TOSCA Challenge

  • SDG 11 – Nachhaltige Städte und Gemeinden
  • Challenge
  • 3 ECTS
  • 75 h
  • Online – Selbstlernangebot
  • kostenlos
sustainable development, data-based analysis, geographic information systems, geospatial tools, open learning, new urban planning

Kursbeschreibung

TOSCA stands for Toolkit for Open and Sustainable City Planning and Analysis. The TOSCA Challenge course is offered as a continuation of the advanced course on the role of digital tools for sustainable urban development within the framework of the SDG Campus. The aim of the course is to encourage students to think creatively and critically in order to achieve the goals of SDG 11 by supporting digital and spatial tools for urban planning.With this in mind, the structure of the challenge is divided into three main sections: Engage, Investigate, and Act.

Das wirst Du lernen

This challenge is expected to be offered again from December 1, 2025, to February 26, 2026. HCU students can also find the challenge in AHOI and register for it there. The exact dates will be announced at a later date. If you would like to participate in the challenge, you must first complete the course “Sustainable Urban Development through Digital Planning Tools” on the SDG Campus and obtain a certificate of achievement. You will then send the certificate to the following email address to register for the challenge: maria.dale@hcu-hamburg.de.

You will be guided in putting the knowledge acquired in the advanced course (Sustainable Urban Development through Digital Planning Tools), which is required to participate in this challenge, into practice. 

This challenge will help you reflect on the basic concepts of digital planning of the urban environment and consolidate the inputs provided in the form of analyses through group activities such as formulating a practical use case for a specific context. You will be able to reflect on the applicability of TOSCA in support of the SDGs. By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Understand the role of digital tools in the new era of planning.

• Analyze the advantages of open-source tools.

• Gather basic ideas about what geographic information systems (GIS) can do for planning and how TOSCA can make them more accessible.

• Reflect on TOSCA's contribution to addressing the challenges identified in the SDGs.


Damit wirst Du Dich beschäftigen

Goal: One of the overarching goals of this course is to work together to strengthen education in Hamburg: You are part of a real challenge and an interdisciplinary team.


How does it work?: A Hamburg institution in the field of education provides an abstract set of topics as a basic starting point, and you work on ideas for solutions to this specific challenge.


Course structure: This challenge course was designed as a group activity and is based on self-directed learning. The idea behind self-directed learning is that learners work through the content at their own pace and according to their own schedule. In contrast to traditional classroom learning or cohort-based learning, self-directed learning is guided by the learner themselves and not by the course instructor.


Milestones: Throughout the challenge, you will receive activities to complete with your group. There are certain deadlines that must be met, which we call milestones. A milestone can be understood here as an important step or event in the development of something.

Appointments: If your group finds that it needs help understanding a particular task, the instructors available for this course are available for online consultation. Please contact the instructor by email to arrange an online appointment. 


So lernst Du

The proposed structure of this challenge will be carried out as group work. The groups will be formed by all course participants, and the tasks for the challenge will be worked on throughout the course in the originally formed groups.


The activities are divided into three main sections, which are


1. Engage: Kick-start activities that will guide you from the beginning through the exploration of general ideas and areas of interest to the definition of an actionable challenge.


2. Investigate: Follow-up activities that will help you move from formulating guiding questions to synthesizing what you have learned and drafting potential solutions through a process of exploring relevant resources.


3. Act: Once solutions are developed, practical activities help you test your solutions in real-world scenarios and reflect on them to reach meaningful conclusions.

Anbietende Hochschule

Hafencity Universität

Kursverantwortliche

Maria Moleiro Dale
Ramon Vivanco

Teilnahmevoraussetzungen
Keine
Form des Kursabschlusses

The challenge course for TOSCA is complete once the learners have completed all the challenge activities in groups and uploaded their completed challenge planner as a group.

Prüfungstermin
14.11.2025