News & Events
Alter-Net Nature and Urban Well-being 2015
- Venue: Augustinian Monastery, Academiestraat 1, Ghent, Belgium
- Start: Mon, 18 May 2015 15:06:00 BST
- End: Wed, 20 May 2015 17:00:00 BST
Nature-Based Solutions to Societal Challenges
International conference
18 - 20 May 2015, Ghent, Belgium.
http://www.alter-net.info/outputs/conf-2015
SUCCESS PI Prof. David Manning attended the ALTER-Net conference on ‘Nature-Based Solutions to Societal Challenges’ in Ghent in May 2015. A Green Week 2015 Satellite Event, the meeting was held in Ghent’s Augustinian Monastery, and focused on two days of talks in parallel sessions on many aspects of societal development in the context of sustainability in its true sense.
There were around 200 participants, from a very wide range of backgrounds and occupations – urban planners, architects, ecologists with differing specialities, economists, and employers ranging from city authorities, conservation groups, EU commissioners, universities and so on.
"Focusing on solving the problems posed by societal challenges, papers included case studies from across Europe as well as specific scientific reports that had the potential to be developed into applications that could then be adopted. Engagement at all levels and of all types featured highly in what was presented and discussed. A holistic view of society’s future was taken, and the challenge expressed that our current macroeconomic model is incompatible with sustainability."
"Ghent is a lovely town with a long history as a centre for trade. The nearby Gravensteen castle embodies power – supported by a remarkable collection of instruments of torture that parties of school children evidently relish."
