Back in August, the Gothenburg proposal won the research funds required to create a new international scientific cross-discipline center for sustainable urban development. The initial euphoria is now over and the time for action has arrived.The telephone in Professor Björn Malbert´s office at Chalmers rings endlessly. Many of those submitting research ideas and, who in other ways have been contributing to the development of the proposal, want to start working immediately; however, at Gothenburg University organizational issues will take precedence until he end of the year.
"It is important to create clear leadership in a focused direction—in order to build a platform for delivering good ideas," says Björn Malbert.
The Gothenburg proposal was jointly developed by Chalmers and Gothenburg University. In spite of Chalmers hosting the program, both institutions are equal partners in the project.
Björn Malbert explains, “One of the strengths of this proposal is that individual researchers do not have to contend to present ideas, instead two universities are cooperating."
Merritt Polk, PhD, researcher and Human Ecologist at the Department of Global Studies at Gothenburg University, is a key figure in the project. “During the whole process we have consulted extensively with many researchers involved in the project," says Björn Malbert.
Regardless of Mistra´s financing, the Gothenburg project on sustainable urban development—or something similar—would most likely have been embarked on. The city of Gothenburg, the west Götaland region and the county administration have been pursuing related projects for some time.
“This means we´ll have excellent opportunities to apply research results into real-life practice. And the major publicly traded companies in the region, with local politicians on their boards, will help secure the application of our demonstration projects. That was something the evaluators also regarded as positive," says Björn Malbert.
Mistra also expects the center to achieve world-wide significance. That is something the evaluators found significant about the proposal. Björn Malbert also views international involvement as a strong positive. He stresses that the Gothenburg proposal will have close cooperation from—among others—the University of Manchester and the University of Masenoun in Kisumu, Kenya. Additionally, Chalmers is a contributing university in the UN-Habitat project along with other universities specializing in sustainable urban development.
What will happen in three years?
“By then the real research and development work will be in full swing. And I can visualize researchers being invited to seminars in Kisumu, Shanghai and Manchester," Björn Lambert says.
“But right now we are focused on our meeting with Mistra and our strategy for the immediate future," says Lambert.
