Background
The study visit is a further development of the Urban Design Experience project (www.urbandesignexperience.com) which took place in April 2012 in collaboration with the same three universities in Brazil and was funded by Santander Scholarship. During this visit students produced a series of videos urban design issues related to fast development contexts in Pelotas, Porto Alegre and Florianopolis. The proposed visit involves a re-examination of these videos and collaborative work between Brazil and UK to develop urban design principles and guidelines to address the main issues identified in April 2012.
Developing urban design guidelines for contexts of fast growing economies and intense development pressure.
Aim
The visit will focus on extending the project Urban Design Experience started in April 2012 to allow urban design and planning students from Oxford Brookes University and Brazil to work collaboratively to develop urban design guidelines and principles to address issues related to fast urban development.
Objectives
- To adopt a cross cultural approach for the development of urban design principles for delivering sustainable urban extensions in contexts of fast growing economies and high development pressure;
- To impact positively on the students experience at OBU by providing extracurricular learning activities based on critical reflection of different cultural, social, political and economic contexts;
- To contribute to the internationalisation of the curriculum in planning and urban design at the FTDE;
Outcomes
Three main outcomes are expected in the completion of this project:
1. the first is related to the impact that the published set of urban design principles and guidelines can potentially make on the quality of developments in Brazil;
2. the second is the potential that the study visit can have on raising awareness at Oxford Brookes University and elsewhere in the UK of urban design issues found in fast growing economies, and
3. the third is specifically related to the benefits that study visits abroad bring to the learning experience in the UK as it helps sensitising students to other contexts and realities.
Outputs
1. A short publication with the set of urban design principles and guidelines developed during the workshops; to be available at the Brookes JCUD website;
2. Short multimedia essays to be published in the Brookes JCUD website reporting different stages and outcomes from the study trip.