Learning Cities: "Urban Studios" in Chinese Partner Cities

Project Supports Student Ideas for Sustainable Urban Development in China and Germany

  • Press Releases 22.04.2015

This summer the first Urban Studio within the city partnership between Essen and Changzhou in China (Jiangsu Province) will take place. The Studio gives German and Chinese students the opportunity to develop innovative urban planning concepts in an interdisciplinary environment under supervision of experts from academia, politics and business. Another city partnership within the project is between Düsseldorf and Chongqing in the West of China where the next Urban Studio will take place in 2016.

 

Under the leadership of the Wuppertal Institute and the China programme of the U.S.-based Energy Foundation, the Sino-German project "The Learning City – Interdisciplinary Studios for Urban Development. A Sino-German Initiative" has started early this year. The project is sponsored by Stiftung Mercator and will run two years.

 

China is in a state of rapid urbanisation; more than half of the Chinese population lives in cities. Hence, it is all the more important to shape this process sustainably successful. European cities can serve as good examples, as many of them have yet undergone structural change towards sustainability. They share these experiences in projects like the EU-China Urbanisation Partnership Programme. In 2013, partnerships of 12 Sino-European cities were established within this programme, which shall encourage the exchange of knowledge and experiences of the cities in the field of sustainable urban development.

 

To foster this mutual learning process, the Sino-German project "The Learning City" pursues a new approach to innovative urban planning. What makes the project special is that the ideas developed in the project will be developed by students from Germany and China in close collaboration with decision-makers of the participating cities. In Urban Studios they form interdisciplinary teams and, with the help of experts, work on innovative urban planning concepts for the Chinese cities. Afterwards, the teams with the best projects, accompanied by Chinese decision-makers, will take part in a Good Practice Study Tour in Germany and visit the German twin cities. On the basis of the positive examples presented to the students, they shall develop implementation strategies for their own urban planning projects.

 

There is a lot Changzhou and Essen may learn from each other. Changzhou is a metropolis with three million inhabitants and located near Shanghai. Both Changzhou and Essen are in a process of transformation towards a more climate-compatible industrial infrastructure and develop actively their modern service sectors. Essen is already a good example for sustainable development and was among the finalists for the "European Green Capital 2013" award. With projects like the "Science and Education Town", Changzhou also created the opportunity to develop and test innovative and sustainable urban planning concepts.

 

 

Press release by Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy

Responsible: Prof. Dr. Uwe Schneidewind, President

Contact: Dorle Riechert, Public Relations

Tel. +49 202 2492-180, Fax +49 202 2492-108

E-mail: dorle.riechert@wupperinst.org


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