Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability

SMUS is an Exceed center funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Developm The center is organised as a peer-learning process.

SMUS, with its coordination base at the Technische Universität Berlin, connects close to 50 partners from eight world regions. Focusing on some of the most pressing issues related to Sustainable Development Goal #11 of the Agenda 2030, Sustainable Cities and Communities, the center works at developing transdisciplinary spatial methods by bringing together research methods from various spatial disc

Photos from APRI - Africa Policy Research Institute's post

19/08/2025

19/05/2024

Goodies – resurse gratuite │ Doza De-a arhitectura │ MOOC Educație de arhitectură și mediu construit pentru copii și tineri – o perspectivă internațională asupra teoriei și practicii

Luna aceasta vă recomandăm MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) Built Environment and Architecture Education for Children and Youth – An International Perspective on Theory and Practice, o colaborare între trei universități: Union University Nikola Tesla din Belgrad, Serbia, Technische Universität Berlin din Germania și Misr International University (MIU) din Cairo, Egipt. Ne bucurăm că am putut contribui la acest curs prin prezența președintelui Asociației De-a Arhitectura, arh. Mina Sava.

Acest curs de educație de arhitectură și mediu construit pentru copii și tineri (Built Environment Education – BEE) se desfășoară cu acces liber și prezintă expertiza internațională atât a practicienilor, cât și a cadrelor universitare din domeniul educației de mediu construit. Cursul acoperă o gamă largă de subiecte, inclusiv metode și instrumente, teorii de învățare, rezultate și impacturi ale educației de mediu construit (BEE), încorporarea orașului și a patrimoniului cultural în curriculum, Obiectivele de Dezvoltare Durabilă (ODD) pentru copii, abordarea aspectelor legate de inegalitate în BEE și predarea BEE în diverse medii educaționale, de la muzee la zone rurale. În plus, cursul aprofundează politicile și practicile care susțin și îmbunătățesc activitățile BEE. Structurat în jurul a 10 sesiuni tematice, cursul include 19 lecții video, exerciții și sarcini scurte pentru a oferi o experiență de învățare cuprinzătoare. Cursul este o bază minunată pentru a face cunoștință cu BEE și poate servi drept educație și reflecție suplimentară pentru educatorii care se află deja în practică. Acest MOOC servește, de asemenea, ca o etapă de relaționare între educatorii BEE din toată lumea și intenționează să aducă BEE în programele de studiu ale viitorilor profesori, arhitecți și planificatori. Înscrieți-vă acum!

👉Mai multe detalii aici: https://lernen.oncampus.de/blocks/ocproducts/product.php?id=H35WxlVAchmE7ptjqAX24uClaNsnN8gl

📷 MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) Built Environment and Architecture Education for Children and Youth – An International Perspective on Theory and Practice, Grit Koalick – visuranto.de

Photos from Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability's post

18/01/2024

Here’s our new publication, ‘40 Perspectives on Urban Sustainability from Around the Globe’ 🌐 Co-edited by Thando Tilmann and Tamar Sarkissian📚

https://gcsmus.org/news/new-publication-40-perspective-on-urban-sustainability-from-around-the-globe/

https://verlag.tu-berlin.de/en/produkt/978-3-7983-3259-1/

https://depositonce.tu-berlin.de/items/4dd684b1-df82-46ea-841c-975d73d0cc7d

09/05/2023

The MOOC “Gender Equity and Social Inclusion” was recently highly ranked as a socially innovative project by the Principal of the College of Humanities at the University of Dar es Salaam during the College of Humanities Research Week which took place from the 13- the 14th of April 2023.
This MOOC, part of the 1st generation of SMUS MOOCs, explores how urban transport and infrastructure in open spaces produce inequalities and injustice.

The MOOC consists of 7 sessions: 3 lectures on social justice and inclusion; 3 interview videos with governmental participants, civil society organisations and representatives of people with disabilities; and 1 documentary showing urban infrastructural facilities and public places.

The MOOC has linked ethical and social justice theories with practical realities – gender equity and social inclusion of elderly persons, children, and people with disabilities through Capability Approaches.

