RE-DWELL Summer School 1 (Nicosia)

Three, five-day international summer schools have been planned to take place in Nicosia (m12), Valencia (m24) and Reading (m36) as part of the RE-DWELL project. The first of these summer schools, organized by the University of Cyprus (UCY), has been carried out during the second year of the project activities in Nicosia, from November 15 to 20, 2021. This report focuses on the results of this summer school. The programme of activities of the Nicosia summer school aimed at fostering the exchange of knowledge across early-stage researchers (ESRs), supervisors and non-academic organisations, on the challenges and opportunities of the design process in realizing needs for affordable and sustainable housing. The theme of the summer school, “Planning, Design and Retrofitting of Affordable and Sustainable Housing”, was thus addressed from multiple perspectives through presentations from invited speakers from professional practice, academia, the local partner organisation and the local municipalities. The presentations were followed by insightful group discussions and were complemented by site visits to the Nicosia Master Plan’s regeneration projects (north and south Nicosia) and the local partner organisation’s (CLDC, Cyprus Land Development Corporation) housing projects in the city of Limassol. A roundtable to discuss “The design of affordable and sustainable housing: challenges and opportunities” was open to the public via an online session. The programme of activities also enabled a follow-up on the development of ESR’s research through training activities related to the ongoing structured courses (two sessions on “Research, Methods and Tools 1” and “Transferrable Skills 1”).