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Our research is a comparative qualitative study. The material has been gathered from the cities of Helsinki and Catania. The target cities showcase varied successes and models of smart cities. In the cities, key people involved in the smart city concept--with different kinds of professional backgrounds--were interviewed, both individually and in teams. All interviewees had at least a basic knowledge of information technology and of organizational learning processes. On the basis of these interviews it has been possible to create an overall picture of learning processes occurring in the organizations involved (universities and local government) and within the smart city programmes produced or still to be developed. We explore how the expertise has been challenged: how the key players of the smart city uphold the concept and promote it.

Higher education and K-12 school partnerships are typically designed with an end-goal that serves the instructional needs of one group over the other. For this project, a university professor and elementary school instructor used problem-based and project-based learning strategies to design a curriculum that served the academic needs of both groups of students. Undergraduate students in an urban planning course partnered with elementary students from a local school to work on an interdependent civic engagement project. The partnership provided innovative, twenty-first teaching for both groups of students while also reinforcing public service.

The coming future for parks and recreation education must not succumb to the nostalgia of the glory days of the past. Such nostalgia risks oversimplifying the challenges overcome in the past and challenges faced now and in the future. This paper presents compelling evidence for the repositioning of parks and recreation education. It first frames the larger social forces (e.g., political and economic) that have impacted the parks and recreation field. An overview of the previous literature on parks and recreation education is presented. National data trends in degrees awarded in parks and recreation are illustrated and placed in the context of other human service fields (e.g., social work, urban planning, public administration, and tourism). It concludes by asking the reader to consider the design implications for curricula in parks and recreation and how to reposition parks and recreation education to ensure a better future.

In urbanized areas, incorporating residents' concerns and priorities into the stormwater management debate has focused on adults rather than youth. This study used Photovoice, a tool that includes photographs taken by youth, to uncover youth concerns and perceptions about their local watersheds. This study consisted of a comparative study of two watersheds. Twenty students produced 468 photographs. Although both groups of students shared common themes regarding stormwater and pollution, these themes differed in level of concerns over local environmental issues, sentiments with particular features in their local watersheds, and concerns about local watersheds. From a methodological perspective, Photovoice provided a way of capturing youth perspectives and to identify important features and issues in their respective local watersheds.

The introduction of real-world, meaningful tasks in mathematics classrooms promises to create opportunities for enhancing students' learning through active engagement with mathematical ideas; however, researchers have given little consideration to the contexts in which urban high-school students live. The case study of three students reported in this article drew on data from a larger, two-year study of the Students for Social Justice (SjTEM) program in a secondary urban school that examined understanding of graphical data through grasping the trade-offs of urban planning in the students' neighborhoods. The findings indicated that geospatial modeling supported students in understanding graphical interpretations of data, the importance of ecological impacts, and the nature of urban planning.

Despite the potential environmental impact of urban planning, there is little research on Environmental Education (EE) in the context of urban planning curricula. This study follows graduate planning students' learning experience during group projects assigned as part of a planning course at the Technion--Israel Institute of Technology. These participatory projects, characterized as project-based learning and service learning, took place in several communities in Israel. We examined the types of learning impacts the projects engendered by analyzing the reported experiences of the students using parameters from the field of EE. The main goal of this research is to understand the contribution of such practical, hands-on project exercises to the course curriculum for inculcating environmental education themes. Findings indicate that projects helped students acquire and/or improve professional tools. They enhanced motivation to consider environmental concerns in their work and in some cases changed students' personal environmental behavior.

This paper looks at the educational project of Belgium's acclaimed socialist and modernist architect Renaat Braem (1910-2001). While Braem is foremost remembered as a militant opinion maker, his work as an educator and an artist has received little scrutiny. When Braem was appointed interim director at the Antwerp National Higher Institute for Architecture and Urban Planning (NHIBS) in 1962, his first action point was not to change the curriculum. He instead reconstructed the physical configuration of the school. With an eye-catching staircase painting, he accentuated an important passage in the school building: the one from the administrative offices and library to the architectural studios. Claiming a central position in the institute, the staircase functioned as a stage and an auditorium on which an ideological and educational programme was enacted in an implicit, yet very physical manner. This article not only looks at what the painting represents, but also at "how" it represents by applying Randolph Starn's three categories of seeing: the glance, the measured view, and the scan. This threefold reading of the painting enables us to unpack (a) Braem's educational project based on a socialist ideology and (b) the institutional climate of the 1960s. In the institutional debates, hovering between tradition and the rationalisation of education, Braem's staircase painting proposed a third way. It revised the existing doctrines by reconciling the rational approach with a stronger focus on the human in the built environment.

