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June 19, 2025

"The Geography Europe Sustainability Field School taught me valuable lessons about independence, reliability, confidence and the value of understanding things through many perspectives," says Syrus Liddell.

Since 2012, UVic geography professor, Cam Owens has taken groups of eager students to Western Europe to learn about sustainable community development. Recently back from the 2025 field school, Owens talks about his passion for leading and organizing the sustainability program.

“Students meet with planners, activists, scholars, and others who are grappling with the complex social and ecological challenges facing cities in the 21st century,” says Owens.

“This kind of experiential education benefits students in countless ways: they gain lessons not only through formal programming but through personal exploration, the experience of traveling together as a small learning community, and the chance to see the world, and their own city, through new eyes,” he continued.

Caption: Field School students meeting with Per Bolund, former Minister of the Environment for Sweden
Credit: Cam Owens

“We have a unique partnership with the City of Victoria, with city staff (e.g. planners or managers) joining the group for part of the trip—a collaboration with mutual benefits: students gain insight into the professional perspective of city staff, while those staff members, in turn, engage with their counterparts in the field and bring fresh ideas back home,” says Owens.

The 2025 itinerary included cities in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. Owens explained the highlights included visits to major sustainable redevelopment projects like Royal Seaport in Stockholm, HafenCity in Hamburg, and Vauban in Freiburg, which bear similarities to Victoria’s own Dockside Green. Students also met with Sweden’s former Minister of the Environment, Per Bolund, to discuss urban greening and congestion charging in Stockholm.

One student commented their favourite memory was, “witnessing the passion from both my field school peers and the professionals we met for climate and sustainability, it made me very hopeful and inspired, it is hard to hold onto hope sometimes and when you witness people's passion it reminds you of people's strength and will for a better future.”

The students experienced cycling firsthand through cities like Copenhagen and Münster, often cited as global leaders in bike infrastructure, gaining a visceral understanding of what it feels like to move through cities designed around sustainable transport.

 

Caption: Student working on her field journal in Luebeck, Germany
Credit: Cam Owens

Along the way, students were exposed to a wide variety of ways sustainability is understood, how it might be achieved, and what stands in the way; from highly technical and policy-oriented planning approaches, to alternative models rooted in permaculture and degrowth, to relational approaches focused on deep listening and long-term thinking across generations.

“Hope for the people on the margins of society, hope for more degrowth communities, hope for more knowledge sharing, and most importantly hope for our future generations,” says Keira Fawcett, geography student.

“There truly aren’t enough words to express how much I changed on this journey; my perspectives on sustainability have been altered entirely, I feel I have so much excitement for my degree and the work ahead of me,” adds Fawcett.

For more information: UVic geography europe sustainability field school