In Hasselt Everyone Shares. An exploration of Sustainability in Hasselt

Abstract

Sustainability is an important topic on the agenda of many cities today, certainly since on the 1st of January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were officially launched. Over the next fifteen years, world leaders have engaged themselves to move countries “to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change, while ensuring that no one is left behind (1)”. Interesting is that sustainability is defined as an intense intertwinement between addressing climate change and environmental protection, with ending poverty, strategies that build economic growth and addressing a range of social needs including education, health, social protection, and job opportunities. Ecological, social and economical concerns are thus seen as interrelated. To further investigate this meaning of sustainability on the level of the city and its citizens, UHasselt, Faculty of Architecture; The School Hasselt, a post-academic artist and research residency, a2o architects, Architectuurwijzer vzw and the city of Hasselt worked together to see how people share (in) their city today and how this contributes to achieve the sustainable development goals.