Is there a place for resilience within sustainable university transition management?

Abstract

The implementation of sustainability standards in university campuses is a global trend. Yet, very few institutions are leading the way after systemic perspectives for campus sustainability, being often stuck in technocratic targets set around the regnant energy efficiency paradigms. This paper builds on a broader definition of what being a “Sustainable University” should mean, integrating four propeller blades for a sustainable transition: (i) the built-environment quality improvement, (ii) the civil society engagement (iii) the industry partners’ involvement and (iv) the public institutions support and collaboration in policies implementation. The paper aims at highlighting how resilience thinking could boost such holistic definition and its operationalisation. After un-packing the resilience metaphor through different management approaches in universities, sustainability strategies implemented in different case studies (in Italy, Mexico, the UK and Japan) are collected via focus groups and stakeholders interviews, and then framed along an integrated sustainability-resilience approach from literature reviews and innovative proposals.