11-312 Syallbus 2014

Syllabus

11.312 Engaging Community: Models and Methods for Designers and Planners

Time: Wednesday 2-5, Room 9-450B Instructor: Ceasar McDowell [email protected]

As professionals, designers and planners often find themselves struggling to find the "right" way to engage with residents of a community. In practice, designers and planners may use multiple models and methods, even in a single project. This course will review a range of models for engaging communities, from a client- consultant relationship to advocacy, community organizing, consensus building, capacity building, and knowledge building and the they ways these different models have been used in design and planning practice and community building.

We will begin the semester with a discussion of definitions: what is a “community,” what is planning, what is design? Throughout the semester we will continue to discuss these definitions and related themes. What does it mean to be a professional planner/designer who aspires to engage community? How can one offer expert professional knowledge and also honor the knowledge of others? What implicit values are embodied in various approaches to engaging community? What needs to be accomplished for a project to be deemed successful?

In a succession of five classes, we will study a range of approaches to engaging community: through readings and through cases presented each week by DUSP faculty and visitors whose work exemplifies a particular approach.

In practice, however, professionals often employ a hybrid mixture of diverse approaches. In the next part of the course, therefore, we will examine four hybrid cases (one per week), evaluate their successes and failures, and discuss whether and how they might have deployed methods of engaging community more effectively. Some of these cases are well known to the DUSP community for they include our own practice: the West Philadelphia Landscape Project (www.wplp.net ) and the MIT-Springfield collaboration.

Requirements include weekly readings and/or looking assignments, a weekly journal, a mid-semester sketch problem, and a final project in which students will reflect on their own practice. For the final project, each student will reflect on a case of their own experience (a practicum, studio, or professional project) where engaging community was or could have been part of the project and will propose a strategic process of community engagement which integrates a variety of models and methods.

We will conclude the semester with two final classes consisting of presentation and discussion of students’ cases.

The class actively uses the class site (http://engagingcommunity.mit.edu). Students are expected to use this sign for submitting work and online discussions.

Required readings are on reserve at Rotch Library and/or are available on Stellar for those registered in the class. Some are accessible directly from the links provided in the reading list below.

Course Schedule

February 5. Introduction

Required Reading: Peter Hall, “Planning, Planners, and Plans,” in Urban and Regional Planning, 4th edition (Routledge, 2002), 1-9; Donald Schon, et al., “Comments on Educating Planners, AIP Journal (July 1970), 220-228; Kevin Lynch, “Urban Design,” from Encyclopedia Britannica (1974), in Tridib Banerjee and Michael Southworth, eds., City Sense and City Design (MIT Press, 1990); Allan Jacobs and Donald Appleyard, “Toward an Urban Design Manifesto,” APA Journal (winter 1987), 112-120.

Further Reading: Herbert Gans, The Urban Villagers (Free Press, 1962) and People and Plans (Basic Books, 1968); Mario Luis Small, ” Can Social Capital Last?: Lessons from Boston’s Villa Victoria,” Rappaport Institute Policy Brief, Volume 1, No. 1 (2004); Lee Farrow, et al., Boston Community Learning Project, (MIT, Center for Reflective Community Practice, 2006); Peter Medoff, Streets of Hope (South End Press, 1994); Anne Whiston Spirn, “Reclaiming Common Ground: Water, Neighborhoods, and Public Spaces,” in Robert Fishman, ed., The American Planning Tradition (Woodrow Wilson Press and Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000); Robert Goodman, After the Planners (Simon and Schuster, 1971); Anne Vernez Moudon, “A Catholic Approach to Organizing What Urban Designers Should Know,” Journal of Planning Literature (6:4), 331-348.

