Background
GreenSmart NMBU is one of the five NMBU sustainability arenas focusing on green and smart cities 2021 – 2024.
GreenSmart will use resources on development and coordination of the various disciplines from the faculties at NMBU, through collaborative projects related to research and development, as well as the development of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary courses and study programs (including university extended education courses).
The project is anchored within all seven faculties as well as the NMBU Learning Center and the dissemination and learning arena Vitenparken . GreenSmart consists of a wide professional diversity, while still keeping a clear focus on recycling valuable resources, often called "waste".
NMBU – The Sustainability University – has a unique academic synthesis of environmental and life sciences, bioproduction, veterinary medicine, technology, spatial planning, and economics that enables NMBU to contribute in solving complex challenges and enable a sustainable future towards the UN's 17 sustainability goals and 169 sub-goals. The project originates from the National Center for Urban Agriculture (NCUA) and is well founded in NMBU's current strategy. GreenSmart will therefore contribute to realizing NMBU's overall commitment: " Joint efforts for a sustainable future " . NMBU has four focus areas in this joint effort which will support the overall investment: (1) interdisciplinary research, education, and innovation, (2) the digital society, (3) learning for life and (4) the human being as a resource.
Goals
The arena will focus on specific projects, such as the establishment of a school garden, where the Department of Teacher Education (ILU) and Vitenparken collaborate. The arena will also design guides for the municipalities on how they can use the Planning and Building Act to facilitate UA in the planning work, as the government wants in the National Strategy for Urban Agriculture. And amongst many other projects we will further investigate the topic of sustainable building operations, with the use of renewable and recycled materials of building sites.
GreenSmart is also developing a "digital twin" for the arena and the arena's activities. We aim to provide an open arena – both nationally and globally, but also to minimize the arena's footprint by reducing the necessity of traveling to meet. The Learning Center will actively contribute to the arena's transdisciplinary knowledge production and dissemination internally and externally. The arena's activities and projects will be based on a broad sustainability approach with a focus on social, environmental and economic sustainability. This includes a special focus on people, both individually and in a societal perspective.
The arena has developed and established meeting places and seminar series, both physically and digitally, nationally, and internationally, while also hosting as an arena and space for employees, students and external parties that seek to engage in specific projects of mutual collaborative learning opportunities on any topics related to green and smart cities for future sustainability.
Seminars hosted by Vitenparken in 2022
04.02.22 – Eik Lab, NMBU Smart Campus , Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Insights into campus initiatives – Friday, 08:15 – 09:00
04.03.22 – Hovinbyen Circular Oslo – Circular economy as a driving force for Norway's largest urban development project – Friday 08:15-09:00
01.04.22 – GreenSmart & Green Week – Learning for Sustainability – Friday 08:15-09:00
13.05.22 – Elisabeth Iversen, Schoolgarden – Friday 08:15-09:00
10.06.22 – Roberta Cucci, Social Justice in the Green City - Friday 08:15-09:00
02.09.22 – Helen K. French, EarthresQue “From Waste to Resource” – Friday, 11:00 – 12:00
28.10.22 – Master's students in urban agriculture at NMBU, Planning and Building Act: A tool for urban agriculture and circularity in Norwegian municipalities – Friday, 11:00 – 12:00
09.12.22 – Jorge M. Marchetti, Energy & Resources – Friday, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
