Students from Iceland, France, Germany, Ukraine and Kazakhstan came to Gdańsk for the TOWNSHIP summer school organised by the Centre for Sustainable Development together with the Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management at the University of Gdańsk. For a whole week, they took part in intensive workshops and field classes on urban design and sustainable urban management.
The project 'TOWNSHIP - towards sustainable, aesthetically pleasing and shareable cities: intensive international education programmes', headed by dr Grażyna Chaberek (Faculty of Social Sciences UG), was co-funded by the SPINAKER Programme - Intensive International Education Programmes of the National Agency for Academic Exchange. The project has already organised a winter school (Sustainable urban studies - towards inclusive urbanity and society), a MOOC course (Tools towards sustainable urbanity), and a summer school, 'Sustainable urban studies - towards better urban management'. Both the winter school and the summer school were attended by 12 students and doctoral students from foreign universities.
The classes were divided into two blocks lasting a total of two weeks. During the first week, the workshops were held stationary at the Centre for Sustainable Development headquarters. Then, for five days, students joined together for online classes.
'The Township summer school is another amazing meeting with students from many countries, says dr Grażyna Chaberek. 'It is a great international experience for both the staff of our Faculty of Social Sciences and the participants. I have received many positive comments and even admiration and thanks from the participants of this project. The international students assured me that they would be ambassadors for the project at their universities and would certainly recommend taking part in our courses if we were to organise further editions.'
During the residential sessions, students participated in painting dialogues and field activities, learnt to recognise urban and environmental risks and challenges, among other things, and prepared to work on a credit project. In the second week, during online sessions, participants deepened their knowledge of urban planning, urban mobility, urban anthropology, and urban energy transition management. On the last day of the project, credit presentations took place.
'The course programme was organised to combine interactive lectures and city tours. This made it interesting and very topical,' says Indira, a student from the University of Rome Tor Vergata in Kazakhstan.
Yoursa, a student from France's University of the Côte d'Azur, adds that during the summer school, she encountered a great deal of kindness and professionalism from both the instructors and the other course participants. She was also very impressed by Gdańsk itself.
'Gdańsk is an amazing city. Nature simply has its place here, and the inhabitants are aware of this and know how to protect it. I would love to live here! I learned a lot of interesting geographical and historical information about Gdańsk, Poland and the rest of the world, and about city management. It gave me hope to act more sustainably, especially in projects but also in my life and personal development. Thank you for this amazing experience!' comments Yoursa.
Dr Grazyna Chaberek confirms the positive experience.
'The students were very interested in the topics and engaged in the activities. They all declared that what made them participate in our summer school in the first place was its subject matter. For some related to their field of study; for others, it was something completely new but exciting. The group proved to be highly open to interaction during the class. The students asked a lot of questions and were eager to discuss. The lecturers, too, declared themselves satisfied with the opportunity to work with international students and shared their positive impressions. Improving the competencies of the lecturers at our faculty in terms of communication and working with international students was one of the project's main objectives, reports the project manager.
You can read more about the project here:
TOWNSHIP – Centrum Zrównoważonego Rozwoju Uniwersytetu Gdańskiego (CZRUG)
Website for participants (EN):
TOWNSHIP winter school relation:
