The Education Flâneur – A Global Studio, 2 Cities, 5 Years, 200 Students and Communities of Practice
What does it mean to be a global designer of tomorrow? The framework of design education has to respond to the changes in the landscape. The characteristics layered by sequential, experiential and iterative learning, and pedagogical knowledge and understanding are not acquired passively but in an active manner through personal experience and experiential activities; and that learning is based on problem-solving and an exploration of a particular line of inquiry and an active engagement with ideas. As part of studying the development of design education, the Linking Cities, Designing Experiences project underpins a critical inquiry into the issues of urbanism and urbanity. The city encapsulates engaging multifaceted insights and intriguing phenomenon. Students from Singapore and Seoul share different ideas on themes and subjects based on the ‘city'. This project includes ideas of the urban typology, the urban environment, the social settings of cities and their physical infrastructures. The information sharing and collaborative ethnographic research under pinned the critical discourse, as the students are inhabitants of two different cities. The research puts forward an ‘Open Design' concept in learning and teaching design through a cross-cultural design experience in the urban. Ideas related to iterative participatory design, cross-disciplinary design practice, experimental place-making and ‘reflection-in-action' (Schön,1983) formed the important pillars to this project. Designers alike meet to deliberate, collaborate and forge new relationships and exchange ideas with cross- cultural references and insights. This research proposes methods and approaches that could manifest in promoting pedagogical discourse for the future.
Citation:
Hidayah, Nur and Michael Chen. "The Education Flâneur - a Global Studio, 2 Cities, 5 Years, 200 Students and Communities of Practice." Cumulus Hong Kong Proceeding 2016: Cumulus Working Papers 33/16, 2016, pp. 158-162.
