About
UBC's Campus as a Living Lab
UBC’s Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) provides a collaborative framework connecting researchers, staff, students and external partners to use campus as a platform for exploring, developing and testing new ideas.
CLL advances UBC’s sustainability goals by addressing challenges through shared leadership and interdisciplinary collaboration. Co-developed and co-led by academic and operational partners, academic insight is connected directly with operational expertise, allowing innovative ideas to move effectively from concept to practice.
CLL spans a range of activities across the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses, including innovative capital projects informed by research, academic–industry partnerships, interdisciplinary applied research, and infrastructure delivering academic and operational benefits. Drawing on campus infrastructure, assets and resources and managed by the Sustainability Hub, UBC's CLL demonstrates of what a sustainable university can achieve.
Vision
We aspire to be a globally-impactful hub for living lab research, demonstration, learning and knowledge exchange that helps address the world’s most urgent sustainability challenges.
Purpose
As a leading public research university, we have a commitment and responsibility to leverage our academic and operational capabilities to respond to global problems through our local context.
Mission
We provide a collaborative framework for researchers, students, operations staff and external partners to leverage the campus to explore, develop and test new ideas, and to share the knowledge gained from these experiences.
Our values
Our work is guided by our core values and values included in UBC’s Strategic Plan, Shaping the Next Century.
1. Sustainability
We support and develop projects that contribute to ecological, social and economic sustainability, address the climate and biodiversity crises, and are aligned with the long-term strategic vision for the UBC campus and its community.
2. Equity and Inclusion
We embed justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in all our projects and in our engagement with UBC community members and external partners.
3. Transparency
We build collaborations and partnerships through clear and open processes, and ensuring fair, ethical, consensual and transparent engagement.
4. Collaborative Learning
We embrace participatory and reciprocal ways of learning and sharing knowledge, reflective of the different communities, knowledge systems and experiences of those engaged in our projects.
Evolution of CLL at UBC
UBC has been a leader in sustainability since the 1990s, creating some of the most sustainable and equitable campuses in the world while educating and empowering future leaders. As a university-wide framework integrating sustainability into policy, operations, infrastructure, research, teaching, learning and partnerships, CLL is a vital part of this journey.
CLL demonstrates depth and breadth encompassing governance and research, landmark projects such as the Bioenergy Research and Demonstration Facility and Brock Commons Tallwood Student Residence, and funding programs, innovation partnerships and expansion to UBC Okanagan.
The timeline below highlights milestones in UBC’s sustainability leadership and the evolution of Campus as a Living Lab into a cross-campus platform using the university as a testbed for solutions with impact.
