DPU hosted training and networking events at the World Urban Forum 6, 2012

DPU staff successfully ran three sessions at the World Urban Forum 6 (WUF) in Naples, Italy last week. The international forum organised by UN-Habitat is described by the Executive Director Dr. Joan Clos as “the world’s premier conference on cities”.

Yves Cabannes ran the session ‘Community Land Trusts: Permanent Affordability for Long-Term Community Benefit’ in collaboration with the Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF).

The training event ‘How To Do: Participatory Design of the Built Environment’ was run by Alexandre Frediani in collaboration with Architecture Sans Frontiers UK. It attracted over 100 participants from a diverse range of backgrounds – slum dwellers, CBOs, NGOs, private sector, academics, as well as managers of large scale development projects and local and central government officials. According to organisers, the session demonstrated how participatory design can be of value in urban development; not only in building more responsive products, but also in building stronger and more resilient communities.

The third session organised by Cassidy Johnson in Collaboration with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) on ‘The Challenges of Urban Planning for a Disaster Resilient Future’. The session was a first effort to bring together a number of organizations working on the topic and engaging directly with planning organisations. According to Cassidy, the event marks the beginning of a larger collaborative project with UNISDR and others working on planning and disaster risk reduction.

The WUF was also a great opportunity for DPU to catch up over the traditional DPU dinner with alumni and prospective students who traveled for the event from all corners of the globe.

We’ll look forward to doing it all again in 2014!

*all photos by Camillo Boano