Sustainability in Cities and Campuses

Dear Colleagues,

University campuses, as well as other types of campuses (industrial, research,…) and any kind of complex organizations, often have all the characteristics of a city, becoming interesting prototypes for developing innovative proposals for the improvement of urban life. This opportunity is facilitated by the presence on university campuses of many research areas which helps the search for solutions to multidisciplinary problems.

Problems related to sustainability are inherently interdisciplinary, since the early definition of sustainable development which appeared as a global concern in 1987—Brundtland Report, by the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED).

Furthermore, university campuses are in close relationship with cities hosting them and, naturally, interrelationships are generated between them which can produce innovative methodologies and tools for analysis and advanced studies in several scientific sectors, also useful for the economic, social and environmental issues.

Universities play a dual role with regard to sustainability; on the one hand, they can take measures to reduce and mitigate their impact as actors, on the other hand, they have an impact on training the future ruling classes and their sustainability skills. However, the role of universities is not simply to teach and research. Recently, in Italy, the so-called third mission, through which they contribute to the growth of society, is gaining importance.

The social role of universities, within the community, can and must help to develop and promote the skills needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals set out by the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

This Special Issue “Sustainability in Cities and Campuses” aims at collecting high-quality works about implementations, case studies, higher education courses, researches and new trends that qualify Universities and Cities as a driver to sustainable development from a multidisciplinary perspective: cultural, technical, economic, social, environmental.

It is a matter of fact that in the last three years the COVID-19 pandemic crisis has had a huge impact on the lifestyle change of both cities and university campuses. Numerous solutions to various economic, social and environmental problems related to sustainability have arisen from this crisis. SI also intends to collect contributions relating to experiences, case studies, research, and anything else that has been done to overcome the pandemic crisis, to prevent future crises and, in any case, to make cities and campuses more resilient.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Raffaele Zinno
Prof. Dr. Gianfranco Franz
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Guido
Dr. Pierfrancesco Celani
Guest Editors

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