Planning studios with local youth

[Jen Fuqua]

I'm a graduate planning student looking to start a program similar to one I know of out of Berkeley ( I believe) where graduate students run planning studios with local youth. This is a permanent part of the curriculum, and needless to say - can be a very rewarding experience for both sides. I go to Pratt in Brooklyn, where our planning studios often deal with urban revitalization, poverty, and environmental racism. Our plans usually end up containing some component on youth development - a particular interest of mine.(thesis?)I'm posting in the hopes of hearing from other programs who do this or would like to, to start a dialogue.

Salut

[Carla Bagneschi]

I'm a graduate planning student at San Jose State University in California. As part of a class project to develop urban design guidelines for a neighborhood near campus, we have been working with elementary school kids. We gave each kid a disposable camera and told them to take pictures of what they liked the most and least about their neighborhood, and write a short sentence why. So far, the results have been great. This exercise is helping us students (and our professor) gain much deeper insight into the neighborhood than we would have gotten if we just met with the adult neighborhood activists (who are all white, 50+ year old homeowners and, unfortunately, not at all representative of their neighborhood.) Issues like the lack of playgrounds and decent sidewalks to rollerblade on sure don't get much discussion when we meet with the adults. The kids have also been working on drawing and coloring a huge map of their neighborhood, highlighting areas they like/dislike. Anyways, maybe this idea could work for your project in Berkeley. Good luck!