The 2012 edition of the oikos Spring Meeting, the annual gathering of oikos Chapters, has concluded recently. Read how oikos President Dawid Wroblewski sums it up!

From March 29^th to 31^st, over 100 oikees participated in learning workshops and knowledge-sharing sessions gaining valuable insights into the nature of mobility – the theme of this year’s meeting, discussing the future of the oikos network, made new friends from different chapters, and enjoyed the beauty of the city of Barcelona (Spain).

 

The first day of the meeting coincided with a nation-wide general strike of public transport employees, which provided oikees with the exceptional opportunity to get first-hand exposure to issues pertaining to mobility. Forced relocation of the opening sessions from the ESADE Business School to the more accessible, public Park Ciutadella and the personal anecdotes of problematic commutes, sparked lively discussions about sustainable mobility. 

During the second day, oikees visited two transport sector companies: SEAT’s car factory (Martorell) and Bicing, a public rental scheme of bicycles in Barcelona. Later, oikees visited the Botanical Garden of Barcelona, where an oikos Legislative Meeting took place. In the meeting, oikos Chapters in Copenhagen and Tbilisi were granted full membership status, and the three presidential candidates for the upcoming oikos election - Lenka from Prague, Neringa from Maastricht and Fred from St Gallen - presented their vision and ideas for oikos. oikos Chapters have  time  until April 13^th to select a candidate and send their vote. During the knowledge-transfer section, chapters shared their projects among each other, and received feedback from their peers to help them improve them.

On the last day, workshops and peer-to-peer sessions led by the oikos members touched upon a number of topics, such as carbon footprint calculation, the Better Place company case study, a car sharing initiative at ESADE, and cross-chapter projects. Before concluding the meeting, oikees planted on the ESADE’s roof-top almost 100 plants, herbs and trees. This activity was meant to offset participants’ travels to Barcelona and contribute towards greening the campus. oikees also biked through the streets on Barcelona to advocate for the increased used of bicycles for short-distance travels within the city. 

The 2012 Oikos Spiring Meeting was possible thanks to the hard work of oikos International and oikos Barcelona. Once again, the oikos community boosted its knowledge, advanced its integrity and empowered its members to continue their efforts to further sustainability in the environment of their home universities. 

 

We look forward to the next gathering, which will take place in November, at the oikos Future Lab in St. Gallen.

Dawid Wroblewski 
President of oikos International