Service-Learning in Design and Planning

Tom Angotti is professor in the Hunter College Department of Urban Affairs and Planning in New York City, and director of the Hunter College Center for Community Planning and Development. and teaches urban affairs and planning at Hunter College/City University of New York. Cheryl Doble is an associate professor in Department of Landscape Architecture and director of the Center for Community Design Research at SUNY ESF. Paula Horrigan is a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Cornell University.

Expert Reviews "What this book offers is the stimulation one gets from the company of a group of committed, experienced and able people who do the same job as you: you may not approach the job in quite the same way, or have exactly the same aims, but it is a major surprise if you do not come away with some new ideas, and renewed enthusiasm, after engaging with them." --Huw Thomas, International Planning Studies "More people understanding how it all works means more people can help bring it all together. Service-Learning in Design and Planning: Educating at the Boundaries seeks to expand the knowledge of urban planning and architecture within communities, studying elements from around the world and how they can be applied locally and lead to a more inclusive plan for the communities of tomorrow. Service-Learning in Design and Planning is an informative and much recommended read for those who want to understand the importance of a communities wishes in preparing for its future." --The Midwest Book Review "It is an exciting addition to the field of service-learning and a very great resource for any academic developing a service-learning program as part of their curriculum. Students, researchers and community partners in the field of service-learning will find the information very useful." --Eva Aboagye, Journal of Global Citizenship & Equity Education "This collection of case studies critically explores the current practice of community-engaged learning in architecture, landscape design, and urban planning and forms a pedagogical framework for design educators." --Folio Magazine Expert Reviews "What this book offers is the stimulation one gets from the company of a group of committed, experienced and able people who do the same job as you: you may not approach the job in quite the same way, or have exactly the same aims, but it is a major surprise if you do not come away with some new ideas, and renewed enthusiasm, after engaging with them." --Huw Thomas, International Planning Studies "More people understanding how it all works means more people can help bring it all together. Service-Learning in Design and Planning: Educating at the Boundaries seeks to expand the knowledge of urban planning and architecture within communities, studying elements from around the world and how they can be applied locally and lead to a more inclusive plan for the communities of tomorrow. Service-Learning in Design and Planning is an informative and much recommended read for those who want to understand the importance of a communities wishes in preparing for its future." --The Midwest Book Review "It is an exciting addition to the field of service-learning and a very great resource for any academic developing a service-learning program as part of their curriculum. Students, researchers and community partners in the field of service-learning will find the information very useful." --Eva Aboagye, Journal of Global Citizenship & Equity Education "This collection of case studies critically explores the current practice of community-engaged learning in architecture, landscape design, and urban planning and forms a pedagogical framework for design educators." --Folio Magazine An impressive collection on an important topic. Crossing design and planning, this engaging volume brings together a number of different approaches to service-learning--theoretically, by field, and in the scale of the activities in space and time. This makes it useful and important reading for both those starting off in the field of community-based education and old hands interested in critically reflecting on their past practice. --Ann Forsyth, Professor of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University The time is ripe for advancing a solid service-learning pedagogy in architecture, landscape architecture, and planning. Over several decades of innovation, experimentation, and trial and error, each of these design disciplines has spawned new and critical theory, linking professional work and social change. The wisdom of the twenty-nine leaders in service-learning within this volume provides a collective leap forward that benefits us all--students, teachers, designers, and the general public. --Bryan Bell This book makes a valuable contribution to the field by discussing and showcasing a number of service-learning programs and models that an academic could use in developing their own programs and partnerships. It is an exciting addition to the field of service-learning and a very great resource for any academic developing a service-learning program as part of their curriculum. Students, researchers and community partners in the field of service-learning will find the information very useful. --Eva Aboagye "Journal of Global Citizenship & Equity Education " This collection of case studies critically explores the current practice of community-engaged learning in architecture, landscape design, and urban planning and forms a pedagogical framework for design educators. --Spring 2012 "Folio Magazine " This is a book primarily for educators of planners rather than students. Planners and others outside the academy who are already partners in service-learning, or are contemplating it, will also find much of interest. The book consists of 16 chapters, including an introduction. The 15 substantive chapters are mostly case studies, and even those which are not case studies are still based on direct experience of service-learning. Only one relates to teaching in a university outside the USA, but to put it in a way which might well please the editors, the experiences and discussions described in the other chapters certainly cross national boundaries. The experiences drawn upon involve teaching in landscape design and architecture, as well as planning, but again that is not a barrier to lessons being learned by those involved solely in planning education. The amount of detail offered about the service-learning experiences on which authors draw varies a great deal. In some chapters we are given blow-by-blow accounts of what happened and why, along with student and other voices; in others, we are given summaries of the service-learning, and the authorial judgement has to be