What brings us here?

THE URBAN REALITY WE ARE LIVING IN

Many Latin American cities are facing constant growth due to urbanization processes generated by migratory movements and the construction of informal human settlements. In this vulnerable urban context, many children are born and raised without access to safe, inclusive, and stimulating public and green spaces.

Based on the vision of SDG goal #11, the Massive Open Online Course «Urban Landscapes of Care – Thinking and designing child-friendly cities» promotes the social inclusion of young children and their caregivers in today´s urban development, especially in less developed urban areas, and invites to discuss the role of urban design and public space in addressing the inequality and social exclusion faced by many urban contexts in the Global South.

Within this challenge, the MOOC invites students and professionals from design and planning disciplines to rethink our cities from the perspective of young children and their caregivers, and to act empathetically and strategically in front of this challenge. Although the MOOC will take the Peruvian urban reality as a reference, similarities with other urban contexts can be established.

This Massive Open Online Course was developed and produced by the Peruvian urban laboratory intuyLab in the context of the Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability (GCSMUS) funded by the DAAD with funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation (BMZ).

To see the other MOOCs produced in the Center please enter here: https://gcsmus.org/moocs/

WHAT IS THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THE COURSE?

Through an experiential methodology and a combination of practical and theoretical input, the course aims to deepen and re-signify the concept of public space and provide the necessary tools to analyze, design, and implement good quality public spaces, focusing on early childhood development in vulnerable urban areas. In order to successfully achieve this general objective, specific objectives within each module will guide you in your learning process.

WHICH ARE THE VALUES OF THIS COURSE?

Beyond the methodology, the course is based on 4 values that appear in a transversal way. This means that in each module you will encounter the following values

VALUE 1: STARTING FROM REALITY – Many cities in the Global South have peculiar dynamics to organize and build themselves. This situation has led to an enormous deficit in research and theoretical production that documents and gives meaning to these realities. For this reason the exercises, reflections, and contents that you will see in this course give priority to observation and solutions that start from the identified needs in the urban reality that surrounds us.

VALUE 2: OBSERVING FROM A MULTIPERSPECTIVE – In order to show the diversity of our cities and to better respond to the challenges they raise, each module is designed to show the perspectives and needs of the different actors involved in the creation of Urban Landscapes of Care, especially the perspective of young children and their caregivers.

VALUE 3: STEPPING OUT OF OUR COMFORT ZONE AND CHALLENGING OURSELVES – In all modules of the course you will find challenges and practical exercises that ask you to break out of your comfort zone. The biggest challenge of this course is linked to the task of designing an Urban Landscape of Care in your city, which is sensitively and sustainably integrated into the existing social dynamics without forgetting the active participation of the neighborhood community. In this sense, each module includes one or more practical exercises that will help you to internalize the developed contents. Once solved, they will serve as inputs for the design of your final project of the course.

VALUE 4: MEASURING AND EVALUATING TO ADAPT OUR PROJECTS – To achieve the required level of efficiency and effectiveness, it is essential to obtain, process, and analyze data. Therefore, each course module includes one or more data collection activities, which will teach you how to collect the relevant data in an agile and simple way.