Participatory tools for urban nature planning and management

*Recognition of ECTS depends on your home university.

Physical mobility

This course involves physical mobility to Salzburg, Austria, from 30 June to 4 July 2025. The 5 days of intensive learning experiences focus on practical exercises, applications, and discussions. The teaching staff will give input and lead small working groups dedicated to deepening the learning experiences.

These include:

• drawing lessons from interdisciplinary theoretical approaches and problematizing them in terms of practicability (case studies about urban participations, types of urban nature, interactions between stakeholders);
• building micro-projects related to participatory tools related to GIS;
• experimenting with existing tools for public participation in urban nature planning and management;
• meet stakeholders from local governments, NGOs, private companies, administrations, and citizens, and learn about their interests, needs, and recommendations for public participation;
• participating in excursions to analyze the impact of public participation/ less participation.

Virtual part

Course 1: Urban Nature – an open-lab for participatory practices in urban areas

• Urban nature – connection with urban infrastructure
• Categories of urban nature and contribution to urban sustainability and resilience
• Main typologies of human–urban nature interactions in urban settings
• How could public participation be in urban nature planning and management? 

Course 2: Public Participation in Urban Sustainability and for Urban Nature

• Collaborative planning, sustainability, and participatory management
• Forms of participation in urban planning, design, and management
• Who, when, and how could participate?
• Expected impact of public participation
• Ethics of participatory management
• Efficiency, efficacy, and performance of participatory practices
• Challenges of public participation in urban planning

Course 3: GIS as a supporting tool for participatory management of urban nature

• Built/ used the GIS application for participatory management of urban nature
• Existing participatory tools in practice (e.g. Green cadaster, local online platforms)
• From data collection to geo-visualization (story maps, dashboards etc.)
• Integration of remote sensing data, Copernicus services, and other geospatial data

Course 4: Global experiences of participatory practices in urban nature planning and management

• Presentation of different case studies around the world.

Requirements

This course is open to Bachelor's, Master's and PhD's students at CIVIS member universities, with interest in urban nature planning and management, considering different perspectives.

Also, the participants should have excellent English skills (B2), data collection & analysis skills, critical thinking, the ability of using of participatory tools, interdisciplinary approach.

NB: Visiting Students - Erasmus Funding Eligibility

To be eligible for your selected CIVIS programme, you must be a fully enrolled student at your CIVIS home university at the time you will be undertaking the programme. Click here to learn more about the eligibility criteria.

Students from CIVIS’ strategic partner universities in Africa cannot apply for participation in this course.

Application process

Send your application by filling in the online application form by 31 October 2024, including:

• CV
• Motivation letter

• Level of English (According to CEFR)

Applications will be evaluated based on:

• connection of motivation letter with the course topic, content, and outcomes;
• past experiences relevant to urban nature planning and management presented in the motivation letter;
• interest in interdisciplinarity approaches;
• equity in terms of gender, regions, fields, and universities;
• English level; 
• level of study - a low preference will be considered for PhD and master students.

Apply now

Assessment

Learning will take place around blended formats of online teaching and the 5-day meeting:

• students must prepare to engage with the core readings for the roundtables and the on-site course. They must formulate questions to facilitate the discussions and hand them in via the learning hub. At the on-site meeting, they will also do a group presentation on a real-world problem;
• students' participation in the experimental use of tools and techniques and reflect on their experiences in a short position presentation;
• students' contribution to final documentation of their learning experience to the open repository (this could be presentations, posters, podcasts, videos, or written reports). The teaching staff advises students and examines the assignments. 

The assignments are evaluated considering:

• 50% of the grades for the assignments related to the virtual part;
• 50% from the short position presentation related to the physical part.

Blended Intensive Programme

This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe. Click here to learn more about CIVIS BIPs.

GDPR Consent

The CIVIS alliance and its member universities will treat the information you provide with respect. Please refer to our privacy policy for more information on our privacy practices. By applying to this course you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.