European Cities and Sustainable Urban Design and Planning Practices

This course is an introduction to contemporary sustainable urban design practices and contemporary migration patterns in northern Europe. The course aims to establish a critical understanding of some of the main theories and positions of urban design as they appear today and have developed over the course of the past two decades.

Sustainable urban design, as it will be understood within the framework of this course, is a discipline that seeks to integrate aspects from a variety of different fields, such as planning, landscape architecture, architectural design, sociology, cultural studies, and urban history.

Students will visit urban design, architecture, and landscape architecture sites and projects in Northern Europe and use the case study method to analyze the built environment. Students will meet practitioners and community leaders involved in sustainable urban design and learn how they view the world. Students will not only gain an understanding of the planning, design, and social function of some European cities, but will also discuss and analyze how applicable these approaches and technologies might be for U.S. urban areas (especially applied to cities in the Midwest).

Resident Director
Jesus Lara, City and Regional Planning Section

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Japan:
Fieldwork in Material Culture 

Japan: Fieldwork in Material Culture will introduce students to the diverse material culture of Japan, reflected in its array of designed objects and spaces. From buildings and urban spaces to furniture, fashion, and everyday utensils, various artifacts reveal specific aspects of Japanese culture that blend tradition with modernity.

The program provides an opportunity to delve into Japanese material culture through the lens of design. Students will travel through Tokyo and Yokohama's urban landscapes, explore the historic cities of Kyoto and Nara, and visit the culturally rich islands of Teshima and Naoshima, engaging directly with various facets of Japanese architecture and design.

The study abroad experience is centered on active learning. Participants are encouraged to focus on a particular area of material culture, such as technology, craftsmanship, or textiles, and to create a detailed field guide. They will combine initial research with field documentation, employing tools like photography and sketches to compile a field guide that both visually and textually represents Japan's cultural ingredients.

The final product, combining digital and physical formats, will not only document their experience but also offer insights into the interplay between Japanese design and its cultural roots.

Resident Director
Iman Ansari, Architecture Section

Halina Steiner, Landscape Architecture Section

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Belize International Development Planning Program

This program seeks to combine community service with academic reflection while addressing real issues to gain a sense of ‘socially responsible knowledge,’ and offers a unique opportunity to study in a developing global south nation in contrast to more common discussions on Western, Euro-centric planning practices.

The service-learning component is critical as it provides students with the invaluable opportunity to practice in-class techniques in problem solving, and affords students to serve fellow human beings. 

By participating in this program, students will have experience with:

• community-defined project work
• sustainable development
• discipline-appropriate research methodology

We achieve these goals through a variety of coursework, including team projects, students’ collaborative research, and analysis and comparison of theoretical frameworks appropriate for working in developing countries.

Students will be enrolled in a spring semester course and travel over spring break. 

Landscapes and Architecture of Mexico:
Mexico City Study Tour

Join Knowlton faculty on a trip to Mexico City over Spring Break 2023. Offered as part of a 3-credit-hour course on the history of Mexico’s built environment, students will travel to one of the world’s great cities, visiting archeological sites, colonial era and modern architecture, and the massive public works that enabled the city to be built as well as the offices of architects and landscape architects working in the city today.

Resident Directors
John Davis, Landscape Architecture

London: Culture and City

Contact: Aimee Moore
More on the Program: The Ohio State University's Office of International Affairs
Academic Credit: ARCH, LARCH

This short-term study abroad program is designed to immerse students in the culture, history, urban, landscape and architectural environment of London. Culture will be explored by traveling to local markets, experiencing the food and visiting historical sites such as Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral and various museums. Architecture and landscape highlights included visits to key historical to contemporary projects and visits to an architecture office. London is a city with a vast range of architectural styles and designers with key landscape architecture nestled within the urban context that makes the city an ideal exploratory grounds. This study abroad program will be a valuable enhancement to the introductory curriculum of architecture and landscape architecture, though no courses in either discipline are required. This London spring break study abroad program counts towards architecture, landscape architecture and city and regional planning major or architecture and landscape architecture minor requirements.

