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Department of Spatial Planning

Guest research stay by Newsha Salari from Ramon Llull University

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The Central minibus station in Johannesburg with buildings in the background © Raffael Beier
Central minibus station in Johannesburg (2020)

This summer, the research group International Planning Studies (IPS) had the opportunity to host PhD student Newsha Salari from Ramon Llull University, Barcelona. Thanks to funding from Eramus Plus, she was a two-month visiting fellow of IPS.

Under the supervision of Raffael Beier, acting head of IPS, Mrs Salari participated in a variety of academic activities, including a paper discussion within an IPS brownbag session as well as presentation of her PhD research as part of the PhD colloquium. This presentation discussed the challenges and solutions to slum upgrading, using case studies from Medellin, Colombia, and Alexandra, South Africa.

In addition, Newsha Salari spoke about her work on SDG-driven slum upgrading in Johannesburg during a SPRING Colloquium on 4 July 2024. Her presentation “Transforming Slums into Sustainable Communities: Prioritizing SDGs and the Participation Local Residents” was followed by engaged discussions with students of the current SPRING Master batch.

At the end of her stay, Newsha Salari shared her gratitude for the collaborative environment at IPS: “The engaging interactions with colleagues and students provided diverse perspectives that helped me refine my research approach. This experience has given me a better understanding of the complexities involved in transforming slums into sustainable communities. My stay at TU Dortmund University has been an enriching experience, thanks to everyone's encouragement and hospitality.”