Increasingly, adult mentors in informal, media-rich settings, like libraries and museums, seek to integrate both learning and civic engagement opportunities for youth into designed programming. This article illustrates how youth open and sustain opportunities for civic engagement over the course of a six-month, youth-driven program--Metro: Building Blocks (MBB)--housed within a digital media learning lab in an urban public library. Analysis develops the concept of civic rhythms as a means to feel out the social and affective contours of civic engagement that emerge in MBB. To better understand the civic rhythms of MBB, analysis focuses specifically on three rhythmic elements: pulsation, reciprocation, and oscillation. The article concludes suggesting that future research develop principles for designing-in-time that assist researchers and mentors in attuning to the youth-driven rhythms that sustain informal, media-rich programs.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present the varied roles played by the University of Lódz (UL) in maintaining and restoring the natural capital of a city as a driver for sustainable city development. The higher education institution can be perceived as visionary, originator and executor of natural capital projects. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper analyses three cases performed by the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, UL, in the city of Lódz. The activities are based on different scales ranging from city-wide to local, e.g. river and green infrastructure, and which vary in character from policy planning to implementation. Findings: Natural capital projects influence city development on different levels: by the initiation of legal protection, by the implementation of rehabilitation concepts for rivers and by influencing the strategic documents for mid-term and long-term urban development. Originality/Value: The university has the potential for multidisciplinary engagement in the development of urban sustainability. In large-scale projects, academics play a more conceptual role, in capacity building and knowledge transfer, while in local-scale implementations, their role includes innovation, know-how and technology transfer. Moreover, it may act as a reinforcement hub, by safeguarding and strengthening the natural capital of the city.

Purpose: This paper aims to explain the relevance of science-society interfaces and their potential for higher education institutions to engage stakeholders in supporting sustainable change in cities, via the transdisciplinary learning and teaching approach of the Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development Vienna. Design/Methodology/Approach: This case study stresses new forms of transdisciplinary learning and teaching as essential drivers of a sustainable urban development. The inter- and transdisciplinary teaching course "Sustainability Challenge", which has been offered since 2010 as a collaborative project by the four largest universities of Vienna, highlights the value of experienced-based learning approaches and the method of service learning. Special attention is devoted to the opportunities and challenges of the setting provided by the applied science-society interface and the particular method of service learning with its concrete benefits for the city of Vienna. Findings: In analyzing the conceptual framework of the teaching course as well as conducted service learning projects, the authors prove potential benefits of transdisciplinary learning and teaching for real answers to urban sustainability challenges. Portraits of the most successful service learning projects are presented, with partners such as the City of Vienna, an organization and one enterprise. Lessons learned from the case study and key elements of the institutionalized umbrella function of science-society interfaces that provide prerequisites for applying transdisciplinary learning and teaching are shown. Originality/Value: Finally, main requirements, challenges and necessary institutional settings for transdisciplinary learning and teaching are summarized.

Work placements (including internships) are common in urban and regional planning education but the relevant literature has largely overlooked their assessment and academic standards. To address this gap, the paper presents a study of this topic undertaken within the Australian context. The research involved systematically scoping the status of work placements in planning education in Australia, and exploring the perspectives of participating educators, practitioners and students on appropriate assessment methods and academic standards. We found significant and problematic divergence in these three key stakeholders' perspectives. The implications of these findings are discussed in a national and international context. The consequent proposition is an approach to assessment and standards that promotes a shared understanding across these key stakeholders.

Interdisciplinarity is heralded as a relatively new educational and research paradigm that can effectively address complex problems at disciplinary boundaries. Yet little is known about the extent to which interdisciplinarity has penetrated higher education, nor about how students and program administrators view its usefulness. Through a case study of one field, urban planning, we assessed the extent to which graduate students and program administrators understand and support interdisciplinarity in the departments. We also assessed the extent to which specific factors might affect levels of support. Our survey results suggest differing attitudes between students and administrators and diverse opinions as to whether interdisciplinarity provides a practicable approach to addressing societal challenges. We offer a model for fostering interdisciplinarity and developing empirical evaluations of programs.

