Glocal Challenges and Applied Approaches to Sustainable Development, 15 credits

Glocal challenges can be understood as a perspective on development and change where the interaction between challenges on a global and local level is in focus. The approach is based on the premise that glocal challenges, such as climate change or a pandemic, need to be addressed both at a comprehensive international level, together between nations, but also at local level in different countries, cities, governments, companies and between individuals. The course aims to provide an overview of glocal challenges. It also provides in-depth knowledge of how glocal challenges are managed at a global level and how strategies and other tools can be used to deal with global challenges in local contexts. The course focuses on sustainable development and discusses economic, social and ecological dimensions of sustainability and how these can be taken into account when dealing with glocal challenges. The course is based on an economic perspective on global challenges, but is supplemented with knowledge from other social science fields such as political science, business administration, informatics, media and design. Teaching takes place on campus through lectures, seminars and workshops. Students meet representatives from public and private organizations who work actively with issues related to glocal challenges. The course devotes special interest to apply WIL (Work Integrated Learning) for sustainable development in collaboration with society. The course requires active participation in conversations and written work.