February 12. Engaging Community

Required Reading: Raymond Williams, “Community,” in Keywords (Oxford, 1976); Tony Bennett, et al., “Community,” in New Keywords (Wiley-Blackwell, 2005); Anthony Schuman, “The Pedagogy of Engagement,” in M. C. Hardin, ed., From the Studio to the Streets: Service Learning in Planning and Architecture (Stylus, 2006), 1-15; Henry Sanoff, “Participatory Design and Planning,” in Encyclopedia of Housing, Willem Van Vliet, ed. (Sage, 1998), 416-418; Sherry R. Arnstein, “A Ladder of Citizen Participation,” JAIP, Vol. 35, No. 4, July 1969, pp. 216‑224.

Further Reading: Amitai Etzioni, “Creating Good Communities and Good Societies,” Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 29, Issue 1 (January 2000), 188-195; Henry Sanoff, Community Participation Methods in Design and Planning (John Wiley, 2000); John Forester, The Deliberative Practitioner: Encouraging Participatory Planning Processes (MIT Press, 1999); John Forester, Planning in the Face of Power (University of California Press, 1989); Archon Fung, “Varieties of Participation in Complex Governance,” Public Administration Review (December 2006), 66-75.

February 19. Participatory Design and Planning

Guest: TBA

Required Reading: Wendy Sarkissian, “Stories in a Park” and two videos; Stanley Stein and Thomas Harper, “Power, Trust and Planning,” Journal of Planning Education and Research 23 (2003), 125-13.

Further Reading: Patsy Healey, P. (2009). “In Search of the “Strategic” in Spatial Strategy Making”. Planning Theory & Practice, Vol.10: 4 (2009), 439-457; Henry Sanoff, Community Participation Methods in Design and Planning (John Wiley, 2000); Randolph Hester, Planning Neighborhood Space with People (Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984) and Design for Ecological Democracy (MIT Press, 2006); Randolph Hester,” Democratic Drawing,” in Jeffrey Hou, Mark Francis, and Nathan Brightill, eds., Reconstructing Communities: Design Participation in the Face of Change (Center for Design Research, UC Davis, 2005); Lawrence Halprin, Taking Part (MIT Press, 1974) and RSVP Cycles (Braziller, 1969); Edmund Burke, A Participatory Approach to Urban Planning (Human Sciences Press, 1979); Mark Francis, “Proactive Practice,” Places 12:2, 60-68; Mark Francis, ed., Participatory Planning and Neighborhood Control (Center for Human Environments, 1979); Mary Comerio, “Community Design: Idealism and Entrepreneurship,” Journal of Architecture and Planning Research (1984), 227-243, and “Design and Empowerment: 20 Years of Community Architecture,” Built Environment 13:1, 15-27 ; Desmond Connor, “A New Ladder of Citizen Participation,” National Civic Review 77:3 (1988), 249-257; Michael Rios, “Envisioning Citizenship: Toward a Polity Approach in Urban Design,” Journal of Urban Design 13:2, 213-229; Jeffrey Hou, Mark Francis, and Nathan Brightill, eds., Reconstructing Communities: Design Participation in the Face of Change (Center for Design Research, UC Davis, 2005); National Endowment for the Arts, University-Community Design Partnerships (NEA, 2002); Johann Albrecht, “Towards a Theory of Participation in Architecture,” J. Architectural Education 42:1 (1988), 24-31; Roger Hart, Children’s Participation (Earthscan, 1997); Chu-joe Hsia, “Theorizing Community Participatory Design in a Developing Country: The Historical Meaning of Democratic Design in Taiwan,” in Randolph Hester and C. Kweskin, eds., Democratic Design in the Pacific Rim (Ridge Times Press, 1999).

February 26. Advocacy

Guest: TBA

Required Reading: Pietro Garreau, Elliott Sclar, and Gabriella Carolini, “Executive Summary,” A Home in the City (Earthscan, 2005); Gabriella Carolini, “Organizations of the Urban Poor,” in George Martine, et al., eds. The New Global Frontier (Earthscan, 2008) ; Gabriella Carolini, “Mobilizing for Adequate, Accessible, and Affordable (A3) Water and Sanitation Systems in Mozambique,” proposal (2013); Paul Davidoff, “Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning,” JAIP, 1965.

