Innovation in the Public Sector

At the end of April, we had the pleasure of welcoming our current participants in the programme “Innovation in Governance for Urban Nature-based Solutions” to a packed week in Lund and Malmö.

The participants, hailing from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine, are urban practioners directly involved in change-making processes and city planning. During their yearlong studies at Lund University they have had the opportunity to further develop their skills and capacities when it comes to facilitating long-term transformations toward sustainability.

When in Sweden, they met for the first time in person, so we started off with a welcome session together with LUCE (the Department for Commissioned Education at Lund University) and the teachers in the programme from the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE).  

Another day at the beginning of the week, the participants had a workshop together with guest lecturer Renata Varga, who introduced them to agile teamworking. This was something that triggered a lot of reflection and discussion and seemed to be useful.

Strengthening participants’ transformative leadership skills for innovation and sustainable urban governance in larger cities and towns in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Ukraine is at the core of the programme. So, the next day it was time for a reflection session on transformational leadership. A leadership that not only addresses surface-level issues, but also delves into underlying beliefs, values and norms to effect lasting change.

In the afternoon they went on a study visit to the Western Harbour in Malmö, where lots of inspiration was taken when it comes to urban nature-based solutions. Other happenings during the week were a guest lecture at Malmö University with Mathilda Rosengren, Postdoc, Institute for Urban Research and a study visit to Augustenborg EcoCity and the Green Roof Institute. Also, they got a guest lecture about the Brunnshög project with Eva Dalman, project leader at Lund municipality and a field trip at Brunnshög, with Ib Rosvall, community planner at Lund municipality.

All those study visits demanded some reflection, so on Thursday afternoon a reflection session was held at Bricks in Lund, which included a lot of group activities.

Last, but not least, it was time for the big day of the participants’ change project presentations and discussions on the way forward. It was truly inspiring to listen to them all! Now we are looking forward to following their continued work and wish them the best of luck.