气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): A sustainable campus for an uncertain future. Two cases of infrastructural transformation at Norway's largest university

CCPortal

DOI	10.1108/IJSHE-01-2023-0027
	A sustainable campus for an uncertain future. Two cases of infrastructural transformation at Norway's largest university
	Berker, Thomas; Henriksen, Hanne; Sutcliffe, Thomas Edward; Woods, Ruth
发表日期	2024
ISSN	1467-6370
EISSN	1758-6739
英文摘要	PurposeThis study aims to convey lessons learned from two sustainability initiatives at Norway's largest university. This contributes to knowledge-based discussions of how future, sustainable higher education institutions (HEIs) infrastructures should be envisioned and planned if the fundamental uncertainty of the future development of learning, researching and teaching is acknowledged.Design/methodology/approachThis study was submitted on 24 January 2023 and revised on 14 September 2023. HEIs, particularly when they are engaged in research activities, have a considerable environmental footprint. At the same time, HEIs are the main producers and disseminators of knowledge about environmental challenges and their employees have a high awareness of the urgent need to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. In this study, the gap between knowledge and environmental performance is addressed as a question of infrastructural change, which is explored in two case studies.FindingsThe first case study presents limitations of ambitious, top-down sustainability planning for HEI infrastructures: support from employees and political support are central for this strategy to succeed, but both could not be secured in the case presented leading to an abandonment of all sustainability ambitions. The second case study exposes important limitations of a circular approach: regulatory and legal barriers were found against a rapid and radical circular transformation, but also more fundamental factors such as the rationality of an institutional response to uncertainty by rapid cycles of discarding the old and investing in new equipment and facilities.Research limitations/implicationsBeing based on qualitative methods, the case studies do not claim representativity for HEIs worldwide or even in Norway. Many of the factors described are contingent on their specific context. The goal, instead, is to contribute to learning by presenting an in-depth and context-sensitive report on obstacles encountered in two major sustainability initiatives.Originality/valueResearch reporting on sustainability initiatives too often focuses descriptively on the plans or reports the successes while downplaying problems and failures. This study deviates from this widespread practice by analysing reasons for failure informed by a theoretical frame (infrastructural change). Moreover, the juxtaposition of two cases within the same context shows the strengths and weaknesses of different approaches to infrastructural change particularly clearly.
英文关键词	Circular economy; Infrastructure; Planning; Construction; Uncertainty
语种	英语
WOS研究方向	Science & Technology - Other Topics ; Education & Educational Research
WOS类目	Green & Sustainable Science & Technology ; Education & Educational Research
WOS记录号	WOS:001137069500001
来源期刊	INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/305365
作者单位	Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU); Norwegian Institute Nature Research
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Berker, Thomas,Henriksen, Hanne,Sutcliffe, Thomas Edward,et al. A sustainable campus for an uncertain future. Two cases of infrastructural transformation at Norway's largest university[J],2024.
APA	Berker, Thomas,Henriksen, Hanne,Sutcliffe, Thomas Edward,&Woods, Ruth.(2024).A sustainable campus for an uncertain future. Two cases of infrastructural transformation at Norway's largest university.INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION.
MLA	Berker, Thomas,et al."A sustainable campus for an uncertain future. Two cases of infrastructural transformation at Norway's largest university".INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SUSTAINABILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION (2024).