Globalization and the Urban Studio: Evaluating an Inter-University Studio Collaboration in Nairobi

Abstract

Globalization is increasingly shaping the practice and pedagogy of urban planning. In this paper we first explore some of the implications of globalization for planning education. We then describe an experiment in international education, a joint studio/workshops in the Municipal Council of Ruiru, Kenya. The studio and workshops were embedded in a long term, inter-university collaboration between the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at the University of Nairobi and the Center for Sustainable Urban Development at Columbia University. Finally, we present and discuss some survey-based findings about the impact on the participating students and reflect on the importance of such international studios for understanding globalization in interaction with urbanization.