Education about sustainable cities concept in Montenegrin schools

In October 2015, the The Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt DBU (German Federal Environmental Foundation) awarded a grant for the realization of the project SCHOOL4CITY - Bringing education about sustainable cities in Montenegrin schools. This three-year project will be implemented in cooperation between JAS - Jugend Architektur Stadt e.V. (Germany), Expeditio and the Bureau for Education Services of Montenegro. The aim of the project is to improve the understanding and application of sustainable cities concept among the teachers and children/students in kindergartens, primary and high-schools in Montenegro.

Summary of the project

Given that urban environment is a space for everyday life for the majority of people, there is a growing need to empower citizens, as well as children/students, to understand and apply an urban sustainability approach. The results obtained from PISA (2012) are rather unfavorable for Montenegro, as it is ranked among the countries having level of knowledge below average. On the other hand, besides the country’s valuable natural and cultural resources, excessive urbanization, supported by mass tourism and a low quality urban planning, has led to significant spatial degradation. For both of the reasons, there is a growing need to educate teachers and children/students to understand and apply the urban sustainability approach and become prepared to take an active role in co-designing their cities and places.

The goal of the SCHOOL4CITY project is to improve the understanding and application of sustainable cities concept among the teachers and children/students in kindergartens, primary and high-schools in Montenegro, through awareness-raising and capacity building actions implemented in cooperation with German partners experienced in built environment education and the leading public institution responsible for education in Montenegro.

Main planned activities: crating a database of stakeholders, partners exchange in a form of meetings/workshops in Montenegro and a study visit to Germany, promotion and dissemination of project results, caring out a survey, defining guidelines, creating and accreditation of teachers training programs, creating manuals for teachers, organizing trainings for trainers, providing workshops on “Sustainable cities” in primary and high-schools, implementing practical activities with children/students, etc.

JAS - Jugend Architektur Stadt e.V. (Germany), Expeditio-Center for Sustainable Spatial Development and the public institution Bureau for Education Services of Montenegro will work for 3 years to lay solid foundations for sustainable cities education in Montenegro, as well as to provide models for similar good practices in Germany and neighboring countries.

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The project "SCHOOL4CITY Bringing education about sustainable cities in Montenegrin schools" has been approved in October 2015 by The Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt DBU (German Federal Environmental Foundation), one of Europe's largest foundations that promotes innovative and exemplary environmental projects.