Recent studies of sustainability draw attention to the impact art and culture have on communities. The Earth Charter, which originated in 1968, fostered the idea of "a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace." This article supports the idea that art can make a difference to society and examines four case studies which explore the infra-ordinary within the immensity of social, political, historical and physical non-art places. The stance adopted is that of an artist, anthropologist and storyteller casting light onto a cultural landscape that is so ordinary as to be not noticed at all. Whilst the methodology is slow and often undramatic, this meticulous approach is essential in that it allows the artist to develop a respect for both people and place or, as explained by Kuspit: "to recover a sense of human purpose in art making, engaging with the realities of life as it is actually lived." Whereas "All in the Mind" was an investigation into the internal and external conflicts and structures within mental institutions and their impact on individual patients' lives, "High Riser" questioned central government's approach to housing asylum seekers in Sighthill flats in Glasgow which depersonalised the individuals involved. "Sojourn" and "Inland Waters" illuminated the social demographics of a working shipyard environment. "Making Visible the Invisible" explores the role as a lead artist, involved in the planning stages of an urban development project, as a creative thinker rather than object maker.

Creating an attractive cityscape has become one of the most promising actions to improve urban functionality and increase urban competitiveness. However, the resistances from the local inhabitants are always against the urban development. Taipei City, a metropolis in Taiwan, is now composed of complex urban systems chaotically enclosed by existing and new urban environments. The city government is attempting to re-shape its cityscape by implementing a series of city regeneration plans, namely "Taipei Beautiful", considering the improvement of urban landscape, greenery open space, built environment, sustainable campuses and public facilities. These actions represent how Taipei city government educates its citizens toward to identify and recognize the benefits from the developments. Although Taipei Beautiful is an ongoing project, achievements of the current stage have revealed potentials to significantly increase the number of tourists, decrease energy consumption, and promote economic benefits. This study presents an overall review of educational strategies and actions enacted by the city government. Difficulties, challenges, and the role of the city government in affecting inhabitants' identification and recognition are also discussed. Lessons learned in Taipei City could be useful for other cities that are facing similar city development requirements.

For millions of gamers and students alike, city building games (CBGs) like SimCity and the more recent Cities: Skylines present a compelling initial introduction to the world of urban planning and development. As such, these games have great potential to shape players' understanding and expectations of real urban patterns and processes. In this article I argue that, despite the fundamental role of agency in CBGs and other "sandbox" type games, players are constrained by the developers' assumptions and biases regarding how cities ought to look and function. Of particular consideration is the tendency among CBGs to emphasize personal transportation over transit, autocentric over mixed-use development, and simplified social dynamics over a more realistic model.

Writing is an important teaching and learning tool that fosters active and critical thinking. There are multiple pressures for disciplines outside the humanities and social sciences to integrate writing in their courses. The shift from teaching solely discipline-specific skills to including writing in a meaningful way can be a daunting process. An instructor and education reference librarian at a public, four-year research university infused an urban planning course with reflective writing exercises. The collaboration proved effective in increasing students' perceived writing abilities and active thinking via increased immediacy, frequency of writing and active learning.

Research in the learning sciences is often motivated by the goal of shaping a better future through design. Architects and urban planners share this goal, and the history of their more ambitious designs provides clear examples of how attempts to build the future can turn out. After discussing similarities and differences between design in the learning sciences and design on the scale of buildings and cities, I examine three visionary projects from the modernist era in architecture and urban planning. Each project sought to bring about a radically different and more desirable future, using the most innovative technology and the best ideas of its time. Lessons for learning scientists are drawn from these projects, and suggestions are offered about how architecture scholars can serve as models for learning scientists in how they conceive and study their own efforts to shape a better future.

The study presents a new pedagogical idea and practice for educational practitioners. The practice was developed as a workshop of MA program in order to change and expand the meaning of education for the wellbeing of the community. The "place-based learning" workshop combined action learning (AL) with project-based learning (PBL). The students' assignment was to develop and operate a plan for the contribution of specific places (e.g. parks, public buildings, organizations and industries) to the community. The findings indicate conceptual and behavioral changes among the students concerning educational processes. At the end of the workshop, the students tended to be more tolerant of ambiguity, sustain judgment and collaborate with peers. The new practice emphasizes coping with fundamental emotional needs such as autonomy, self-efficacy, engagement and belonging. The synergy between AL and PBL was found to have great potential for meaningful learning and doing.

This article argues that current approaches to participatory design research (PDR) risk eliding the affective life of making educational change by locating change in cultural mediation alone. Locating change only in mediation subordinates affect, potentially overlooking lived dimensions of learning and being essential to lasting, transformative change. Suggesting a pathway to recovering affect in PDR, the article critiques affect's occlusion in theories framing PDR and develops concepts of placemaking and belonging as affective dimensions essential to generating and sustaining change, especially in informal learning environments. Analytic snapshots illustrate these developed concepts, evincing how teenagers actively affect place and belonging over time in an informal digital media and learning program, Metro Building Blocks. The article concludes calling for developed theories of correspondence in order to better attune method to understanding how bodies generate feelings of belonging and to how bodies actively maintain this sense of belonging through emergent, affective practice.

