Evaluation and Lessons Learned from a Campus as a Living Lab Program to Promote Sustainable Practices

Paul Save,Belgin Terim Cavka,Thomas Froese

doi:10.3390/su13041739

Paul Save, Belgin Terim Cavka + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13041739

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Journal: Sustainability	Publication Date: Feb 5, 2021
Citations: 13	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Yaşar University, University of Victoria

Abstract

Any group that creates challenging goals also requires a strategy to achieve them and a process to review and improve this strategy over time. The University of British Columbia (UBC) set ambitious campus sustainability goals, including a reduction in its greenhouse gas emissions to 33% below the 2007 level by 2015, and 100% by 2050 (UBC, 2006). The University pursued these goals through a number of specific projects (such as major district energy upgrade and a bioenergy facility) and, more generally, through a “Campus as a Living Lab” (CLL) initiative to marry industry, campus operations, and research to drive innovative solutions. The CLL program has achieved significant successes while also demonstrating many opportunities for improvements and lessons learned. The aim of this study was to examine the UBC CLL program, to identify and formalize its operations, to extract key transferable characteristics, and to propose replicable processes that other universities and municipalities can follow to expand their sustainable practices in similar ways. There was a learning curve with implementing a CLL program at UBC; thus, the goal of this study was to potentially shorten this learning curve for others. The research involved an ethnographic approach in which researchers participated in the CLL process, conducted qualitative analysis, and captured the processes through a series of business process models. The research findings are shared in two parts: 1. generalized lessons learned through key transferrable characteristics; 2. a series of generic organizational charts and business process models (BPMs) culminated with learned strategies through defined processes that illustrate what was required to create a CLL program at UBC. A generalized future improvement plan for UBC CLL programs is defined, generic BPMs about CLL projects are evaluated, and the level of engagement of multiple stakeholders through phases of project life cycle given in the conclusion for future use of other Living Lab organizations.

Highlights

Universities play a vital role in addressing the global sustainability challenges and opportunities, because they are the intuitional platforms where research, educational activities, community engagement, and operations meet to produce a long-lasting impact on societal change [1,2])
The main results obtained through the analysis of the University of British Columbia (UBC) Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) process case study are categorized as evolution of business process models (BPMs) evaluation documentation for unsolicited requests, evolution of BPMs of case projects after recognized failures and lessons learned, overview of proposed generic living lab processes, and key transferable characteristics from ethnographic study and BPM exercises
Sustainability is a growing interest in the world, and UBC is developing a strategy of tackling some of the tough challenges related to improving efficiencies with energy pro

Summary

Introduction

Universities play a vital role in addressing the global sustainability challenges and opportunities, because they are the intuitional platforms where research, educational activities, community engagement, and operations meet to produce a long-lasting impact on societal change [1,2]). In 2014, The University of British Columbia (UBC) approved a 20 Year Sustainability Strategy, which covered a wide spectrum of university activities including an enhanced focus on developing research within and outside the university involving strategic partnerships with industry and government, a renewed focus on university operations and infrastructure through the lens of the living lab to accompany UBC’s goal of eliminating greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and within teaching and learning, a renewed institutional commitment to embed sustainability learning across all undergraduate teaching programs by 2035 [5]. The Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) program, which is the focus of this research (This research’s content is mostly drawn from the thesis of Paul Save, 2014 [6]), addresses collaboration between UBC’s building operations, external companies, and researchers, in an effort to creatively and economically meet operational requirements while striving towards the goal of eliminating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Living labs or urban labs are the collaborative entities of multiple stakeholders that are used by communities for innovation

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