First online Circu City Summer School was a success!

The Circular Cities Summer School is wrapped up and was a success! Two full weeks long, students were trained in various aspects of Circular Cities, and participated in a tournament where they redesigned a city district of Ghent (Meulestede). The focus laid on finding solutions for water / energy / raw materials management in cities. This edition, organised entirely online, was unique and quite a challenge for the 55 students, originating from 33 countries, calling in from 3 different time zones! They had to work in groups on their presentations, micro-teaching and city redesign without ever seeing each other face to face; a task which they completed brilliantly.

A highlight was the ‘cultural intervention’ by singer-songwriter SIOEN. He gave a wonderful view-from-within as a passionate habitant of the case study district. This helped student remember that redesigning a district is not a pure matter of numbers, but affects lives and communities. A more informal heads-up were the daily ‘let’s Dance’ videos during lunchbreak, an initiative of IMETE student Sarah Moreno. This surely helped the students to get away from their desk and get moving!

Curious to see what the winning teams came up with on sustainable solutions for Ghent? Check their design here!