Urban Design Studio in flipped classroom mode
Last week I taught for the first time the Urban Design Studio at James Cook University. It was a very intense but enjoyable week with classes from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
The total course hours is 130hs and this is how it was organised:
- Content (readings and short lectures) available online prior to the face-to-face component
- 40 hours face-to-face
- 6 hours Online tutorials
- 84 hours self-directed work
On the first day we had a 3-hour site visit. We went to a couple of tourism-based areas around Cairns. One that works very well and another one not so successful. We then compared the amenities, design, speed of movement, distances and so forth.
Besides a 30-question quizz assessment based on Gehl (2010), Carmona (2010) and Montgomery (1998), the projects were focused on a site invetory and analysis, masterplan/context plan, and site design. Each one of the components had a pin up session where we discussed opportunities, constraints and design ideas.
At the end of the last class the comments were:
- Students wished they could work on CAD tools for this subject – it is not a core part of degree at JCU yet, but there will be opportunities for this coming up soon.
- Students wished it was delivered over the semester instead of an intensive week. In their words: Not because it didn’t work, but because it was all too interesting to work on only for a short period of time.
In conclusion, I think I can say the last couple of weeks were very tiring – both preparing and delivering this subject – but the results, energy and discussions were worth every minute spent on this.
References
Carmona, M., Tiesdell, S., Heath, T., Oc, T., (2010) Public Places – Urban Spaces. Taylor & Francis.
Gehl, J. (2010), Cities for People. Washington DC, USA: Island Press.
Montgomery, J. (1998), Making a city: Urbanity, vitality and urban design. Journal of Urban Design, Routledge 3(1): 93–116.
SILVIA TAVARES 