oikos Spring Meeting Barcelona 2012
The objective of the oikos Spring Meeting 2012 is to gather international community of oikos members with an aim to share ideas and perspectives on the future of Mobility and to enable exchange of experiences from locally organised projects. The Meeting is going to be held at the ESADE University in Sant Cugat (Barcelona) from 29th March to 1st April 2012.
We expect participation of about 100 students from all over the world, especially from Europe, who are going to stay in hostels situated in the centre of Barcelona.
Topic
This year we have decided to talk about Sustainable Mobility because it is a current and interesting topic that recognises the challenges related to transportation, shipment of goods and general communication. It is a concept born from the concern for environmental and social problems caused by the spread of an urban transport model, focused on the petrol-fueled cars, which developed during the second half of the twentieth century.
The problems of this model include: air pollution, excessive consumption of energy, side-effects harmful for citizen's health and overcrowded roads. In Spain, for instance, transport represents a quarter of the gas emission and 36% of the Spanish energy consumption.
The above have triggered a collective will to find solutions which would mitigate the negative effects of this model and to develop a new, alternative one.
Concepts of Sustainable Mobility suggest actions that help to reduce those negative effects. Examples of these responsible practices are as follows: forward-looking urban planning; travelling on foot, by bike or with public transport; sharing a car with co-workers; replacing abroad meetings with teleconferences and many more. We will try to equip you with a proper knowledge and awareness that will enable you, oikos change agents, to promote appropriate lifestyles and also recognise the opportunities that still stand before corporate world, public administration or shipment companies.
Activities
oikos Spring Meeting in Sant Cugat will be a feast for mind and spirit. Series of content driven sessions as well as fun, hands-on projects await you. Already excited? Keep on reading ;)
Participants are arriving on Thursday morning and we are going to start with the “ice-breaker” session on the midday so that participants would socialise and get to know each other. In the afternoon we will get first insights into the topic of Sustainable Mobility that will prepare us for an on-site investigation of mobility related solutions implemented in Sant Cugat, where ESADE campus is based. It will be a guided walk around the city, lead by representatives of City Hall, experts form the field and members of oikos Barcelona. Finally, after a dinner, we'll be screening a movie related to the meeting's theme.
Friday will be opened with visits in one of two exceptional companies: Seat (car factory with an assembly line of electric vehicles) or bicing (Barcelona's bike renting scheme). Afterwards, for the rest of the day, we will move to Barcelona's Botanic Garden. We will dive into a series of oikos sessions: “Legislative meeting”, “Chapter Fair” and the “Peer2peer”. Then, at 16:00, we will listen to a serious Panel Discussion in which we will assess the current state and also predict 2020 scenario for Mobility worldwide. Finally, before having lunch, we will invite you for a night-tour of Barcelona, which will be concluded with a Flashmob performance.
On Sunday morning we are going to have the first workshop session, in which teams of oikees will be analysing cases related to teleconferencing, infrastructure for electric vehicles, car sharing, corporate car-pooling or will try to solve some of ESADE's burning problems. Between those sessions, we'll be planting trees in ESADE garden - activity that shall be both educational and entertaining. After a day of such an intense brainstorming, we will move to Barcelona where as an oikos biking gang we will cycle along Barcelona's coast line.
Of course you can also count on a Barcelona-style oikos Party on Saturday's night!
The prospects for this event are really high and we expect that it is going to be an event without precedence, very enriching intellectually and spiritually.
Your oikos Barcelona team.
