Aalto University Architecture courses in low resource settings (1993鈥2009)
Text by Hennu Kjisik, Professor, Dr.Tech., architect SAFA
BACKGROUND
Education in low resource settings - what is the role of the architecture in a globalizing world?
The Department of Architecture at Aalto University (former Helsinki University of Technology) has given courses on development issues since 1993. The main objective has been to create an understanding of life realities and working conditions in a developing country. Since then the ecosystem of courses alike has grown within Aalto. The education and research has become more multidisciplinary and teams from different fields have been giving their inputs to societal impact globally.
Building on these footprints, the WiTLAB was founded in year 2014 to address challenges in the Global Majority context. It connects to the larger strategies and frameworks of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 11 鈥淪ustainable cities and communities鈥 and promotes holistic understanding of issues related and identified in the , and the .
Aalto WiTLAB collaborates with the following units of Aalto University: Aalto Global Impact, Creative Sustainability Master鈥檚 Programme, Aalto ARTS (Dept. of Architecture), Aalto ENG (Dept. of Civil Engineering, Dept. of Built Environment, Dept. of Energy Technology), New Global Research Group and Aalto BIZ.
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