From the next 100 metro cities in the world about 40 are going to be in India, India is a growing economy with rapid urbanization which is expected to have a total housing shortage from about 18.8 million in 2012 to about 30 million in 2022. About one thirds of the Indian population lives in slums and on an average 48 percent of metro cities lives in informality with poor habitat conditions, living on untenable land with no access to safe water and sanitation, insecurity of tenure and constant threat from eviction. This carries the danger of growing poverty and - subsequently - of social and political unrest. The proposed many programs and schemes creates huge demand and more importantly responsible architects and urban planning professionals who are trained to deal with ground realities and are sensitized to deal with complex challenges towards development of Inclusive communities.

Increased frequency of natural hazards and sea level rise are expected impacts of climate change in India. Marginalized urban settlements are often vulnerable to disaster due to their location in hazardous areas and the use of non-durable building materials, already today their inhabitants are therefore strongly affected by climate change. But amidst strives to meet climate targets, the poor’s needs are mostly overlooked.

In this context, there is an urgent need for paradigmatic shift in the education of graduate students in spatial planning and design as well as training of urban professionals from different backgrounds in order to confront upcoming challenges related to climate change impacts on urban informal settlements.

BReUCom therefore will:

  • Produce Open Educational Resources by developing 10 comparative case studies & 10 descriptions of new courses for graduate students in existing programs, following MIT’s Open Course Ware model.
  • Pilot 5 new courses on urban resilience in existing curricula for graduate students.
  • Develop 20 new Professional Development Programs (PDP's) modules on urban resilience for urban professionals from different backgrounds and working experiences, pilot 10 modules including internships with NGOs in India and Europe.
  • The BReUCom project conceives pilots postgraduate short term Professional Development Programs (PDPs) targeted at real world problems.

Who are the Partners of BReUCom:

  • Danube University Krems, Austria
  • Kamala Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture, Mumbai, India
  • School of Planning and Architecture, Bhopal, India
  • School of Planning and Architecture, Vijayawada, India
  • Society for the Promotion of Area Resource Centers, Mumbai, India
  • University of Twente, The Netherlands
  • Center for Urban and Regional Excellence, Delhi, India
  • National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, India

How will the implementation take place?

7 Work Packages have been designed through which the objective of the project will be fulfilled. Each institution has been assigned a WP to take up the case studies, develop new professional courses, and take up professional development programs.

  • WP 1 – Preparation, lead organization DUK,
  • WP 2 – Development –Comparative Case Studies, lead organization
  • WP 3 – Development – Courses and PDPs, lead organization
  • WP 4 – Development – Pilot implementation and evaluation, lead organization
  • WP 5 – Quality Plan – Entrepreneurial Advisory Board, lead organization
  • WP 6 – Dissemination and Exploitation, lead organization SPARC
  • WP 7 – Dissemination and exploitation, coordinator DUK

Project Details:

Duration of the project: 15/01/2019 -14/01/2022

Funding Agency: EU

Program: ERASMUS+

Project members at SPARC: Sheela Patel, Maria Lobo, Smruti Jukur, Nihar Johari

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