The Future of Education
Co-Creating the Future City: Imagination and Participation in the Formal Education of Students
Valentina Gulin Zrnić, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb (Croatia)
Tihana Rubić, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb (Croatia)
Mirna Tkalčić Simetić, Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb (Croatia)
Abstract
With this presentation, we illustrate our recent efforts and experience as urban anthropologists and university teachers to encourage future literacy in participatory urban planning among students and residents. Guided by the need to strengthen the links between education and society, i.e., the relationship between academic knowledge and the various societal issues, and to improve participatory and democratic processes in the segment of urban planning in Croatia, we recognized that a step towards the aforementioned could take place within the framework of collaborative projects of the academy and civil society organizations. In the next three years, we intend to connect students, citizens, city governance bodies, and the academic community through research and workshops, using the "service learning" method. The aim is to design a new syllabus and develop students’ skills for future thinking about the city, public space, and governance; to facilitate residents in voicing their needs; to strengthen governance-residents communication channels and ways of negotiation and involvement. Having the experience of applying and implementing such projects, as well as the experience of workshops with various groups (students, curators, pupils, academics, teachers) on lateral, creative, and imaginative thinking about the city and public space, we will illustrate the vantage points, possibilities, and challenges of encouraging "service learning" method in formal university education practice.
Keywords: service learning, university education, urban anthropology, future literacy, collaborative projects, participatory urban planning
REFERENCES
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[2] Mikelić Preradović, Nives; Boras, Damir; Lauc, Tomislava. 2012. Innovation at the Faculty-level Education through Service Learning. In International Journal of Social, Management, Economics and Business Engineering, 71, 622-627.
[3] Miller, Riel, ed. 2018. Transforming the Future, Routledge.
