Learning reflective planning: The application of participatory action research principles to planning studio design and assessment

Abstract:

Studio and practicum classes have remained central to professional architecture, landscape architecture, and planning programs because students learn professional skills and identities in real-world settings in these classes. Planning studio design, however, seldom challenges traditional client-planner relationships to explicitly teach the profession s ethical principles and commitments to the public interest and to empower students in their roles. Little is written about how students' values and professional identities are transformed in the engagement process. Student appreciation of diverse rural values and commitment to capacity building for sustainable development were explicit goals of a new planning program, in which students were engaged in service learning with rural counties and communities through partnership agreements that also involved university Extension faculty. Using journals, interviews, and observations, this article provides a narrative of student learning and challenging client relationships from the perspective of students and faculty in the program. The narrative has implications for practicum design, pedagogy, and service-learning partnership development. Participatory action research principles are suggested as a framework for structuring collaborative learning partnerships and developing pedagogy and assessment tools that facilitate transformative learning of values and ethics and a professional identity of empowerment. The article concludes with a reflection on the growing importance of overcoming institutional barriers to long-term engaged research and teaching and the qualitative assessment of transformative learning.

Año de publicación:

2017

Keywords:

Fuente:

scopus