Engaged Mittelstrasse
How does sustainability manifest itself in the everyday life of a university, and how can it be strengthened?
The project Engaged Mittelstrasse explores exactly this at the site Mittelstrasse 43. In this lively building with institutes, offices, a library, and a bistro, people from research, studies, teaching, operations, and the local neighborhood come together. In moderated meetings, they jointly shape what a culture of sustainability at the University of Bern means and can mean. Engaged Mittelstrasse makes a sustainability culture visible, stronger, and shows how it is shared and lived.
Engaged Mittelstrasse addresses the topic of sustainability culture from different perspectives. Through an open-ended process that brings together various actors, the aim is to create a transdisciplinary understanding of sustainability culture at the site and to foster appreciation of the diverse contributions. The GreenCampus project is part of Engaged Mittelstrasse and focuses on greening the building’s courtyard to contribute to climate protection, promote biodiversity, and enable new integration into the neighborhood.
Engaged Mittelstrasse is carried out by the Centre for Development and Environment in cooperation with the Vice-Rectorate Quality and Sustainable Development within the framework of the Engaged UniBE initiative. The project is part of the national project RealTransform, funded by the swissuniversities program Strengthening a Culture of Sustainability at Swiss Higher Education Institutions (PgB 2025–2028), which investigates at several universities how so-called real-world experiments can contribute to sustainable transformation. The goal is to test new forms of collaboration, promote shared learning, and establish transdisciplinary spaces at universities.
Your opinion matters! Do you study or work at Mittelstrasse 43, or are you one of our neighbors in the Länggasse district? Then take part in this survey and share your thoughts on the sustainable development of Mittelstrasse.
Contact: Dr. Lilian Trechsel (sustainability.cde@unibe.ch)