Impact of the MOCC
The outcomes of the MOOC have been used as a supplementary teaching aid in various courses at the College of Humanities at the University of Dar es Salaam.
In addition to this, a collaboration with the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) is currently being planned to familiarise a broader audience with the topics addressed in the MOOC.
Team Members:
Dr. Nandera Ernest Mhnado
Mr. Shija Kevin Kuhumba
Mr. Lucas Shija Kitula
University of Dar es Salaam

02/05/2023

Part of Horizon Europe, the MSCA’s are the European Union’s flagship doctoral education and postdoctoral training funding programme. This highly competitive fellowship supports the mobility of researchers between countries and is aimed at further developing the careers of excellent PhD researchers.

27/04/2023

Based on the vision of SDG goal #11, the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) "Urban Landscapes of Care - Thinking and Designing child-friendly cities" developed by intuyLab, promotes the social inclusion of young children and their caregivers in today's urban development and teaches over 7 educational modules how to analyse, design, and implement quality public spaces for early childhood. Through an experiential learning approach, participants are invited to rethink the city from the perspective of young children and their caregivers, and to act empathetically and strategically on this challenge.
While the MOOC takes the Peruvian urban reality as a reference, similarities with other global urban contexts can be established. The course is addressing students and young professionals working in architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, design and all interested learners in social and spatial development.
The MOOC offers 25 to 30 hours of educational content including theoretical inputs, practical exercises, as well as interactive moments between young participants. All content is developed in English, nevertheless all videos are produced bilingual (Spanish, English).

The Golden Cubes Awards (GCA) honour people and organizations that help children and young people to develop a better understanding of architecture and the built environment. The Awards recognise, encourages and supports individuals and organisations that lay the foundations of an architectural culture and help children and young people, from pre-school up to and including the age of 18, to understand architectural design and the processes by which our environment is shaped.

We are grateful to announce that the MOOC Project has been awarded by the UIA Architecture & Children Work Programme with the SCHOOLS Golden Cubes Award 2023 with the following Jury’s comment: “An enjoyable project-based-learning approach. The project is holistic, based on the development of several technical and theoretical aspects, as well as creativity and understanding of architecture of a multi-dimensional discipline.”

Links to the MOOC: https://innovacioneducativa.upc.edu.pe/introduction/?utm_source=upc.pe&utm_medium=urlshortener
https://gcsmus.org/moocs/mooc-6-urban-landscapes-of-care-thinking-and-designing-child-friendly-cities/

Link to the website of intuyLab: https://intuylab.org/

Link to the Website of the Golden Cubes Award: https://www.uia-architectes.org/en/award/the-golden-cubes-awards-5th-edition/

Link to the linked in of UIA Architecture & Children Work Programme: https://www.linkedin.com/company/uia-org/

Trailer: Decolonial Thinking with Prof. Dr. Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni

27/02/2023

Decolonial Thinking with Prof. Dr. Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni

In this 11-part SMUS interview series Prof. Dr. Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Professor and Chair of Epistemologies of the Global South with Emphasis on Africa at the University of Bayreuth introduces viewers to the topic of decolonisation.

Professor Ndlovu-Gatsheni is a leading decolonial theorist with over a hundred publications in the fields of African history, African politics, African development and decolonial theory and we are delighted that he took the time to work with us on this series where he shares his thoughts, on topics ranging from “How does one colonize being human itself“? to “Why is there a need for structural, epistemic and personal decolonisation“?

This interview series provides a framework for an upcoming SMUS interview/podcast series which aims to highlight and reclaim other ways of knowing (the decolonisation of epistemologies).

Interviewer: Patricia Pinky Ndlovu
Concept & Content Development: Thando Tilmann and Tamar Sarkissian
Film Team: Dr. Johanna Ickert, René Arnold and Andrew Berry

Trailer: https://youtu.be/Yg04s0mNhzE
11 videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnKHmFi6Tcx9FWO0Xa1sw1bxlvxpYDor6
Resource lists: https://gcsmus.org/podcasts/