Transactions of the Association of European Schools of Planning
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Enhancing internationalisation through inter-institutional collaboration: Innovative practices in planning education
Get PDFAlthough internationalisation has been identified as a key transformative factor of higher education at the beginning of the 21st century and is firmly embedded in most institutional missions, there is growing concern amongst educators that internationalisation is being devalued and that the progress of its implementation has stalled. One particularly worrying aspect is a rather limited, predominantly instrumental implementation of internationalisation by institutions subsumed by neoliberal ideologies, economics and rankings, which prioritises international student recruitment over enhancing intercultural understanding, curricula and students’ personal development. Responding to calls to re-orient institutional missions, this reflective essay seeks to stimulate a discussion of how aspirations of socially responsible internationalisation (internationalism) and learning for global citizenship may be reclaimed. Drawing on selected cases from the field of spatial planning, the author suggests that interinstitutional collaboration and partnerships could be a valid means to support (explicitly or implicitly) socially responsible internationalisation while also covering institutional performance targets. Cases are interrogated for their rationale (aims, institutional arrangements, focus) to gain an understanding of how they address various aspects of internationalisation and to draw lessons for wider adoption
Systematic sharing of knowledge obtained in pilot projects in spatial planning
Get PDFPilot projects are implemented to obtain results and knowledge that can be reused subsequently. In this paper, we address the question of the efficient and effective distribution of insights between pilot projects. We present detailed considerations on the structures which are required to share the results and knowledge obtained through evaluations of the stages of pilot projects. By establishing such structures, the reuse of existing knowledge is significantly simplified. A common structure for pilot projects allows for information sharing between equal stages of simultaneously running pilot projects. If the obtained knowledge of these individual stages is easily accessible, the need to review a comprehensive final project report is eliminated. For future pilot projects and large-scale projects, the costs associated with reusing existing knowledge is reduced and the cost-benefit ratio improves. We exemplify this by investigating systematic information sharing between equally structured pilot projects
Practical plans: Refugees, spatial design, and a workshop of planning
Get PDFMigration generates both challenges and opportunities. The magnitude of flows and effects on local resources are rarely equally distributed, indeed, the demographic size and economic strength of arrival cities or regions consistently affect outcomes. The nature of these challenges and opportunities is, therefore, extremely varied. These elements have already structured a network of places, refugee-cities, integration hubs, and transit points that play different roles in the increasing process of human mobility. The paper discusses the role of planners in dealing with refugee crises starting from the experience of a university workshop. This allows for a plea in favour of a different approach to planning, one that insists on practice, spatial strategies, and implementation. The paper also illustrates a different teaching approach that takes into account the need to integrate different forms of knowledge and disciplinary perspectives
Let us teach for real! : A plea for traditional teaching
Get PDFBefore we even noticed, electronic devices and the internet have invaded our lives and our universities. Far from being just an instrument, they change the way we teach, whether we want it or not. Unfortunately, instead of helping, they carry negative effects, well documented by research in psychology, psychiatry and neuroimaging over the last decade. They affect our attention, our memory, and our social skills. Without even being aware of it, we are playing the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Since 2011, the author has banned the digital and reinvigorated traditional teaching methods: a demanding, yet hugely rewarding experience. The present paper is a vibrant plea by a scholar to fellow scholars: let us get rid of the virtual! Let us teach for real
Planning the mirage: Lessons for planning education from Abu Dhabi
Get PDFThroughout the 1980s planning educators disagreed on the appropriateness of Western planning education for poor countries’ students, and on the question of whether training of students from developing countries should be based on “general principles” or “contextual material specific to poor countries” (Sanyal, 1990, p.8). Today most planning programs in North America (and in the West in general) offer courses in ‘international development’, ‘world cities’, ‘urbanization in the global South’, or closely related topics. However, as ‘the other’ becomes more mainstream in Western planning education, the belief that Western planning education is robust enough to accommodate global differences (the ‘one world’ model of planning education), becomes more entrenched. Further, an unspoken assumption goes unquestioned – that planning curricula, too, just like planning skills, can be transferred internationally. Over the last three decades or so, the advent of the age of interconnected economies and the networked society, has had a profound impact on global trends of development and urbanization. This paper argues that the question of appropriate planning curricula ought to be revisited especially from the perspective of education in developing countries. Scholars educated in the West, who are teaching in developing countries, are in a unique position to assess the utility of bringing Western planning education to less developed parts of the world. This paper is based on the authors’ observations and experiences over seven years, teaching Urban Planning at undergraduate level at a private university in Abu Dhabi. During this period the authors were involved with program design, course design, accreditation and quality assurance, mentorship, along with university service, teaching, and research. The paper evaluates the practices and circumstances of urban planning in UAE and the implications for planning education. It is argued that there is a fundamental disconnect between the profession’s ethics, and the reality of planning practice in the region. This gap has not been considered in depth in either program design or in accreditation standards. The paper concludes with recommendations for planning education in the Gulf region
Mapping San Siro lab: Experimenting grounded, interactive and mutual learning for inclusive cities
Get PDFThe paper proposes a reflection on the Mapping San Siro experience, a five-year action learning project, promoted by the Department of Architecture and Urban Studies in collaboration with Polisocial, the public engagement program of Politecnico di Milano. The project is currently ongoing in one of the largest public estates in Milan, known as San Siro. It aims at experimenting a pedagogical environment based on grounded, interactive, action-oriented and hybrid learning, reflecting how new approaches can enrich the experience of educational practices for the inclusive city. The paper addresses a series of issues, which emerge from this experience, reflecting on situated learning, the co-production of knowledge with community partners, and an action-oriented teaching practice. In this paper, a reflection on the pedagogical and social outcomes of the experience is also proposed
Imaginaries of a ‘Europe of the regions’
Get PDF“I have not come here this evening to talk to you about a utopia; no, I am here to talk to you about an adventure ...: the federating of Europe.”
