Consortium News
Exchanges start in Fall 2007 for Brazilian
students and Spring 2008 for U.S. students. Start your language classes
now!
At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 4, Jim
Kunstler will speak BSC's Moakley Center. Consortium members are
invited; it will be subtitled and webcast a few days later for those
who cannot attend.
Contact Info
Dr. James Hayes-Bohanan
Dept. of Geography
Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater, MA 02325
Tel: (508) 531-2118
Fax: (508) 531-1785
jhayesboh@bridgew.edu
U.S.-Brazil Consortium on Urban Development
BSC - UDESC - CCSU - UFRGS
Funded by the U.S. / Brazil
Program of
FIPSE / CAPES
Study Geography in Brazil!
The Consortium
on
Urban Development is a collaboration of four academic geography
departments in Brazil and the United States. Semester-long student
exchanges are a key part of the consortium. Funding is already in
place to send 48 students on semester-long exchanges over the next
several years!
The purposes
of the consortium is to develop curricula and scholarship related to
the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other
geotechnologies to urban development and to
foster and improve urban
development and
planning in both countries. In this context, "urban development"
includes the improvement of both the human and natural
environment in urban, sub-urban, and peri-urban regions.
Background
Former
Presidents Bill Clinton and Fernando Henrique
Cardoso committed to cooperation in higher education between the United
States and Brazil because of growing economic, political, and cultural
connections
between the two largest countries in the Western Hemisphere. They
decided that colleges and universities could play an active role in
exploring and improving these connections, and the U.S.-Brazil Program
was begun.
As with the other consortia established through the U.S. - Brazil
Program, our Consortium focuses on an academic area with critical
relevance to both countries. Between 1975 and
2001, the urban population of Brazil increased from 62 to 82 percent of
the total population, while the urban population of the United States
increased from 74 to 77 percent during the same period. In some
regions, the area of land used for housing, commerce, and
transportation has grown much more rapidly than the population itself.
By the year
2015, the urban populations of Brazil and the U.S. are expected to
reach 88 and 81 percent, respectively. Brazil has caught up with U.S.
levels of urbanization, and will soon become even more urbanized than
is the United States. As the two countries have been becoming steadily
more urbanized, distinct patterns of peri-urban or sub-urban changes in
land use have taken place, and a variety of approaches to the problems
of rapid urbanization have emerged.
What we offer
Participants
in the Consortium in Urban Development combine academic expertise and
practical experience related to the problems of urban development \in
both the United States and Brazil. The participating institutions are
located in some of the most rapidly-urbanizing regions of their
respective countries and also have strong records of teaching, practice
and scholarship in this area. The consortium involves undergraduate
students directly in the emerging scholarship and professional practice
related to urban development in both Brazil and the United States. All
four institutions have a record of training students in urban
geography, the analysis of land use, and both traditional and
computer-assisted techniques of urban and regional planning. Each
university prepares students to enter professional employment directly
after receiving the baccalaureate degree. This makes it imperative that
the students receive a good foundation in the discipline, as well as
“hands-on” experience. Finally, each region looks to its local higher
education institution to provide a trained workforce and to be a
resource for additional research and training as needed by local
agencies and organizations.
The
focus of this consortium is on the integration of geographic
scholarship and geographic information systems (GIS) with the practice
of urban planning and development in both Brazil and the United States.
Through the consortium, students, faculty members and practitioners in
each country to benefit from exposure to the most current ideas and
geographic technologies in use in the other. In some cases, the
contrasts between urban development in the two nations will be most
instructive; in other cases, specific tools being used in each country
will have direct relevance in the other. Through the faculty
collaborations and student exchanges included in this project, each
member institution is able to develop curricula that more effectively
integrate GIS and urban and regional planning.
Members
Consortium
members include four academic geography departments, located in the far
south of Brazil and the northeast of the United States. Each department
is part of a dynamic and diverse academic community located in a
growing urban region. Prior connections between the United States and
Brazil are strongly exhibited on each campus and in the surrounding
communities.
Details
of the exchanges are still being developed. General information
for interested students is on the BSC International
Programs page.
Joining UBCUD
The
consortium members are actively seeking additional partners to
cooperate in a variety of ways:
- Internship placements for visiting students
- Research projects for students and faculty
- Support for computer labs and other equipment
- Support for cultural activities as host communities
- Language immersion and training for outgoing and visiting students
- Home-away-from-home support for visiting students
Involvement can
take a variety of forms:
- Becoming a formal member organization in the consortium
- Providing grants to the program
- Employing student interns
- Sponsoring on-campus jobs (within constraints of student visas)
- Giving a student a ride to the airport
- Taking students on a weekend bus trip
- Cooking a meal for a student far from home
The work
of the consortium is generously supported by
the Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE) of the
U.S.
Department of Education and its Brazilian counterpart, CAPES.
Last Modified: January 18, 2008
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