At the Academy of Urban Planning in Brooklyn, a theme-based curriculum taps into students’ curiosity about their environment, teaches skills needed for modern careers, and puts them on a path aimed towards higher education. Through unique partnerships with community organizations, planning agencies and institutions of higher learning, students are learning how to use urban planning knowledge and GIS skills to advocate for community improvements.
History of the Academy of Urban Planning
The Academy of Urban Planning (AUP) in Bushwick, Brooklyn was formed as part of the New Century High School Initiatives, which aims to reform large traditional urban high schools and transform them into smaller learning environments. The concept and proposal for AUP was developed by a team of educators, parents/guardians, and consultants under the direction of the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment (the Center), the school’s lead partner, in October 2002. The school opened its doors to students in September 2003, and those same students began their senior year in fall of 2006 when the school’s total population reached capacity at approximately 475 students.
Why Urban Planning?
The urban planning, theme-based curriculum draws students out of the classroom and into their communities to develop skills that will move them toward higher education and careers, utilizing their natural desire to explore and create.
When students arrive at AUP, they might not necessarily be interested in pursuing a career in urban planning or even a related field. We develop our programming with the following questions in mind:
* What skills do students need to succeed in high school, college and beyond?
* How can we create an academic experience where students are excited about learning?
* How can we use the community as a laboratory, addressing urban planning issues and tapping into local resources to achieve our goals?
The answers to these questions have guided the development and implementation of a scaffolded 4-year program that incorporates technology skill-building, service learning, civic engagement and community advocacy into class projects, elective courses and experiential learning opportunities.
The goals of theme integration are to create informed, active, young citizens who are able to think critically about how places grow and develop, and to inform how to use knowledge and skills to effect positive change in their communities now and in the future. This plan respects the value of service learning, civic engagement, advocacy and action as tools that are essential parts of a rich educational experience. Three approaches create the structure of theme integration. These are not mutually exclusive, but instead intertwine, complement and reinforce each other to deepen incorporation of theme-related concepts.
Curriculum-based projects are incorporated into subject-area courses. Urban Planning Electives offer opportunities to explore issues in -depth and to gain specialized skills. Project work in elective courses incorporates student interest, and builds students’ portfolios and resumes. Experiential Learning allows students to discover, experiment, and connect anew with existing knowledge - allowing them to reflect and change according to the impact of the experiences. These methods include trips, field experience, and service learning.
In addition to ongoing innovative projects designed by staff and supported through partnerships, students are able to take intensive urban planning electives, including:
Elective Courses
* Advanced Art Seminar: Art, Architecture and Urban Design in New York City (10th grade). In this course, students use architecture and urban design in New York City to inspire multi-media art projects. Students visit relevant locations, listen to presentations from professionals and participate in hands-on design workshops. Students learn architectural history and experience New York while gaining skills in observation and architectural drafting, design and construction and multimedia presentation. Throughout the semester, students build a portfolio of their work. Practicing urban designers and planners often volunteer at student presentations to offer critique and feedback.
* Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (11th Grade). We use GIS to view and analyze data such as race, education and economics from a geographic perspective. In this course, students learn how to use software to create maps that describe neighborhoods, depict change and predict future conditions. Students also learn how mapping influences urban policies and how those policies affect their daily lives. In 2006, students used data provided by city agencies to map housing code violations in our community. They worked with local organizations that advocated for improving housing conditions through policy and legislation.
* The Social Pulse of a New York City Neighborhood (10th Grade). Using a multimedia approach that includes novels, short stories, poetry, film, photography and site visits, this unit acquaints students with the “social” anatomy of a New York City neighborhood in 10th grade English classes. Our neighborhoods are not only rich in history and culture, they pulse with the energies created by the ebb and flow of immigration, the collision of disparate cultures, complicated intergenerational and racial relationships and the pressures of an ever-shifting economy. These tensions continue to inspire artists and writers to tell the stories of the complex characters that bring life to these places, creating meaning for the word “neighborhood” that runs deeper than geography.
Special Projects
* Barcelona to Brooklyn Studio at the Center for Architecture. Using Barcelona’s exemplary and progressive urban planning projects as a starting point, students were challenged to rethink how small design and planning changes implemented along the Greenpoint-Williamsburg waterfront could lead to major community enhancement. Throughout the program, students were mentored by practicing planner and architects.
* Growing Up in New York City (GUiNYC). GUiNYC is part of a larger series of projects called Growing Up in Cities, supported by UNESCO and Cornell University. The purpose of GUiNYC is to engage young participants (9-14 years old) in exploring and researching their neighborhoods using photography, mapping and other information-gathering activities. Two AUP students work in collaboration with other staff members to plan and implement the program, leading activities and accompanying groups of young people as they go out into the neighborhood, helping them develop an action plan and project.
* My CITI Interns. After an application process that includes mapmaking and an interview, students are selected as mapping technician interns for Community Boards 3 and 4 in Brooklyn. The CITI program, which teaches high school students to use mapping technology to investigate their neighborhoods, provides community boards with direct access to mapping technology during meetings and engages students in local decision-making while gaining technical skills and earning income.
How Can YOU Get Involved?
We owe all of our successes to the willingness of our students to look at their communities with fresh eyes, and the willingness of our teachers to learn about urban planning issues and open their classrooms to partners and supporters. We do provide training and orientation to our faculty and staff, since most of them arrive with little experience or exposure to urban planning (but with a desire to learn!), but the most important piece of our theme integration model is partnership. Our collaborations with community organizations, planning agencies and institutions of higher learning provide authentic hands-on experiences for our students as well as meaningful professional development for our staff.
Students everywhere can benefit from exposure to local urban planning issues, and you can help to make that happen. There are many ways that you can get involved at a school in your community – here are just a few:
* Reach out to local schools. Communicate with schools to begin a dialogue about creating a partnership. Offer to meet with teachers to brainstorm about how local planning issues can be incorporated into their curriculum.
* Speak at Career Day. Expose young people to career paths they might not know exist!
* World Town Planning Day, GIS Day. These are international celebrations that are designed for sharing information about planning.
* Volunteer to be a Judge or Evaluator for Student Presentations. You may be able to connect student work to broad planning issues by challenging them to think about the impact and implications of their ideas.
Meredith Phillips is a program manager at the Academy of Urban Planning. To find out more about the Academy, visit thewebsite, or contact her at meredith[at]aupnyc.org. For more information about the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment, please visit theBCUE website.
