International Module for Spatial Development Planning

As discussed in various international forums and agreements, rapid urbanization in the Global South has caused multifarious spatial planning challenges in Southern cities and their surrounding sub-urban and rural areas. This rapid and unregulated urbanization has generated a series of socio-spatial and environmental concerns and tensions between urban economic growth and sustainable development. There is thus a need for well-trained leaders, researchers, educators and practitioners capable of guiding the urban transition in the Global South. The present ITP proposal requests funding for the transformation of the Postgraduate ‘European Module for Spatial Development Planning’ (EMSDP), organised by KU Leuven and the European Spatial Development Planning (ESDP) network, into the International Module for Spatial Development Planning or IMSDP. The general aim is to open up this programme towards post-graduate students, (PhD) researchers and practitioners from the Global South, in order to introduce the latter to the EMSDP approach and philosophy to spatial development analysis and planning, and to its ethical view on the nexus society-ecology. Collaboration with scholars from the Global South and exploration of global questions of spatial development analysis and planning, will enrich the didactical offer of the IMSDP.