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Arizona State University

• Arizona State University
• 4th largest university in the country. Expected
  to become the nations 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
• Nations 5th largest city
• Land area greater than Los Angeles
• One of the nations fastest growing cities
  regions
• Maricopa County
• Nations fastest growing county by actual numbers
  and a leader by
• percent growth

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Institutional ChangeASU 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
• Pasteurs Principle
• Intellectual Fusion
• Social Embeddedness
• Global Engagement

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ASU New American University Sustainability
Initiatives

• Sustainability Research
• Sustainability Education
• Sustainability Solutions
• Sustainability Technology Development
• Sustainability Campus Operations

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Sustainability Initiatives at ASUCore 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

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Sustainability Initiatives at ASUCore 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

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Greater Phoenix 2100Goals

• 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 Partne
r with businesses and state agencies
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Greater Phoenix 2100Atlas
http//ces.asu.edu/

• Air and Water Quality
• Water Availability
• Housing Affordability
• Population Growth
• Education of Diverse Groups
• Open space preservation
• Urban Heat Island
• Regional Transportation

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Greater Phoenix2100
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SIM Phoenix
Decision Theater

• Urban-SAT(s)

Tempe Town Lake
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100 Cities Project Standardized, repeated urban
remote sensing
Partners
Existing
Negotiating
Planned
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100 Cities Project
Landsat MSS 1979
Landsat TM 1991
Phoenix Metroplex
ASTER 2001
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100 Cities Different sensors different
information
Las Vegas, NV, 17-Oct-2000
Visible to near-infrared 15 m/pixel
Shortwave infrared 30 m/pixel
Thermal infrared bands 90 m/pixel
Urban surface materials Rooftop materials Energy
use Fugitive dust production Metal
contamination Ecological communities
Major land cover classes Vegetation health Soil
properties Soil contamination
Surface energy balances Regional climate
models Anthropogenic heat sources Heat island
development
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Greater Phoenix Urban Heat Island
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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.)

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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.

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• 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