The program will be based in London, England, a multicultural and international city. This program is one that discovers culture and the urban environment not in a classroom, but by exploring the city London. Day trips to Salisbury (including Stourhead and Stonehenge), Kew Gardens and Greenwich will be key highlights exploring the English countryside and suburbs of London. The presence of architectural works and influences of world-renowned classical architects from Sir Christopher Wren and Sir John Soane to contemporary designers such as Kathryn Gustafson, Herzog & de Meuron, West 8 and Sir Norman Foster make London the ideal setting to study the integration of historical to contemporary designs. In addition, the trip will focus on the network of landscape architecture from small to large within and outside the city and notable urban housing developments from modernist to contemporary. This program focuses on varied experiences to make London the ideal setting for this hands-on international urban exploratory learning experience.

European Architecture Studies

Contact: Jackie Gargus, Karla Trott 
More on the program: The Ohio State University's Office of International Affairs
Academic Credit: ARCH 5798

The Ohio State University's study abroad program in architecture has been in place since 1986, concentrating on different areas of architectural importance. This program will explore cities throughout Europe to focus its attention on the roots and continued development of modern architecture. Students will participate in site visits of major monuments and towns, lectures by local experts, museum tours, sketching and analysis exercises and seminars on urban and architectural form, tectonics and theory. 

The program is situated in multiple countries throughout Europe, traveling to 18 different cities. Comparative analysis of different local styles of modernism will be undertaken. Landscapes and urban structure will be studied as elements in the built environment on par with buildings.

Santiago: Chile Culture and City

Contact: Aimee Moore, Troy Malmstrom
More on the program: The Ohio State University's Office of International Affairs
Academic Credit: ARCH, LARCH 5798 (3cr)

This short-term study abroad program immersed students in the culture, history, urban, landscape, and architectural environment of Santiago, Chile. Chile is at an amazing moment architecturally with the 2016 Pritzker Prize awarded to Alejandro Arevena, also the 2016 Venice Biennale Curator. This momentum is expressed with great attention and success in Chilean contemporary designs, many focused upon these travels. Culture was explored through local markets and food, the Pre Colombian and other museums and cultural centers. Architecture and landscape highlights included visits to key historical to contemporary architecture and urban projects by Alejandro Arevena, Smiljan Radic, and Elemental to name a few. This study abroad program was a valuable enhancement to the introductory curriculum of architecture and landscape architecture, though no courses in either discipline are required. The Spring Break study abroad program counted towards architecture, landscape architecture, and city and regional planning major or architecture and landscape architecture minor requirements.

This program will be based in Santiago, Chile, a truly multicultural and international city. This program is one that discovers culture and the urban environment not in a classroom, but through exploring the city of Santiago. Day trips to Valparaiso, and throughout the city of Santiago will be key highlights exploring the city and culture. The presence of architectural works and influences of world-renowned contemporary architects make Santiago the ideal setting to study the development of contemporary designers. In addition, the trip will focus upon the network of landscape architecture from small to large within and outside the city and notable urban housing developments from modernist to contemporary. The study abroad focuses on varied experiences to make Chile the ideal setting for this hands-on international urban exploratory learning experience.

Japan: Architecture/Landscapes/Urbanism

Contact: Jackie Gargus

During this two week program, students traveled to various cities throughout Japan. The emphasis was on a broad and integrated experience covering the buildings and landscapes as well as the urban fabric across central Japan. The program allowed for an intensive study of design, history, and visual communication. The format of the course involved several days in Tokyo and Kyoto, concentrating on varied styles of architecture that commingle to give form to the city fabric as well as major historical monuments, palaces, temple complexes, and gardens.

Special attention was paid to the cultural and socioeconomic forces that produced Japan's unique and varied architecture heritage as well as the synthesis of western and eastern heritages which go into the formation of contemporary Japanese architecture. By bringing architectural, landscape and urban theory, students were encouraged to think deeply about urban and geographic forces that shape the country. 

Northern Italy: Modern and Contemporary Architecture in Turin, Milan and Ivrea, Italy

Contact: Kay Bea Jones

Through this traveling studio in Ivrea, students had direct access to works of exceptional modern architecture including urban design, landscapes, and individual structures conceived for multiple functions, whose interiors, furniture, and products incorporate a total design ethic and aesthetic.

