Project description
The Wits-TUB-UniLag Urban Lab is a graduate school promoting cooperative efforts among the University of the Witwatersrand, Technische Universität Berlin and the University of Lagos seeking to contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA) on the African continent. The project is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development BMZ). It enables students and scholars from across Africa to partake in postgraduate degrees in the field of Urban Management as well as PhD studies at the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Lagos and it provides for postdoctoral fellowships at both these institutions.
Background and Rationale
Cities and urbanising regions in particular show the urgency of sustainable development imperatives such as poverty and climate change and many of the SDG targets require the substantive involvement of local urban stakeholders for their achievement. Decisions made in cities will either exacerbate vulnerabilities caused by climate change or initiate a transformation towards more equitable outcomes. This is especially true for urban populations in Africa that are expected to triple over 40 years, from 395 million in 2010 to 1.339 billion in 2050, corresponding to 21% of the world’s projected urban population (UN, 2014). This shift towards a new urban age requires efforts to understand how spatial form and function, knowledge production, decision-making and resource usage interact in urban environments. Effective responses require the ability to first acknowledge and then integrate a multiplicity of strategies that prevent positive and sustainable transitions. One of the greatest challenges in this regard is the capacitation of urban practitioners with the right sensibilities and skills to guide this transformation process.
Activities and Outcomes
Responding to these challenges the project established masters programme in Urban Management at Wits University in its first phase (2016–2020) and developed teaching modules focused on critical urban education and co-production. In the current (second) phase, the project consolidates and expands these efforts by establishing an Urban Management Masters programme and a PhD programme in Sustainable Urbanisation at UniLag to equip students with the skills needed to address the specific challenges of SDGs implementation in urban Africa. Currently the project supports students at Wits and UniLag with scholarships for Master and PhD studies. In the second phase, the project expanded its focus to include the support of early career researchers at African Universities through postdoctoral fellowships, a mentoring programme and a series of webinars tailored to their specific needs.
Through the work in the area of curriculum development, teaching activities and the research by the project team, the project’s postdoctoral fellows and the postgraduate students, the project developed an African perspective on sustainable urbanism and provides formats, programmes and concepts for the respective training of future professionals.
Networks
The project operates within North-South-South networks and aims at strengthening linkages between academia and other stakeholders whose commitments are needed to create more sustainable cities, such as the public sector, businesses, and civil society. The project also engages in pan-African networks for urban research and pedagogies.
