VIRTUAL MADRID FOCUS ON PEDAGOGY
Abstract
Urban Design Studio (UDS) sits in an uneasy position within built environment education, most often claimed by schools of architecture and planning, yet rarely articulated or taught as a coherent, independent discipline. This paper examines the factors shaping UDS curricula and questions the adequacy of current pedagogical models in responding to increasingly complex urban conditions, including climate change, social inequality, and rapid urbanisation. Drawing on a thematic critical review of the literature and the historical trajectory of UDS over the past nine decades, the paper identifies a persistent tension between disciplinary ownership and pedagogical clarity. While architecture and planning programs position themselves as custodians of urban design education, their approaches frequently reproduce disciplinary biases—formal and spatial in architecture, regulatory and procedural in planning—resulting in fragmented studio models that fail to engage with the relational and systemic nature of urban environments. The analysis highlights how broader institutional pressures, particularly those associated with neoliberal models of higher education, further constrain curriculum development and innovation. As a result, UDS often lacks the flexibility and integration needed to meaningfully address contemporary urban challenges. Two key issues emerge: first, entrenched disciplinary silos continue to limit the development of genuinely integrative studio pedagogies; and second, despite increasing calls for transdisciplinary approaches, there is little shared understanding of how to implement them in practice. The paper argues that without a fundamental rethinking of disciplinary ownership, UDS will remain conceptually and pedagogically constrained, undermining its potential as a critical site for urban design education.
Jodi Lawton is a lecturer in the Urban Design Program at the University of New South Wales and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Education degree at UNSW, focusing on innovative teaching methods in Urban Design Studio curricula. With 38 years of design experience, she has worked closely with top corporations and universities in Sydney and around the world. For the past 21 years, Jodi has held various academic positions at UNSW in the Built Environment and Media and Communications programs. She is passionate about sharing her knowledge and expertise in education, communication, and design.
Emeritus Professor Bruce Judd – After eight years in private architectural practice, Bruce joined UNSW in 1981, taking on various roles including Head of the Graduate School of the Built Environment and Director of Postgraduate Research. He served as the inaugural Director of both the UNSW-UWS Centre of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute and the City Futures Research Centre. Since 2017, he has held the position of Emeritus Professor. His research focuses on the intersection of housing, urban design, and human behaviour, with recent emphasis on population aging and the built environment. He has also advised on public housing renewal projects and collaborated with Kyushu University in Japan
Andrew Sweeney is a lecturer in the Urban Design Program at the University of New South Wales, where he teaches History and Theory of Urban Design and Urban Landscape and Heritage. His teaching spans a range of immersive design studios that engage students in addressing complex, real-world urban challenges. He emphasises the development of creative yet pragmatic design responses grounded in rigorous theoretical frameworks. He has contributed to international urban design pedagogy through participation in the UNSW International Student Urban Design Studio with Zhejiang University (2019) and as convenor of the UNSW International Student Urban Design Studio in Chicago (2020).