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Sustainability summer school excites international students

In the summer, the Centre for International Cooperation of Masaryk University opened the first year of the summer school Urban Sustainability: Engage in the Future. The teachers received excellent responses to the three-week summer school – the students appreciated the practically oriented teaching and the opportunity to try out a case study on the streets of Brno.

On one of the afternoon walks, the teachers took the students to the newly built site in Vlněna.

The unique summer school which Masaryk University created based on demand from international partner universities, Urban Sustainability: Engage in the Future, focused on sustainability in cities, attracted a total of 13 students from Georgia, Hong Kong, Cambodia, Canada, Kenya, Kosovo, Malaysia and Mongolia. Six teachers and another five guests participated in teaching it. During their three-week stay, the students got to take a close up look not only at Brno, but also Prague, Bratislava and Vienna, where local experts accompanied them to selected locations.

“It was a great three weeks of teaching, and we are very pleased that the students gave us the most positive evaluation in the final questionnaire. The summer school was also a good experience for us teachers, because until now we had discussed the sustainability of cities mainly with Czech or European students. However, students from different continents came to the first year of the school, and even if we were a little worried at the beginning, as to how to lead a debate with them focused on the experience of cities from Central Europe, it turned out that this was not necessarily a problem. Some concepts or solutions for urban resilience are probably not transferable and should not be; however, methods of working with the public and the need to involve them in solving global problems are generally proving to be universal. At least that's what I take away from the experience, when during field research students were able to quickly orient themselves in the problems of contemporary Brno and obtain very interesting data, despite the language and cultural barriers,” explains the head teacher, Jan Malý Blažek.

However, the students carried out field research only in the final week. At the beginning, the more theoretical part of the summer school awaited them - every day they had morning classes where they discussed various topics, related to the main problems of the world's cities and the possibilities for their solution, to the strategic planning of urban construction in the context of climate change or issues of governance and public participation. Students could follow up on some of the topics in their individual projects, which were one of the conditions for successfully completing the intensive summer course.

The morning lesson was followed by an afternoon programme that included workshops or walks through various Brno neighbourhoods. International students thus had the opportunity to get acquainted with a number of contrasts within contemporary Brno, including, for example, the neighbourhood of socially excluded locations with the new construction of office buildings, such as in Vlněna in the city centre. On these thematic walks, students discussed related topics, for example the consequences of gentrification, or vulnerability to climate change and the needs of different population groups, from children to parents to the elderly.

But their stay in Brno was also full of leisure and cultural activities, including an encryption game, a welcome dinner, wine tasting in a wine cellar, a steamboat ride and trips to Prague, Vienna and Bratislava. The students were often in contact with each other from morning to evening and also spent time with other international students from other summer schools, which this summer was also organized by the Centre for International Cooperation together with six MU faculties.

International students help Brno with its reconstruction plan

In the final week of school, the teachers prepared a very interesting practical case study for the students in cooperation with the Brno Municipality. “We wanted to bring the students as close as possible to how the involvement of the public happens in Czech cities, so we agreed to cooperate with the Strategic Planning Department of the City of Brno and prepared for the students an assignment related to the reconstruction of náměstí Republiky (Republic Square) in Brno's Husovice, where the sewer reconstruction is planned. Unfortunately, this also includes the felling of a valuable avenue of trees, which today, in view of the current climate crisis, would be very problematic to replant to this extent, about which the local residents are unhappy. For the summer school topic, it was a perfect example of how often the needs and interests of individual actors in the city conflict, but also the goals we have from the built environment in terms of resilience,” says Malý Blažek.

And the entire field research took place in accordance with the main idea of the summer school; that to solve the crisis it is necessary to involve all spheres, including professional, private and public. The international students first practiced different methods of data collection in another location on Veveří street in Brno, where a few years ago they solved a similar problem of partial street reconstruction, which was not very well received by the public. Subsequently, they continued on to Husovice, where they met with all the actors involved - representatives of the Strategic Planning Department and the Office of the Architect of the City of Brno, the mayor of the city district, academics and representatives of the public.  In addition to the perspectives of all the parties involved, the students used interviews to discover how the local residents feel about the reconstruction project and their involvement in the process so far.

“In both activities in Veveří and in Husovice, the students managed to obtain interesting data. We were very pleased that the residents of both city districts wanted to communicate with international students and were very cooperative. The students were very happy about their practical training in the field -⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ in their previous studies, they usually did not have the opportunity to work on a project with a real impact and to meet political and professional representatives of the city or to look for ways to involve residents in the solution. They were also happy to see in practice what multidisciplinary cooperation looks like, which most corresponds - or should correspond - to the reality of practice,” explains teacher Malý Blažek.

This is how Mongolian student Khatanbaatar Enkhbold, who studies at the University of the Humanities in Ulaanbaatar, sees it. “I really enjoyed the summer school at Masaryk University. We had a perfectly organized programme and Brno itself is an ideal place to learn about sustainability in cities. It was highly rewarding to engage with such a diverse group of students and professionals and broaden my perspective on the various challenges and opportunities in the field of sustainability. The field research in Husovice was also a great experience - the opportunity to connect with the local community and hear their stories firsthand added great value to the theory being discussed. It was an eye-opening experience and I’m very grateful to have been able to attend the summer school.”

Student Constancia Maria Panganiban Makalinao from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology also enjoyed working with the local community. “Although I am quite a shy person and approaching strangers was difficult for me, especially since there was a language and generation barrier between us, I tried to overcome it and help collect research data. And I really enjoyed listening to local people's opinions about the reconstruction and what they thought could be improved. It was a very valuable experience, as was the whole summer school. I really liked the way the whole course was organized. I was able to take it easy, enjoy my stay in Brno and take photos, while at the same time educating myself in my field. If I compare it to Hong Kong, I felt much less stressed and much more supported in Brno. I think Czechs have a good sense of the right work-life balance.”

From the field research, the students, divided into two groups, developed final group projects, which they presented to teachers and representatives of the city of Brno at the end of the summer school. And while one group used their professional knowledge and came up with their own architectural design for the reconstruction, the other submitted an elaborate research report including an analysis of the problem based on the statements of individual actors, as well as recommendations for further action. Both projects were subsequently handed over to city representatives as a basis for further street reconstruction solutions.

In addition to representatives of the city of Brno and students, the summer school was also evaluated positively by the teachers themselves. “It was very interesting for us to meet students from different contexts and find out how to approach topics from the perspective of different disciplines and experiences. It helps us to be sensitive to each other when we address, for example, the topic of suburbanization and discuss how it manifests itself in Brno and, for example, in Ulaanbaatar. On the basis of the summer school, a couple of interesting diploma theses will be created. We would like to organize another summer school next year and devote it to other city projects. It turns out that cooperation between cities and universities is needed in various fields and that it can produce interesting results even when international students are involved,” adds Jan Malý Blažek.

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