40 perspectives on urban sustainability from around the globe

This book comprises 40 short texts by urban sustainability scholars from around the globe. The scholars are recipients of a six-month research stay grant from the Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability (SMUS), a DAAD Exceed center funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

SMUS is a global network of researchers and practitioners from over 48 universities and institutions who work together to improve academic education in spatial disciplines. Through collaborative teaching, workshops, conferences, and training, network partners work across disciplines to advance urban sustainability.

From September 2020 through February 2021, 40 scholars participated in the centre’s ‘Developing a PhD Proposal’ program by organising workshops, partaking in excursions, and attending classes. The classes covered topics such as research ethics and skills, spatial methods, and urban sustainability, with a focus on Sustainable Development Goal #11, which is about ‘making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable’.

As part of their coursework, the students were tasked with writing short texts about how the topics covered manifest themselves in their respective home countries. This book is a compilation of those country replies, giving the reader a glimpse into urban sustainability perspectives from around the globe.

The book includes a series of maps depicting the geographic locations represented in the country replies. They have been included to help the reader navigate the book and to highlight the diversity of topics and themes researchers are working on in the SMUS network.