The ENLIGHT regional academy on Smart, Sustainable cities and communities brought together academics, researchers, professionnals and policy makers in Bilbao to discuss the challenges faced by land planning and determine the key competences to be developped within a future educational programme.
Aligned with the ENLIGHT competence framework and innovative educational methodologies, the cooperation among the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Uppsala University, University of Groningen and Comenius University-Bratislava is building common educational initiatives that will shape future-proof professionals involved in the planning and design of future urban and rural spaces applying sustainability principles.
Policy makers from the Basque Regional Government, several municipalities, technological agencies, sustainability centres, academics and researchers took part in a round table and two group dynamics, aiming to identify practical challenges that can be addressed in educational programmes related to Smart and Sustainable Cities and Communities, and to determine the key competences that graduates thereof should have developped upon completion of the academic programme.
Among other contributions, participants mentioned the urgent need to enhance interdisciplinarity and cooperation to avoid competence silos in administration and companies. Also, the endorsement of key principles, such as trust, responsibility and engagement by the communities and private individuals is crucial for these professionals-to-be.
It was also mentioned that sustainabiility policies will result in many positive consequences but will also imply short-term complexities for some communities. Policy makers should, therefore, map these varied consequences and work on mitigation measures or alternatives for those who face difficulties in the view of more inclusive and sustainable territories.
The aging population, the still predominant fear of failure and misinformation campaigns were mentioned as critical threats to smarter and more sustainable communities.
Professionals in charge of these newly designed cities and territories should be good at coordinating diverse teams, with different technical backgrounds and diverse perspectives; have enough technical competence to be able to truly innovate; think “out of the box”, listening for instance to childrens´ views and wishes for future cities and communities; and be able to implement genuinely co-designed and co-created visions and plans.
The results of this event will be shared with the partners in the next workshop, foreseen to take place at the University of Groningen in the frame of the "Smart Sustainable Cities and Communities" ENLIGHT-funded Incubator grant.