Collaborative and innovative participatory planning pedagogies: reflections from the Community Participation in Planning project

Abstract

Designing pedagogical methods to teach community engagement and participation to spatial planning students at university remains challenging, particularly given the diverse range of stakeholders and perspectives that now exist in contemporary society. Framing the development of innovative pedagogies as one aspect of the broader ‘third mission’ of universities, i.e., enhancing civic engagement and social impact, the chapter draws together reflections from the Community Participation in Planning (CPiP) project on ways to co-design a pedagogy that nurtures cross-sectoral and transnational learning for co-learning inclusive participation practices in planning. The contribution explores how ‘learning in action’, through live real-world projects, can enrich student learning and move beyond didactic teaching styles to offer an innovative pedagogy that nurtures knowledge co-production. The conclusions offer insights on: a) the implementation challenges to teaching participation in planning courses, b) differences in interpretations of participation by comparing multiple cultural contexts, and c) how the spatial planning discipline can combine teaching and research with civic engagement/social impact.