SSIIM-Iuav Contribution to MAPS Summer School in Nairobi
The Iuav research group proactively contributed to the success of the first MAPS Summer School through the participation of Prof. Giovanna Marconi and Dr. Laura Colini, as well as through the organizational work carried out by the entire group in the preceding months.
Preparatory work > Drawing on extensive experience in designing and delivering (international) summer schools, in late august Iuav research group elaborated and proposed to the consortium a structured program for the full week, which was subsequently discussed and refined within the pillar-based MAPS sub-groups. The proposed format combined lectures in the mornings with participatory and interactive activities in the afternoons, with the explicit objective of actively engaging, valuing, and mobilising the knowledge and competencies of the 40 African junior researchers.
IN NAIROBI
For Day 1 (10 November 2025) > Iuav proposed and coordinated—together with the University of Ferrara—the participatory working groups held in the early afternoon (2:00–5:00 pm) on the four MAPS pillars (People, Peace, Planet and Prosperity). This activity was designed to facilitate introductions and foster connections among participants by mixing researchers independently of their country of origin. Each group collectively analysed and discussed the assigned thematic pillar from the perspective of their respective national contexts, and the outcomes were shared in a final plenary session.
Day 3 (12 November 2025) > Iuav co-organised and co-led (together with the University of Barcelona and the University of Ferrara) the third day of the Summer School, dedicated to the Prosperity pillar. The activities directly carried out by Iuav included a session on ‘Equal Access to Urban Services and the Right to the City for All’, led by Giovanna Marconi together with Alfredo Alietti (University of Ferrara), and a session on ‘Housing Rights and Urban Integration: Navigating Affordability, Informality, and Displacement of Migrant Populations in Policy and Practice’, introduced and facilitated by Laura Colini. For this session, Iuav also invited two experts from UN-Habitat to contribute as external speakers. In the afternoon, Iuav facilitated the two working groups on welfare ad housing.
Day 5 (14 November 2025) > Beyond UN-Habitat, Iuav also played a key role in identifying, contacting and inviting additional external stakeholders. In particular, Iuav contributed to the session dedicated to the Dialogue with Local Stakeholders by inviting Habitat for Humanity an international NGO working in different sub-saharan countries and the Milango Housing Project a local NGO based in Nairobi’s slum Matahare, both of which presented their work and engaged directly with the participants.
As a follow up, Laura Colini and Giovanna Marconi were invited to visit the Milango Housing Project on Saturday, 15 of November: an in-depht interview on the Project and its background was carried out at Milango Housing Project Headquarters, followed by an accompanied field visit to Matahare informal settlement, where they were introduced to the challenging living and housing conditions faced by both internal and international migrants in the slum.
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Day 2 to 5 transversal activity> Furthermore, Iuav designed, coordinated and facilitated the transversal “Think & Tea” activity, conceived to foster structured reflection among researchers grouped by country during the evenings following the Summer School sessions. Using a set of guiding questions prepared by Iuav research group, each country team engaged in collective discussion on the challenges related to the daily pillar themes (People, Prosperity, Planet). The activity culminated in a final plenary session, coordinated by Giovanna Marconi on the afternoon of the last day, during which key insights, shared challenges and research gaps were jointly discussed.
* The MAPS Project—coordinated by the UNESCO Chair in Migrations, Population, and Development at Sapienza University of Rome— promotes evidence-based policy solutions on migration and displacement and involves a multidisciplinary consortium from Europe and Africa. Partner institutions include six Italian universities hosting UNESCO Chairs (Sapienza, Udine, University Iuav of Venice, Brescia, Ferrara, and Reggio Calabria), the University of Barcelona (Spain), the University of Dodoma (Tanzania), the University of Kabale (Uganda), and AMREF International University (Kenya). Advisory institutions contributing to the MAPS initiative include the IOM Regional Data Hub for West and Central Africa, the Catholic University of Rwanda, and the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa).
