Going Public: Civic and Community Engagement

Illuminating the Terrain of Community Engagement in Landscape Architecture Education

201 Illuminating the Terrain of Community Engagement in Landscape Architecture Education Pat Crawford, Warren Rauhe, and Patricia Machemer “Illuminating the Terrain” is an exploratory study of how professional academic programs integrate community engagement around the issues of community design and land use. Real-life design projects are a mainstay of landscape architecture (LA) studio courses across North America and a lively topic with many CELA (Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture) members. However, a systematic look at how we do it, why we do it, and what we know does not exist. The perception of engagement activities as less scholarly or rigorous than traditional research remains a challenge in many universities. The weaknesses are attributed to lack of consensus or clarity in how engaged scholarship is defined, assessed, and documented (Finkelstein, 2001). This study begins to answer these questions with a profile created from interviews with 20 accredited LA programs in the United States and Canada with formal community engagement initiatives or programs. It started out as a simple idea and quickly grew into a rich qualitative database generated from the interviews. Questions range from the details of staffing, number of projects, and funding to broader questions of student benefits , stakeholder roles, and assessment. The questions are grouped into related topics or layers, much like the contours on a topographic map, which in combination create the terrain. The types of engagement described are as diverse as the landscape architectural profession itself. What binds them all together is an intense enthusiasm and ethic for quality student learning and the use of real-world projects to foster professional development through community service. A study goal is to articulate what we do and how we do it so that we may foster dialogue for sharing, learning, and growth. Landscape architecture programs have an opportunity to blend together student learning, community service, and scholarship in a C R A W F O R D , R A U H E , A N D M A C H E M E R 202 manner that addresses the needs of students, faculty, and communities. Feedback from the 20 interviews documents the potential while also pointing out apparent disconnects. Landscape Architecture Education and Community Engagement Landscape architecture is a design profession that applies artistic, cultural, ecological, scientific , and technical knowledge to the planning, design, and management of the landscape. It requires an understanding of natural and social processes, a creative imagination, technical expertise, and a commitment to protect and improve the quality of the physical environment for optimum human use and enjoyment. The core of the profession is visual, experiential, and three-dimensional. The twenty-first-century movement in higher education from teacher-centered to learner-centered (Huba & Freed, 2000) is a natural fit for landscape architecture programs. The educational foundation in landscape architecture is built on an experiential, learningby -doing process (Wagner & Gansemer-Topf, 2005) including problem-based learning, community-based learning, service learning, integrative learning, undergraduate research, and capstone courses. Over 100 years ago, in 1898, the first U.S. landscape architecture program was established in Michigan with influences from the Beaux Arts traditions and design studio pedagogy . In a design charrette, students are given a design problem and a specified amount of time (often short) in which to create a solution. They are then judged on the merits of the solution and the artistry of the presentation. During the Great Depression and World War II, U.S. schools began to broaden from a purely aesthetic base to include environmental, cultural , psychological, and engineering aspects. Today, communities are often engaged to bring social and participatory components into the design process and learning experiences with site-specific issues, opportunities, history, and resources. These types of experiential immersion are advocated as critical for students to learn the complex disciplinary components of the profession and how to integrate their skills in practice (Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, 1998). Higher education across the country is challenged to increase accountability to its stakeholders (including student learning), increase revenue streams (especially for those with government funding), reinvigorate civic responsibility, and reevaluate what constitutes scholarship (Boyer, 1990; Dubb & Howard, 2007). Community-based design is one way of meeting these challenges while creating real-life learning experiences, expanding applied research venues, and increasing community service compatible with the institution’s mission (Scholarship of Engagement, 2006). This understanding of community engagement is aligned with the definition articulated by the University Outreach and Engagement office at Michigan State University. Community outreach and engagement “occurs when scholarship...