CAPACITY BUILDING

RUPD with its German and Malaysian partners ''Mannheim City'', ''Urbanice Malaysia'' and ''The National University of Malaysia'' organized a virtual Urban Thinkers Campus hosted by Mannheim City, Germany.

The second phase of Kuala Lumpur #Urbanthinkers (KLUTC2022) with the theme of ‘’Implementation of Urban Climate Change Action Plan in Kuala Lumpur’’ will be hosted virtually by Mannheim City in Germany on 11 Feb. 2022. The KLUTC2022‘s aim is to achieve the 2030 Agenda by knowledge sharing and learning from each other how to overcome the existing obstacles which we are facing to implement the climate action plan.

The first phase of KLUTC, with a focus on urban climate change issues, was held in December 2019 in Kuala Lumpur. It was a collaboration between different partners like Resilient urban planning and development (RUPD) GbR in Germany, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall, the Climate Change Institute at the National University of Malaysia, Urbanice Malaysia, and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. It was a successful campus with the main aim of localising SDGs related to urban climate change issues. Various stakeholders have been brought together successfully, different voices have been heard and the challenges have been discussed in multi-levels and prioritised to take action as well as the potential measures have been suggested.

We kept track and continue our collaboration in different forms and constantly inviting potential partners into our platform to exchange, learn from each other and together try to overcome obstacles and bridge the gaps from different perspectives in order to eventually implement the climate action plans on the ground and achieve the goal of the 2030 agenda and Paris Agreement.

To continue our journey, Dr. Peter Kurz, the mayor of Mannheim City supported us to organise the 2d phase of KLUTC. We have a great honour that Mannheim city which successfully developed the ‘’Local Green Deal’’ hosts this campus. Mannheim is among the German cities which are constantly working on green and sustainable infrastructures to makethe city carbon-free by 2050.

RUPD with its Indian partners ''Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, (VNIT) Nagpur, India'', ''Resilience Innovation Knowledge Academy (RIKA) India'', ''Centre of Excellence in Disaster Mitigation and Management'', ''Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee'', ''India-Japan Laboratory'', ''Keio University, Japan'', ''ARISE India FICCI'', and ''IRDR ICoE'' organized a virtual Urban Thinker Campus hosted by VINT, Nagpur.

The theme of the campus was the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon with the cross-cutting theme of COVID-19. Over 90% COVID cases are in urban areas. The urban areas in India face the problem of overcrowding and lack of open spaces. Both of these factors add to the risk of UHI and COVID-19. The theme caters to enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management. One of the strategies to mitigate the UHI effect is increasing the Green and Blue spaces. Further, the issues of water and sanitation directly impact the COVID-19 preventive measures.

The aims of the campus were to deliberate on issues of reducing the adverse per capita environmental impact of cities, including by paying special attention to air quality and municipal and biomedical waste management, specifically focusing on COVID-19 waste management. 

The campus addressed:

1. SDG 3 (Good Health & Wellbeing);

2. SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation);

3. SDG 9 (Industry & Innovation);

4. SDG 11 (Inclusive, Safe and Resilient Cities);

5. SDG 13 (Climate Action); and

6. SDG 17 (Partnerships for Sustainable Development).

The campus through its multi-stakeholder partnerships aimed for localization of SDGs through implementation of solutions which are local and unique to the area. The campus’s idea on reducing the financial, environmental and public health costs of congestion, air pollution, UHI effects radiate with the aims of New Urban Agenda.

RUPD has been invited to contribute to the symposium on ''Sustainability and Resilience in Architecture and Urban Planning''. RUPD's training course focused on the issue from urban planning perspective titled ''From Stability to Dynamic: Urban Resilience and Sustainability''.

The purpose of this symposium was to make practical use of the potential of design disciplines in the face of technology, modern science and interdisciplinary communication and other specialized sciences in the new millennium. 

Setting up this collection of meetings for the idea maker and its organizer (Designer Magazine) is therefore valuable and important because it puts the creation of a correct and logical knowledge as well as the analysis of the current design market on its agenda and makes every effort to transfer it. 

RUPD has been invited to contribute to the training courses of the Centre for Rural Development (SLE) since 2016. The theme of the courses is ''Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation Mainstreaming''. SLE is an organization of the Albrecht Daniel Thaer Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Humboldt-Universität Berlin.

Experts in international cooperation from around the world participate in these courses. RUPD contributes with the Urban Heat Island theme and share its knowledge and experience with the participants.

Click here for further information about the courses.

RUPD has been invited to organize an intensive training course at Tehran University, Architecture and Urban Planning Department in May 2016. The course theme was ''Climate Adaptive Architecture and Urban Planning Countering Urban Climate Change''. Students and professionals from different organizations especially Tehran Municipality have been participated. 

The objectives of the workshop include:

• Reviewing and sharing knowledge about the current state of understanding about urban climate, climate change in cities, mitigation and adaptation strategies;
• Comparing mitigation and adaption strategies to climate change across different countries and regions;
• Identifying key and relevant issues of urban response to climate change;
• Identifying critical research questions and employ innovative methodologies; and
• Engaging in multi/interdisciplinary problem-solving.

RUPD has been invited to hold one of the lectures of the summer school organized by Bauhaus Universität Weimer in August 2014. The RUPD's contribution was on discussing the integration of urban heat island into the urban planning process.

The summer school discussed how far different man-made and natural factors are influential on our built environment and in how far research tools and instruments can respond to develop a deeper understanding in creating more resilient cities. The course systematically approached an understanding of urban resilience that both connect man-made as well as natural conditions in the urban context, including scales from the urban to the building level. 

• Setting parameters for urban resilience 
• The complexity of integrated urban development concepts and the realities 
• Analytical approaches to urban heat islands 
• Societal ideals and the impact of urban green for the urban environment
• Drawing out a comparative study between informal and formal settlements
• Learning how affected areas can be connected to user-oriented systems
• Consequences from the case studies for integrative planning schemes 

Click here for further information about the summer school.