806
W. S. de Amorim et al.
a better and more sustainable future for all. With this study, it was concluded that
Unisul, besides promoting innovations for sustainable development in each level and
sector of the university, operates the learning environments to the students and the
communities surrounding its campuses, bringing solutions to the existing local and
global challenges.
Keywords Higher education institutions · Universities · Sustainable
communities · Sustainable development goals · Sustainability · Living labs
1 Introduction
The international community has shown a growing concern for sustainability and the
SDGs, that can be exemplified by the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations (2015c).
As opinion makers and great research contributors, HEIs are key actors in raising
awareness for sustainability once they have within their reach a number of fundamental tools to promote change in communities through education and cooperative
projects to improve infrastructures (Cortese 2003).
This article aims to demonstrate how HEIs can be drivers of sustainable communities and collaborate to the accomplishment of the SDGs through a case study of a
project developed by Unisul in collaboration with the community and government
as well as a literature review regarding sustainable HEIs. HEIs are responsible for
knowledge transmission and in many countries are the major producers of scientific
research (Zago 2011). Such roles are extremely important for the promotion of sustainable development. HEIs also have a great interaction potential, since students
are part of communities, as well as the case of community colleges which provide
essential services to many groups while transmitting knowledge to students, which
is the case of Unisul (Garcia et al. 2015).
The SDGs were formulated by the United Nations in 2015. The 17 goals aim to
reach a better future with equality, peace and security (United Nations 2015c). It is
expected that these goals are taken into consideration in the formulation of public
policies by governments (Griggs et al. 2013). However, it is a common responsibility
to incorporate the SDGs in order to reach sustainability, and that includes HEIs. SDG
number 11, “Sustainable Cities and Communities” is one of the goals to which HEIs
can contribute the most through its interactions with communities and sustainable
initiatives (United Nations 2018b). Campuses sometimes have the infrastructure of
cities, making them ideal environments to demonstrate sustainability initiatives, such
as the Living Labs approach and proper resource management (Keyson et al. 2017).
The case study of Unisul regards its collaboration in the development of a government report which aims to promote a participative management of the Itapocu River
Basin alongside communities and private sector. The Itapocu River Basin is located
in Santa Catarina, Brazil and covers 3,273,789 km
2 . The basin is part of most of the
economic activities of the communities of the region, as well as the main provider
of resources for the population. The region goes through a number of extreme cli-
W. S. de Amorim et al.
a better and more sustainable future for all. With this study, it was concluded that
Unisul, besides promoting innovations for sustainable development in each level and
sector of the university, operates the learning environments to the students and the
communities surrounding its campuses, bringing solutions to the existing local and
global challenges.
Keywords Higher education institutions · Universities · Sustainable
communities · Sustainable development goals · Sustainability · Living labs
1 Introduction
The international community has shown a growing concern for sustainability and the
SDGs, that can be exemplified by the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations (2015c).
As opinion makers and great research contributors, HEIs are key actors in raising
awareness for sustainability once they have within their reach a number of fundamental tools to promote change in communities through education and cooperative
projects to improve infrastructures (Cortese 2003).
This article aims to demonstrate how HEIs can be drivers of sustainable communities and collaborate to the accomplishment of the SDGs through a case study of a
project developed by Unisul in collaboration with the community and government
as well as a literature review regarding sustainable HEIs. HEIs are responsible for
knowledge transmission and in many countries are the major producers of scientific
research (Zago 2011). Such roles are extremely important for the promotion of sustainable development. HEIs also have a great interaction potential, since students
are part of communities, as well as the case of community colleges which provide
essential services to many groups while transmitting knowledge to students, which
is the case of Unisul (Garcia et al. 2015).
The SDGs were formulated by the United Nations in 2015. The 17 goals aim to
reach a better future with equality, peace and security (United Nations 2015c). It is
expected that these goals are taken into consideration in the formulation of public
policies by governments (Griggs et al. 2013). However, it is a common responsibility
to incorporate the SDGs in order to reach sustainability, and that includes HEIs. SDG
number 11, “Sustainable Cities and Communities” is one of the goals to which HEIs
can contribute the most through its interactions with communities and sustainable
initiatives (United Nations 2018b). Campuses sometimes have the infrastructure of
cities, making them ideal environments to demonstrate sustainability initiatives, such
as the Living Labs approach and proper resource management (Keyson et al. 2017).
The case study of Unisul regards its collaboration in the development of a government report which aims to promote a participative management of the Itapocu River
Basin alongside communities and private sector. The Itapocu River Basin is located
in Santa Catarina, Brazil and covers 3,273,789 km
2 . The basin is part of most of the
economic activities of the communities of the region, as well as the main provider
of resources for the population. The region goes through a number of extreme cli-