Need for a Shift in Pedagogy for Teaching Fundamentals of Planning Education

Abstract

In general, the field of physical planning is multidisciplinary in nature, and is concerned with planning of land use, environment, infrastructure, transport networks, housing, etc., to meet the present and future needs of the people. One of the biggest challenges is teaching the basics to the students and thus orienting them toward a multidisciplinary and dynamic field. In most institutes offering planning education in India, the fundamentals are taught through studios on graphics and presentation techniques. However, the basic curriculum of studios is most frequently oriented towards and influenced by the field of architecture rather than physical planning. Due to this historical deviance, very often the students find it difficult to relate knowledge gained in the first semester studio to the subsequent studios where planning content dominates. This chapter proposes a relook at the pedagogy adopted for teaching the fundamentals of physical planning education. For this purpose, the authors discuss the most frequently adopted methods of teaching in the first planning studio highlighting their merits and demerits. Authors also share their own pedagogical experimentation in teaching this studio. After a comprehensive review and analysis of various teaching approaches, including learning from experimentation where they emphasize a need for a major shift in pedagogy for the first semester planning studio in order to reorient the students toward the field of planning.