Urban Challenge 2010
Context
Within the Urban Matters project, Cordaid set the following goal for the target group of students at schools/universities:
Raising awareness amongst Dutch students about urban issues in developing countries and the role of Cordaid and its partner organisations in improving the life of people living in urban slums. Also students from Dutch schools/universities will contribute to Cordaid Urban Matters project by contributing their knowledge and technical assistance. As a result, students will have more knowledge of, understanding of and solidarity with urban issues in developing countries.
Target group
The target group of the Urban Challenge consists of students at universities and/or hogescholen (colleges), who are in their third or fourth year and who – through their education – have a link with urban issues, f.e.:
- building engineering
- industrial design engineering
- urban planning
- civil engineering
- architecture
- urban management
- business administration
- environmental studies
- development studies (with an urban focus)
- social sciences/cultural anthropology (with an urban focus)
- …
Goals
The Urban Challenge has three main goals:
- To involve students at universities/schools with urban issues in developing countries, which leads to more knowledge and understanding of and solidarity with urban issues in Kenya in general and the way Cordaid and their Kenyan partners work to improve the life of people in Kenyan slums.
- Students will contribute their knowledge to a case within the Urban Matters project by working out innovative solutions for the case. They will work within interdisciplinary teams with amongst others students from Kenya.
- Students at Dutch schools/universities know of Urban Matters of Cordaid
Planning
The Urban Challenge is a contest for students. The winning team will win a trip to Kenya. The basis of the Challenge is a case that will be provided by a Cordaid partner within the Urban Matters project in Kisumu. The case will consist of a specific problem within the slums of Kisumu. The student teams will try to think of and elaborate on a possible innovative solution for this problem.
The idea is that these students from different disciplines, will work together in interdisciplinary teams. Also they will work together with Kenyan students (combination of a few Dutch and a few Kenyan students within a team).
The winning team (consisting of a maximum of four Dutch students) will visit Kisumu (10 days) with the purpose of further elaborating their idea and making a plan to implement the idea if possible.
Some points of interest:
- Students will work in interdisciplinary teams
- Students will use the knowledge and insights they gained during their education
- The Urban Challenge will run during the beginning of 2010 for 4 to 6 weeks
- The ideas will be judged on content, innovation, attainability and presentation
- The Urban Challenge will be connected to the Urban Matters website, with a place for each team to publish their ideas on
Urban Challenge case 2010 (1,4MB; PDF)
Download more background information and the rules in dutch (PDF) or english (PDF).