Where Disciplines Meet Lecture Series 1/2022

15 February 2002, 17:30 

Community Scales. Toward a socially transformative pedagogy in design and planning. A critical reflection.

Speaker: Ellen Fetzer, Nürtingen-Geislingen University, Germany
Respondent: Arati Amitraj Uttur, ECLAS, Le:Notre Institute

General subject area: landscape democracy

Everyone has the right to access, belong to and participate in decisions about the landscape of their communities. Design and planning professionals play a vital role in making cities sustainable and promote greater environmental justice, yet they often see participation as an obstacle to their creativity or are unaware of its benefits. To change these perceptions, students and young professionals should be offered opportunities to learn about their agency in shaping democratic, supportive communities and practice participation.

The Erasmus+ Landscape Education for Democracy (LED/LEAD2LEAP) projects aim at educating design and planning students about the theories, methods, and practices of landscape democracy. Students from many institutions can access the course online. In 2016, a series of online seminars started which until 2021 included around 300 students worldwide. They collaborate on a strategic vision for resolving a landscape democracy challenge within their local communities
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The performance of the seminar to reach its goals and ambitions was tested through pre and post engagement surveys of both teachers and students. The participatory action research includes the transformative action of teachers, students and the agents in the community on a personal, professional and systemic/political level. Results revealed that while the students valued the opportunity to learn about participation and landscape democracy in a multidisciplinary and cross-cultural context, the discontinuous commitment of some group members and the operationalizion of landscape democracy proved challenging. Nonetheless, they called for more opportunities within their university’s curricula to refine their social agency skills. They also expressed doubts that they would be able to pursue this type of work in private practice. The paper ends with lessons for educators interested in democratic design and planning education.

Participation is free. To attend the online lecture please REGISTER on Zoom

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Bibliography

• Fetzer, Ellen with Ruggeri, Deni (2019), (Ed.): Landscape Education for Democracy. Co-creating a socially-engaged landscape planning and design education for sustainable development, Special Issue InBo, University of Bologna, Vol. 10 No. 4: https://in-bo.unibo.it/issue/view/816

Dr. Ellen Fetzer, LED2LEAP Project Coordinator: Ellen Fetzer holds a diploma and a doctoral degree in landscape planning from Kassel University, Germany. At Nürtingen-Geislingen University she is primarily coordinating the international masters in landscape architecture (IMLA). Another focus is on computer supported collaborative learning and transnational education. She also collaborates with colleagues from the business field on social innovation, landscape economy and entrepreneurship. Ellen is currently president of ECLAS, the European Council of Landscape Architecture Schools.

 

Arati Uttur, Social media and Communications coordinator for ECLAS, Le:Notre Institute and JoLA.  Arati recently completed the Master program at IMLA and during this time she has tutored several IMLA international seminars, like the Community Learning for Local Change (CLLC) with the focus on Middle East Social Innovation Labs(MESIL), LED2LEAP and the Language, Culture Landscape Seminar, that run within the IMLA Programme. With a background of design for educational spaces during her previous architectural profession, Arati presently focuses on inculcating sustainable thinking in young minds through food landscapes in elementary and secondary educational environments.