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Abstract

Urban community-based design centers have multiple potential functions. Ideally, they give voice to previously underrepresented groups in public discussions of urban design and environmental change. When combined with a university design curriculum, they can be training grounds for a new generation of urban designers sensitive to the needs, wants, and desires of local stakeholders. This study describes the co-evolution of an urban design curriculum at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a design center in the nearby city of Springfield, Massachusetts. Four key areas related to community service learning were evaluated through a mixed methods approach including historical analysis, qualitative and quantitative stakeholder surveys, and university course evaluations: (1) community participation in the design studio, (2) interdisciplinary teaching, 3) planning and physical outcomes, (4) academic research and creative work. Over a span of six years, all four areas showed qualitative or quantitative improvement. Collaboration between student designers and community stakeholders deepened and expanded, with stakeholders participating in the design process at earlier stages and having a greater role in shaping studio outcomes. Interdisciplinary learning and collaboration within the curriculum increased with distance from the university and its disciplinary institutions. Collaboration between the curriculum and the community, catalyzed by the Design Center, led to unanticipated but positive physical and planning outcomes, while stakeholders’ engagement in the participatory design process contributed to the development of community resilience and agency that persisted after the end of collaboration.

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