State of the Studio

This critical analysis of studio courses in contemporary U.S.-based planning programs seeks to reinvigorate discussions about the potential of studio pedagogy in educating planners. I begin by reviewing the definitions, histories, and theories that inform our understanding of planning studios, mapping their evolution starting in 1909 and presenting a set of bookend data for 2009-2011. I then situate this analysis in contemporary education theory to argue that the boundaries of studio pedagogy can be expanded beyond teaching practice, and positioned as a space for new kinds of learning, new models of knowledge production, and new modes of practice.

[1]  A. M. White.  The Process of Education , 1994 .

[2]  L. S. Vygotskiĭ,et al.  Mind in society : the development of higher psychological processes , 1978 .

[3]  John Forester.  The Coming Design Challenge , 1983 .

[4]  Donald A. Schön.  The Reflective turn : case studies in and on educational practice , 1991 .

[5]  Frederick J. Adams.  Urban planning education in the United States , 1954 .

[6]  Leonard F. Heumann,et al.  A Partial History of Planning Workshops: The Experience of Ten Schools from 1955 to 1984 , 1984 .

[7]  J. Edwards.  Genetic Epistemology , 1971 .

[8]  Harvey S. Perloff.  Education for planning : city, state, & regional , 1958 .

[9]  Howell S. Baum.  A Further Case for Practitioner Faculty , 1995 .

[10]  L. Shulman.  Signature pedagogies in the professions , 2005, Daedalus.

[11]  C. Tanner,et al.  Teaching is a practice. , 1997, The Journal of nursing education.

[12]  Nicholas Wilkinson,et al.  Design Studio Pedagogy: Horizons for the Future , 2007 .

[13]  William M. Smith,et al.  A Study of Thinking , 1956 .

[14]  J. Dewey.  Democracy and education : an introduction to the philosophy of education , 1961 .

[15]  Mitchel Resnick,et al.  “Thick” authenticity: new media and authentic learning , 1999 .

[16]  A. Maslow.  A Theory of Human Motivation , 1943 .

[17]  David Boud,et al.  Promoting reflection in professional courses: The challenge of context , 1998 .

[18]  David S. Sawicki,et al.  Architecture and Planning: The Divergence of Two Fields , 1992 .

[19]  Alan Kreditor,et al.  The Neglect of Urban Design in the American Academic Succession , 1990 .

[20]  B. Sletto,et al.  Educating Reflective Practitioners: Learning to Embrace the Unexpected through Service Learning , 2010 .

[21]  A. Bandura,et al.  Social learning and personality development , 1964 .

[22]  Ethan Seltzer,et al.  Taking Our Bearings: Mapping a Relationship Among Planning Practice, Theory, and Education , 1999 .

[23]  Brian E. Thompson.  Studio Pedagogy for Engineering Design , 2002 .

[24]  J. Walls,et al.  Education for Planning: City, State, and Regional. Harvey S. Perloff , 1958 .

[25]  Allan B. Jacobs.  Thoughts on City Planning Practice and Education When No One Loves Us , 1983 .

[26]  D. Abramson.  The “Studio Abroad” as a Mode of Transcultural Engagement in Urban Planning Education , 2005 .

[27]  D. Shaffer.  Pedagogical Praxis: The Professions as Models for Postindustrial Education , 2004, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.

[28]  A. Maslow.  Motivation and Personality , 1954 .

[29]  Curtis B. Freed.  Beyond Freedom and Dignity , 1973 .

[30]  Jeremy Németh,et al.  Assessing Learning Outcomes in U.S. Planning Studio Courses , 2012 .

[31]  Linda C. Dalton,et al.  Weaving the Fabric of Planning as Education , 2001 .

[32]  L. Shulman,et al.  Teaching as Community Property: Essays on Higher Education , 2004 .

[33]  R. Peters.  Freedom to learn: A view of what education might become , 1970 .

[34]  Marilyn Higgins,et al.  The Role of Creativity in Planning: The 'Creative Practitioner' , 2000 .

[35]  R. J. Bogumil,et al.  The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action , 1985, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[36]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation , 1991 .

[37]  D. Schoen.  Educating the reflective practitioner , 1987 .

[38]  J. Grant,et al.  Using a Peer Resource Learning Model in Planning Education , 1995 .

[39]  S. Billett.  Situated learning: Bridging sociocultural and cognitive theorising , 1996 .

[40]  Tony Cunningham,et al.  Theories of Learning and Curriculum Design - Key Positionalities and their Relationships , 2007 .

[41]  Susan L. Roakes,et al.  Community Service Learning in Planning Education , 2000 .

[42]  Tridib Banerjee.  Environmental Design in the Developing World: Some Thoughts on Design Education , 1985 .

[43]  Aseem Inam.  Navigating Ambiguity: Comedy Improvisation as a Tool for Urban Design Pedagogy and Practice , 2010 .

[44]  Beau Jones.  Designing Learning and Technology for Educational Reform. , 1994 .

[45]  M. Arefi,et al.  Journal of Planning Education and Research Reflections on the Pedagogy of Place in Planning and Urban Design on Behalf Of: Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning , 2022 .

[46]  Bishwapriya Sanyal,et al.  Poor Countries' Students in Rich Countries' Universities: Possibilities of Planning Education for the Twenty-first Century , 1989 .

[47]  I. Pavlov.  Conditioned Reflexes: An Investigation of the Physiological Activity of the Cerebral Cortex , 1929 .

[48]  Thomas A. Dutton,et al.  The Design Studio: An Exploration of its Traditions and Potential , 1989 .

[49]  Sarah Kuhn,et al.  Learning from the architecture studio: implications for project-based pedagogy , 2001 .

[50]  Jennifer Dixon,et al.  The Pedagogy of the Planning Studio: A View from Down Under , 2009 .

[51]  B. Skinner.  Is it behaviorism? , 1986, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

[52]  H. Rittel,et al.  Dilemmas in a general theory of planning , 1973 .

[53]  K. Christensen,et al.  Teaching Savvy , 1993 .

[54]  P. Williams,et al.  Student Experiences of Work-Based Learning in Planning Education , 2006 .

[55]  Eugenie L. Birch,et al.  Practitioners and the Art of Planning , 2001 .

[56]  John Friedmann,et al.  The Core Curriculum in Planning Revisited , 1996 .

[57]  D. Schoen,et al.  The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action , 1985 .

[58]  Jon Lang.  Teaching Planning to City Planning Students. An Argument for the Studio / Workshop Approach , 1983 .

[59]  Leonard F. Heumann,et al.  The Changing Role of the Workshop Course in Educating Planning Professionals , 1988 .