Designing Schools of the Future to Build Education Resilience post COVID-19
Organizer: The World Bank’s Global Program for Safer Schools, The World Bank Education Global Practice
| The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated at a global scale the devastating impacts that school closures can have on learning outcomes and the development of children, particularly the poorest and most vulnerable. We have witnessed these negative impacts repeatedly at regional and local scales over many decades as a result of other natural disasters and will continue to as the climate crisis worsens. A key tool in enhancing the resilience of global education systems is to invest in safer and high-quality school infrastructure as well as planning and management systems that allow these investments to be equitable, cost-effective, and sustainable in the long term. This session will share a case study of work in Cali, Colombia, a city with high seismic and flood risk, where the municipal government is using simple yet innovative methodologies to maximize the effectiveness of investments in school infrastructure risk reduction. In addition to enhancing the safety of schools, the city is using these interventions as an opportunity to improve the quality of the indoor and outdoor learning environments and to integrate community use of the facilities as a means of improving overall education quality and community resilience. This case study highlights the need that we have witnessed in our work for contemporary design standards for school infrastructure that go beyond the traditional ‘cells and bells’ typologies that have been used for nearly a century and respond to new pedagogies, evolving functional and community requirements, and an increased need for flexibility and redundancy. The session will share innovative examples of school designs that have broken free of the traditional mold and may serve as inspiration for these ‘schools of the future’, including those designed by the world-renowned architect Takaharu Tezuka in Japan. During the session, polls and chat functions will be used to engage the audience and gather feedback and insights. |
Speakers:
Carina Fonseca Ferreira, Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Bank”
Vivian Argueta Bernal, International Development and Resilience Consultant
Tigran Shmis, Senior Education Specialist, World Bank
Takaharu Tezuka, Architect
Janssen Edelweiss Teixeira, Senior Education Specialist, World Bank
Fernando Ramirez Cortes, Senior Disaster Risk Management Specialist, World Bank