Developing Global Citizenship in a Multidisciplinary Cross-Cultural Study Visit on Urban Sustainability

The wicked problems of climate change, social inequality, and infrastructure challenges at municipal and community level require innovative solutions from multiple perspectives. The United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals aim to achieve a better and more sustainable world for all and tertiary institutions play a crucial role in educating students to make a significant contribution to global concerns. This paper describes the experiences of a study visit to Germany for 15 students from South Africa. The focus of the study visit was to exchange subject-related knowledge about infrastructure – water, green spaces, transport – in relation to politics/governance, the economy, social inequality and climate change among three disciplines (psychology, sociology, urban planning) as well as to discuss the use of social research methods to analyze infrastructure arrangements. We will firstly explain how we designed the study visit to address knowledge hierarchies and ensure inclusive and equitable education for all and secondly reflect on the experiences of the study visit and how well it prepared students for knowledge exchange and global citizenship.