Understanding the modern era by experiencing its best products invites inquiry about sustaining and evolving concurrent formal and cultural values. Embodying ideas of social equality, progressive aesthetics, essential rationality, and affordable dwellings aimed at community well-being, students experienced the near-utopian environment expected to become a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018.

Cuba: Architecture/Landscape, Urbanism

Contact: Jackie Gargus

This program explored cities throughout Cuba and focused on the roots and continued development of modern architecture and the interaction of architecture, politics, climate, and society. Students participated in site visits to major monuments and towns, lectures by local experts, museum tours, sketching and analysis exercises, and seminars on urban and architectural form, tectonics, and theory.

The program was situated in Cuba. Comparative analysis of different local styles of modernism was undertaken. Students studied landscapes and urban structure as elements in the built environment on par with buildings. One area of concentration was Havana, but other towns, landscapes, parks, and regions were also studied during the program as the group traveled by charter bus around western Cuba.

Rio de Janeiro: Culture and City

Coordinator: Aimee Moore

This short-term study abroad program immersed students in the culture, urban, landscape, and architectural environment of the coastal South American city of Rio de Janeiro. All eyes were on Rio for the final match of World Cup 2014 and soon were again for the 2016 Summer Olympics. This study abroad program was a valuable enhancement to the introductory curriculum of architecture and landscape architecture, though no courses in either discipline are required. Rio de Janeiro study abroad program counted towards architecture or landscape architecture major or minor requirements.

This educational experience was based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a truly multicultural and international city. The study abroad was one that discovers culture and the urban environment not in a classroom, but by exploring the city of Rio. Culture was explored by visiting local beaches, markets and food, Maracana Stadium and dramatic experiences such as Sugar Loaf Mountain and Christ the Redeemer. Architecture and landscape highlights included visits to key projects by notable Brazilian designers Oscar Niemeyer and Roberto Burle Marx, visits to architecture and artist studios, and a tour of the new Diller Scofidio + Renfro Museum of Image and Sound on Copacabana Beach. The trip focused on varied experiences to make Rio the ideal setting for this hands-on international urban exploratory learning experience.

European Cities and Sustainable Urban Planning Practices: Munich, Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg, and Copenhagen

Resident Director
Jesus J. Lara, PhD
 

Students in this program will explore how diverse approaches to planning and urban design found in Europe address the general principles of sustainability, and examine in the field how some of these principles have been put into practice. Students will focus on historical precedents, cultural differences, and planning and design priorities, and gain an understanding of the planning, design, and social function of some European cities. Students will also discuss and analyze how applicable these approaches and technologies might be for U.S. urban areas (especially applied to cities in the Midwest).

The diverse approaches to planning, landscape architecture, urban design, public infrastructure, and development found in Munich, Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg, and Copenhagen will be the focus of the international study program for 2022. The physical and social structure of cities will be analyzed. The course will take an in-depth look at five major European cities and other sites of interest in two separate countries that have made a conscious and comprehensive effort to become more “sustainable” in a variety of ways. While the emphasis of the program is on experiencing important cities and sites, a number of academic exercises are required to facilitate critical analysis and reflective thought. This course is an intensive field study program that includes guided field trips, lectures, site visits, group activities, and prescribed small group and individual activities.

Locations include: Germany: Munich, Cologne, Berlin, and Hamburg; Denmark: Copenhagen

More on the program: European Cities 2022 Program Information The Ohio State University’s Office of International Affairs

The Power of Planning: Research-learning and Engagement in Taiwan

Contact: Don Leonard
More on the Program: The Ohio State University's Office of International Affairs
Academic Credit: CRPLAN

The City and Regional Planning Taiwan Workshop program at Ohio State has grown into a very popular experience due to a steady rise in students who are interested in public transportation and its relationship to quality of life in cities. Greater Taipei boasts one of the most efficient mass-transit systems in the world. Over the course of this 8-day program, students will have the opportunity to meet with transit officials, tour facilities, and broaden knowledge and personal experience through riding and studying mass transit in an international context. Beyond transportation, students will reside in the planned community of Sanxia, which features modern architecture comprised of mixed-use development, walkable and bikeable streets, and ample greenery. Combined with access to mass transit and a variety of other public services, participants will see how people in Sanxia live differently than residents of Columbus, the state of Ohio, and large parts of the United States. Last but not least, students enjoy a good mix of structured and unstructured time. This allows the opportunity to experience the city’s various street markets and an eclectic variety of authentic foods from Taiwan, China, Japan, and the culinary cultures of Southeast Asia. Many group meals will also be provided, often in a family-style tradition that gives students the ability to connect and forge lifelong friendships with the gracious student hosts from National Taipei University.