Further Reading: Lisa Peattie, “Reflections on Advocacy Planning,” JAIP (March 1968), 80-88; Allan David Heskin, “Crisis and Response: A Historical Perspective on Advocacy Planning,” JAPA (January 1980), 50-63; Barry Checkoway, “Paul Davidoff and Advocacy Planning in Retrospect,” JAPA 60:2 (Spring 1994), 139 ‑ 143; Pierre Clavel, “The Evolution of Advocacy Planning,” JAPA60:2 (Spring 1994), 146-149; Penda Hair, Louder than Words: Lawyers, Communities, and the Struggle for Justice (Rockefeller Foundation, 2001); Myron Weiner, The Struggle for Equality: Caste in Indian Politics in the Success of India’s Democracy (Atul Kohli, 2001).

Community Organizing and Advocacy (Jossey-Bass, 2003); Mel King, Chain of Change(South End Press, 1981).

March 5. Capacity Building and Knowledge Building

Guest: TBA

Required Reading: Engage the Power Web site. Joy Amulya, Christie O’campbell, and Ceasar McDowell, Vital Difference: The Role of Race in Building Community (CRCP, 2004); The Right to the City (Tides Foundation, 2007); Ceasar McDowell et al., “Building Knowledge from the Practice of Local Communities,” KM4Dev Journal 1:3 (2005), 30-40; Xavier Godinot and Quentin Wodin, Participatory Approaches to Attacking Extreme Poverty, World Bank Working Paper No. 77, (The World Bank, 2006).

Further Reading: Michael Rios, “Where Do We Go from Here? An Evaluative Framework for Community-Based Design,” in M. C. Hardin, ed., From the Studio to the Streets: Service Learning in Planning and Architecture (Stylus, 2006), 47-58; Kenneth Reardon, “Enhancing the Capacity of Community-Based Organizations in East St. Louis,” Journal of Planning Education and Research 17: 4 (1998), 323-333; Arif Hassan, Akhtar Hameed Khan and the Orangi Pilot Project (1999); Arif Hassan, Participatory development : the story of the Orangi Pilot Project-Research and Training Institute and the Urban Resource Centre, (Karachi, Pakistan); Peter Park, “The Discovery of Participatory Research as a New Scientific Paradigm,” The American Sociologist 23:4 (1992), 29-42; Budd Hall, “From Margins to Center? The Development and Purpose of Participatory Research,” The American Sociologist 23:4 (1992): 15-28; Victor Rubin, “The Roles of Universities in Community-Building Initiatives,” J. of Planning Education and Research 17 (1998), 302-311; Robert Chambers, “Participatory Rural Appraisal: Challenges, Potentials, and Paradigm,” World Development 22:10 (1994), 1437-1454; John Kretzmann and John McKnight, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets (ACTA Publications, 1993).

March 12. Consensus Building Guest: Lawrence Susskind

Required Reading: Lawrence Susskind and Jeffrey Cruikshank, Breaking Robert’s Rules (Oxford University Press, 2006), 1-40; Greg P. Macey and Lawrence Susskind, Using Dispute Resolution Techniques to Address Environmental Justice Concerns (CBI, 2003); Lawrence Susskind and Liora Zion, “Can America’s Democracy Be Improved?” (CBI, 2002).

Further Reading: John Forester, Dealing with Differences: Dramas of Mediating Public Disputes (Oxford University Press, 2009); Lawrence Susskind and IAP2 members, “The IAP2 Spectrum”; Judith Inness, “Planning through Consensus Building: A New View of the Comprehensive Ideal,” Journal of American Planning Association 62:4 (1996); Henry Sanoff, Community Participation Methods in Design and Planning (John Wiley, 2000); Roger Fisher and William Ury, Getting to Yes (Houghton-Mifflin, 1991); Lawrence Susskind and Jeffrey Cruikshank, Breaking the Impasse: Consensual Approaches to Resolving Public Disputes (Basic Books, 1987); Lawrence Susskind and Jennifer Thomas-Larmer, eds., The Consensus Building Handbook (Sage, 1999); Deborah Kolb, ed., When Talk Works: Profiles of Mediators (Jossey-Bass, 1997); John Forester, “Lawrence Susskind: Activist Mediation and Public Disputes,” in Kolb, ed., When Talk Works (Jossey-Bass, 1997), 309-354.

