News
Cities+limits is now online
February 26, 2013Cities+, the magazine produced by Mundus Urbano students, alumni, staff and friends, has just released its second edition. This time, the idea of limits is the starting point to analyse urban landscapes, concepts, situations and objects through unconventional and diverse points of view. Enjoy the reading, share the news and follow further updates at the Cities+ facebook page.
Applications 2013-2015: updates
February 12, 2013
It is still possible for new self-financed candidates to apply for a position at the Mundus Urbano Master's programme, class of 2013-2015. The coordination will be receiving new applications until Monday, April 15. Click here for information on how to apply.
So far, the coordination has already received more than 170 applications from all around the world. They are currently being analysed, and the first short-listed candidates will be individually contacted in March.
The final results of applications for Erasmus Mundus scholarships, which were closed in past December, will be announced in the end of April.
Mundus Urbano invites scholars
January 28, 2013
The Mundus Urbano Consortium periodically hosts visiting academics from non-European institutions who are interested in contributing to the Master programme and in strengthening our partnerships with other universities and research institutes.
Selected academics are hosted for a minimum period of two weeks and maximum of three months in one or more of the Consortium's universities. They are eligible to join the group of Mundus Urbano lecturers and to receive remuneration for their academic services.
Details on how to apply for this opportunity are available at the applications area of our website.
Open applications for the 2013-2015 cycle
November 19, 2012
The Mundus Urbano coordination started receiving applications for the 2013-2015 study cycle. Selected students will begin classes in October 2013 at TU-Darmstadt, and should conclude the programme by July 2015.
Applicants who wish to candidate for an Erasmus Mundus scholarship must send their applications no later than December 15, 2012. Students funded by third parties are able to apply until mid-April 2013.
For details on how to apply, click here.
MU alumnus is keynote speaker at the House of Commons
November 12, 2012
Mbongeni Ngulube, from the Mundus Urbano class of 2008-2010, is participating in a debate at the House of Commons in London next Monday, November 19. Currently a researcher of the Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa at the University of Leuven (Belgium), Ngulube will be a keynote speaker for the event "Rebuilding Zimbabwe: does China offer a better development model than the West?", with other experts in the field of development.
The event will debate whether the Western European model of development is indeed appropriate for the case of Zimbabwe, or whether countries like China would offer a better model of growth, bringing the discussion of state-led versus private-sector led development approaches. This platform will offer an opportunity to debate, among other models, the impacts and opportunities posed by China's presence in Africa.
Discussions about China's influence in Africa largely separate observers into two opposed camps: those who see the country as a neo-colonial oppressor focused on extracting Africa's natural resources; and those who see the importance of sovereign integrity and non-interference in domestic affairs in China's approach, as an alternative to failed Western aid. Based on such dichotomies, speakers will explore alternative models of development for Zimbabwe.
The session is hosted by the Zimbabwe Diaspora Focus Group (ZDFG) and Africa–UK. Parliamentarians, parliamentary staff and members of the Zimbabwean Diaspora in the UK are expected to attend the debate.
Click here for detailed information about the event (time, venue and registration)
*with contents from the Sustainable Emergency Architecture Master's blog
Mundus Urbano manager joins coordination team at AESOP
October 9, 2012
Lauren Ugur, Mundus Urbano alumna and programme manager, was elected for the coordination team of the Young Academics Network of AESOP, the Association of European Schools of Planning.
The AESOP Young Academics Network is a working group for young researchers who see value in coming together to develop research and disseminate it within the field of academic planning. Members are typically junior researchers, Ph.D. students and academic staff at the early stage of their career, who can face pressures which undermine their efforts to actively participate in the discipline of planning. The network aims to provide activities which directly train and indirectly support members in active participation in mainstream AESOP activities, such as the annual conference and publication in scientific journals and association book series.
Currently a PhD candidate at TU-Darmstadt, focusing on urban violence prevention, Lauren joins the coordination team with PhD colleagues from the Middle East Technical University (Ender Peker, focused on urban spaces and climate change) and from the Royal Institute of Technology (Feras Hammami, conducting research on cultural resources and conservation).
She has been nominated to take on the role of communications officer, working on the website, communications among the network and membership registrations, among other overall tasks that overseen by all team members.
"Despite being a lot of additional work I think that it is very important to use this position to encourage more young academics throughout Europe to contribute to AESOP and the Young Academics network events actively, so that the platform will continue to grow and provide an open but challenging environment for all those at the start of their academic careers where ideas can be shared. The YA Network is essentially the future of European planning and academia" - says Lauren, whose mandate at the coordination team will last two years.
More info about AESOP and its Young Academics Network: aesop-planning.eu
MU students initiatives are celebrated in Darmstadt
July 27, 2012
Last Saturday, Mundus Urbano students from the classes of 2010-2012 and 2011-2013 gathered at TU-Darmstadt, where they had a full day of presentations, discussions and festivities. Whether to celebrate the conclusion of the first year or of the full programme, the reunion was an opportunity to share knowledge, experiences and best wishes for the future.
The agenda was structured by the presentations of the master thesis from Josie McVitty, Diah Zahara, Silvia Aldana, Ragga Einarsdóttir, Sayan Radnaev, Melaku Tanku, Jakub Galuszka, Sonam Lama and Ritu George. Through the themes presented, students from both years discussed topics as social production of housing, participation of children in urban planning, gender issues, stregthtening of local governments, crime prevention, megacities, heritage preservation and linkages between rural and urban marketing strategies.
