Track 8: EDUCATION AND SKILLS

Planning education responses to social, economic, and environmental challenges; Innovative pedagogical approaches, knowledge and skills.

Chairs:

• Andrea Frank, University of Birmingham
• Kerem Koramaz, Istanbul Technical University (ITU)
• Dafni Riga, Politecnico di Milano

Planning education programmes in higher education have been preparing future planning practitioners for careers in urban and regional planning as well as urban design for decades. In recent years, implications of the changing climate for human settlements have become increasingly visible, with a growing number of heat related premature deaths, damages from storms, landslides and flooding. Territorial fragility and marginality, spatial and social inequities, urban refugees and migrants, food insecurities and homelessness are creating tensions and potentially unrest. There is strong evidence that these issues are interlinked and rooted in a socio-economic system that prioritizes economic growth and gain over social and economic approaches that challenge the status quo. It is thus high time to re-think “business as usual” planning practices and time-tested educational approaches, which often constitute the convention for planning pedagogies.

However, are planning education curricula fit for such an endeavour? While AESOP published a revised version of its core curriculum, is this going far enough? What might be the skills and knowledge areas needed to support fostering new and alternative imaginaries of urban living and forms? How can students practice transformative skills and gain experience in such activities? Is it possible for the planning practices and pedagogies derived from developed geographies to become responsive to the planning experiences of the entire world?

This track invites theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions (individual papers/posters/pre-organised sessions) that explore: 

• How planning education curricula should and need to be adapted to offer suitable knowledge and skills; 
• Novel approaches in teaching and learning to equip planning practitioners with knowledge and skills to address current social, economic, and environmental challenges, such as urban climate change adaptations.

Keywords: Planning education, pedagogy, planning curricula, innovative approaches, transformation skills