Many thanks to APRU for expressing their concern and support to members at this very difficult and unpredictable time. Please see this letter from the APRU Chair and Secretary General to APRU members in China and Hong Kong SAR.
Author: htietz
APRU SCL, UNU-IAS and Partners Launch Asia-Pacific Mayors Academy
The APRU SCL is thrilled to announce our partnership with the Mayors Academy for Sustainable Urban Development in the Asia-Pacific spearheaded by the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) and UNESCAP, UN-HABITAT, and United Cities and Local Governments-Asia Pacific (UCLG-ASPAC). The program launched on October 15th, 2019 at the Asia-Pacific Forum in Penang, Malaysia and will run until December 2020. In February 2020 participating mayors will present proposed work plans at the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi.
Jennifer Amparo, Steering Committee Leader and Yizhao Yang, Working Group Leader of the Urban-Rural Linkages Working Group and Co-Editor of the forthcoming APRU SCL Handbook of the APRU SCL Hub went to Bangkok, Thailand earlier this month on behalf of the APRU SCL Hub to lead training workshops at the Asia-Pacific Mayors Academy in Bangkok, Thailand. They both served as Resource Speakers working directly with new mayors in the Asia-Pacific region. The training sessions offer new tools, strategies, and models to support leaders committed to sustainable urban development in achieving SDGS in 2030. Through cooperation and team-building generated between city leaders at the Academy, the Academy provides a robust framework for sustainable planning and on short-term and medium-term scales.
This uniquely positioned training program and network would not have materialized without the initiative of Christina Schoenleber, Director of Policy and Programs of APRU and Yekang Ko, Program Director of the APRU SCL Hub. Many thanks for their efforts in making this partnership happen.
Call for Student Submissions: Design Ideas Competition: Cities and Refugees
The APRU SCL is thrilled to announce a call for submissions for the Design Ideas Competition: Cities and Refugees. This is an ideas competition. The brief is to design a physical intervention/series of interventions that meaningfully improves the lives of refugees in the city, in the short, medium and/or long term.
For information: https://www.apruscl2019.org/studentcompetition
All students are invited to submit work for the Global Student Design Ideas Competition.
Globally some 60% of forcibly displaced people live in cities, a number which is as high as 90% in some countries. Refugees living in cities encounter a range of challenges. Design-only interventions have largely been unsuccessful, and the need for identifying ways to engage refugees in cities has never been greater.
The Cities and Refugees Competition is hosted by the Rapid Urbanisation Grand Challenge at UNSW (Sydney), with Australian Red Cross, ARUP International Development, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities – Sustainable Landscapes and Cities Hub (APRU SCL).
The showcase of submitted work will be presented during a public-facing event at UNSW in Sydney, Australia during the APRU SCL Conference on August 30th, 2019. Winning schemes will be announced at this time.
PRIZES
- First prize, US$5000
- Second prize, US$2500
- Third prize, US$1000
- Three honourable mentions
APRU Annual Report 2018
Expanding Impact in a Divided World
As Chair of APRU, I am delighted to introduce the Annual Report. The theme “Expanding Impact in a Divided World” stands as an objective of the Association as we act together to bridge many divides – disciplinary, cultural, national, and economic – in order to bring the benefits of knowledge and innovation to our societies and the region.
-Gene D. Block, Chair of APRU
The report highlights APRU SCL’s inaugural conference in 2017. APRU generates unique partnerships that cross-pollinates the knowledge and innovation of leading universities with international organizations, government, business and communities of interest around the Pacific Rim.
• The first APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Conference held in Portland, Oregon, September 15-17, 2017, brought together 120 researchers and practitioners, such as planners, architects, transportation specialists, and policy-makers from local government to international organizations. Ten working groups brought forward proposals and a multi-year program led by The University of Oregon was planned, including the production of research and policy papers.
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