Embracing the conceptual shift on new ways of experiencing the city and learning urban design: pedagogical methods and digital technologies

Video Learning in Community Planning

“…Additionally, video-making can motivate students to take a critical understanding of place. It gives students the opportunity to reflect on how they portray or engage people and built and natural environments and, ultimately, consider their preconceptions of people, place, and the power relationships that shape them (Dando and Chadwick 2014; Mapua Lim, Novo de Azevedo, and Cooper 2016; Mavroudi and Jöns 2011).…”

“…Mapua Lim, Novo de Azevedo, and Cooper (2016) found video-making helped students to understand classic urban design theory in new ways. In contrast to passive or static modes of learning, the video-making process can enable students to explore and critically reflect on theoretical principles firsthand because it requires observation and interaction with specific places (Dando and Chadwick 2014; Mapua et al 2016; Mavroudi and Jöns 2011). As a geography student explains, “videography allows me to take a complicated idea that I have a hard time clearly explaining in written form and create a visual story around it.…”

“…To address this challenge, many advocate for experiential learning techniques that stress active engagement with the urban environment, particularly in studio and service learning settings (Baldwin and Rosier 2017; Kotval 2003; Loukaitou-Sideris and Mukhija 2016; Roakes and Norris-Tirrell 2000; Rosier et al 2016; Senbel 2012). More recently, digital media and technologies—including gaming, podcasting, video-making, and website design—have emerged as experiential learning tools in planning education (Hollander and Thomas 2009; Mapua Lim, Novo de Azevedo, and Cooper 2016; Minnery and Searle 2014; Terzano and Morckel 2017). Some see digital technologies as ushering in a “conceptual shift” that is reshaping how future planners and designers experience and think about cities (Mapua Lim, Novo de Azevedo, and Cooper 2016) and, in the process, open up opportunities for critical and reflexive thinking and practice (Beetham and Sharpe 2013).…”

“…More recently, digital media and technologies—including gaming, podcasting, video-making, and website design—have emerged as experiential learning tools in planning education (Hollander and Thomas 2009; Mapua Lim, Novo de Azevedo, and Cooper 2016; Minnery and Searle 2014; Terzano and Morckel 2017). Some see digital technologies as ushering in a “conceptual shift” that is reshaping how future planners and designers experience and think about cities (Mapua Lim, Novo de Azevedo, and Cooper 2016) and, in the process, open up opportunities for critical and reflexive thinking and practice (Beetham and Sharpe 2013). More pragmatically, digital modes of education hold potential to enrich the planning classroom given that students are increasingly tech-savvy and have access to a range of free software (France and Wakefield 2011; Mavroudi and Jöns 2011; Wakefield and France 2010).…”

“…Video-making or digital stories—“a collection of still images, video and audio produced with free and readily available software”—have received increasing attention from geographers as a learning tool (Dando and Chadwick 2014; Fuller and France 2016; Gold et al 2015; Mavroudi and Jöns 2011; Wakefield and France 2010, 63). Their applicability for planning education, however, has virtually been ignored (Mapua Lim, Novo de Azevedo, and Cooper 2016). Video-making is particularly appropriate for planning students because it requires them to get out of the classroom and immerse themselves in real-world urban environments.…”