The meeting was also the occasion to officially launch Cities+, the publication entirely conceived and developed by the 2011-2013 students. In the event, printed issues of the first edition, Cities+smoke, were distributed. The meeting ended with a barbecue on the terrace of a Studentenwerk building and inaugurated new horizons for both groups.
New funding for Mundus Urbano is ensured
July 20, 2012
The European Commission just confirmed that Mundus Urbano's application for a second Erasmus Mundus funding phase has been successful. For the next five years, the programme will keep on counting on financial support to enhance its contribution to higher education and cooperation between Europe and the rest of the world. This will be an opportunity to build a stronger and even more dynamic programme for past, current and upcoming students.
Special acknowledgements go to the professionals who dedicated their time and competence to fulfil the application procedures: Matthias Nohn, Lauren Ugur and Pierre Böhm at TU-Darmstadt, and also the partners from Tor Vegata, Universitat Internacional de Catalunya and Université Pierre-Mendès-France (Carmen Tata, Giovanna Carnevali, Raquel Colacios, Jan Tucny and Jean-Michel Roux).
Cities+smoke: the first issue of the magazine produced by Mundus Urbano students
July 16, 2012Cities+ is a periodic publication developed by the Mundus Urbano community about urban issues presented through rather mundane and surprising perspectives. Each issue of Cities+ focuses on a certain theme connected to the field of urban planning and/or international cooperation. In each issue, Cities+ will bring an unconventional concept, idea, situation or object to serve as a starting point for analysing diverse urban contexts. The first one is "smoke". Enjoy the reading, and follow updates at the Cities+ facebook page.
Sustaining the metropolis: MU students take part in Frankfurt-Rhein-Main workshop
June 22, 2012Between May 16 and 23, Mundus Urbano students in TU-Darmstadt joined colleagues from the University of California Berkeley, Waseda University (Tokyo) and Tongji University (Shanghai) in a workshop dedicated to the sustainable development of the metropolitan region of Frankfurt am Main.
The region consists of 468 municipalities from three different German federal states and is the home of 5.5 million inhabitants, the second largest urban agglomeration in the country. Besides Frankfurt am Main and the regional cities of Wiesbaden, Mainz, Darmstadt and Aschaffenburg, small and medium sized towns and rural municipalities shape a special polycentric settlement structure, which forms a spatial pattern characterised by consecutive alternation of islands and open spaces.
Current and future challenges are being posed by a changing economy, increasing demands for mobility, climate change and the effects of globalisation. Topics related to these challenges were addressed by five working groups at the Architecture Faculty of TU-Darmstadt last month, namely with the following assignments:
- GreenBelt – the powerful elements for sustaining the metropolis
- Gateway Gardens – Airport-City integrated activation of the Rhine-Main logistic cluster
- New European Urbanity – conversion of former barrack grounds in Darmstadt
- Ecological urban regeneration and overheating prevention in Darmstadt Mollerstadt
- Culture-Campus Frankfurt – Enhancing metropolitan creativity
The results were presented in a final ceremony to the local private and public sector decision makers at the Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt on May 22. The video below provides a summary of the workshop:
Last call for applications 2012-2014
June 11, 2012
Applications for the Mundus Urbano cycle that starts in October are open until the end of this week. Self financed students can send their documents no later than Friday, June 15. Erasmus Mundus scholarship holders have already been selected and are being contacted individually.
Click here for information on how to apply.
Students' Public Lectures
April 10, 2012
During this summer semester, Mundus Urbano students at TU-Darmstadt present every Tuesday afternoon a lecture about urban issues in different places of the world.
The lectures are open to the academic community as well as to a broader audience. They take place on Tuesdays at 15.30 at the auditorium HS 92 of the TU-Darmstadt Lichtwiese campus. There is no need of previous registration to attend.
Schedule of presentations
- April 10: Inequalities in São Paulo
Marcelo Vitali, BSc International Relations - April 17: Queer Spaces & Cities of Diversity
Richard Shepherd, MSc Planning & Architecture - April 24: Integrating Disaster Risk Management to Local Development Plans in the Philippines
Kit Betia, BSc Agricultural Economics - May 8: Collaborative approaches towards environmental management in Eastern Europe: cases of Russia and Ukraine
Elena Mozgovaya, MSc Strategic Management - May 15: Day labour and "xenophobia" in South African cities: assessing the impact of neoliberalization and the applicability of policy approaches from the Global North
Matthew Sharp, MSc Social Anthropology - May 29: Vienna's social housing policies: housing for the poor?
David Kostenwein, MSc Urban Planning - May 29: Migrations and the dynamics of integration: the case of Vojvodina
Slavica Cepic, Dipl. Landscape Architecture - June 5: China now!
Blanca Calvo, MArch & Giselle Sebag, BArch - June 5: Social changes in Nowa Huta, Poland
Ewa Szymczyk, MSc Architecture & Urban Planning - June 12: Post-communist urbanisation in the shrinking Central Eastern Europe: the case of Romania
Ilinca Bajenaru, Dipl. Arch. - June 21 (exceptionally on Thursday, at 11.40): Comprehensive approach to planning in India
Venkat Aekbote, MSc Urban & Rural Planning - June 26: Examining problems and trends during the transitional urban planning period in Russia
Polina Koryakina, Dipl. Arch. - July 17: Low-income housing and the influences of climate change in tropical countries
Noel Sampson, MArch - July 17: Community development
Aleksei Lugovoi, MSc Human Geography
Applications for the cycle 2012-2014 are still open
February 27, 2012
Self financed students can still apply to the Mundus Urbano programme, until Friday, June 15, 2012. Applications for the Erasmus Mundus scholarships are already closed and results will be announced in May.
Click here for information on how to apply.