Urban Futures

Mistra invites Swedish universities to establish an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary centre in collaboration with Swedish cities and other stakeholders, including international partners, on the following theme:

Rethinking Sustainable Urban Development in an Era of Globalization, Resource Constraints and Climate Change

History:

2008-10-02: Planning grant for sustainable urban development

Mistra invites Swedish universities to submit pre-proposals for a large-scale, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary, internationally competitive Mistra Centre for Urban Futures. The Mistra Centre should have a clear geographical centre of gravity in one city or urban region and be organized by a local or regional consortium composed of one or more Swedish universities, at least one city, public bodies and business stakeholders. The Centre should also have its own budget and a board with an international composition.

Mistra’s long-term vision in this call is to make a difference to sustainable development by building an international network of knowledge and innovation platforms for urban development, here entitled Mistra Interaction Platforms, with a world-leading Mistra Centre as the coordinating node. Mistra expects a successful applicant to look beyond the immediate future, with the goal of significantly furthering international research, knowledge and capacity for integrated urban development. The ultimate deliver¬ables are new and deeper under¬standing of the challenges and dynamic complexity of cities, but also new approaches and mindsets and innovative solutions, methods, tools and instruments. Through this strategic investment, Mistra aims to contribute significantly to the develop¬¬ment of an international knowledge and innovation system for sustainable urban development, which is highly desirable and needed.

Overall, the key features of Mistra Programmes and Centres are their

• potential for solving major environmental problems
• value to intended users
• world-class scientific quality
• capacity to make Sweden more competitive
• contribution to Mistra’s overall programme portfolio
• creation of strong research environments
• sound management and good organization.

Conventional, ‘business-as-usual’ ways of separating research from policy and practice are not likely to build networks and underpin a more knowledge-based urban development agenda. Mistra is looking for a progressive initiative to promote knowledge, learning, innovation and creativity by linking research more closely with education and training as well as with urban policy and action, and by using methods that emphasize cross-fertilization among these activities.

The Mistra Centre for Urban Futures and the Mistra Interaction Platforms should have the following functions:

• acting as clusters for development of knowledge and innovation for urban sustainability,
• forming a resource base for case studies and scientific analysis,
• ensuring a strong chain from international disciplinary excellence to local knowledge, and
• serving as ‘showcases’ for other cities and countries.

The Mistra Centre for Urban Futures should start in January 2010. The level of funding for an initial two-year implementation stage could be up to SEK 15 million, while the annual funding for two ensuing four-year stages could be up to SEK 15m. Mistra also foresees a two-year phase-out of the Mistra funding. In addition, Mistra can provide funding for an international network of Interaction Platforms, amounting to SEK 7m annually at the most. The Platform network is expected to be built up over time. The intended concept requires a high level of commitment from local and regional stakeholders, in order to promote and implement the transdisciplinary modes of operation. Correspondingly, the host university and the partner organizations in the consortium are expected to contribute funds in the same order of magnitude as Mistra.

How to submit Pre-Proposals:

There are two stages of Mistra grant applications:

• submission of a brief (max. 15-page) pre-proposal (open to all comers)
• submission of a full proposal for a Mistra Centre (by invitation from Mistra only).

To facilitate the preparation of full proposals for a Mistra Centre, and to further develop a network of international partners, Mistra can cover planning costs for the selected pre-proposals up to a maximum of SEK 350,000.

Applications for planning grants, with pre-proposals attached, must be received by Mistra no later than 4.00 pm on 15 September 2008.

Staffing of Mistra’s office will be sporadic between 23 June and 8 August 2008.