Course presented by Uppsala University:

Adapting to Climate Change: Ecosystem Services of Urban Green Zones

This interdisciplinary course explores ecosystem services of urban green areas combining theory and CBE creative practice to investigate the role of urban green in relation to human well-being in climate change mitigation. This May, with 21 students from six ENLIGHT universities and a diverse teacher group, including Uppsala municipality representatives, professional arborists, and iTree modeling toolbox developers, we worked together in BIP format. After two intensive online weeks, we met for onsite activities in Uppsala. We were practicing iTree Eco tool to estimate ecosystem services of trees, we visited Uppsala municipality and completed a tree inventory in two small parks here, with creating and placing tree tags to inform citizens about value of trees.

The course has a narrow yet interdisciplinary topic that determines a big variety of professional background of the student group and trains their trans-disciplinary communication skills. Leadership and collaboration in intercultural environment emerges with an intensive online group work, outdoor fieldwork with urban trees in Uppsala, and using innovative teaching formats like public debates. This combination of online and onsite activities with a diverse teachers group on board fosters problem-solving and critical thinking.

Contact: Oleksandra Khalaim, oleksandra.khalaim@uu.se