A book, a bridge

Abstract

The problem of the sea level rise – one of the most evident outcomes of the climate change on global human settlements – certainly stands up among the main critical subjects taken on by the UNESCO Chair in “Sustainable Urban Development and Urban Culture, notably in Africaâ€. While there are various scientific predictions for sea level rise all of us are well aware that even a small increase of the sea level can have devastating impacts on many coastal environments (sea, rivers, wetlands and lakes). The majority of the world’s cities with over five million inhabitants are settled in very critical coastal zones and this figure is destined to increase. Not less than one billion people live in very low lying areas along shores of diverse nature; higher sea levels would force many of them to abandon their homes and relocate. The situation will be dramatic in humanitarian and economic means necessary to engage the solutions. In fact many amongst the most vulnerable nations do not have the economic resources and the technical knowledge to face a problem that is global and many nations in every continent do not have the cultural awareness to prepare for it. Considering the human impacts, the economic damages and the adaptation costs of the sea level rise, at least twelve countries on the African Continent consistently appear in the top rankings of cities at risk including Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa; Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Cameroon; Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco. It is a vast group of nations of very different economic and technological resources, each and every one of them needs to be involved in as many international initiatives of scientific and cultural cooperation as possible. This is just the case for which the UNESCO Chair was established. In fact, among the specific objectives of the Chair are “to ensure and promote the public awareness on the importance of environmental sustainability, cultural diversity and access to knowledge†with fostering “the exchange of knowledge in a South-South and North-South-South dynamic†and strengthening “the cooperation between stakeholders at a national and international level through the exchange of data and know-how on policies and practices among diverse urban cultures†(from the Agreement between the UNESCO and the Sapienza University concerning the establishment of the UNESCO Chair). In this respect the collaboration between the The UNESCO Chair in “Sustainable Urban Development and Urban Culture, notably in Africa†and the Consortium for Hydro-generated Urbanism CHU co-founded by Professors Martha Kohen and Nancy Clark, based at the University of Florida, Gainesville, is of primary importance. As Professor Martha Kohen points out in her introduction to this book, the operative collaboration had its start at the UIA 2014 World Congress held in Durban, South Africa.The Durban Field Studio 2014, Reconnecting Warwick Junction with the Waterfront that was organized and run in collaboration with Durban University of Technology. That event represented a very favourable opportunity for an intense and positive know-how exchange between diverse urban and technological cultures. Teachers and researchers from China (Tsingua University, Beijing) India (Manipal University, Manapur) Japan (Hosey University,Tokyo) France (ENSA Nantes, Nantes), Eritrea (Asmara) provided valuable contributions.