GALLANT: Glasgow as a Living Lab Accelerating Novel Transformation
Published: 30 June 2022
The University of Glasgow and Glasgow City Council have been awarded over £10M by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for a programme of work to help the city move towards climate resilience whilst tackling health, social and economic inequalities.
By Ria Dunkley, School of Education
The GALLANT project will focus on bringing together researchers, Glasgow City Council, community groups, and partners to enable the city to meet its 2030 net-zero targets.
The project team will take a “living lab” approach to create solutions to climate resilience and transition that are rooted in place and the local communities. These solutions include addressing flood risk along the Clyde; halting biodiversity loss by resorting and connected habitats across the city; exploring new ways of regenerating derelict and polluted land; supporting lower-carbon journeys through active travel options such as walking, cycling and wheeling; and developing sustainable energy solutions that empower local people.
The project is led by Prof Jaime Toney (Professor in Environmental and Climate Science and Director of the University’s Centre for Sustainable Solutions). It includes contributions from across the social sciences, including whole systems approaches (John Crawford, Denis Fischbacher-Smith, and Graeme Roy), community collaboration (Ria Dunkley, Nai Rui Chng), Data Analytics (Nick Bailey), flood adaptation (Giedre Jokubauskaite, John Shi), restoring biodiversity (Ria Dunkley), and active travel (Cindy Gray, Nick Bailey, and David McArthur).
You can learn more about the project and the entire project team on the Centre for Sustainable Solutions website.
Why Challenges in Changing Cities:
The innovative programme to create a sustainable, healthy urban environment will help regenerate the river Clyde region, which faces significant social, economic and environmental challenges. It will provide learning that will help other cities in their missions to adopt green solutions.
The Community Collaboration workstream, led by Dr Ria Dunkley, will work in partnership with diverse existing and emergent communities across Glasgow to co-produce research that ensures that the people of Glasgow benefit from participation in the project.
Dr Dunkley said: “This is an enormous opportunity to involve the people of Glasgow in transforming Glasgow into a thriving place for people and nature. Over the next five years, we will invest in involving communities in research about the city's past, present and future and in enabling the people of Glasgow to actively participate in Glasgow’s transition to a more sustainable future”.
This project is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council
First published: 30 June 2022
Dr Ria Dunkley (Team lead for Community Collaboration), School of Education
Prof John Crawford (Team co-lead for Whole Systems), Adam Smith Business School
Prof Cindy Gray (Team co-lead for Active Travel), Institute of Health and Wellbeing