The hubs aim to support long-term inter-and transdisciplinary research, teaching and collaboration in relation to sustainable urban development, drawing upon SLU Urban Futures’ networks, methodological expertise and affiliated research.
By facilitating joint activities like seminars and workshops, the hubs encourage open dialogue, the sharing of ideas, expertise, experience and learning to address issues associated with the complexities of urban transformation.
The meeting of research and practice within regional collaborations has mutual benefits for both SLU and societal actors. Whilst partners gain access to inter-and transdisciplinary research at SLU, societal actors can offer research insights into real-life issues that can help contextualise knowledge for sustainable development. The focus on regional collaboration can therefore support projects that have a positive impact on the hub localities.
The regional hubs work with agreements established between SLU and regional actors for collaboration, often together with SLU Movium Think Tank:
The Ultuna Hub works with an existing agreement (2020-2022) between Uppsala Municipality and SLU (SLU.ltv.2021.2.6-183). Within the four focus areas of the agreement SLU Urban Futures supports the collaboration concerning ‘Research & City Planning’, which has five themes of interest:
- Ecosystem services
- Integrated water management
- Nature reserve development
- Urban agriculture
- Community building research & testbeds
Collaboration with the City of Umea
The Umeå Hub works within the campus region of SLU Umeå. The hub engages with actors in the development of SLU’s Röbäcksdalen Research Station as a potential living lab. An agreement (2022-2024) on collaboration between SLU and Umeå Municipality (SLU.ua.2022.1.1.1-1237) defines three focus areas; one concerns the development of ‘Umeå as sustainable city’, which focuses on collaboration between:
- SLU Urban Futures, Hub Umeå
- Research Station Röbäcksdalen
- Urban and peri-urban green infrastructure for biodiversity and ecosystem services
- Climate Neutral Umeå 2030
Collaboration in Malmö and Skane
SLU Urban Futures' Hub in Alnarp engaged in the Mistra Urban Futures panels in Skåne (SKLIP) and collaborated with Lund and Malmö University as well as Malmö Municipality on sustainable neighbourhood development (2018-2019).)
From 2014 to 2019, SLU Urban Futures organised the 'SLU Urban Talks' in Malmö, bringing together international keynote speakers with panelists from the region, including academics and professionals, to discuss urban transformation through a broad range of issues. In 2019 this format was turned into the interactive Urban Forum, teaming up with Lund University’s Architecture Faculty, to organise encounters between practitioners and researchers to comment on each others’ urban transformation work in progress.
In 2022, SLU Urban Futures' Alnarp Hub engages in collaborations with SLU Think Tank Movium and regional partners around Alnarp’s campus development, nurtures research on Living Labs, and ventures into issues of urban health, focussing on:
- the PhD project ‘Campus as a Living Lab’ (2022-2026), co-funded by Movium, SLU Urban Futures, and Akademiska Hus
- Living Labs community of practice with Utrecht University, Delft University, Concordia University Montreal et al.
- urban woods as a new category of open urban space
- urban green and outdoor practices as health-promoting factors
