Speaker
Description
As universities increasingly situate themselves as active agents driving changes in their urban setting and responding to climate change, their capacity to influence urban strategies, policies and community well-being also grows. At the same time, there is increased urgency to adapt the current curricula of spatial practice that equip upcoming design professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to combat urban challenges, such as collaboration, climate change adaptations, and the ability to harness new technologies. Integration of community-engaged methodologies and systems thinking are two such topics that have proven as essential components in this transformation of pedagogy. This contribution reflects on the "Common Ground: Campus, Community, and Climate" initiated at the second-year architecture studio of University College Dublin (UCD). The studio reimagined architectural pedagogy through systems thinking and situated, engaged and participatory approaches, especially emphasising collaboration with local communities and interdisciplinary exchanges.
The initiative emphasised the co-creation of knowledge and design solutions with local communities at the interface of campus, urban environments and climate crisis. Borrowing tools and methods from disciplines such as planning, geodesign and geography, students ventured into three design cycles approach which exposed them to interdisciplinary knowledge such as participatory mapping, environmental metabolism, commons, behaviour change theories, etc. The use of spatial data, causal loop diagrams and metabolic drawings allowed students to describe and understand various processes present on the chosen sites. Key events also included open-to-all workshops, peer review, reflective practice and collaborative design sessions, equipping students with hands-on experience to investigate the environmental, social, economic, ecological and topographic fabric of their sites. As such these cycles enabled students to investigate pressing challenges such as campus permeability, connectivity, and climate resilience as part of their design strategies while fostering stronger connections between the university and its surrounding neighbourhoods.
By embedding community engagement and systems thinking into the curriculum, the Common Ground studio in its first iteration has provided a step towards testing an interdisciplinary approach which ensures students can grapple with the complexities of urban adaptation and social sustainability as well as learn conventional design tools. It is important to note that reflections and evaluation also made apparent some challenges faced during the process. For instance, staff highlighted challenges such as scope within 12 weeks to strike a balance between practicing conventional design skills and tools with that of more adapting interdisciplinary skills as part of the design process. The studio process and inputs related to the community engagement was evaluated which contributed towards a reflection and continuous improvement of teaching and learning. Therefore through an iterative process this paper investigates the potential of such pedagogical approaches in preparing future practitioners, especially by rethinking "business as usual" practices in education.
| Keywords | systems thinking; community engagement; architecture studio; climate change adaptation; education |
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