From July 4-15, 2022, the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (UHM) and Diponegoro University (UNDIP) in Semarang, Indonesia organized the inaugural “Sustainable Cities and Communities” Joint Summer Course. The course was hybrid, with Professor Ashok Das, M.Arch., M.A., Ph.D. (University Hawai’i at Manoa – USA), Damian (James Cook University – Australia) and Vivian Feranil Gapido (Philippines), Mahmood Taha (Yemen) instructing online.
Participants were from multiple disciplinse and universities: UNDIP’s International Undergraduate Program (IUP), Urban and Regional Planning, UHM, University of the Philippines Diliman, Khon Kaen University, James Cook University, King Faisal University and Universidade Oriental Timor Lorosa’e. In-person participants conducted field visits to Tambak Lorok, Kampong Bustaman, Jatibarang Reservoir and Kampong Malon to understand how communities engage with changing socioeconomic, environmental and climate conditions. They then worked in groups to identify needs, potentials, and challenges in these communities and proposed interventions aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).