Trevor Budge

The benefits of embedding experiential learning in the education of planners

Abstract In a future of complexity, uncertainty and fragmented governance we envision planning graduates who will be better prepared for the real world of planning as a result of an experiential learning (EL) approach in undergraduate tertiary education. In this paper, we present the findings of an Australian research project in which planning educators developed and tested a range of experiential planning principles based on sound pedagogical theory. Embedding EL principles and activities within the planning curriculum provides a structured programme of engagement between theory and practice over the four years of an undergraduate Australian planning programme, including opportunities for work-integrated learning. Students gain experience in negotiated decision-making involving a wide range of interactions with planning practitioners. Students become more adaptable—cognizant of mechanisms influencing change, and recognize the value of lifelong learning founded on critical reflection. We propose that a more systematic approach to integrating experiential learning in tertiary planning education culminating in ‘work integrated learning’ would provide a vehicle for further partnerships with responsive local practitioners and communities. Finally, this paper also argues that applying experiential learning does not compromise the quality of planning education based on greater academic rigour.

Is Food a Missing Ingredient in Australia’s Metropolitan Planning Strategies?

This chapter examines the historical relationship between cities, their food supply and the planning of large metropolitan areas and how this relationship has changed. In particular the chapter focuses on the Australian metropolitan scene, but it also includes reference to the role of food in contemporary metropolitan planning strategies in selected cities in the developed world. The chapter speculates that a greater range of forces is now likely to see food play an increasingly more important role in the preparation of metropolitan planning strategies.

A Sustainability Agenda in Planning Education.

Over the last two decades land use planning in Australia has openly embraced sustainability as a principal tenant. However the core of land use planning has traditionally been the management and construction of urban environments. Land use planning in rural and regional Australia has increasingly had to confront a broadening natural resource management agenda and an environmental planning imperative. This has resulted in a paradigm shift for land use planners from being expected to facilitate development to placing proposals within the context of the sustainability of the resource base. The effect has been to widen the scope for professional practice. Planning education is increasingly filled with competing interests reflecting the growing complexity of built and natural environments. The need for planning to articulate around development, natural resource management and sustainability offers a real opportunity to develop a clear social sciences agenda for sustainability at a secondary and tertiary level. This chapter explores a sustainability agenda as a critical component of planning practice, it utilises two case studies and the response of planning education to this agenda.