CAPACITY BUILDING

Jammu and Kashmir Urban Thinkers Campuse,

World Urban Campaign by UN-Habitat

28 April 2023 / Virtual

RUPD, in collaboration with partners such as ''Mannheim City,'' ''UNICEF India,'' and ''ELFA International,'' organized a virtual Urban Thinkers Campus hosted by Sphere India. The UTC's primary objective is to enhance the resilience of school buildings in the region to extreme weather events, addressing various hazards and increasing awareness among vulnerable populations. It aims to foster multi-stakeholder engagement, develop a 10-year Road Map for strengthening resilience, and facilitate city-to-city learning between Germany and India. This initiative aligns with the New Urban Agenda, supporting sustainable urbanization and contributing to several SDGs, including Good Health & Wellbeing, Quality Education, Industry & Innovation, Inclusive, Safe and Resilient Cities, Climate Action, and Partnerships for Sustainable Development. The UTC also aligns with "The City We Need" initiative, emphasizing environmentally sustainable and resilient urban development, specifically focusing on Principle 3 of the initiative. Click here for further information about Jammu and Kashmir UTC.

1st Kuala Lumpur Urban Thinkers Campuse,

World Urban Campaign by UN-Habitat

7-9 December 2019 / Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

RUPD, in partnership with Malaysian organizations such as the Institute of Climate Change at the National University of Malaysia (UKM), Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT), URBANICE Malaysia, GIZ Thailand, and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), organized a Kuala Lumpur (KL) Urban Thinker Campus, focusing on sustainable urbanization. This event, held from 7th to 9th Dec. 2019, aimed to develop an "Implementable Urban Climate Change Action Plan" to address the Urban Heat Island (UHI) Phenomenon. Objectives included raising awareness, involving stakeholders, sharing implementation-oriented knowledge, localizing urban climate change-related SDGs, prioritizing issues, and achieving a manifesto aligned with the New Urban Agenda (NUA) for implementing the action plan. Click here for further information about KLUTC2019.

2nd Kuala Lumpur Urban Thinkers Campuse,

World Urban Campaign by UN-Habitat

RUPD, along with German and Malaysian partners like ''Mannheim City,'' ''Urbanice Malaysia,'' and ''The National University of Malaysia,'' organized a virtual Urban Thinkers Campus hosted by Mannheim City. The second phase of Kuala Lumpur KLUTC2022 focused on 'Implementation of Urban Climate Change Action Plan in Kuala Lumpur' and was hosted virtually on 11 Feb. 2022. KLUTC2022 aimed to achieve the 2030 Agenda by sharing knowledge and addressing obstacles to implementing climate action plans. The first phase of KLUTC, held in December 2019 in Kuala Lumpur, successfully localized SDGs related to urban climate change issues through collaboration with various partners. To continue this journey, Dr. Peter Kurz, the mayor of Mannheim City, supported the organization of the second phase of KLUTC, hosted by Mannheim City, known for its commitment to sustainability. These Urban Thinkers Campuses aim to foster climate-resilient cities by initiating collaborative actions and supporting one another. Click here for further information about KLUTC 2022.

RUPD's International Symposiums

Urban Climate Change Resilience: With Focus on

Urban Heat Island Phenomenon

RUPD, in collaboration with Iranian partners such as the ''Ministry of Roads and Urban Development'' and ''Qazvin Province Road and Urbanism Office,'' organized two international symposiums in Tehran and Qazvin cities. These events aimed to exchange ideas and concepts for integrating effective mitigation and adaptation measures in urban planning. The symposiums focused on introducing innovative approaches to resilient urban climate change planning, fostering problem-solving discussions, and sharing solutions with different countries. The objectives included reviewing and sharing knowledge on climate change strategies, identifying key urban response issues, posing critical research questions, engaging in interdisciplinary problem-solving, developing draft manuscripts on identified topics, and promoting future research collaboration in urban climate change planning.

Nagpur Urban Thinkers Campuse,

World Urban Campaign by UN-Habitat

9-11 December 2020 / Virtual

RUPD, in collaboration with Indian partners including ''Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India,'' ''Resilience Innovation Knowledge Academy

India,'' ''Centre of Excellence in Disaster Mitigation and Management,'' ''Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee,'' ''India-Japan Laboratory,'' ''Keio University, Japan,'' ''ARISE India FICCI,'' and ''IRDR ICoE,'' organized a virtual Urban Thinker Campus hosted by VINT, Nagpur. The campus focused on the UHI with a cross-cutting theme of COVID-19, given that over 90% of COVID cases are in urban areas in India. The aim was to enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization, focusing on strategies like increasing Green and Blue spaces to mitigate the UHI effect, and addressing water and sanitation issues impacting COVID-19 prevention. The campus aligned with several SDGs and aimed to localize SDGs through unique, area-specific solutions and resonated with the goals of the New Urban Agenda by addressing congestion, air pollution, and UHI effects. Click here for further information about IndiaUTC 2020.

Workshop

symposium on Sustainability and Resilience in

Architecture and Urban Planning

1 October 2014 / Tehran, Iran

RUPD has been invited to contribute to the symposium on ''Sustainability and Resilience in Architecture and Urban Planning''. RUPD's workshop 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 and the analysis of the current design market on its agenda and makes every effort to transfer it.

 2016- 2018 / Berlin, Germany

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''. SLEis 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.

Summer School on 'Cultural Landscape and

Urban Resilience

 19 August 2014 / Bauhaus Universität Weimer, Germany

RUPD was honored to lead a lecture during the summer school organized by Bauhaus Universität Weimar in August 2014. The focus of RUPD's contribution was the integration of urban heat islands into the urban planning process. The summer school provided a comprehensive platform for exploring the influences of various man-made and natural factors on our built environment and how research tools can deepen our understanding to create more resilient cities. The course took a systematic approach to understanding urban resilience, bridging the gap between human-made and natural elements in urban contexts, from the city to the building level. It addressed parameters for urban resilience, complexities in integrated urban development concepts, analytical methods for urban heat islands, the impact of urban green spaces, comparative studies between informal and formal settlements, connecting affected areas to user-oriented systems, and the implications of case studies for integrative planning schemes. Click here for further information about the summer school.

11-12 May 2016 / Tehran University, Iran

RUPD was honored to conduct an intensive training course at Tehran University's Architecture and Urban Planning Department. The course drew participants from diverse backgrounds, including students and professionals from various organizations, notably Tehran Municipality. The workshop's objectives encompassed reviewing and sharing knowledge regarding urban climate change, exploring mitigation and adaptation strategies, comparing global approaches, identifying key urban climate response issues, posing critical research questions, and fostering multi/interdisciplinary problem-solving efforts.

2 May 2016 / Tehran Urban Research & Planning Centre

at Tehran Municipality, Iran

Parisa Kloss conducted training sessions for multiple stakeholders, including the Art University's Architecture and Urban Planning Department, and the Tehran Urban Research and Planning Centre under Tehran Municipality. The training focused on urban climate challenges, with a particular emphasis on the UHI effect. The workshops aimed to raise awareness, build capacity, and facilitate knowledge sharing regarding urban climate along with strategies for mitigation and adaptation. They also encouraged discussions on global approaches, urban climate response issues, research questions, & interdisciplinary problem-solving.