This year, the program offers one more facet: the opportunity to help launch an international research project. Working alongside faculty and students in both Taiwan and the United States, students will collect and analyze data to explore how access to mass transit and other types of public services impacts the lives of low-income residents and other marginalized groups. The evidence will be used by planners and policymakers here in the United States and abroad to justify greater investment in those public services that make a difference in people’s lives. If you are looking for a transformative international experience that has the possibility of lifting up the lives of others, please consider applying for the Taiwan Trip.

The host institution, National Taipei University, is located in New Taipei City, the most populous city in Taiwan and surrounding the national capital, Taipei. The population of greater Taipei is around 7 million people. Besides exploring the different corners of Taipei, the group will travel via high-speed rail to the coastal city of Kaosiug.

European Cities and Sustainable Urban Planning Practices: Barcelona, Berlin and Copenhagen

Contact: Jesus J. Lara, PhD
More on the program: European Cities 2019 Program Information The Ohio State University's Office of International Affairs
Academic Credit: CRPLAN 5798 (3cr) 

Students in this program will explore how diverse approaches to planning and urban design found in Europe, address the general principles of sustainability, and examine in the field how some of these principles have been put into practice. Students will focus on historical precedents, cultural differences, and planning and design priorities, and not only gain an understanding of the planning, design and social function of some European cities, but discuss and analyze how applicable these approaches and technologies might be for U.S. urban areas (especially applied to cities in the Midwest).

The diverse approaches to planning, landscape architecture, urban design, public infrastructure and development found in Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen and Malmo will be the focus of the international study program for 2018. The physical and social structure of cities will be analyzed. The course will take an in-depth look at 4 major European cities and other sites of interest in four separate countries that have made a conscious and comprehensive effort to become more “sustainable” in a variety of ways. While the emphasis of the program is on experiencing important cities and sites, a number of academic exercises are required to facilitate critical analysis and reflective thought. This course is an intensive field study program that includes guided field trips, lectures, site visits, group activities and prescribed small group and individual activities.

Locations include:
Germany: Berlin and Cologne
Denmark: Copenhagen
Sweden: Stockholm and Malmo

Moving (and Eating) Around Taiwan: A Bus, Subway, and High-Speed Rail Systems Planning Workshop

Contact: Kyle Ezell
More on the program: The Ohio State University's Office of International Affairs
Academic Credit: CRPLAN 5798 (3cr) 

The City and Regional Planning program at Ohio State has documented a steady rise in students who are interested in ways to improve public transportation and its relationship to quality of life in cities. This is why the Taipei City region provides a wonderful opportunity to broaden your knowledge and personal experience riding and closely studying transit in an international context. Taipei, Taiwan's mass-transit system is known as a world model of transportation efficiency. Vastly different than cities in Ohio, the districts in the Taipei region have among the highest densities of residential, office, and commercial land use in the world. The country's tight, mixed-use development pattern makes reliable public transportation possible, serving as a model in the study of transit-oriented development and "smart growth."

Taipei City's Mass Rapid Transit System (MRT) is one of the safest, cleanest, and most reliable subway systems in the world. The Taipei region's bus system links commuters to MRT and High-Speed Rail stops and final commuter trip destinations. The Taiwan High-Speed Rail (HSR) originates in Taipei and connects the region to Taichung, the third largest city located in the middle of the island. The approximately 38 minute trip at top speeds of 182 miles per hour links that city's new rapid transit system currently under construction that will integrate an extensive Bus Rapid Transit system. Lessons can also be learned from other cities and regions of Taiwan that provide less efficient transit services that are more similar to systems in Ohio of which most of us are accustomed. Taiwanese municipalities are working on short and long-range plans to improve their service to the public.

