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Each year, as part of the practice module, students complete a practice engagement project in order to gain hands-on experience of processes of urban change in a fast-changing city context.
As well as producing meaningful outputs for local project partners and communities, the practice engagement project aims to build the capacity of students as reflexive urban development practitioners.
In recent years, UDP overseas practice engagement have engaged with cities including Accra, Dar es Salaam, Bangkok, Mumbai, Colombo, Yogyakarta, Istanbul and Liverpool.
For more information on previous practice engagements, please see below:
- 2022: Liverpool, England
Unable to travel internationally due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, 2022 saw UDP develop a one-year partnership with a collection of community-led housing actors in the Liverpool City Region. Designed in partnership with Breaking Ground, UDP students worked with three established community-led initiatives to develop city-level strategies designed to unlock the potential of community-led housing and regeneration in the city.
Photo gallery
Flickr Image/Slideshow Widget Placeholderhttps://www.flickr.com/photos/dpu-ucl/albums/72177720299246084 Student Videos
Community-led Housing in the Liverpool City Region: The Case of Granby Four Streets CLT
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/u4ab0hzTyDQ YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/gTlDXHOK9i8
Community-led Housing in the Liverpool City Region: The Case of SAFE RegenerationYouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://youtu.be/OfnNwJUmxCk
- 2019-2021: Yogyakarta, Solo and Surabaya, Indonesia
Between 2019 and 2021, MSc UDP students worked in partnership with an alliance of community groups and civil society actors in Yogyakarta, Solo and Surabaya to explore questions related to neighbourhood precarity in secondary Indonesian cities. Designed in collaboration with ArkomJogja, the first year of this partnership began with an exploration of tenure security as an intensely dynamic, variegated and multi-dimensional concept in Yogyakarta. The second year, reshaped by the advent of COVID-19, saw a pivot in focus towards developing an understanding of the role of community-centred processes in reacting to the inequalities revealed and amplified by the pandemic. The third year then expanded the focus of the collaboration to two additional Indonesian cities (Solo and Surabaya) with students working remotely to investigate the challenges and opportunities confronting efforts to pilot community-led settlement upgrading at scale.
Student Videos
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=974aPbCpTmw YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFP2jlaOgvs YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkO_5i65EUo Virtual Settlement Tours
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGPZAOOL_oY YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woNze-BfRmI YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVmteKV8JTs Reconceptualising the field: Learnings or Lessons from remote practice engagement
YouTube Widget Placeholderhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVh4sePzzbE
- 2018: Colombo, Sri Lanka
In 2018, UDP students travelled to Colombo to work on issues relating to settlement upgrading and relocation in the city.
Student reports
Student Videos
Student blog
Between Upgrading and Resettlement: Fieldwork reflections from locations in Colombo by Balint Horvarth, Mateo Lu, Fernando Toro, Nada Sallam and Karlene Stubbs with editorial support from Tim Wickson and Barbara Lipietz
- 2014-17: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Between 2014 and 2017 UDP students worked with Tanzanian NGO Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI) and members of the Tanzanian Urban Poor Federation in Dar es Salaam. During this time, students focused on issues including land, housing, solid waste management and environmental hazards (e.g. flooding).
Student reports
• Building just responses to flooding
• Transforming Solid Waste Management in Dar es SalaamStudent videos
- 2011-13: Bangkok, Thailand
Between 2011 and 2013 UDP students worked with the Community Organizations Development Institute (CODI), the communities with whom they work and the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR). Over the three years, students focused on the challenges of settlement upgrading and city-scale transformation, using the innovative Baan Mankong Housing Programme as an entry point.
2012: Bridging Co-production of housing at scale
2011: Bridging Co-production of housing at scale
- 2010: Istanbul, Turkey
In 2010 UDP students travelled to Istanbul to work with local communities to develop strategies capable of promoting the right to the city.
Bridging Place, Space and People
- 2006-09: Mumbai, India
Between 2005 and 2009 UDP students worked with the National Slum Dwellers Federation, Mahila Milan and SPARC (collectively known as The Alliance) in Mumbai, India. During this three year engagement, UDP students focused on issues that ranged from housing upgrading and relocation to water and sanitation provision.
2009: Community-Driven Housing Policy and Planning
2008: Community-Driven Housing Policy and Planning
2007: Community-Driven Transport Policy and Planning
2006: Community-Driven Housing, Water and Sanitation Policy and Planning
- 2004-05: Accra, Ghana
Between 2004 and 2005 UDP students worked with a variety of urban development actors in Accra to explore the potential role of pro-poor public private partnerships as a mechanism to improve housing and infrastructure provision for residents of underserved informal settlements.
2005: Development of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA)
2004: Development of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA)
