LCSS 2023

Please note: LCSS 2023 has been moved to a virtual format! Read on to learn more about it!

“Regional Life Cycle Management for the Transition to a Sustainable Future – Addressing the Nexus between Materials, Energy and Buildings“

This year’s Life Cycle Summer School 2023 (LCSS 2023), the 12th in the series under the broader program “Life Cycle Approaches to Sustainable Regional Development”, will take place from 04. – 18. October 2023 as a virtual Summer School. Unfortunately, we faced some logistical issues with our former partner organization in France and thus now have decided to still organize the Summer School, but virtually much like LCSS 2020 and 2021. We have adjusted our program and format and will offer 7 live sessions in October.

During the Summer School, we will look at how life cycle methodologies can facilitate the adoption of sustainable resource management strategies, support the transition to a renewable energy-based infrastructure, and help reduce the impact of the building and construction sector.

The task for our international society is huge. We need to avert a global climate crisis, protect our remaining biodiversity as well as our terrestrial and aquatic life support systems, make more efficient use of the natural resources we are exploiting, and address flagrant social justice and welfare issues around the globe. As a complement to the various initiatives of national governments and businesses, municipal and regional jurisdictions have an important role to play in such endeavors. Cities are now where most people live; regions are becoming the epicenters of our production systems, both agricultural and industrial. Both need the tools, the skills, and the incentives to better address the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are the key to our future.

It is regularly repeated that the most effective way forward is a holistic approach that deals with all the key SDGs simultaneously, based on a prior identification of the most significant points in the value-chains of our products and services. Upstream and downstream impacts along the value-chain are appropriately identified through standardized life-cycle analysis (LCA) techniques, while concrete action plans constitute the life cycle management (LCM) component of our involvement. Based on the assessment data, it is the management actions that result (or not) in effective change towards the SDGs.

During the summer school, we will examine the most promising life cycle management tools available to regional and municipal institutions and their development-oriented stakeholders, including, but not only, the business sector. In particular, we will closely examine some of the life cycle tools that allow us to manage more effectively the resource circularity options around EV battery production, the material flows in the building sector, and how public administrations can more effectively use principles of sustainable purchasing to advance their development agendas also in all other sectors.

The summer school is based on short lectures relating to the above subjects followed by intensive workshops and discussion sessions to explore the issues and options in more detail. Participants are encouraged to reflect on how the classroom experience relates to real-life situations in their respective regions. The Summer School experience is intended to give participants insights and understandings that can be immediately applied in their ongoing professional activities whether in research, business or in public institutions.

To learn more about our Summer School and the new virtual format and program, you can now download our updated information brochure via the button below.

Download Information Brochure

Registration

Registration is open to regional officials and their technical advisors as well as to (under)graduate students and young professionals, including researchers, under 40 who are interested in applying life cycle approaches.

The registration fee is 300€ for students & regional officials and 500€ for young professionals. An Early Bird rebate of 50€ is offered for applications until the end of August and an additional rebate of up to 30€ (student) / 120€ (full) is offered for FSLCI members (equal to the applicable first year membership fee!).

The registration fee covers access to all lectures, workshops, webinars and as well as the LCSS online collaboration platform and downloadable course material.

Relevant Deadlines: