Call for Applications of Practical-Empirical Implementation Projects (PEIPs) – Extended Deadline 19.09.2022

SMUS Action 4 ‒ “Exchange”: Gaining Applicable Skills in Practice Through Practical–Empirical Implementations of Spatial Methods

 

Summary

Drawing on the targets and indicators of the Sustainable Development Goal #11 (SDG #11), Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, this Call for Applications, open to all SMUS partners, is looking for innovative projects for making a difference in professional practice for urban sustainability with the aid of spatial research methods.
Within a specific research activity area at the Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability (SMUS), Action 4 – “Exchange”, the Call will fund two Practical–Empirical Implementation Projects (PEIPs) of a SMUS–developed toolkit of spatial methods for collaborating with the SDG #11 targets.

 

SMUS Action 4 Practical–Empirical Implementations (PEIs): An overview

By promoting PEIs, SMUS Action 4 aims to enhance critical exchange about the limits and possibilities that social science and design–based methods sensitive to the social and relational dimension of space may offer to teams of academics and professional practitioners (from NGOsand CBOs to local government agencies) who intend to practically cope with empirical issues related to the SDG #11 targets  (https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11).


Based on the identification of blind spots, points of intersections and chances for synergy between academic and practical knowledge through practical–empirical implementations of spatial methods, the major goal of the SMUS Action 4 is to inform the production of a roadmap for a future research agenda on urban sustainability regarding SDG #11 with the aid of spatial methods – briefly: the SMUS Roadmap, to which outcomes of the SMUS Action 5 – “Enhance” will also be added.
The suitability, usefulness and worth of the SMUS Action 4 PEIs lie in offering academics and practitioners alike a chance of (i) critically putting spatial methods into action in instances related to architecture, urban design, planning and policymaking by (ii) tailoring them to particular contextual circumstances regarding the transdisciplinary (academically + practically jointly forged) search of ways of addressing the United Nations (UN) SDGs, and particularly SDG #11.
In the long run, lessons learned from this peculiar exchange between academic and practical knowledge, which is shaped in the practical–empirical implementation of spatial methods, would allow for qualitatively alternative policies and design solutions to thrive, thereby fostering sustainable cities and communities.

This Call has been prepared by Action 4 Speaker Prof. Dr. Fraya Frehse and Action 4 Scientific Coordinator Dr. Ignacio Castillo Ulloa. If you require any further information or clarification on this call, please write to:  smus-action4-peips@usp.br.