Inside the Service Learning Studio in Urban Design

Abstract

Traditionally landscape architecture education has used the design studio as the core of its curriculum in which students learn through the master-apprentice model. This paper discusses an alternative teaching model, community service learning, in which students learn from multiple sources while providing a service to disadvantaged communities. Based on the results of two undergraduate urban design studios that used the service learning model, a case study approach is used to evaluate the role of community service learning in low-income and ethnically-diverse neighborhoods. It argues that service learning studios can help landscape architecture students learn the skills necessary to work in an increasingly complex and multi-cultural context.