Interdisciplinary and experiential learning in urban development management education
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Interdisciplinary and experiential learning in urban development management education Yawei Chen1 · Tom A. Daamen1 · Erwin W. T. M. Heurkens1 · Wouter J. Verheul1 Accepted: 19 July 2019 © The Author(s) 2019
Abstract To understand and deal with real urban development problems, urban planners, designers, and managers need to combine and synthesize a variety of academic and professional knowledge. As our urban challenges grow more complex, learning how to do this effectively becomes ever more important. For educators, this means teaching students how to work in interdisciplinary settings, i.e. how to jointly discover the different disciplinary dimensions of an urban problem, and how to reflectively design courses of action. In this paper, we explore and evaluate the components of such interdisciplinary experiential learning, develop a framework to design and analyse this type of courses, and use it to position and evaluate a specific urban development management course. Results show that, by performing and reflecting upon specific professional roles, the course stimulates students to both integrate different disciplines and reflect on an array of academic and practical insights. Based on our evaluation, we discuss several didactical aspects that may help lecturers to improve their interdisciplinary teaching in urban planning, design, and management courses—particularly when creating learning experiences in an increasingly diverse professional, societal and educational setting. Keywords Interdisciplinary learning · Urban development management · Urban (re) development game · Role simulation · Theory and practice
* Yawei Chen [email protected] Tom A. Daamen [email protected] Erwin W. T. M. Heurkens [email protected] Wouter J. Verheul [email protected] 1
Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Department of Management in the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
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Introduction ‘Universities tend to see tasks or problems through the lens of their subjects and courses. When an issue cuts across the provinces of departments or professions, it requires “interdisciplinary” treatment. But because academic provinces are also political territories, interdisciplinary projects are quickly politicized …’ (Schön 1987: 310) The current pace of urbanization in the world resonates strongly with an increased awareness of common urban challenges. Finding ways to grow our increasingly regional economies sustainably, making cities resilient to the effects of climate change, and preparing our built environment for a scarcity of crucial resources—like water, food, and energy—are all high on urban agendas worldwide. Politicians, planners, engineers, architects and other professionals who shape the (re)development of cities and urban regions are facing tremendous threats, but also opportunities. The challenge that practitioners often encounter in managing or governing urban development processes is complexity. An urban developmen
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