March 19. Community Organizing

Guest: TBA

Required Reading: Paul Osterman, “Overcoming Oligarchy: Culture and Agency in Social Movement Organizations,” Administrative Science Quarterly (December 2006); Celina Su, Streetwise for Booksmarts (Cornell University Press, 2009), 46-105.

Further Reading: Saul Alinsky, Reveille for Radicals (Vintage, 1989) and Rules for Radicals (Vintage, 1989); Kim Bobo, J. Kendall and S. Max, Organizing for Social Change: Midwest Academy Manual for Activists (Seven Locks, 2001); Marshall Ganz, Why David Sometimes Wins (Oxford University Press, 2009); Paul Osterman, Gathering Power (Beacon Press, 2002); Peter Dreier, “Community Empowerment Strategies: The Limits and Potential of Community Organizing in Urban Neighborhoods,” Cityscape 2:2 (May 1996), 121-159; Stephen Hart, Cultural Dilemmas of Progressive Politics: Styles of Engagement Among Grassroots Activists (University of Chicago Press, 2001); Robert Moses, Radical Equations: Math Literacy and Civil Rights (Beacon Press, 2001); Kristina Smock, Democracy in Action: Community Organizing and Urban Change (Columbia University Press, 203); Rinku Sen, Stir It Up: Lessons in

March 26. SPRING VACATION

April 2. The Role of Technology in Engaging Community

Guest: TBA

Required Reading: Leo Burd, “Developing Technological Initiatives for Youth Participation and Local Community Engagement,” New Directions for Youth Development 2010: 128, 95-104; Leo Buid, VoiceDrupal; Steven Clift, “High Tech Meets Hight Touch: Using Technology for Community Building Presentation,” Webinar, 2010; Randal Pinkett, “Integrating Community Technology and Community Building: Early Results from the Camfield Estates-MIT Creating Community Connections Project,” 2002; Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Further Reading: Tod Davies and Seeta Pena Gangadharan, eds., Online Deliberation: Design, Research, and Practice (CSLI Publications, 2009); Bob Burtman, “The Revolution Will Be Mapped; Howard Rheingold, “Using Participatory Media and Public Voice to Encourage Civic Engagement,” in Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth, edited by W. Lance Bennett (MIT Press, 2008), 97–118.

April 19. The Role of the Arts in Engaging Community Guest: TBA

Required Reading: Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas, Villa Lituania; Clair Bishop, “The Social Turn: Collaboration and Its Discontents,” in Artificial Hells: Participatory Art and the Politics of Spectatorship (Verso); Jacques Ranciere, “Aesthetics as Politics,” in Aesthetics and Its Discontents.

Further Reading: Gediminas Urbonas, Pro-Test Lab (2005-ongoing); P. Moriarty, Immigrant Participatory Arts (Cultural Initiatives, 2004); W. Cleveland and P. Shiffred, Between Grace and Fear: The Role of the Arts in a Time of Change (Community Arts Network, 2008; William Cleveland, Art in Other Places: Artists at Work in America’s Community and Social Institutions (Praeger, 1992); Charles Landry, The Creative City: A Toolkit for Urban Innovators (Earthscan, 2008); Phil Wood, The Intercultural City: Planning for Diversity Advantage (Earthscan, 2008); R. Florida, Cities and the Creative Class (Routledge, 2005); M.R Jackson, F. Kabwasa-Green, and J. Herranz, Cultural Vitality in Communities: Interpretation and Indicators (Urban Institute, 2008 ); M.R Jackson, F. Kabwasa-Green, and J. Herranz, Art and Culture in Communities: Unpacking Participation (Urban Institute, 2003); M. Stern, S. Seifert, and D. Vitiello, “Migrants, Communities and Culture,” Creativity & Change 11 (2007); W. Cleveland, Making Exact Change: How US Arts-based Programs Have Made a Significant and Sustained Impact on Their Communities (Center for the Study of Art and Community, 2005); Lora Carney, “Ecology and the Ethics of Collaboration: The Case o f Nine Mile Run,” Revue d’art Canadienne / Canadian Art Review 35:3 (2010), 63-72; Timothy Collins, “3 Rivers 2nd Nature 2000-2005, Water, Land & Dialogue,” Revue d’art Canadienne / Canadian Art Review 35:3 (2010), 73-85.

