International Module for Spatial Development Planning (IMSDP)

As discussed in various international forums and agreements, planetary urbanization, especially in the Global South, has generated a series of socio-spatial and environmental concerns and tensions between urban economic growth and sustainable development and caused multifarious spatial planning challenges in Southern cities and their surrounding sub-urban and rural areas. 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 ‘International Module for Spatial Development Planning’ (IMSDP), organised by KU Leuven and the International Network for Social Innovation, Sustainable Development and Territory (INSIST). Based on an ethical view on the nexus society-ecology, the general aim of the programme is to provide an update of the state of the art of spatial development analysis and planning, strong methodological training, and an understanding of the dialectics of research and action, for post-graduate students, (PhD) researchers and practitioners from the Global South and North. The IMSDP is open to maximum 25 post-graduate students, (PhD) researchers and practitioners, of which minimum 12 will be from the Global South. The didactical offer of the IMSDP includes collaboration between scholars from the Global South and North while exploring global questions of spatial development analysis and planning.