Purpose: This paper aims to present an experience-based learning framework that provides a bottom-up, student-centered entrance point for the development of systems thinking, normative and collaborative competencies in sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: The framework combines mental mapping with exploratory walking. It interweaves mapping and walking activities with methodological and theoretical inputs as well as with reflections and discussions. The framework aligns experiential activities, i.e. mental mapping and walking, with learning objectives, i.e. novice-level sustainability competencies. The authors applied the framework for student activities in Phoenix/Tempe and Hamburg/Lüneburg as part of The Global Classroom, a project between Arizona State University in the USA and Leuphana University of Lüneburg in Germany. Findings: The application of the experience-based learning framework demonstrates how students started developing systems thinking (e.g. understanding urban systems as functional entities and across different domains), normative (e.g. using different sustainability principles) and collaborative (e.g. learning across disciplinary, social and cultural differences) competencies in sustainability. Originality/value: The experience-based learning framework contributes to the development of curricular activities for the initial development of sustainability competencies in introductory-level courses. It enables students from different disciplinary, social and cultural backgrounds, e.g. in international education, to collaboratively start developing such competencies. The framework can be adapted to different educational contexts.

This paper examines how learning happened in an interactive studio setting using the theories and methods of educational ethnography. The study begins with a review of the education literature on the acquisition of professional education and identity, particularly epistemic frame theory. Using a case study approach, we examine students' learning during a two-week period of a graduate urban planning studio during which the instructor faced resistance from the students about course direction. Using qualitative analyses and a new quantitative technique called epistemic network analysis, we describe the process by which students appropriated a particular community of practice. This paper offers a productive way of tracking how specific interactions within learning environments can lead to significant changes in cognitive development.

This research surveys how graduate level urban planning students think about social justice and equity issues and how academic instruction in urban planning affects the disposition of students toward these issues and themes in the context of their development as urban planning professionals. Although the quantitative findings did not demonstrate that the graduate curriculum and instruction had any appreciable impact on student understanding and navigation of equity and social justice themes, qualitative evidence did suggest that students are understanding and care about issues related to social justice and equity and were interested in incorporating those issues into their professional practice. This research also suggests that graduate academic instruction may fall short in supporting students with the useful integration of social justice and equity issues into their professional practice.

This study developed a game simulation based on problem solving in the management of urban waste. We then investigated the factors affecting the decisions made by players. During gameplay, the players sought to guide the development of a city via management strategies involving a balance of economic growth and environmental protection. Nature served as an anonymous recipient of the pollution caused by the actions of players. Within a very limited time period, the players had to determine the degree to which they could conserve nature, learn the limits of growth, and develop insight into the dynamic operations necessary to manage a clean city. It was found that the 34 Taiwanese undergraduate students valued economic growth highly and were willing to sacrifice nature for the sake of progress. In contrast, 35 students from Taiwanese elementary schools tended to strive for a balance between conserving nature and promoting economic growth through the building of sustainable houses that produce less pollution. However, this led to an inappropriate allocation of resources, embodying a self-interested ethos. This game taught players about the costs associated with waste processing as well as the values of fairness and reciprocity, particularly with regard to resource utilization and solid-waste management.

In this article, Christina Eubanks-Turner and Najat Hajj describe a planning process that they used to create a fun-filled eighth-grade math activity that focused on parade planning. The activity was designed to enhance and supplement the eighth-grade algebra curriculum on linear equations and functions, help students use mathematical habits of mind, and demonstrate the uses of mathematics in future career choices in an engaging, non-traditional way. The activity was completed in one class period, in eighth-grade algebra classes containing twenty to twenty-five students. This interactive, group activity provided the students with a set of questions, then informed them they were on the planning committee for a Mardi Gras parade. Their job was to determine the route for the "Krewe de Fun" parade. Eubanks-Turner and Hajj had students assume that all streets were linear, then requested students analyze givens, constraints, relationships, and goals to make linear functions and determine relationships between linear functions and coordinate points based on certain requirements, challenging students to mathematically justify their recommendation about where the parade should end. This modeling activity gave the students a different view of algebra in connection to a holiday, and to the career field of urban planning. They were able to investigate mathematical problems strategically and logically, fostering the development of mathematical practices and habits of mind. Students also developed an awareness of how algebra can be used to model real-life situations. A bibliography is included.

