ANNUAL CONGRESS 2025

Educating urban planners in the era of the Anthropocene requires transformative pedagogies: Learner-Centred Pedagogy (LCP) applied in a theoretical Urbanism module in a Greek university

Not scheduled

20m

Yildiz Technical University, Istanbul

Oral Track 08 | EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Speaker

Prof. GARYFALLIA KATSAVOUNIDOU (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki)

Description

In the era of the Anthropocene, faced as we are with the harsh realities of global issues, including the collapse of ecosystems and climate breakdown, the need for a transformation of planning education and pedagogies is more urgent that ever (Frank & da Rosa-Pires 2021). In our rapidly changing world, in which cities play a central role for the sustainability of the planet, a different learning landscape is required, one that will promote critical thinking and focus on emotional competences and not merely on knowledge (Wisser 2018). Pedagogy is the discourse with which one needs to engage in order both to teach intelligently and make sense of teaching, as it encompasses both the act of teaching and its contingent theories and debates (Alexander 2009).
Especially in the case of urban planning, educators need to understand pedagogy as a deeply civic, political and moral practice (Lamb & Vodicka 2021). Based on solid evidence from cognitive theories of learning, education experts, inspired by the field of Adult Education, highlight the power of transformative pedagogies to induce change (Mezirow 1997). In past decades, and since 2010 integrated in the Bologna declaration (European Higher Education Area, n.d.), Learner-Centred Pedagogy (LCP) has been much discussed as an educational approach that places the student at the centre of the learning process, as opposed to traditional, teacher-centred education in which learners are perceived as passive receivers of information from the teacher (Bremner et al 2022). LCP focuses on students’ needs and uses educational tools for making the lesson more engaging, enhancing students’ self-confidence and collaborative skills, with expected outcomes that include increased retention of the content and life-long learning developed by the student. The rationale for implementing LCP in university teaching is three-fold (Schweisfurth, 2015): a) ‘economic’, as LCP better prepares students for the demands of a changing world; b) ‘cognitive’, as students learn more with LCP is implemented, rather than with traditional teaching; and c) ‘emancipatory’, giving students agency and responsibility, and advancing critical thinking, as they see knowledge as less fixed. University teachers, however, at least in countries such as Greece, are not required to be knowledgeable of pedagogy or be trained as adult educators. Good teaching is not intuitive but is the outcome of acquiring basic knowledge of how learning takes place, grounded on latest findings of cognitive science, and of conquering educational techniques that will enhance students’ engagement, desire to learn, and promote deep learning. Concurrently, this type of experiential learning and action pedagogies are valuable for education for sustainable development (Moore 2005). This paper presents a case of teaching a theoretical course on human-centred urbanism in a School of Planning in a Greek university using Learner-Centred Pedagogy (LCP), a module which was submitted as a candidate for the 2024 AESOP Excellence in Teaching Award. The concept, syllabus and teaching techniques are presented in parallel to an analysis of students’ comments in the evaluation of the course. This case study shows the transformative power of using LCP for promoting deep learning and preparing students for the complex, ‘wicked’ problems of contemporary urbanism. It argues that planning education has much to win when educators efficiently use experiential learning pedagogies and active, collaborative learning tools; when learners are exposed to real-world problems; and when classroom environment permits dialogue and exchange.

References

Alexander, R. (2009). Towards a Comparative Pedagogy. In International Handbook of Comparative Education (pp. 923–939). Springer Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-6403-6_59
Bremner, N., Sakata, N., & Cameron, L. (2022). The outcomes of learner-centred pedagogy: A systematic review. International Journal of Educational Development, 94, 102649. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102649
European Higher Education Area. (n.d.). Student-centred learning. Retrieved January 27, 2025, from https://ehea.info/page-student-centred-learning
Frank, A., & da Rosa Pires, A. (2021). Introduction: transformational change in planning education pedagogy? In Teaching Urban and Regional Planning. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788973632.00010
Lamb, T., & Vodicka, G. (2021). Education for 21st century urban and spatial planning: critical postmodern pedagogies. In Teaching Urban and Regional Planning. Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788973632.00012
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Moore, J. (2005). Seven recommendations for creating sustainability education at the university level. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 6(4), 326–339. https://doi.org/10.1108/14676370510623829
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