IUSD joined the WORLD URBAN FORUM 2024 in Cairo!
“It all starts at home, it all starts locally, it all starts together, it all starts now!” – that was the slogan of the 12th World Urban Forum (WUF). The MSc Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design (IUSD) contributed to the discussions about solutions to pressing urbanization challenges.
The WUF took place in the megacity of Cairo this year. The global event convened by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) brought 24.000 participants together. For the MSc Integrated Urbanism and Sustainable Design (IUSD) with its DAAD funded double degree track between University of Stuttgart and Ain Shams University in Cairo it presented an excellent opportunity to actively engage, learn and create networks.
We were particularly eager to hear and engage in two sessions: In the session "Learning from Community Voices, Universities, and Knowledge Processes - Experiences across Africa." Prof. Dr. Mohamed Salheen from IUSD at ASU stressed: “Co-productive and reality-based learning processes are central to giving communities a voice”. The session “Cities and their twins around the globe” at the German pavilion gave opportunity to Prof. Dr. Astrid Ley and Prof. Dr. Mohamed Salheen who explained how IUSD as a double degree master program forms an integral part of the partnership between Cairo and Stuttgart as twin cities.
A highlight was the reunion with so many of our cooperation partners across the world, but particularly with IUSD students and alumni from the past 13 years. “We proudly see what important positions they have pursued and how they today work in municipalities, international organizations, research and practice all around the globe and engage as change makers in sustainable city making,” remarked Astrid Ley. WUF ended on the 8th of November with the Cairo Call for action – that IUSD Stuttgart will now take home to continue acting locally.