The center’s main activities revolve around the advancement of five interconnected actions:
SMUS
Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability
The Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability (SMUS) is one of seven Excellence Centers for Exchange and Development (exceed), funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) via the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Its coordination unit is based at the Technische Universität Berlin.
Focusing on some of the most pressing issues related to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities” of the Agenda 2030, SMUS serves as a platform facilitating dialogue and collaboration in urban sustainability research, teaching, and planning practice.
Following Phase I (2020-2024), which focused on advancing the academic discourse on spatial methods for urban sustainability and bridging disciplinary and implementation gaps; Phase II (2025-2029) addresses intertwined wicked urban problems. The SMUS network partners work together via 5 Actions to develop tactics and strategies on how to best tackle these challenges through transdisciplinary, spatial, and practice-led research.
SMUS continues to work on expanding and consolidating its international network of scholars and practitioners with South-South cooperation and co-production processes. Our long-term goal is to have the network become autonomous, with collaborations between global network partners continuing beyond the life of this project.
Wicked Urban Problems
SMUS Phase II explores wicked urban problems (WUP) that underpin the targets of SDG 11.
Unlike tamable problems, which can be “solved”, wicked problems–such as climate change or poverty–are paradoxical, multi-causal, unstable, and socially complex in nature. Because of this, they cannot be tackled in a linear manner but they have to be “resolved” over and over again in an iterative way. Wicked problems are both interconnected and interdependent, thereby giving rise to unforeseeable consequences.
SMUS focuses on the unfolding of wicked problems in urban spaces–wicked urban problems (WUP)–and suggests tackling them through transdisciplinary, spatial and practice-led research. This threefold approach is implemented in close collaboration with nine core partner universities from three world regions: Latin America, East and Southern Africa, and South and Southeast Asia.
SMUS News
HOW TO MOOC? A Guide to Creating Massive Open Online Courses
Since 2021, the Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability (SMUS) has developed 15 Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that provide practical insights on sustainable cities and communities, integrating local and global perspectives. This guide was developed to capture and share the lessons learned by the various SMUS teams around the world who have created these MOOCs, with the goal of making the process of designing and launching smoother and more practical in the future. While it draws on courses related to urban studies, this guide is applicable to any content. This guide takes you step by step through designing, developing, and launching your own MOOC. Packed with road maps, examples, practical tools, and dos and don’ts from previous courses, it helps you create engaging and impactful online learning experiences.read more
Research Report “From hot spots to safe spaces”
In the context of the Practical-Empirical Implementation Projects (SMUS Action 4 – Phase I), the team based at the Unit for Street Homelessness of the University of Pretoria, produced this research report summarizing the process and main outcomes. By building on and expanding the SMUS Toolkit, a combination of ethnographic research and visualization techniques, ten “hot spots”, public spaces with high concentration of homeless people, were analyzed. The report, as their authors point out, has been conceived as “as a gift to the City – practitioners, officials and politicians – as we collectively seek to find lasting, humane, dignified and just solutions for homelessness” (p.II)read more
Call for Applications SMUS Action 3: (Post)Doctoral Programme
We are pleased to announce the call for Applications SMUS Action 3: (Post)Doctoral Programme. Application Deadline Friday 12 December 2025 We warmly invite you to review the call for abstracts and encourage you to share it widely with colleagues and peers in your networks.read more
Deadline Extended – Final Deadline to submit an abstract, roundtable, proposals and/or PHD Workshops is November 25th, 23:59 EET
We are pleased to share that the SMUS Special Session Track 8: Ec(h)otoning Urban Futures has been officially accepted for the 2026 World Planning Schools Congress (WPSC). We warmly invite you to review the call for abstracts and encourage you to share it widely with colleagues and peers in your networks.read more