The first Active8-Event: An opportunity to meet and reflect
After a (too) long period of uncertainty, trying to decide whether we will be finally able to physically meet for the first time during the Active8-Planet project, we were all very positively surprised when the voice of action came directly from our key project representatives and future ambassadors. It came from our enthusiastic students who are directly involved in the Active8-Planet 7+1 team projects, collaborating to make a difference that would lead us towards better and sustainable futures. Since they were all fed up with digital/hybrid education, the sole mention of a possibility of having a “virtual international mobility event” triggered doubts and reluctance. So, the decision was clear: Ljubljana it is!
Between 15th and 17th of May 2022, the Active8-Planet 7+1 teams met for the first time in Ljubljana, Slovenia, to share and reflect on their Active8-Planet team projects’ experiences gained in the first learning cycle. Following the ice-breaker get-together on Sunday evening, we kicked-off the following day with sharing our learning experiences and co-creating new ideas. Our event facilitators, Josine Bakkes from Regenerative Alliance and Stephanie Coreth from New Work led us through different workshops and challenges to immerse ourselves in several key questions, such as: What is teamwork and how effective it is? How to embrace ourselves and one another? What are ourunique strengths and how can we become aware of the strengths of others? How do we pitch an idea and what makes our team unique? How can we demonstrate and argue for the value of planet-centred development? The aim was to understand the value of the diversity of disciplinary knowledge and how our interdisciplinary collaboration contributed to solving specific environmental and societal challenges we dealt with in the first learning cycle. The workshops were followed by the official launch of our Active8-Planet card game, which is about awakening the superheroes and resisting the Dark Matter that wants to dominate the planet. An exciting and fun way to conclude our first day.
Since our Active8-Planet skills and team experiences were rather unique and unfamiliar to external audiences, our 7+1 teams presented the learning take-aways with other international students, academics, non-academic representatives, researchers, and media on the third international symposium “Green and Fun Cities of the Future” on Tuesday, 17 May. The event started with two keynote speeches from our Active8-Planet experts. Prof Griet Verbeeck from Hasselt University (Belgium) spoke about how the Doughnut economics, a framework for thinking about and achieving sustainability, can serve a compass for a green and fun city of the future. Following her presentation, Prof Vaike Fors from Halmstad University (Sweden) discussed how planners and developers can avoid boring (and inefficient) future mobility solutions by using people-centred design. After the keynotes the student teams shared with the audience their own ideas and solutions for the future, their Active8-Planet experiences and exchanged stories from their specific projects on sustainable mobility, energy efficiency, intergenerational solidarity, and social inclusion. The event was wrapped up with a moderated panel discussion of the key themes that emerged during the symposium, followed by informal networking and celebratory drinks.
Still, not all went as we hoped. Even though we had beautiful weather in Ljubljana, some Active8-Planet students were not able to join the event. The pandemics and traveling sustainably across Europe do require sacrifices and cost a lot of time. Time that some students did not have, while writing their thesis, keeping up their jobs to pay for their rent and translating their findings to be of use for their company partner. Many attempts were made to make a sustainable travel plan, but co-creation met its limits in pragmatism. Thankfully, some of them were able to meet locally and collaborate further on their challenge. Also, one representative travelled the Deutsche Bahn to represent her team and soak up all the international learnings to take back home.
We cannot wait to meet again next year, when our second learning cycle teams will further explore sustainability challenges!