Since public transit is an important sub-discipline of city and regional planning that is sought after by professionals in every sizable municipality in the world (and many rural regions as well), this ten-day workshop will focus on a variety of transit systems in various municipalities in Taiwan. In this course, you will attend lectures by Taiwan leaders and officials, complete and discuss reading assignments, visit special sites, work closely with National Taipei University students, and turn in a contemplative/research project (among other requirements to be announced).

In addition to moving around the island, the group will be enjoying an eclectic variety of authentic foods from Taiwan, China, Japan, and other nearby Asian culinary cultures. Many group meals (of which several will be 'family style') will be provided.

Belize International Development Planning Program

Contact: Kareem Usher

This program combined community service with academic reflection while addressing real issues to gain a sense of 'socially responsible knowledge,' and offered a unique opportunity to study in a developing global south nation in contrast to more common discussions on western, Euro-centric planning practices.

The service-learning component was critical as it provided students with the invaluable opportunity to practice in-class techniques in problem-solving, and afforded students to serve fellow human beings.

Ghana Interdisciplinary Study Abroad

Contact: Kim Burton

This program was designed to introduce and teach students the concepts of humanitarian engineering by utilizing proactive, meaningful, authentic, real-world, international engineering service-learning experiences. Students collaborated with in-country partners the Offinso North District Assembly and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, to collectively develop useful sustainable technologies in fields such as housing, community planning, cultural planning, biogas and solar energy, healthcare, water, sanitation, agriculture, education, governance and economic development. 

During the fall semester before departing, students studied the region, then researched, designed, developed, prototyped, and planned various engineering solutions to meet needs there as determined by the local communities. Students traveled to Ghana during winter break for two weeks and implemented and evaluated these projects. Student teams evaluated the cost, sustainability, and local ownership of the projects, as well as the entrepreneurial opportunities that could be developed as a result of the projects. Following the in-country travel, students documented their accomplishments and present the projects to faculty, staff, administrators, and other students. Read more about the student experience from past participants at STEP blogs.

Knowlton School Rome Program

Contact: Katherine Jenkins;  Parker Sutton
More on the program: The Ohio State University's Office of International Affairs
Academic Credit: ARCH, LARCH, CRPLAN 5798

The course will outline a set of strategies for the study of the city. Borrowing Rome as a case study, the course will lead students into the built environment and engage the physical friction that emerges when abstract, indeterminate systems make contact with the ground. With Rome and its environs as the laboratory, the group will cut a series of paths through the city, through its layers of material culture and time, and unearth its structure. Using drawing and observation as the primary methods of investigation, students will study the great spaces of Rome, uncoupling the image of form from its organizing structure and resulting space. Each day will produce a series of analytical studies from which field observations are transformed: layering different views and media and extracting interpretations of space, material, flow, and change over time.

Read about the student experience

European Cities and Sustainable Urban Planning Practices: Munich, Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg, and Copenhagen

Contact: Jesus J. Lara, PhD
Academic Credit: CRPLAN 5798 (3cr)

Students in this program will explore how diverse approaches to planning and urban design found in Europe address the general principles of sustainability, and examine in the field how some of these principles have been put into practice. Students will focus on historical precedents, cultural differences, and planning and design priorities, and gain an understanding of the planning, design, and social function of some European cities. Students will also discuss and analyze how applicable these approaches and technologies might be for U.S. urban areas (especially applied to cities in the Midwest).

The diverse approaches to planning, landscape architecture, urban design, public infrastructure, and development found in Munich, Cologne, Berlin, Hamburg, and Copenhagen will be the focus of the international study program for 2022. The physical and social structure of cities will be analyzed. The course will take an in-depth look at five major European cities and other sites of interest in two separate countries that have made a conscious and comprehensive effort to become more “sustainable” in a variety of ways. While the emphasis of the program is on experiencing important cities and sites, a number of academic exercises are required to facilitate critical analysis and reflective thought. This course is an intensive field study program that includes guided field trips, lectures, site visits, group activities, and prescribed small group and individual activities.

Locations include: Germany: Munich, Cologne, Berlin, and Hamburg; Denmark: Copenhagen

More on the program: European Cities 2022 Program Information The Ohio State University’s Office of International Affairs