The UNESCO Chair “City and Project” is proposed as an expanded academic space in where to think about the problems of Latin American cities, from different project logics, aiming to improve the quality of life of the people who live in them, from inclusive and participatory approaches. This space is thought transversally, including the participation of other disciplines from the technical area, arts and the humanities, since we consider that the interdisciplinary characteristic is a necessary condition for the study of built environments.
In this way, our proposal has a regional scope, with specific applications at the level of each of the participating countries and cities. In the first instance, this includes the public schools of architecture gathered in the Latin American Network, thus responding to the need to promote the South-South relationship, based on the historical link as well as the fact of presenting similar urban problems. However, it is proposed to increase the Network with universities from other continents to promote hypertext relations in the North, South-South triangle.
One of the central questions of our proposal is: How to build a knowledge that problematizes the Latin American City, from a project perspective, in order to discuss approaches, project alternatives or lines of action focused on the analyzed Territories?
We believe there are four work areas:
- The education of university students, undergraduate and graduate, from the treatment of transversal content related to the city in different scales and areas of knowledge, considering at all times its specificity as theoretical and at the same time practical content.
- Research in combined groups of teachers and undergraduate and graduate students from different parts of the world, in terms of diagnosis, treatment and anticipation, that addresses problems inherent to Latin American cities.
- Dissemination as a critical positioning through publications, forums and other activities that allow the discussion and divulgation of the results obtained.
- The transfer and extension as instances of application of the program in any of its areas, within the scope of the communities as well as within the institutions involved, with the purpose of consolidating the culture in the practice of planning. In this sense, the program also aims at the systematization of a repository of cases that allows enriching the discussion with the contributions made from and to each of the participating academic and urban contexts.
The emphasis of the proposal in terms of these four strategies also addresses two cross-cutting problems: sustainability and vulnerability. We consider that the diversity of problems derived from the “intensification of urbanization, the over-exploitation of natural resources, accelerated pollution and environmental degradation, the relative aging of the population, national and international migration and the increase in the field – city division ”1 are matters that must be assumed by university academic programs as a contribution to the implementation of policies and the development of real projects. In this sense, the objectives and actions are directly related to the global objectives of UNESCO within the Education for All (EFA) policy, referred in this particular case, to the field of higher education2. At the same time, they are part of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development with regard to SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all3.
Since it is a proposal focused on education (professional training), SDG 4 appears as the most important. However, due to its applied nature, it is also directly associated with the following objectives, insofar as they are contents that appear implicit in the discussion and in the project proposals.
SDG 7 Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all.
SDG 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation.
SDG 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
SDG 13 Take urgent measures to combat climate change and its effects.
SDG 17 Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development.
1 In: 37 / C4 2014 – 2021 Draft Medim Term Strategy. UNESCO (2013): 10
2 Refers to Major Program I (Education) / Strategic objectives i – ii and Lines of action 1, 2 and 3. Synthesized in document: 38 C / 5 Approved Program and Budget 2016 – 2017. Second biennium of the 2014 – 2017 quadrenium. UNESCO, Paris (2016): 27 and 29.
3 See: Resolution 70/1 Transforming Our World. The 2013 Agenda for Sustainable Development. “Objective 4”. (2015): 19-20