Una.Lecture | From campus to city: Empowering universities for green and healthy cities

Urbanization presents significant challenges to public health and environmental well-being, exacerbated by issues such as air pollution, rising temperatures, biodiversity decline, sedentary lifestyles, and health inequalities. Join us for an enlightening talk in which Ben Somers from KU Leuven’s Faculty of Bioscience Engineering will show how universities can be pivotal in transforming urban landscapes towards sustainability. Ben’s insights into the crucial role of green spaces in addressing urban challenges and fostering climate-resilient cities will be complemented by Baptist Vlaeminck, Project Manager for Climate Change Adaptation at the city of Leuven. Baptist will showcase how Leuven, together with its citizens, translates these insights into real action.

Sustainable development and climate protection are undeniably among the biggest challenges of this century and will remain focal points of academic research, education and university life in the decades to come. Both KU Leuven and its partners in Una Europa are committed to delivering transformational change, with sustainability as a guiding principle for action.

Designed to foster dialogues between academia and the public, the Una.Lecture series gives you a glimpse into the incredible breadth and depth of expertise, insights and perspectives found across Una Europa's partner universities. The interdisciplinary think tank of KU Leuven, Metaforum, serves as meeting place between society and academia.