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Transforming the Urban Landscape
Course Syllabus

• Introduction
• Service Learning
• Format
• Crits and Reviews
• Requirements
• Reading
• Calendar

WPLP

LARP

Penn

Sulzberger

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Ideas

Introduction

• This studio course is a requirement for the Master of Landscape Architecture degree at the University of Pennsylvania.
• It explores the contribution of landscape architects to urban design from strategic landscape planning to detailed design. Projects span these scales and concerns. Design is not a linear process (from site analysis to site plan, to design of subareas, to selection of materials and design of details), but rather a process of continual, fluent movement among diverse scales and concerns. This approach underlies the organization of the course.
• The course focuses on the Mill Creek watershed of West Philadelphia, particularly on the neighborhood in the vicinity of the Sulzberger Middle School. The school is located adjacent to a buried river, and many vacant lands near the school are located on or around the sewer and within the old floodplain of the buried creek. Working with teachers and students at Sulzberger, the studio will document environmental and community history and devise designs for the vacant land near the school.

• Students will participate in development of a new curriculum at Sulzberger Middle School. The subject matter is closely tied to studio projects, providing graduate students with the opportunity to extend their learning through teaching. Visits to Sulzberger will occur regularly throughout the semester.
• The studio draws from the resources of the West Philadelphia Landscape Project, an action research program integrating research, teaching, and community service. Since 1987, faculty and students have worked on a wide variety of projects with community organizations, neighborhood groups, teachers and students in public schools. The project is a prototype which has been featured in newspaper articles, professional journals, national radio broadcasts, and international conferences and symposia (reviews).
• The University of Pennsylvania is a leader in service-oriented academic programs including research, practice, and teaching. These programs aim to educate Penn students to understand, solve, investigate, and reflect upon difficult real-world problems faced by individuals and communities surrounding the University. This course is part of this larger mission. (See Penn's Center for Community Partnerships.)

• This course takes advantage of the opportunities afforded by the World Wide Web, e-mail, and digital display and storage of information--graphic, verbal, and statistical.
• The course format enables online crits by faculty, students, and visitors within and outside normal class hours.
• It permits ongoing class discussion 24 hours per day.
• It facilitates sharing of information and work among students in the course and, through Philadelphia's Libertynet, with teachers and students at Sulzberger Middle School, and with faculty and students at the University of Illinois who will be working with residents of East St. Louis.
• The course is offered in this format for the first time in fall 1996. Though planned with great care, glitches will be inevitable. Please report your problems and suggestions so we may respond quickly.

• Ongoing evaluation of student work will take several forms: desk crits by studio faculty and teaching assistants, online review by faculty and outside critics, structured self evaluation, peer review, and periodic studio-wide reviews. All such evaluations will be conducted in the spirit of developing the capacity to design as "reflection-in-action."
• Self evaluation--a critical appreciation for one's own strengths and weaknesses, interests and values--is an essential skill for reflective practice. Developing this ability is a major objective of this course.
• Peer review is an important part of professional life. Developing the ability to formulate constructive criticism within the context of both the individual designer's objectives and larger professional and social issues is a major objective of this course.
• Students will participate in the design of studio-wide reviews to elicit constructive criticism and encourage reflection.

• Class meets Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 2-6 pm. There will be lectures, discussions, and informal pin-ups during these hours. While many of these will be announced in advance, others may be impromptu, in response to perceived need and interest. You must be present every day for the entire class period, though you may sign up for desk crits at a specific time on a schedule posted in the studio.
• The Graphics Lab (Room 321) is reserved for LARP 601 on Mondays and Fridays from 2-6 pm and for the Media Workshop on Thursdays from 2-6 pm. Plan to use this time effectively, for access to the lab outside these hours may be difficult.
• Additional hours outside normal class time will be scheduled at Sulzberger Middle School, usually Tuesday,1-4 pm.
• Work must be submitted in the format requested (e.g. paper size, on disk) in order to facilitate review, scanning, and/or posting on-line by the webmaster.
• All work must be submitted on time. Failure to submit required work in time for scheduled evaluation and review will result in an F for that assignment.
• Structured peer review of other students' work is an important part of this course. These reviews, submitted in writing, will account for 20% of the final grade in the course.
• Grades of Incomplete will not be given in this course.

• The studio will be integrated with Workshop III, Constructing the Landscape; studio proposals and planting and construction design problems will be coordinated.

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