We’re proud to annouce the recent launch of our latest publication: Development in Context: Challenges and Sustainable Strategies. Featuring articles by former students and faculty members like Nathaniel Corum and Reena Tiwari known for their sustainable urban practices, the book was edited by the program’s codirector Carmen Mendoza, alumni Mbongeni Ngulube and editor Ana Cañizares. It is our second publication following Reflections published back in 2011.
About the book:
Development in Context features a collection of articles on urban upgrading and other spatial practices in the field of development written by former students and current faculty members of the Master of International Cooperation Sustainable Emergency Architecture at the School of Architecture of Universitat Internacional de Catalunya.The volume takes a broad ethnographic view of the urban poor through discussions on urbanism, and though it explores larger ideas like sustainable development, it does so in reference to specific issues and case studies. In this way, the book moves away from the discourse of development to observe concrete development in the only form it can be acted upon–that is, in context. While development remains an elusive thing, its associated practices, rituals and institutions constitute real experiences that positively and negatively affect Innumerable communities around the globe. From this perspective, the book contributes a collection of refreshingly solution-oriented critical debates to a discipline facing theoretical impasse.
We’d like to thank all of our contributors, especially our alumni who devoted their time and patience to this project. If you are intereste in purchasing a copy of the book, please contact the program’s coordinator Raquel Colacios at rcolacios@uic.es.
Here are some photos from the book launch, which we celebrated with our students after they finished presenting their final thesis before leaving for their internships.
Editors presenting the book, from left to right: Ana Cañizares, Carmen Mendoza, Mbongeni Ngulube
From left to right: Marie Aquilino, Mbongeni Ngulube, Carmen Mendoza and Kathrin Golda-Pongratz
Peter Gotsch from our partner university TU Darmstadt with our student Lucia Wright
Professors Emilio Hormías and Mbongeni Ngulube with program coordinator Raquel Colacios
Our students celebrating the end of the course!