Urban Climate Resilience Masterclass (UCRMC)
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project details
Creative Cities are Safer Cities
Research Area
Urban Development
Project Status
Completed
Start Date
Aug 2021
Introduction
The “Creative Cities are Safer Cities” initiative sought to relate and contribute to the goals of the UN Safer Cities Programme, particularly through models that integrated community ownership and management. The project departed from the idea that besides good urban governance, management, and planning, creativity is key to arriving at safer cities, particularly the creativity vested in and found among creatives like designers, innovators, and entrepreneurs who, in many cases, worked and lived in the informal sector in unsafe and insecure neighbourhoods.
We collaborated with local creatives, who derived solutions that are locally applicable and acceptable, with the aim of arriving at frugal solutions that could improve safety and security.
Creativity is not only about designing technologically innovative products that physically or digitally improve safety but also about social design, whereby innovative social actors, institutions, and network arrangements ensure that the (frugal) solutions are accepted, appropriated, and applied in the environments for which they had been designed and developed.
The aim was to mobilise and empower creativity by establishing Urban Living Labs in partnership with urban authorities and (impact) investors that would allow local creatives (designers, innovators, and entrepreneurs) to collaborate and arrive at frugal solutions that enhanced safety and security in their towns and cities.
Methodology
The research study investigated how creative cities could contribute to safer cities through two action learning cases: Dandora Transformation League in Nairobi, Kenya, and How Long? Park, Umlazi – eThekwini, South Africa.
Experts in the fields of urban safety, living labs, creativity, and frugal innovation came together with the goal of creating a Living Lab that would enable local creatives—designers, innovators, and entrepreneurs—to develop (frugal) solutions that would improve safety and security in Durban, South Africa, and Nairobi, Kenya, in partnership with urban authorities and (impact) investors.
Impact
In collaboration with the Dandora Transformation League and Mustard Seed, an initiative was launched to strengthen social cohesion in the community through the construction of a multipurpose community hall. This effort was designed to support children, youth, and the broader Dandora community in coping with the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on informal settlements. The pandemic worsened existing challenges, making it difficult for caregivers to meet children’s needs and exacerbating social issues like domestic violence, child labour, and teenage pregnancy due to widespread job losses. The hall aimed to foster learning beyond the classroom and provide income-generating opportunities for youth.
Building on its successful “model court” approach, which turned dumping sites into safe, child-friendly public spaces, Mustard Seed adapted the model to tackle the unique challenges posed by COVID-19. The initiative evolved into a multipurpose learning and social cohesion centre, transforming an unusable structure into a co-designed, durable facility that promotes education, strengthens social bonds, and offers economic opportunities for the community.
The multipurpose centre shifted local mindsets, promoting active citizenship and collective action against crises, showcasing how communities can innovate to combat vulnerability. By facilitating community participation in identifying local challenges and co-producing solutions, the project introduced a novel multilevel approach to resilience building, engaging local and external actors in risk governance. This adaptive approach demonstrated how diverse groups can collaborate effectively to address development challenges and sustain cooperation.
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