Academic Urban Labs: Architectural design studios to address local challenges
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Date
2019
Authors
Delpino-Chamy, Montserrat
Rivera, María Isabel
Alarcon, Mabel
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Considering the complexity of ecological and social challenges, universities and the teaching of
architecture offer a unique opportunity to create real-life design problems from their local communities,
thereby engaging their students in the learning process. On this context, this paper presents the idea of
Academic Urban Laboratories as a methodology to enhancing regional development as well as to betterprepare
students for professional careers, exposing them to the benefits of holistic, integrated design
outcomes.
This paper offers a review of the main challenges that the teaching of architecture currently faces,
followed by a review of emerging frameworks to improve pedagogical methodologies in this discipline. A
rubric to assess Academic Urban Labs’ experiences is presented, which has been applied to the analysis of
three architecture design studios experiences, addressing the following connections: elective course and
local community, studio and local government, studio and international congress.
Finally, the main reflections are related to examining the link between academic and local stakeholders,
assessing strategies to increase the efficiency of sustainable outcomes, and reducing the time demand on
the management processes to support this methodology. From the results, it is possible to identify an
increase in social responsibility, as well as a commitment among students towards more sustainable
development, thus supporting the idea of designing new learning experiences connecting academia with
real-life problems.
Description
13 pages
Keywords
Academic Urban Labs, Design Studio, Teaching Architecture, Social Responsibility