Green university as seeds of change: A strategic digital humanities framework for sustainability transformation in Saudi higher education
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Abstract
This conceptual article proposes a strategic digital humanities framework for advancing green university transformation in Saudi higher education. It begins from a simple but often neglected argument: universities cannot become sustainable by greening infrastructure alone. Energy efficiency, waste management, water conservation, transport planning, and environmental reporting are necessary, yet they do not by themselves transform how academic communities imagine their responsibilities toward land, resources, culture, knowledge, and future generations. In Saudi Arabia, where higher education reform, digital transformation, and sustainability ambitions are closely connected to Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative, the green university can function as a seed of change when it becomes a cultural and intellectual project as well as an operational one. The article develops a Strategic Digital Humanities for Green University Transformation framework organized around seven interrelated dimensions: digital sustainability curriculum, green digital archives, data storytelling and visualization, the campus as a living laboratory, community and cultural engagement, digital ethics and environmental responsibility, and policy and institutional governance. Drawing on scholarship in sustainability in higher education, digital humanities, education for sustainable development, and Saudi campus sustainability studies, the article argues that digital humanities can humanize sustainability by linking environmental issues with memory, language, place, identity, ethics, narrative, and public participation. The contribution is a context-sensitive framework that Saudi universities can adapt for teaching, research, institutional culture, community engagement, and national development priorities.
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