IN-PERSON MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY. SECTION A

Abstract

For decades, planning schools have integrated internships, studios, and client-focused theses into their for-credit curricula. All of this has occurred without ever addressing the differences between clinical education and liberal arts pedagogy. Clinical education requires students and instructors to face the ethical dilemmas of client-centered work (i.e., all the questions raised by participatory action research). This approach has long been practiced in medicine, law, and social work. While these fields focus on helping individual clients as part of their training, clinical education in planning emphasizes the community or a sub-community, promoting mutual capacity building with students. Using the active clinics at MIT as case studies, I outline several pedagogical goals, the key steps involved in clinical education for planners, and how this differs from traditional fields. The clinical model of education provides a more effective way to engage communities, train planners, and fulfill the university’s social responsibilities.