PREAMBLE
The impacts of the climate crisis and most recently the Covid-19 Pandemic have demonstrated how vulnerable the global landscape of the 21st century is despite technological progress. In many areas of contemporary society, the spotlight is on smart, research-based solutions in response to some the biggest challenges mankind is facing collectively. As times of crisis ask for change, the role of academic institutions may be challenged.
The very idea of a university, from Latin ‘universitas’ meaning ‘the whole’, demands a holistic approach, bringing a variety of disciplines together to identify and understand complex problems and to develop timely solutions for a global, ecological landscape. Albert Einstein claimed, that ‘we can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.’ In the dawn of feeling the ecological repercussions of economic growth powered by fossil fuels, a different mindset of a new academic generation may lead to incubating progressive cross-disciplinary approaches in a highly interconnected work environment.
DISCUSSION
This symposium aims to provide a cross-disciplinary overview on generational shifts in a variety of disciplines to identify generic institutional processes which may or may not enable a (trans)formation of academic landscapes. The represented disciplines include architecture, urban planning, engineering, biology, psychology, and art history. The diverse panel includes academics from the University of Innsbruck, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the San Jose State University in California.
