EPICamp V

What is the 5th EPICamp about?

Rapid urbanisation turns cities into highly dynamic building blocks of sustainable development. Urban sustainability is a regular research object which addresses many questions: Does it provide ecosystem services? What do their appropriation and transformation look like? What are the mobility strategies and how are they implemented? In very concrete terms, it is a question of how streets or urban green spaces are being transformed after the implementation of mobility strategies and how this process impacts cities and regions. On a meta-level, there is also the significant question of environmental justice.

Cities are already characterised by a relatively low per-capita resource use and emissions as compared to national averages. However, cities also heavily draw on complex supply chains from their national hinterland or from other countries, inducing significant resource use and emissions elsewhere which increases the overall ecological footprint of goods and services consumed by city residents. Considering this spatial disconnection between production and consumption is essential in urban sustainability analyses. Consequently, cities have to be thought of as embedded in their regional rural hinterland, as well as in the wider national and global economy and in a multi-scale and multi-layer ecosystem services system.

Promoting local circular commerce and reducing outsourcing of environmental burdens in production chains may allow reducing emissions, ecological footprints, and increasing care for the environment. This EPICamp will identify contemporary challenges and best practice examples for cross-border, interdisciplinary research collaboration.

Keywords and sub-themes

• Relationships between cities and rural hinterland in the context of sustainability
• Urban and regional sustainability transition and environmental justice
• Urban metabolism, incl. trade and resource footprints
• Renewable and efficient energy production
• Landscape and urban planning
• Green infrastructure, nature-based solutions and human-nature interactions in urban context
• Social aspects of urban sustainability transformation and citizen engagement in decision making
• Digitization, smart cities and bio-cities
• Water and solid waste management, resource use, and circular economy
• Urban remediation to recover the land and the original value
• Built-environment and land take, incl. land sealing
• Sustainable transportation and mobility
• Urban climate change mitigation and adaptation
• Urban and peri-urban ecosystem services and biodiversity
• Public health in urban areas and role of landscape planning, incl. COVID-19 related issues

Submissions and Participation

EPICUR invites scholars, NGOs including public institutions, institutes, social organizations, funding agencies, infrastructure providers (such as archives, libraries, museums etc.), business etc. to come together and share their insights, concerns, needs and vision for the future. ALL applications, regardless of the manner of participation, have to be submitted through this form. We highly encourage you to fill out all relevant sections with care, as matchmaking and networking events will be based on these responses. Please note that the EPICamp will take place online. Applications must be submitted until March 7, 2022 for due consideration, with the exception of the third option registration, which will be considered until March 30, 2022. You can contact the EPICUR organizing team for all questions.
 

Three options for participation

1) PARTICIPATION WITH THEMATIC CONTRIBUTION: you may submit a proposal for one of the following potential formats. As EPICamps are non-traditional gatherings, so are potential submissions. We invite prospective participants to apply with innovative and creative formats as well as submissions that are more traditional in format but aim for inter- and/or transdisciplinary exchange. Applicants may choose one of the following proposed formats or add their own:

• Pitch Presentations: not more than 5 slides/5 minutes, virtual posters introducing current research as well as research ideas
• Open Discussion Groups: please submit topic/theme along with three discussion questions
• Workshops & Skill Presentations: a short paragraph outlining the particular topic/method/skill you wish to address in a mini-workshop
• Plenary Presentation: ca. 30 minutes (Early career researchers are especially encouraged to submit in this section)
• Other formats: description of the format and content

2) PARTICIPATION WITH ORGANISATIONAL CONTRIBUTION: you can offer to moderate a format (open discussion), facilitate group interactions, or report on sessions in which you participated. Applicants will receive their assignments and guidelines from the organizing team.

3) PARTICIPATION AS AN ACTIVE ATTENDEE: you can also simply join the EPICamp as a participant actively listening and contributing to the discussions and networking activities.

EPICUR is an alliance dedicated to the values of equity, diversity, and inclusion and aims to provide a space that is welcoming and encouraging to all scholars, particularly those, which have been traditionally underrepresented in academic environments. We, therefore, welcome all suggestions and ideas that help us make this event as inclusive and useful to the EPICURean community of researchers as possible, with special regard paid to the need of early career researchers. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with us at any point before, during or after the EPICamp.