The summer school took place at the Technische Universität Berlin (TUB) from the 23^rd - 30^th of July 2019.

Thirteen master’s students and four PhD students from SoAP who are the 2019 Wits-TUB scholarship recipients joined masters students from the Habitat Unit and Urban Management Programme from TUB in a collaborative academic exchange over a week of various lectures, seminars, field trips, exhibitions and presentations by internal and external stakeholders.

The central theme was the “Housing Question in Berlin” which was meant to develop an understanding of the contestations and struggles for Housing in Berlin. Students interacted with non-profit organisations and self-organising groups and local experts who jointly with the students participated in a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) exercise that co-produces knowledge about how and in what ways the ‘Housing Question’ relates and advances the SDG’s. Students also had an opportunity to visit the various housing projects.

The aim of the visits and the SDG exercise was to document, study, visualize, analyse, compare and evaluate the variety of approaches to developing and managing housing. In the end, students had to draw their own conclusions and present a poster and power-point presentation.

Nonhlanhla Mathibela, one of the Wits-TUB scholarship recipients had this to say about her experience in the summer school:

“I really enjoyed the Summer School program because it was closely linked to housing (which is a core interest of mine). The program was well-coordinated and the integration of WITS and TUB students also gave us the opportunity to learn from our colleagues. The site visits also contributed to my experience because I got to learn more about Berlin (and its history) and the housing question in the context of the developed world. My personal development goal is to contribute to the development of African cities and this experience is one of many which will help shape this vision.”