Planning education and inter-cultural collaboration: awareness, innovation, reflection and preparation for practice

Abstract

Inter-cultural awareness and the capacity for cross-cultural collaboration is a fundamental contemporary element of planning practice, and increasingly of a planning career. The development among planning students of cultural awareness and reflection on practice is crucial to their future roles as planning practitioners in multi-cultural communities and in a globalised body of research and practice. Moreover, students are aware of the increasing global flows of contemporary careers, with students seeking work in international settings. Developing inter-cultural awareness and capacity for reflective practice is, however, challenging at a personal, professional and educational level. This paper describes and reflects on a series of innovative collaborative fieldwork and studio visits of planning students on exchange between La Trobe University Australia and the University of Moratuwa in Sri Lanka over the last three years. It will utilise reflective assessment and observation centred on these visits to explore the way in which students from both countries enter the process of inter-cultural learning and the way in which such transformative experience effects perceptions of planning practice among those entering the profession. Key findings relate to the development of a global mindset and the varied success in the navigation of inter-cultural challenges as a developing professional.

Sense of Safety and Planning and Design Policies

“…This may be due to the cross cultural interactions and international visit of planner. These international field visits may have influenced and broaden the safety design aspects of city centres (Ratnayake, Butt & Budge, 2009;Ratnayake, 2015;Butt, Ratnayake & Budge (2016) In more recent years the council has taken some steps to make the CBD area active and therefore city users particularly at night will have an optimistic future in relation to sense of safety to a certain extent, if new policies are materialised. Policies have been introduced to encourage higher density housing and as a result new housing has been brought back into the CBD, but only in certain sites and still away from the inner city area.…”

Assigning the roles and responsibilities to civil engineering freshers in construction industry

“…Obtaining a civil engineer degree is a learning and application phase. Theoretical learning understands concept where practical, site and industrial visits aware application of learned concepts (Ratnayake, Butt & Budge, 2009;Butt, Ratnayake & Budge, 2016). Case study method demonstrates situations while performing job, situations arises time to time and application with analytical thinking by the manager to tackle comes through observation.…”

Co-evolutionary design concept for urban sustainability based on ‘Regenerative’ design principles: a case study in Salford, United Kingdom

“…Construction & procurement: The ur ban designer 's role in achieving regenerative essence in the construction and procurement phase is important. However, it is true enough that the regenerative construction part is specialised and team working with separate professional actors is essential (Butt, Ratnayake, & Budge, 2016). However, the urban designer as a multidisciplinary professional holds the responsibility of guiding/ directing towards the sustainable path.…”