The aim of the Erasmus+ Cooperation project „Urban Planning for Social Resilience in Urban Neighborhoods. Transformative Change through civic engagement (UPRUN)“ is to provide future planners and other built environment professionals with a more sophisticated understanding of neighbourhood resilience. UPRUN is funded by the European Union within the ERASMUS+ Cooperation Partnerships (project number 2023-1-DE01-KA220-HED-000167004).

Project Duration

12/2023-05/2026
 

Objectives

In many European cities, we can observe that civil society actors increasingly appropriate public spaces and contribute to the co-production of neighborhoods. As consequence, numerous ‘experimental spaces’ exist in cities, where ‘city makers’ develop social innovations and test new structures or new practices. Social innovations that emerge from organized citizenship have the potential to make a valuable contribution in addressing social and cultural issues in the neighborhoods of European cities, and can contribute to the development of resilient communities. These transformative processes have the potential to confront fragmentation and exclusion in neighbourhoods, and are thought to provide the groundwork for an educational mission of architects, urban planners and designers and other built environment professionals. However, these developments are not reflected in higher education curricula to date. More attention is needed to understand the dynamics of civic engagement and community resilience in a comprehensive way and to gain knowledge on how to strengthen neighborhood resilience in an environment characterized by change, uncertainty, and unpredictability.

The aim of UPRUN is to provide future planners and other built environment professionals with a more sophisticated understanding of neighbourhood resilience. For this, UPRUN will identify strategies to strengthen social participation, resilience and sustainability in urban communities and neighbourhoods. The findings are used to develop hybrid teaching modules enabling students to make urban neighbourhoods more resilient via planning, collective action, innovation and learning.
 

Approach

UPRUN consists of several modules that build on and complement each other in the development of a digital, interactive knowledge and learning platform. The different modules include theoretical-conceptual approaches, quantitative and qualitative research methods as well as online studios, workshops, etc. to derive potential planning and design approaches for a more resilient development of urban neighbourhoods in European cities.

For further information see: https://resilient-neighborhoods.eu/about/research-design/

Joined Partners

• University of Priština
• Polis University
• Ss. Cyril and Methodius University (UKIM)
• National Technical University of Athens
• University of Basel
• Frederick University
• Kaunas University of Technology

Funding

UPRUN is funded by the European Union within the ERASMUS+ Cooperation Partnerships (project number 2023-1-DE01-KA220-HED-000167004).