These are the words of Denis de Rougemont (1948, p.1), the Swiss philosopher and scholar, given at a talk on 22nd of April 1948 at the Sorbonne, Paris. He was advocating for the cultural, historical regions to become the sub-European political units instead of nation states. I start this essay with his statement not because I necessarily agree with his views, but because he is the person who coined the term ‘Europe of the regions’ in his book The idea of Europe, which appeared in English in 1966 (de Rougemont, 1966). Donald Tusk (2016), former President of the European Union (EU), called him “a philosopher of regionalism” and “a pioneer of the EU moto of ‘unity in diversity’”. I also started this essay with de Rougemont because of his take on what constitutes Europe. In his book, he traces the history of the idea from the Greek myth of the abduction of Europa by Zeus to the 18th and 19th century federalist ideas of Napoleon and the 1960s European Community, and concludes that the search for Europe is to build Europe; that, Europe is only to be found in the process of creating it (de Rougemont, 1966). This relational perspective somewhat resonates with what I am going to discuss about ‘the region’ and a ‘Europe of the regions’
From macro-level policies to microlevel practices: Changing global economic landscapes and the proliferation of middle-class gated communities in Mexico
Get PDFIn recent decades, gated communities for affluent groups have gained academic attention worldwide. However, in nations with large inequalities such as Mexico, which are also affected by issues of insecurity, corruption, and violence, these enclaves have become more common for middle-income groups. Their existence is usually associated with the search for prestige and exclusivity, along with fear of crime and violence. However, this article focuses on other structural conditions that contribute to the proliferation of these fortified spaces, such as the connections between global economic forces and the changes in national planning, financial, and housing policies since the 1990s. Since then, Mexican peripheries have become more fragmented and disconnected and gated communities have proliferated. This discussion takes place in a context of global polarisation, both in the Global North and South, in which planners have been urged to respond to issues of growing fear, inequality, and violence. This article addresses the contradictions of polarisation, because some Mexicans are defending the right to build walls to protect from insecurity, while there is also social condemnation of the proposed wall by President Trump. The discussion about macro-economic policies in the development of middle-class gated communities in Mexico is helpful in identifying the future risks and challenges that may come from the normalisation of exclusionary places
Editorial
Get PDFIn summer 2017 during the Annual AESOP Congress in Lisbon we were delighted and proud to present the inaugural issue of Transactions of the Association of the European School. Starting this journal took the editorial team on an enjoyable (ad)venture where we discussed format innovations, approaches, and procedures that would be suited to encapsulating the very inclusive, open-minded and nurturing character of the AESOP community while also measuring up to academic standards and scrutiny. It was a venture that was co-created by a mixed gendered team of complementary strengths, experiences, and competencies – as one would expect from a functional team.
The papers in this issue of the journal again embrace the diversity of planning cultures in Europe and beyond. They address themes ranging from transport to open space planning. Interdisciplinarity, qualitative and quantitative analytical approaches, design and strategy, and research and education are all covered in varying depth and breadth. (Post-)modern planning is diverse, and requires flexibility and openness to change; in our complex world the future is not predetermined but shaped and evolving.
This fourth issue is a good example of this diversity; with a geographical focus spanning from Mexico, Portugal to Russia and Italy, it explores planning approaches (resilience-based planning) as well as knowledge management issues and social behaviours
Cultural enthusiasts, civil society and the strategies of heritage-making in late Russian empire
Get PDFCultural heritage preservation became one of the key topics of public discussion in the Late Russian Empire. These discussions led to the establishment of several initiatives for protecting Russian cultural heritage. This article demonstrates that such initiatives developed a variety of different strategies for heritage-making. Examples from the Society of the Protection and Preservation of the Monuments of Art and Antiquity in Russia and the Society of the Revival of Artistic Rus’ show that several strategies of heritage-making focusing on cultural heritage preservation were developed simultaneously by different civil groups and helped cultivate the interest of the state authority in the subject, an interest which later became institutionalised under the Soviet regime