IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

Service learning has become a prominent tool in higher education with which to enrich students’ learning from hands-on experience while servicing a targeted community. Throughout the years, scholars have developed service learning to accommodate real-world problems and critical thinking. As such, it is now highly acknowledged as benefiting both learners and urban communities. However, service learning is highly context dependent because its success depends on different factors including socio-spatial settings, the communities it serves, and the nature of partnerships between the academia and the communities. In urban planning, the myriad of actors who are involved in planning processes alongside differences in planning cultures and urban communities are significant factors which shape the nature of service learning and its outputs for the communities it serves. When urban planning service learning process succeeds, it builds resilient, independent, and thriving urban communities and city life. This study is based on five years of a service learning class delivered in Israel and the USA. The class is designed to advance underserved communities well-being by a reciprocal planning process done in the form of academia-community partnership. Drawing on these case studies, the research discusses the benefits urban planning service learning suggests for city life and urban communities across specific cities and urban contexts. In light of growing diversity and ongoing transformations in present-day cities, the study contributes a novel service learning approach which meets diverse needs and provide flexible planning solutions that foster strong and independent urban communities.