contextual #dialogues on #community-based #participation for a #sustainable #urban_future

INCLU­SIVE CITIES: Con­tex­tual Dia­logues on Com­mu­nity-based Par­tic­i­pa­tion for Sus­tain­able Urban Future

This project promotes academic collaboration that explores the connection between citizen-centered participation in urban planning and the overarching ideals of democracy and (social) sustainability. The main objective is to encourage, strengthen, and sustain the dialogue between German universities and their partners in the MENA region, to promote intercultural and contextual understanding, and at the same time to improve the quality of teaching and research.

This project pro­motes aca­d­e­mic col­lab­o­ra­tion that explores the con­nec­tion between cit­i­zen-cen­tered par­tic­i­pa­tion in urban plan­ning and the over­ar­ch­ing ideals of democ­racy and (social) sus­tain­abil­ity. The main objec­tive is to encour­age, strengthen, and sus­tain the dia­logue between Ger­man uni­ver­si­ties and their part­ners in the MENA region, to pro­mote inter­cul­tural and con­tex­tual under­stand­ing, and at the same time to improve the qual­ity of teach­ing and research.

To achieve this goal, the project is estab­lish­ing a part­ner­ship between the Bauhaus-Uni­ver­sität Weimar (BUW), Notre Dame Uni­ver­sity-Louaize (Lebanon), the Sci­en­tific Col­lege of Design in Mus­cat (Oman), and two local non-uni­ver­sity stake­hold­ers. Through this part­ner­ship, the ini­tia­tive offers its tar­get groups a wide range of coor­di­nated exchange activ­i­ties on the iden­ti­fied top­ics, includ­ing aca­d­e­mic vis­its, joint pub­li­ca­tions, the­matic work­shops, net­work­ing and dia­logue events, as well as the joint devel­op­ment of courses.

The kick-off event for the Inclu­sive Cities project took place from April 14–18 at the IfEU (Insti­tut für Europäis­che Urban­is­tik). After arriv­ing together and par­tic­i­pat­ing in the Bauhaus.Walk, as well as vis­it­ing the Weimar West Dis­trict Man­age­ment office and the con­struc­tion site of the “Alte Feuerwache”, our five guests from Oman and Lebanon took part in four inten­sive days fea­tur­ing excur­sions, pro­fes­sional devel­op­ment ses­sions, a kick-off meet­ing, and a part­ner forum. The first two days of the pro­gram con­sisted of ped­a­gog­i­cal train­ing ses­sions on the top­ics “Inte­grat­ing SDGs (Sus­tain­able Devel­op­ment Goals) into Higher Edu­ca­tion” and “Inte­grat­ing CDC (Com­pe­tences for Demo­c­ra­tic Cul­ture) into Higher Edu­ca­tion,” led by Prof. Marco Rieck­mann and Prof. Clau­dia Lenz. This was fol­lowed by a two-day Part­ner Forum and Kick-Off Meet­ing led by Prof. Dr. Frank Eckardt and Ahmed Moustafa. First, the part­ners and their insti­tu­tions intro­duced them­selves, fol­lowed by a dis­cus­sion of orga­ni­za­tional mat­ters, the project’s goals, and the time­line for the Inclu­sive Cities project. The week was rounded out with shared meals and walks through Weimar.

We thank all guests for their active par­tic­i­pa­tion and fruit­ful exchange and hope that they will cher­ish fond mem­o­ries of their stay in Weimar. We look for­ward to see­ing you again soon!