Within the currently being negotiated contracts two types of the training activities are to be delivered:
- “Introduction to Urbanism part I” course
This program is intended for the group of Young Planning Professionals who have not been undergoing the training yet. Its scope and content is based on the previously offered model, with the necessary modifications emerging from the assessment of the already completed courses.
The objective of it is to provide the Young Planning Professionals with an understanding of the principles and practices of effective contemporary urbanism and to enable each participant to use theoretical knowledge in their professional practice in Abu Dhabi.
The training program will be composed of two types of teaching activities: lectures and practical assignments (in a form of short design exercises strongly associated with the lecture topics). All of these will be organized within the 10 teaching modules, each of these will take 1 full working day. It is also possible to include an additional, final assignment, to be developed by the YPPs AFTER COMPLETION OF THE THEORETICAL PART OF THE COURSE. But this will require more discussion on the format as it is possible to define this as a “practical task” or “theoretical elaboration”.
The topics of the modules shall include:
- Evolution of urban form – from past to present – with analysis of factors stimulating the growth of human settlements and shaping the particular forms of urban development
- Contemporary concepts in urban development – including key contemporary urban development paradigms with a special focus on sustainable development and “attractive city” philosophy
- Shaping regional and local development policies – with a special focus on the consequences of uncontrolled urbanization, sprawl and challenging issues for the redevelopment of cities and regions
- Planning and Regulatory Methods – including the analysis of the types of contemporary planning documents, their scope and role in shaping the city
- Urban Economics and Land-use integration – allowing the cities to reach a balance between profit-making and provision for complete sustainable communities
- Importance of urban design – with extensive discussion of the key concepts and models of contemporary urban design and their role in securing a high quality urban environment
- Place–making and public spaces development – focused on the art of creating lively and exciting community places
- Focus on transportation and urban mobility – underlining the importance of the variety of modes of transport and availability to potential users in a city context and discussing new ways of moving through the city and encouraging people to walk at the same time.
- Implementation strategies – including a discussion of possible development models, tools and instruments which are used in the contemporary urban development practice.
- Elements of a successful City in Abu Dhabi’s Plans – including the exploration of urban/social/economic and environmental elements that contribute to a successful implementation of the Abu Dhabi 2030 plan vision.
Each module will be designed at a junior level (0-2 years of experience) and delivered over the intensive course of six (or possibly eight hours), which shall include:
2 x 1,5 hours of lectures, 2 hours of workshop assignment (with possible extension to 4 hours),
1 hour of participants’ presentation and discussion of the concepts and key issues for the Abu Dhabi context.
- Workshop-based “Introduction to Urbanism part II” course
This program is intended for the group of Young Planning Professionals who have already completed the first round of training – namely “Introduction to Urbanism”, 2011, 2013 and 2015/2015 editions. Therefore, its scope and content is developed in such a way to provide participants with abilities to translate the knowledge gained during the already completed modules into practical planning skills. Therefore it is based on the workshop format (similar to YPP workshop/ training).
The choice of the workshop site and theme will be done in cooperation with our local partner in order to define the topic and the site, meeting the following criteria:
- High importance for the future development of Abu Dhabi and/or Al Ain
- High level of concentration of various problems and issues, discussed during the previous module (course).
The delivery will include:
- Preliminary presentation to the local officials and other interested parties
- Final presentation, to be conducted as part of the graduation ceremony and / or at the subsequent ISOCARP congress
- Final report on development strategy for the chosen areas.