This paper provides examples of Aid-to-Thought uses in urban decision making, classroom laboratory planning, and in a ship antiaircraft defense system. Aid-to-Thought modeling and simulations are tools students can use effectively in a STEM classroom while meeting Standards for Technological Literacy Benchmarks O and R. These projects prepare students with the essential technological skills that help them to participate in a technological society by allowing them to design numerous models that benefit others, with visualizations of challenging concepts. Graphic models of a ship, an airplane, and a battle environment can be used for thought-provoking analysis utilizing mathematics related to flight navigation. In addition, inclusion of the four purposes for building models as discussed by Rich (1955) is important to aid in the data analysis. Simulations of these models can be performed, and data can be collected regarding aircraft flight navigation, for a final decision to be made in order to solve a defensive strategy problem. In the process of completing this activity, the students will learn real-world situations, using principles of mathematics and science to help apply technology for solving real-world problems that still exist today.

This article on the development of Beijing can introduce students to many topics found in the urban geography section of the AP Human Geography course outline published in 2013. The author provides lesson plans and a PowerPoint presentation as resources for teaching a unit about the city.

For decades, educators have hoped to integrate geospatial tools into K-12 classrooms but struggled with barriers of time, technology, and curriculum alignment. The authors formed a design partnership with ninth-grade science and social studies teachers in an urban high school in order to conduct teacher professional development while also developing geospatially enabled curricula to enact in their classrooms. This article includes a description of the curriculum design principles and processes, as well as an explanation of the professional development strategies as participants worked shoulder to shoulder in designing engaging classroom instruction to enhance students' geospatial thinking and reasoning skills. One of the activities presented is an example of the design and development process, and lessons learned from the pilot test implementation are presented. This article may inform similar work with geospatial technologies in teacher professional development and curriculum development.

In our day, leaders involved in ingenious sustainable development projects plan spaces and implement practices that are beneficial to the environment. These initiatives represent a fertile source of information on the competences linked to environmental design that we should nurture in our students. In view of improving our understanding of the competences that should be developed in environmental education (EE), this study sought to identify the competences used by leaders who participated in five sustainable development projects (in sustainable urban planning and forestry). The analysis of documents and data from individual interviews revealed that the main competences (cognitive, social and affective) used by the leaders interviewed, depended on creative, complex, flexible, longitudinal, adapted, patient, collaborative, humanistic and environmental planning. Finally, this study, of which we present the effects on EE, shows that leaders use competences which are associated with creative individuals.

One of the obstacles to dealing with the social and ecological crises that obstruct the achievement of a culture of peace is silo thinking in global governance. A unidimensional mode of planning, silo thinking leads to decisions based on the area of expertise of a particular agency or intergovernmental organization and fails to recognize linkages between social, economic, and environmental factors. To promote a comprehensive way of thinking, this article proposes the notion of "sustainable communities" (SC) as a lens for envisioning and planning for a culture of peace that integrates these linkages concretely at the community level. To provide the conceptual background for the SC lens, a literature review of the manifestations of the sustainability revolution that have emerged in the last four decades will be provided. A description of the constituent characteristics of the SC lens and a discussion of its educational utility for peace educators will follow, concluding with some reflections on the way forward.

This paper highlights critical pedagogical methods used in a community relations class that introduces intercultural education concepts to current K-12 educators who are enrolled in a Masters of Education program at Northeastern Illinois University, which is located in the city of Chicago, Illinois, USA. The purpose of the class is to teach future school leaders (Kindergarten-12th grade) effective practices on how to build healthy relationships with school stakeholders, with a focus on enhancing the learning environment. A key component of the course is having students understand the history and relations among different cultural groups in the local community in which their school is located. This includes learning how urban planning and the global economy influence the lives of mass populations. This paper is guided by a critical theory framework which is included in the design of the community relations class syllabus for future school leaders. It is broken up into five sections. First, some background information on current controversial decisions by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is presented. Second, a brief summary of racial background demographics on the city of Chicago and the CPS district are displayed. Third, a brief conversation on the absence of cultural studies in teacher education institutions is discussed. Fourth, an elaborate description of the class syllabus for the Community Relations course is presented. And, fifth, a description of one class project is provided.

In making a case for ecocomposition, Sidney Dobrin has claimed that writing, place, and environment cannot be separated. As Donehower, Hogg, and Schell and Deborah Brandt might argue, literacy cannot be separated from place either. But it might sometimes be separated from environment as an ecosystem that has value distinct from, and without the influence of, humans. In the Hilton Head, South Carolina airport runway extension debate, how stakeholders read, write, and speak of the land next to the airport is inherently connected to how they interact with that place and with each other. But they do not read and write of the land as a valuable ecosystem. Opposition to the runway extension has nothing to do with environmental impacts. The place is valued for economic, social, and historical reasons. As an environment, it is not much considered.