International Winter School in Tirana: Scaling down Green Transition – Co-creating Nature-Based Solutions at the neighbourhood level
The GreenFORCE project invites students to participate in the International Winter Schoolwith the theme “Scaling Down Green Transition – Co-Creating Nature-Based Solutions at the Neighbourhood Level”. This dynamic program, taking place from February 17–21, 2025, at POLIS University, Tirana, Albania, offers an immersive experience in advancing sustainable development and fostering climate resilience at the local scale.
This Winter School focuses on the concept of Just Green Transitions (JGT), and provides students with dynamic platform to:
- Explore, design, and implement localised solutions aligned with the SDGs, the EU Green Deal, and the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans
- Utilise advanced tools, such as environmental modelling and ecosystem service assessments, to evaluate and improve neighbourhood-level environmental performance.
- Collaborate in teams to design Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) tailored to real-world cases.
- Engage directly with local stakeholders in Tirana neighbourhoods to co-create sustainable solutions.
- refine their strategic decision-making capabilities through the on-site workshop, a series of online and in-person lectures, a scenario-building game, meetings with local authorities, etc.,
Participants will benefit from guidance and mentoring by an international, multidisciplinary teaching staff throughout the program.
The Online Preparatory Sessions: January 28, February 5, and February 12, 2025
Winter School Activities in Tirana: February 17–21, 2025.
This intensive and immersive program will equip students with technical skills, teamwork experience, and decision-making abilities, preparing them to address real-world environmental challenges.
Prepare for an exciting, fast-paced event that brings a unique localised Balkan perspective to the Green Transition discussion!
The Winter School is part of the HORIZON-WIDERA GreenFORCE Project, a collaborative initiative to foster research excellence in green transition across the Western Balkans. This school is organised jointly by Co-PLAN, Institute for Habitat Development and POLIS University and supported by the Interuniversity Department of Urban and Regional Studies and Planning and the Interdepartmental Responsible Risk Resilience Centre (R3C) of Politecnico di Torino. The school is supported by the Center for Economic Analysis Association (CEA) in North Macedonia, the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Geography; as the regional partners, and Nordregio, a pan-Nordic research organisation based in Sweden.
For more information on this summer school:
Students from POLIS University can click here.
Students from UB-GEF can click here.
Students from PoliTO can click here.
