Promoting a New Community of Knowledge and Practice on People Centred and Resilient Spaces related to Urban Rivers (PEARLS )

Department of Architecture and Planning, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Leading the project PEARLS – Promoting a New Community of Knowledge and Practice on People Centred and Resilient Spaces related to Urban Rivers (NORPART-2024/10111) which has been approved by the Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HKDIR)’s NORPART programme for the duration of 4 years from 01.01.2025 to 31.12.2028. Other partners in the corsortium are Institute of Engineering(IOE), Tribhuvan University,Nepal and University of Nairobi, Kenya.

The main project coordinator from NTNU is Prof. Dr. Peter Gotsch. Dr. Basanta Joshi will be coordinating from Center for Applied Research and Development of IOE.

PEARLS works for more inclusive, liveable, prosperous and climate-friendly cities through people-centred and resilient urban spaces. It does this by promoting new learning practices that are transdisciplinary, exploratory and case study-based, and by championing solutions that are driven by local needs. Its thematic arena is the relationship between urban rivers and communities in times of climate change. To link academic approaches with practice, PEARLS promotes a new learning platform of academics, practitioners and communities. A key feature is the close collaboration with non-academic partners. This will enhance the learning process and promote innovation by connecting it to real-world problems. In addition, the skills and tacit knowledge involved will contribute significantly to students’ skills and employability. The central assumption of our work is that social sustainability and environmental sustainability are closely intertwined, and therefore the success of climate action will depend on social resilience, for which the urban public realm plays a crucial role.

PEARLS has four objectives:
(1) To foster partnerships between academic institutions in Norway (NTNU), Nepal (Tribhuvan University), and Kenya (University of Nairobi) in combination with non-academic partners (the Centre for Integrated Urban Development in NP, the Kounkuey Design Initiative KE and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme KE) by building bottom-up international networks and to promote a new community of knowledge and practice on people-centered and resilient spaces related to urban rivers.
(2) To support internationalization and excellence in education through active and experiential learning practices, case study-based pedagogy, and transdisciplinary collaboration reflected in learning curricula.
(3) To promote a new quality of learning for students and staff by providing opportunities for international mobility to and from Norway, thus promoting the development of new urban practitioners through international exposure and the development of innovative methods (e.g. combining social and nature-based solutions in urban development).
(4) Achieve societal impact by advancing policy and people-centered local solutions, by connecting researchers, practitioners and communities, and by training future leaders