The UFP at the AScUS (Un)Conference: Pre-Event Session

The Urban Footprints Project (UFP) took part in the Actionable Science for Urban Sustainability(AScUS) Unconference, held from 3-5 June 2020. AScUS, a participants-driven (un)conference, aimed to engage attendees to stimulate in-depth discussions. The virtual format event was broken down to a week-long pre-conference followed by a 3-day main event. The former was meant to function as an opportunity to get to know the other participants and to create a free and open space for ideas and interests that could culminate in a few key topics that were to be further explored and discussed in the main event.

Our team consisted of Jun.-Prof. Dr Cathrin Zengerling*, PhD. candidates Nikita John*, Lisa Harseim*, and Malaz Saif from Khartoum University, Sudan. The collaboration, a suggestion of the AScUS organisers, resulted in us working on the possibility of discussing Participatory Governance Towards Urban Sustainability – Challenges and Opportunities in Different Regulatory Settings. The topic was a combination of the team’s shared interest in local governance and its potential in affecting consumption related GHG emissions and the welcome insight on legal pluralism in the context of Khartoum.

The pre-conference session, a one-hour discussion, benefitted from the participation of curious attendees, both from the field of urban metabolism and a few interdisciplinary ones. The session looked into getting participants to think within their own local contexts and relate experiences on what they had observed regarding urban sustainability governance. The collaborative effort was documented on an interactive platform, where they were free to brainstorm on their narrative and jot down the points they considered relevant which were then shared with the Group (see Image).

The storytelling of participants' cities and their experiences with 'urban sustinability governance' on 'Miro'.

We saw participants’ stories from; Naples (green public procurement), Doha (bike and pedestrian infrastructure), The future low carbon city (sectoral needs), New Haven (urban renewal in 1956s-60s), Istanbul (urban regeneration), Brussels (smart city policy), and Rennes (waste management plan and circular economy). Including those of Hamburg (climate plan vs. new coal-fired power plant), The Hague (phosphorus governance), Khartoum (urban sprawl and the inclusion of native administrations), and Delhi (traffic scheme) that were contributions and examples used by the organising team through the entire process.

Seeing the potential for further deliberation, the takeaway from the pre-conference session was to be used for shaping the input session during the three-day unconference. The session was a great first step into introducing the idea of regulatory settings, especially in getting to know of the interest and existing knowledge of the growing community of urban metabolism.