European Campus of City-Universities launches first joint book
The book includes contributions from researchers of the seven universities of the alliance and was written as part of the EC2U Virtual Institute for Sustainable Cities and Communities, led by the University of Coimbra.
Translation by Diana Taborda
The book 'Cities and Communities across Europe: Governance Design for a Sustainable Future', launched this week, is the first joint work of the EC2U - European Campus of City Universities alliance, which currently comprises seven European universities, including the University of Coimbra (UC).
This is the first joint publication of the seven members of the European Alliance and is the result of a multidisciplinary research project that brought together researchers from all 7 universities, in the framework of the EC2U Virtual Institute for Sustainable Cities and Communities, led by Manuel Gameiro, professor at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra.
Coordinated by USAL Professor Juan José Rastrollo, the work analyses sustainability from the perspective of disciplines such as law, political science, economics, sociology and geography, with a chapter written by Alexandra Aragão,professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Coimbra (FDUC), Ambassador of the SDG Alliance Portugal (Global Compact Network) for Sustainable Development Goal 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.
The book was presented at the University of Salamanca as part of the initiative "International Talent Week: Boost your career in a multicultural environment", with the presence of the Rector of the University of Salamanca, Ricardo Rivero; the USAL Vice-Rector for International Relations, Raúl Sánchez; Juan José Rastrollo; Alexandra Aragão; Roberto de Lotto, professor at the University of Pavia; and Ioana Maria Costea and Maria Laiu, professors at the University of Iasi.
Several talks were held during the course of the week, including Prof. Aragão's "Beyond the human right to a home: the right to a habitat (restoration of urban ecological infrastructure to provide urban ecosystem services)", which is also the title of her chapter in the book.
In addition, four UC students participated in the book launch conferences organised by the Virtual Institute for Sustainable Cities and Communities as beneficiaries of EC2U Alliance short-term mobility grants.
About the EC2U Alliance
The European Campus of City-Universities is a multicultural and multilingual European university alliance coordinated by the University of Poitiers, which aims to develop an open and innovative space that allows free mobility between universities and cities. The Alliance is based on a unique cooperation involving academic communities, municipalities, local authorities, economic and social stakeholders, and citizens. EC2U is currently comprised of the University of Coimbra, the University of Poitiers (France), the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany), the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi (Romania), the University of Salamanca (Spain), the University of Pavia (Italy) and the University of Turku (Finland). The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine) became an EC2U partner in April 2022, and the Johannes Kepler University Linz (Austria) will join the consortium in November 2023.