Speakers
Description
The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly disrupted educational systems worldwide, including planning education in higher education institutions (HEIs). This disruption presents an opportunity to critically evaluate how higher education planning curricula can adapt to address contemporary global challenges, including climate change, social inequities, territorial fragility, and migration. For instance, planning education must evolve to foster transformative skills and alternative imaginaries of urban living. This research explores the spatial reconfigurations and adaptive strategies of HEIs during the pandemic, with a focus on their implications for rethinking planning practices and pedagogies. Part of the National Research Project (PRIN) “Plastic or Elastic,” this study examines Italian universities through the lens of “spatial turn” and “transition studies,” exploring how crises can accelerate systemic change in both urban and academic contexts. It argues that the pandemic, by disrupting established spatial and organizational dynamics, provides an unprecedented opportunity to integrate resilience, equity, and sustainability into planning education.
The research starts from the hypothesis that the pandemic has generated significant spatial disruptions, forcing a re-evaluation of the functions and configurations of Italian academic environments. These changes are analysed as possible harbingers of a broader transition toward sustainable and equitable spatial practices. It intends to reach the following two-fold primary objectives: first, it tries to determine the extent of the reshaping of the pandemic on the spatial logics of HEIs; second, the strategic scenarios identifying how these changes can be used to inform public policies and urban transitions.
The methodology adopts a multi-phase design that pursues findings from various sources. The first phase included an extended literature review, mapping the spatial dynamics of the pandemic and recognizing main topics such as digitalization, gender equity, and student behaviour. The second phase are qualitative interviews with influential persons for HEIs, such as university rectors, general managers, faculty associations, and students, to also capture intimate narratives of spatial and organizational transformations brought by COVID-19 pandemic. A thematic analysis of these discussions reveals new practices, persisting challenges, and emerging opportunities for systemic change.
The findings highlight the complexities of spatial adaptation related to HEIs. Universities rapidly turned to online classrooms, hybrid teaching methodologies, and even redesigned some physical environments to ensure some continuity. But these adaptations also unearthed deeper systematic issues. For instance, the transition towards the digital environment introduced a speeding-up of innovations yet increased inequalities in access to technological resources, and challenged the true meaning of university and traditional teaching. In fact, whereas hybrid spaces were intended as solutions for upholding community engagement, it seems that they still could not replicate the relational aspects or experiential elements that characterize most traditional settings of academia.
The study brought to light critical areas of innovation and concern. Promotion of spatial transformations, outdoor spaces and smart campus concepts showed the potential of spatial flexibility in fostering resilience. However, the erosion of community ties due to physical isolation and over-reliance on digital interfaces has brought into focus the irreplaceable role that in-person interactions play in academic and social life. These findings call for an inclusive approach in the spatial and organizational planning of HEIs, with a focus on mental health, accessibility, and equity.
The contribution will present HEIs as potential key actors in the transition towards sustainable urban futures. In this respect, the study has outlined a framework through which HEIs can reconceptualize themselves as public spaces that could link the physical and digital realms and integrate innovative spatial practices with broader societal objectives. It means that redesigning academic environments for post-pandemic realities is just one aspect; there are also aspects involving universities as sites of urban experimentation and community engagement.
| Keywords | higher education; post-pandemic; digital transition; spatial adaptation; transition studies |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
