The teams that represented KNUST at the Next Generation City Action Challenge in Copenhagen, Denmark have met with the Vice-Chancellor Prof. Mrs. Rita Akosua Dickson to update her on the details and outcome of the trip. The Next Generation City Action Challenge was brought about by the Technical University of Denmark with sponsorship from the Danish Embassy. The challenge was also part of this years World Congress of Architects which was also held in Copenhagen, Denmark.
At the meeting were the Dean of the Faculty of Built Environment, Prof. Samuel Amos-Abanyie, the Dean of the International Programmes Office, Prof. Daniel Y. A. Duah and Dr. Alexander Boakye Marful, who served as an academic coach for the students.
The students who partook in the challenges from the Faculty of Built Environment, consisting of 3 Departments were Miss Ivana Tracey Frimpong, Mr. Isaac Egyir Kwofie, Miss Wilda Birago Amoah, Mr. Emmanuel Appiah Acheampong, Mr. Seth Kwabena Mensah, Miss Aisha Adams and Mr. Seth Mensah Kontor. The Assistant Registrar of the IPO, Mrs. Yvonne Baiden was also present at the meeting.
The purpose of the call was explained by Prof. Amos-Abanyie who indicated that sometime in May, there was a request for KNUST to participate in the Next Generation City Challenge for the second time. He stated that the students expressed interest and were given the go ahead to proceed with the challenge. He added that as part of the challenge requirements, there was a need to include an academic supervisor who was in the person of Dr. Alexander Boakye Marful.
Dr. Marful then gave a brief summary of each of the three teams and their challenges and the next steps for each of the projects. The teams were: The Green Crew who worked on Sustainable Homes of the Future - For People and the Planet; Ripple Resolutions worked on The Red Light, Green Light of Inclusive Smart Cities; and H2O Heroes worked on Data Driven Water Quality – Inclusive City Solutions Targeting Households.
Dr. Marful then informed the Vice-Chancellor that the Green Crew was able to win their challenge obtaining both the Acceleration Award for their challenge and the National Award for the country. Dr. Marful also expressed the interest in developing the projects further within the KNUST community and called on the Vice-Chancellor for her support. He added that there were interested stakeholders ready to push the project further and was enthusiastic about the future partnerships with some of the universities who were also at the conference.
Miss Ivana Tracey Frimpong was then given the opportunity to briefly present their winning solution to the Vice-Chancellor. Their approach to the challenge was to provide a culturally inclusive inter-generational sustainable home by redefining the compound house in Ghana. They took a typical compound house, analysed, and found critical problems, then dissected, and reorganised it utilising sustainable principles and materials such as rammed earth and the KNUST Tek Blocks developed using earth technology to help solve pertinent issues that currently exist which included privacy and lack of accessibility. Their initiative was titled Abusua Fie which the called the Home of the Future and their focus was on improving daylighting and natural ventilation while still providing an inclusive space that could be used by all persons especially the elderly.
The Vice-Chancellor was extremely impressed with the presentation and encouraged the team to push forward with the project. She expressed her enthusiasm with the team being able to carry the university’s name at an international level and congratulated the team for the efforts during the challenge. She also encouraged the other teams to work towards propelling their various projects in a way that would make it impactful to communities.
The Dean of IPO, Prof. Daniel Duah also commended the efforts of the various teams and informed the Vice-Chancellor that the feat of the students was indeed recognized by many including the Ghana Institue of Architects, who shared the projects across their numerous platforms.
The awards obtained from the challenge by the Green Crew were then presented to the Vice-Chancellor to conclude the meeting.
Special thanks goes to Prof. Bugri, Provost of the College of Art and Built Environment, and Prof. Amos-Abanyie for the opportunity to partake in such a laudable endeavor. Additionally the team was thankful to the IPO and the Dean, Prof. Duah for the support received throughout the preparations and travel. Dr. Marful was also greatly appreciated for all his efforts before, during and after the trip. A huge appreciation goes to the Danish Embassy and the Technical University of Denmark for the spectacular event.
The encouragement and support from Prof. Mrs. Dickson was also greatly appreciated by all members of the various teams.
A big Ayekoo to the teams for making KNUST proud and for pushing KNUST further at the international level. Overall the meeting was very fruitful and inspired the students to push for greater things!
To learn more about their projects, visit
https://nextgenerationcityaction.com/ya-gh-1/
