Walking with Youth in Los Platanitos: Learning Mobilities, Youth Inclusion, and Co-production in International Planning Studios

Abstract

This article examines the role of mobile spaces to foster trans-disciplinary learning in international planning studios. Drawing from Indigenous ontologies and critical pedagogy, we suggest that walking and learning together between students and partners is critical to situated understandings of power and co-production of knowledge. We reflect on two years of studio courses in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, to illustrate three different modalities of walking-learning spaces, each of which have different learning outcomes for students and youth participants. We find that mobile “third” spaces enable students to traverse social, geographic, and epistemological boundaries, while allowing youth’s planning priorities to emerge.

Critical approaches to mentorship: Creating access and equity for undergraduate research experiences.

“…In addition, participatory research assumes that all students can conduct research and, regardless of formal experience, have the necessary capital to produce knowledge that benefits research outcomes (Gordon da Cruz, 2017; Greenberg et al, 2020; Fine & Torre, 2019; López et al, 2022; Yosso, 2005;). However, participation is the first step, with the goal of students leading the research at all stages of the project as part of a process of the coproduction of knowledge between student and mentor (Greenberg et al, 2020; López et al, 2022; Sletto & Vasudevan, 2021).…”