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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Trilateral team from Sub-Sahara Africa, North Africa and Europe officially kicks-of research and training project on how to incorporate SDGs in urban development
The project “SDGs GoGlocal!” (2023- 2026) aims to strengthen research and teaching in how to localize and ground the SDGs meaningfully in urban planning and development practice. Under the umbrella of the University of Stuttgart, Chair of International Urbanism together with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Windhoek and the Ain Shams University in Cairo (ASU) the trilateral partnership benefits from a transnational perspective that is crucial when working on localizing the SDGs. The official kick-off workshop in Windhoek took place in August 2023.
Making cities inclusive and sustainable
Sub-Sahara Africa is urbanizing at unprecedented speed. To address the dynamic urbanization process will be one of the strategic leverages for sustainable development both within the region as well as globally. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) put emphasis on the pressing need to “Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” (SDG 11). Often integrated and transdisciplinary approaches to localize the SDGs in urban development are seen as key, but how it exactly works is fairly unclear; particular on the level of so-called informal settlement communities.
Here ‘SDGs GoGlocal!’ is developing a 3-pillar approach: development of teaching modules, a multi-actor learning hub and joint research activities. To address today’s complex urban realities in Namibia and elsewhere the project emphasizes on integrated and transdisciplinary learning.
Benefit from the experience of the IUSD Master's program
“SDGs GoGlocal! will take experiences of the MSc Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design (IUSD) further and apply a co-productive approach that is at the heart of IUSD teaching and research at the Chair of International Urbanism”, says Prof. Dr. Astrid Ley, director of IUSD, Chair of International Urbanism Department and Co-Director of the Institute for Urban Planning and Design, University of Stuttgart. The IUSD hosted by the two partner universities University of Stuttgart and Ain Shams University (ASU) in Cairo can share more than a decade of teaching conceptual and practical tools towards holistic urban development approaches.
At NUST the courses taught are primarily discipline-orientated i.e. silo mentality, and programs developed to address the challenges of an integrated urban development has proven to be unsustainable due to lack of interest, human and financial capacity. However, effort is made within the Architecture and Planning programs courses to investigate and address urban challenges. “Lecturers and students are therefore looking forward to learning from the experiences and practices of the well-established IUSD programs”, indicates Gaby Hansen, lecturer and researcher at NUST.
Building a knowledge base on urban development in Namibia
The project is building up on existing academic-civil society networks in Windhoek. The joint discussion between the three partner universities, the Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG) and the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN) as well as representatives from different local municipalities in Namibia and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) puts emphasis on the value of co-productive learning and points to the relevance of the future of the multi-actor action learning hub.
Moreover, as explained by Prof. Dr. Mohammed Salheen from ASU in Cairo, “within the project frame of the next three years, IUSD students will have the chance to write their Master Thesis in the framework of the project and thereby firstly, will contribute to building up a knowledge base on Namibian urban development and secondly, benefit from the intercultural and multi-actor setting of ‘SDGs GoGlocal!’ to set a foundation for future joint research activities”.
‘SDGs GoGlocal!’ follows the principle of shared learning experiences on eye-level between Namibia, Egypt and Germany. The project is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in the program line “SDG partnerships”.
Prof. Dr. Astrid Ley, University of Stuttgart, Urban Design Institute, Chair of International Urbanism Department, phone: +49 711 685 83372, email: astrid.ley@si.uni-stuttgart.de
https://www.si.uni-stuttgart.de/en/
https://international-urbanism.de/research/sdgs-goglocal-2023-2026/
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