Sustainable Development Goals and Current Sustainability …
261
an SDG-related education, build new partnerships, access new funding streams, and
redefine the strategic plan of a university. This paper explores the way Politecnico di
Torino maps its actions through the lens of a mission-based university, where SDGs
can restructure and update the whole knowledge transfer approach to students and
among staff. Being a technical university, results highlight that the expertise and the
actions are of course polarized toward the SDG 7, 9, 11 and 12. That implies that technology is being considered as the enabling factor for the implementation of the other
SDGs, and in particular on the overarching SDG 13 on climate change mitigation and
adaptation. While a large number of actions related to Energy and buildings, Mobility and transport, Urban outreach, Food, water and waste, Green procurement and
Communication are already mapped, even if “ex post”, on almost all SDGs, these
vertical actions need to be fostered by transversal and multidisciplinary “engagement” actions, coordinated and supported by administrative members, researchers
and student representatives attentive to the wider impacts that fall into the “third
mission”.
This transition toward a collaborative model is still difficult, since departments
and administrative unites operate in silos and the leader’s agenda does not allow a
real flexible and adaptable model to feed in. Researchers and administrators also
lack tools to identify which interactions are the most important to tackle (AI and data
mining still need a human touch to be effective in supporting the decision making
process). The focus on “technical” SDGs demonstrate that PoliTO organizes its
activities and research investments in technology innovation for results in mitigation
scenarios, digital partnership with private companies and alignment with the major
market trends. In order to understand the existing trade-off between SDG 7 and 9
and the other SDGs, further research is needed to study the directionality of each
interaction in terms of counteracting/enabling other objectives. To make coherent
policies and strategies, the PoliTO board of directors may need a rubric for thinking
systematically about the many interactions, beyond simplistic synergies and tradeoffs, in order to quickly identify which internal and external group of stakeholders
could become their allies and which ones they will be negotiating with in the path
toward a sustainable university.
Lastly, the SDG’s underling need of collaboration is a crucial to achieve a common
agreement for deciding a direction to take for funding distribution and organizational
change. Materiality matrix, focus groups and workshop may favor the creation of
concrete of goals adapted to a university dimension, where, for instance, the SDG
3, “Good health and well-being”, can be scaled to a local dimension and be translated into welfare initiatives for students and staff, and in turn be connected to SDG
11 initiatives on teaching urban models fostering active lifestyles and architecture
regenerative sustainability.
Given the size of the task of achieving the SDGs, and the critical role universities
have in supporting and delivering on them, there is an urgent need for the sector to
accelerate insights on the SDGs complementarity and prioritization, and this mapping
exercise provides interesting stimula to redefine current models of education.
The difficulties we have in meeting today’s global challenges, such as implementing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) worldwide, are not caused by a
261
an SDG-related education, build new partnerships, access new funding streams, and
redefine the strategic plan of a university. This paper explores the way Politecnico di
Torino maps its actions through the lens of a mission-based university, where SDGs
can restructure and update the whole knowledge transfer approach to students and
among staff. Being a technical university, results highlight that the expertise and the
actions are of course polarized toward the SDG 7, 9, 11 and 12. That implies that technology is being considered as the enabling factor for the implementation of the other
SDGs, and in particular on the overarching SDG 13 on climate change mitigation and
adaptation. While a large number of actions related to Energy and buildings, Mobility and transport, Urban outreach, Food, water and waste, Green procurement and
Communication are already mapped, even if “ex post”, on almost all SDGs, these
vertical actions need to be fostered by transversal and multidisciplinary “engagement” actions, coordinated and supported by administrative members, researchers
and student representatives attentive to the wider impacts that fall into the “third
mission”.
This transition toward a collaborative model is still difficult, since departments
and administrative unites operate in silos and the leader’s agenda does not allow a
real flexible and adaptable model to feed in. Researchers and administrators also
lack tools to identify which interactions are the most important to tackle (AI and data
mining still need a human touch to be effective in supporting the decision making
process). The focus on “technical” SDGs demonstrate that PoliTO organizes its
activities and research investments in technology innovation for results in mitigation
scenarios, digital partnership with private companies and alignment with the major
market trends. In order to understand the existing trade-off between SDG 7 and 9
and the other SDGs, further research is needed to study the directionality of each
interaction in terms of counteracting/enabling other objectives. To make coherent
policies and strategies, the PoliTO board of directors may need a rubric for thinking
systematically about the many interactions, beyond simplistic synergies and tradeoffs, in order to quickly identify which internal and external group of stakeholders
could become their allies and which ones they will be negotiating with in the path
toward a sustainable university.
Lastly, the SDG’s underling need of collaboration is a crucial to achieve a common
agreement for deciding a direction to take for funding distribution and organizational
change. Materiality matrix, focus groups and workshop may favor the creation of
concrete of goals adapted to a university dimension, where, for instance, the SDG
3, “Good health and well-being”, can be scaled to a local dimension and be translated into welfare initiatives for students and staff, and in turn be connected to SDG
11 initiatives on teaching urban models fostering active lifestyles and architecture
regenerative sustainability.
Given the size of the task of achieving the SDGs, and the critical role universities
have in supporting and delivering on them, there is an urgent need for the sector to
accelerate insights on the SDGs complementarity and prioritization, and this mapping
exercise provides interesting stimula to redefine current models of education.
The difficulties we have in meeting today’s global challenges, such as implementing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) worldwide, are not caused by a