Book of Abstract: International Symposium | University of Calabria 22-24 April 2026

ECOPÌA | ECO PARTNERSHIP FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY ACTION
International Symposium Book of Abstract

INTRODUCTION TO THE CONFERENCE
Paola Cannavò, Pierfrancesco Celani, Massimo Zupi
The era we live in, as many of the past times, is marked by multiple and interconnected crises (humanitarian, environmental, social, political, and epistemic) as well as by growing inequalities, the erosion of common goods (Ostrom, 2008), biodiversity loss and, finally, the climate crisis (IPCC, 2023). Despite thirty years of sustainability rhetoric, launched with the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992, the tangible impact of the many good practices implemented has remained limited. The concept of "sustainable development," which was consolidated too quickly, has failed to deeply transform collective behaviors, production systems, and power structures (Franz, 2020, 2022). The 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Ferrara, 2016) marked an important step, but have not been able to trigger the necessary structural, cross-sectoral, and multilevel change. Since 2012, the international academic network “Routes Towards Sustainability – Routes” promotes academic cooperation among more than twenty universities across five continents, through a multidisciplinary approach to sustainability. But the conditions described above, have led the Routes network to evolve and renew itself, reaffirming its decade-long commitment while updating and expanding its scope.