Excellence in Teaching Prize: Winner of Excellence in Teaching Prize 2008

2008 AESOP PRIZE FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING Bridging the Gap, Building the Bridge: The Mediating Role of Planning Theory and Practice The AESOP-ACSP 2008 conference theme “Bridging the Divide: Celebrating the City” focuses on the mediating role of cities. Many cities are, to some degree, divided or contested: differences (in age, ethnicity, gender, class, religion and culture) are evident in cities at various scales and levels of intensity. From the perspective of a more equitable society, planning is about designing socio-spatial interventions to promote greater social equality. This is the ethical dimension of planning. Can we teach students how to think reflectively about designing socio-spatial interventions in this ethical way? What are the practical-moral and pedagogical problems which need to be addressed? The 2008 AESOP Prize for Excellence in Teaching asked for planning courses that had clearly and consciously integrated elements linking the spatial dimensions of planning with matters of social equity and diversity in order to promote social inclusion and cohesion amongst diverse groups. The jury was looking for courses which explicitly raise these ethical issues alongside – or as part of – developing students’ technical skills in designing socio-spatial interventions, which aim to heal social divisions and conflict and which place a particular emphasis on the ethical dimensions of social equity and inclusion which we would like to see taught within planning courses. The course selected for the 2008 AESOP Excellence in Teaching Prize provides an exemplary opportunity to gain a better understanding of how the discipline of spatial planning can help to alleviate social, economic and environmental problems. Social inclusion is the underlying planning concept which, in this course, is embodied in the positive duty to promote disability equality.