Delft Technical University (TU Delft, The Netherlands) is offering a free online course entitled Rethink the City: New approaches to Global and Local Urban Challenges.
In this course you will learn about today’s urban challenges focusing on developing countries, referred to as the global South. Participants will debate the benefits of three pathways, going beyond traditional urban strategies and policies:
- Spatial justice: Undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges of urban contexts in emerging economies.
- Housing provision and management: Increasing demand in the global South calls for alternative approaches in housing provision and management.
- Urban resilience: Understanding resilience not as a mere struggle for survival, but as an opportunity to build better urban environments.
In addition, you will be able to discuss question such as:
- Is the ‘just city’ framework applicable in cities with extreme socio-economic inequality?
- Can community-led housing initiatives provide effective solutions for households in need?
- How can resilience support development instead of perpetuating a disadvantaged condition?
In this architecture and urban planning course, academic urban planning expertise from TU Delft is used to formulate possible answers to these questions, and is applied in a range of challenging case studies from Ghana, Brazil, Malaysia, Chile, and China, among others. This course offers you a new perspective to understand and analyze the urban challenges of the global south.
Through a combination of short theoretical lessons, presentation of case studies, testimonies from practitioners and practical assignments you will also learn how to develop a critical perspective about your own urban environment and how to translate this knowledge into analytical tools and innovative urban solutions.
This course is designed for undergraduate and master level students of architecture, urban planning and disciplines related to urban themes. Nevertheless, anyone interested on debating spatial justice, urban resilience and housing provision and management are welcome.
No previous knowledge in urban planning or global south is required, just your eagerness to learn!
Rethink the City prize
One participant will be selected to come to Delft to participate in the 2017 Summer School ‘Planning and Design with Water’. This Rethink the City prize will cover the costs of the tuition fee for the summer school, the costs of board and lodging in Delft during the period of the summer school, and the travel costs to The Netherlands. The selection criteria for this prize will be communicated upon the course start.
What you will learn
- Alternative theories of spatial justice, housing provision and management, and urban resilience
- How to apply of analytical tools and innovative solutions to contemporary urban challenges
- Tools to critically analyse your own urban environment
- New perspectives to understand and analyze the urban challenges of the global South
Further information
Access the official webpage of the course where participants can enrol here.
The TU Delft webpage for the course is available here.
Watch a teaser video for the course below:
