Students explore sustainable futures for post-industrial cities in the UNIC Summer School on Resilience and Sustainable Development

During the summer school week, students from Ruhr University Bochum, University of Oulu, University of Liège, and University of Łódź focused on the challenges and uncertainties brought by aging and other demographic challenges the UNIC cities face.

The program combined hybrid workshops and lectures with problem solving in groups. The week kicked off with a visit to the city’s Rathaus with local representatives. Students had the opportunity to learn about Bochum’s newly established Welcome Office and the ongoing efforts in sustainable urban development.

The students learnt about problem solving, defined a clear problem related to the course theme, and developed solutions for the problem. Each activity offered fresh perspectives on how cities can navigate the challenges of transition while building inclusive futures.

Highlighting the value of teamwork across cultures

Working in diverse, international teams, participants developed ideas and prototypes addressing urban resilience. The collaboration highlighted the value of bringing together students from different cultural and disciplinary backgrounds.

Emma Kuittinen, a geography student from the University of Oulu, reflected: “This Summer School course showed me how collaboration across cultures shapes problem-solving in unique ways.”

The course was organized by Ruhr University Bochum in cooperation with the Faculty of Management and Economics and supported by the European Union’s Erasmus+ Blended Intensive Programme. Professor Michael Roos from Ruhr University Bochum was in charge of organizing the summer school. At the University of Oulu, the summer school activities were coordinated by Professor Jaakko Simonen and Doctoral Researcher Joona Lohtander, both from Oulu Business School.

Looking forward to continuous collaboration

“It was great to watch how international, multicultural groups of students dealt with the subject of the course: resilience and sustainable development", Simonen says.

"This year's summer school was a continuation of our collaboration the department of Management and Economics in Ruhr University Bochum, which started two years ago. The summer school week in Bochum and the entire course offered us once again valuable experience in cooperation with our UNIC partners, Ruhr University Bochum, University of Lodz, and University of Liege. We will definitely continue our collaboration next year”, he sums up the experience.

Lohtander adds: “Each year we have been amazed at how polished and innovative ideas the students can come up with in just a week of working with new people. We were again very pleased at how well the summer school was organized, and I am looking forward to future collaboration in both teaching and research.”

The Dean for Education at Oulu Business School, Professor Satu Nätti is also delighted for the successful cooperation:

“It is great to see how the UNIC cooperation agreement has continued to develop in many ways, including summer schools, shared courses, exchange studies, and double degrees.”

The summer school highlighted the core idea of UNIC:

“I am pleased to see that, beyond academic collaboration, UNIC’s core idea of uniting universities with their home cities (UNIC – The European University of Post-Industrial Cities) to address the pressing challenges of our time has come to life in so many meaningful ways.”, Nätti concludes.

Author: Joona Lohtander, Doctoral Researcher at the Oulu Business School