April 16. Hybrid Case: Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative

Guest: TBA

Required Reading: TBA

April 23. Hybrid Case: West Philadelphia Landscape Project

Guest: Anne Whiston Spirn

Required Reading: Anne Whiston Spirn, The West Philadelphia Landscape Plan: A Framework for Action (University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Fine Arts, 1991); Anne Whiston Spirn, “Restoring Mill Creek: Landscape Literacy, Environmental Justice, and City Planning and Design,” Landscape Research 30:5 (July 2005) ; West Philadelphia Landscape Project Web site; Mill Creek Project.

Further Reading: Mark Francis, “Proactive Practice,” Places 12:2, 60-68; Anne Whiston Spirn et al., Vacant Land: A Resource for Reshaping Urban Neighborhoods (1991); Anne Whiston Spirn et al., Shaping the Block (1991); Anne Whiston Spirn et al., Models of Success: Landscape Improvements and Community Development (1991); Anne Whiston Spirn et al., “This Garden Is a Town” (1990); Anne Whiston Spirn and Robert Cheetham, West Philadelphia Digital Database (1996); Kenneth Reardon, “Combating Racism through Planning Education: Reflections on the East St. Louis Action Research Project,” Planning Practice & Research 13:4 (1998), 421-432; Philip Nyden and Wim Wiewel, “Collaborative Research: Harnessing the Tensions Between Researcher and Practitioner,” The American Sociologist 23:4 (1992), 43-55; Stephen Kemmis and Robin McTaggart, “Participatory Action Research,” in Handbook of Qualitative Research (Sage, 2000), 567-605; Marcia McNally, “On the Care and Feeding of the Grassroots,” in Randolph Hester and C. Kweskin, eds., Democratic Design in the Pacific Rim (Ridge Times Press, 1999); Randolph Hester, Design for Ecological Democracy (MIT Press, 2007; Ken Reardon, et al., “Participatory Action from the Inside: Community Development Practice in East St. Louis,” American Sociologist (spring 1993), 69-91; Kenneth Reardon, “Ceola’s Vision, Our Blessing: The Story of an Evolving Community-University Partnership in East St. Louis, Illinois,” 113-140; W. Traynor and J. Andors, “Network Organizing: A Strategy for Building Community Engagement” (2005).

April 30. Reflections on Practice: Student Presentations Required Reading: Donald Schon, The Reflective Practitioner (Basic Books, 1983); Ceasar McDowell and Joy Amula, “Elements of a Model for Using Reflection in Social Learning” (MIT Center for Reflective Community Practice, 2006).

Further Reading: Donald Schon, ed., The Reflective Turn: Case Studies in and on Educational Practice (Teachers College Press, 1991).

May 7. Reflections on Practice: Student Presentations

Required Reading: Donald Schon, The Reflective Practitioner (Basic Books, 1983); Ceasar Ceasar McDowell and Joy Amula, “Elements of a Model for Using Reflection in Social Learning” (MIT Center for Reflective Community Practice, 2006).

Further Reading: Donald Schon, ed., The Reflective Turn: Case Studies in and on Educational Practice (Teachers College Press, 1991).

May 14. Reflections on Practice: The Garden, South Central Los Angeles

Required Looking: “The Garden” (2008), documentary film directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy