Abstract
This chapter discusses Florida Gulf Coast University’s (FGCU’s) experience using our own built environment as a “living lab.” Using the campus in this way has enabled FGCU to expand the classroom, to engage students in measuring and monitoring sustainability initiatives and sustainable practices, and to demonstrate how innovation and change can be proposed and tested, and occasionally implemented. The FGCU example is informative, showing how the built environment provides an excellent test bed for students to examine alternatives to improve sustainability. The opportunity to work on and possibly change real things in their own world gives students ownership and responsibility. The difficulty students and faculty encounter in implementing ideas also highlights the complexity of actually getting things done and highlights the disparities between talk and action, which can lead to student and faculty empowerment to identify and expunge hypocrisy. The inherent resistance of Higher Education Institutions to convert the experimental test beds of their campus infrastructure into actual action and change is a recurrent theme.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Al-Khafaji, K., & Morse, M. C. (2006). Learning sustainable design through service. International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering,1(1), 1–10.
Alshuwaikhat, H. M., Abubakar, I. R., Aina, Y. A., Adenle, Y. A., & Umair, M. (2017). The development of a GIS-based model for campus environmental sustainability assessment. Sustainability,9, 439. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9030439.
Aktas, C. B., Whelan, R., Stoffer, H., Todd, E., & Kern, C. L. (2015). Developing a university-wide course on sustainability: A critical evaluation of planning and implementation. Journal of Cleaner Production,106, 216–221.
Antaya, C. L. (2015). Integrated sustainability grand challenges and active, experiential learning in undergraduate engineering education. PhD. Dissertation. Arizona State University.
Badir, A., O’Neill, R., Kinzli, K., Komisar, S., Long, N., & Kim, J. (2018). Contributions of the industry involvement in civil and environmental engineering Capstone Design Projects. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference, American Society for Engineering Education.
Bakici, T., Almirall, E., & Wareham, J. (2013). A smart city initiative: The case of Barcelona. Journal of the Knowledge Economy,4, 135–148.
Becker, T., & Hesse, M. (2013). Building a sustainable university from scratch: Anticipating the urban, regional and planning dimension of the ‘Cite des Science Belval in Esch-sur-Alzette and Sanem, Luxembourg. In A. Konig (Ed.), Regenerative Sustainable Development for Universities and Cities. Cheltenham, UK: Elgar Publishing.
Bergvall-Kareborn, B., Eriksson, C., Stahlbrost, A., & Svensson, J. (2009). A milieu for innovation: Defining living labs. In K. R. E. Huizingh, S. Conn, M. Torkkeli, I. Bitran, Proceedings of the 2nd ISPIM innovation symposium: Simulating recovery—The Role of innovation management, New York City, USA.
Bondehagen, D., & Komisar, S. (2018). Integration of sustainability into the environmental and civil engineering curriculum. In Proceedings of the 9th Engineering Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, Glassboro, New Jersey.
Bondehagen, D., Komisar, S., & O’Neill, R. (2016). Assessing achievement of sustainability skills in the environmental and civil engineering curriculum. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference, American Society for Engineering Education, New Orleans, LA.
Brundiers, K., Wiek, A., & Redman, C. (2010). Real World learning opportunities in sustainability: From classroom into the real World. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education,11(4), 308–324.
Burke, R. D., Antaya Dancz, C. L., Ketchman, K. J., Bilec, M. M., Boyer, T. H., Davidson, C., Landis, A. E., & Parrish, K. (2018). Faculty perspectives on sustainability integration in undergraduate civil and environmental engineering curriculum. Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice, 144(3).
Chalfoun, N. (2014). Greening university campus buildings to reduce consumption and emission while fostering hands-on inquiry-based education. Procedia Environmental Sciences,20, 288–297.
Cohen, T., & Lovell, B. (n.d.). The campus as a living laboratory: Using the built environment to revitalize college education—American Association of Community Colleges Sustainability Education Center, US Green Building Council Center for Green Schools. Accessed September 14, 2019. https://www.theseedcenter.org/Resources/SEED-Toolkits?Campus_as-a-living-lab.
Dancz, C. L. A., Ketchman, K. J., Burke, R., Bilec, M. M., Adams, E. A., Allenby, B., Chester, M., Khanna, V., Parrish, K., Seager, T. P., & Landis, A. E. (2015). Integrating sustainability grand challenges and experiential learning into engineering curricula: Years 1 and 2. In Proceedings of ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Washington.
Daneri, D. R., Trencher, G., & Petersen, J. (2015). Students as change agents in a town-wide sustainability transformation: The Oberlin Project at Oberlin College. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability,16, 14–21.
Evans, J., Jones, R., Karvonen, A., Millard, L., & Wendler, J. (2015). Living labs and co-production: University campuses as platforms for sustainability science. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability,16, 1–6.
Florida Gulf Coast University. (n.d.). Sustainability map. Accessible via https://www.fgcu.edu/adminservices/physicalplant/environmental-initiatives/sustainability-map.
Filho, W. L, Shiel, C., & do Paco, A. (2016). Implementing and operationalizing integrative approaches to sustainability in higher education: The role of project-oriented learning. Journal of Clean Production,133, 126–135.
Filho, W. L., Shiel, C., do Paco, A., & Brandli, L. (2015). Putting sustainable development in practice: Campus greening as a tool for institutional sustainability efforts. Sustainability in Higher Education, 1–19.
Goodacre, M., & Mead, E. (2015). Bioremediation of phenol waste using activated sludge in a hybrid-batch reactor, National Water Environmental Association (“WEFTEC”) Student Design Competition, Chicago.
Hansen, S. S. (2017). The campus as a living laboratory: Macalaster college case study. In W. Leal Filho et al. (Eds.), Handbook of theory and practice of sustainable development in higher education, World sustainability series, Springer International.
Holliwell, I., Chisum, D., Jackson, M., Bokrand, C., & Komisar, S. (2012). Sustainability in action: Bioremediation of a phenolic waste generated by academic research as part of a wastewater engineering course in biological reactor design. Platform Presentation: Southwest Florida Water and Wastewater Exposition.
Hossain, M., Leminen, S., & Westerlund, M. A. (2019). Systematic review of living lab literature. Journal of Clean Production,213, 976–988.
Hugo, H., Espinoza, F., Morales, I., Ortiz, E., Perez, S., & Salcedo, G. (2018). Delta project: Towards a sustainable campus. Sustainability,10(10), 3695. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103695.
Jucker, R., & von Au, J. (2019). Improving learning inside by enhancing learning outside: A powerful lever for facilitating the implementation of the UN SDGs. Sustainability,12(2), 104–108.
Kilkis, S. (2017). Comparative analyses of sustainable campuses as living laboratories for managing environmental quality. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal,28(5), 681–702.
Komisar, S., & Strumolo, T. (2015). The Komisar Report: Energy efficiency: A key component of environmental sustainability efforts and a source of substantial cost savings for FCGU. Accessed March 6, 2019. https://www2.fgcu.edu/EHS/Files/ESC_Energy_ReportApril2015.pdf.
Konig, A. (Ed.). (2013). What might a sustainable university look like? Challenges and opportunities in the development of the University of Luxembourg and its new campus. In Regenerative sustainable development for universities and cities. Cheltenham, UK: Elgar Publishing.
Konig, A., & Evans, J. (2013). Introduction: Experimentation for sustainable development? Living laboratories, social learning and the role of the university In Konig A (Ed.), Regenerative sustainable development for universities and cities, Cheltenham, UK: Elgar Publishing.
Larsson, J., & Holmberg, J. (2018). Learning while creating value for sustainability transitions: The case of challenge lab at chalmers university of technology. Journal of Clean Production,172, 4411–4420.
Liedtke, C., Welfens, M. J., Rohn, H., & Nordmann, J. (2012). Living lab: User-driven innovation for sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Educcation, 13(2):106–118.
Lindstrom, T., & Middlecamp, C. (2017). Campus as a living laboratory for sustainability: The chemistry connection. Journal of Chemical Education. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsjchemed.6b00624.
McCormick, K., & Kiss, B. (2015). Learning through renovations for urban sustainability: The case of the Malmo Innovation Platform. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability,16, 44–50.
Molderez, I., & Fonseca, E. (2018). The efficacy of real-world experiences and service learning for fostering competencies for sustainable development in higher education. Journal of Clean Production,172, 4387–4410.
Pickett, M., Whitmore, B., Komisar, S., & Falk, T. (2015). The anaerobic degradation of cadaver waste using an attached growth recycle system. ASCE Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste, 04015022., https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)HZ.2153-5515.0000300.
Thurer, M., Tomasevic, I., Stevenson, M., Qu, T., & Huisingh, D. (2018). A systematic review of the literature on integrating sustainability inot engineering curricula. Journal of Clean Production,181, 608–617.
Washington-Ottombre, C., & Bigalke, S. (2018). An aggregated and dynamic analysis of innovations in campus sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-05-2017-0071.
Wright, T. S. A., & Wilton, H. (2012). Facilities management directors conceptualizations of sustainability in higher education. Journal of Clean Production,31, 118–125.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Komisar, S., Danley-Thomson, A., Marcolini, J.P. (2021). Campus as a Living Laboratory: The Built Environment. In: Leone, K., Komisar, S., Everham III, E.M. (eds) Making the Sustainable University. Education for Sustainability. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4477-8_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4477-8_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-33-4476-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-33-4477-8
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)