taken pretty much on trust. Generally, this does not matter -- these different kinds of accounts often have different things to teach us, and do so in appropriately different ways. The book's sub-title reminds us why service-learning is so exciting, yet can be difficult to achieve. By definition, it involves crossing the boundary between the university and the outside world; and in practice it usually involves many other meetings at boundaries too. For example, real world issues always spill over academic and professional boundaries, so service-learning must address cross-disciplinarity. Typically, students find themselves working in communities and neighbourhoods quite unlike those in which they were brought up, so boundaries of race and class, in particular, are likely to be implicated in service-learning. If the service-learning is in a different country from the university -- usually a poorer one -- then the socio-economic boundaries to be crossed are even more complex. The book is based on the belief that acknowledging and addressing these boundaries is central to the value of service-learning, not incidental distractions. On this view, service-learning is as much about the development of all those involved (with particular attention paid to the student, naturally) towards being rounded, humane, mature, and educated, people, with all these elements being mutually supportive. This is a process that is never complete, of course, but one in which a good education at any level is thought by some to play a vital role. The contributors to the book do not appear to share any theoretical or philosophical positions which go beyond the rather general educational orientation described above. In some chapters there are references to Freire (though with slightly different interpretations of the implications of his thought); in others, references to Schon; and, in many, references to a variety of other influences. This does no matter over-much: there are papers in many journals, including planning journals, which explore how service-learning might be understood within particular political and pedagogical theories. What this book offers is the stimulation one gets from the company of a group of committed, experienced and able people who do the same job as you: you may not approach the job in quite the same way, or have exactly the same aims, but it is a major surprise if you do not come away with some new ideas, and renewed enthusiasm, after engaging with them. The book is organized into four sections, with each ostensibly focused around a particular aspect of border-meetings and crossings in service-learning. The titles of these sections convey pretty well what these aspects are: 'Beginning to see "the Other"', 'Crossing Borders' (international service-learning), 'Confronting Academic Boundaries', and 'Learning to Reflect and Evaluate'. Each section is conscientiously introduced by the editors, but this reader, at least, could see no strong connection between chapters in any given section. Perhaps this should not surprise us -- what emerges from the book is that most effective service-learning has certain key elements, and consequently these tend to get at least some mention in almost every chapter. The experiences recounted in this book suggest that the foundations of effective service-learning are: -an awareness, from the outset, that service-learning takes place within a social context which is shot through with socially-significant boundaries and imbalances of power; -service-learning can, in its modest way, challenge these, but only if they are first acknowledged and understood; -working with organizations and individuals who are deeply-rooted in the neighbourhoods where the service-learning will happen; -working as mutually respectful partners with such organizations, ideally over a considerable period of time; -good planning of all aspects of the service-learning activity, married with a willingness to respond to new opportunities as they arise 'in the field'; -systematic reflection, by all involved (not simply students) on what they are doing, what they are learning (in the broadest sense) and how the socio-political dynamics are evolving. Despite having a section supposedly devoted to it, this book does not really discuss reflection in any depth. But the consensus among most who write about the topic, outside this book, is that reflective learning and practice needs a supportive environment, so creating that must be foundational in service-learning. Of course, there are very many more details which contribute to success, but these appear to be the major building blocks. What is striking about them is that social relations (interpersonal, inter-group, inter-organizational), rather than training in this or that technique, are at their heart. And social relations need nurturing, can be messy, can be time consuming. Often, good social relations, in an educational context, have no 'output' other than better balanced, more mature, learners -- in a word, better people. For this reason, among others, service-learning can sometimes run against the grain of contemporary education with its trends towards the Taylorization of teaching and learning, and the valorization of research and publication over teaching. As more than one chapter notes, devoting time and effort to service-learning is not the most efficient route to academic advancement. Fortunately, many university teachers persist; this book will reassure them that they are in good company, as they strive to provide an humane and rounded education for planners and designers. --Huw Thomas, School of City and Regional Planning, Cardiff University"International Planning Studies" (07/12/2012) An invaluable new resource for faculty engaged in interdisciplinary action research aimed at building more vibrant, sustainable, and just neighborhoods, communities, and regions through inspired physical design. --Kenneth M. Reardon, Professor and Director of the Graduate Program in City and Regional Planning, University of Memphis This collection has its roots in the ideas of education theorists such as Dewey, Bruner, and Freire, all of whom advocate for the importance of experiential learning. The authors individually and collectively advance the idea of service-learning to community participation and social action. Consequently, this book not only challenges conventional thinking about education and practice but also illustrates a variety of successful off-the-shelf approaches. Design and planning educators and practitioners will find it to be a valuable companion in support of identifying directions for the future. --Henry Sanoff, Professor Emeritus of Architecture, ACSA/Alumni Distinguished Professor, North Carolina State University