Transforming Knowledge and Research for Just and Sustainable Urban Futures: Implications for Higher Education Policy and Practice

Tikly, Leon

The paper starts by explaining why it is necessary to transform knowledge and research for just and sustainable urban futures. It is argued that transformation is essential for epistemic justice and to tackle the complex problems of unsustainable urban development. Higher Education (HE) has a crucial role given its pivotal position in knowledge generation, circulation and governance processes. However, the HE sector must be transformed to play such a role. The paper argues that the current neoliberal social imaginary based on markets and competition is antithetical to the required transformations. Instead, a new social imaginary based on Mbembe’s idea of a new planetary consciousness is suggested to provide a more robust vision to base reform. Drawing on examples of university-community engagement arising from the Transforming Education for Sustainable Futures network, the article discusses priorities for transforming teaching, research, global and civic engagement and how universities are governed. The article argues that transformation must be considered holistically across these areas and that governments, civil society and multilateral organisations such as UNESCO also have a critical role in transforming the broader knowledge ecosystem HE currently operates.