Travelling Studio C (South Africa)

This subject is not offered in 2013.

240 hours

Admission to a degree in the Melbourne School of Design.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

The travelling studio involves working with a local NGO, the Community Organisation Resource Centre (CORC), and community in the actual process of planning, design and implementation of slum upgrading. If the student skills are available, it is intended that the project will be extended to include construction and property issues. CORC provides communities with technical skills such as planning and architecture, and the project and students will fall within the ambit of CORC's services. The travelling studio proposal was developed in collaboration with CORC, with input from Shack/Slum Dwellers International (SDI).

See http://www.sasdialliance.org.za/corc/

The studio inolves first learning about urban informality and also the historical and policy context for housing in South Africa. It then consists of an interdisciplinary community-based slum upgrading exercise. The project will be located in, or in the vicinity of, Cape Town. The determination of the location will occur closer to the time. This is because the project is intended to contribute to actual planning, design and implementation processes while working with the commuities concerned. The project that will be undergoing this process at the time of the travelling studio has still to be determined.

The studio will be undertaken as an intensive, requiring the commitment of four weeks. (An additional week will be added to the four weeks to cater for students who want to visit Cape Town before they return to Australia for the final week of the project.)

CORC will facilitate and support the social processes implicit in preparing communities for in-situ upgrading. A small techinical team of planners and architects and other technical specialists come alongside communities at advanced stages of upgrading. Moreover, communities build horizontal networks of learning and exchange, and these are usually centred around a "learning centre"; a centre where communities who have successfully set a precedent for people-centred development share thair experience with the local community. When universities and other technical institutions collaborate with communities, this "learning centre" becomes a "studio" exploring the new synergies between professionals and "community architects" who can be expected to have the best solutions to the problems they experience at the grassroots level. The precise contributions of students will emerge from consultation with the community and CORC and will only be known closer to the time.

The preparation for the travelling studio will involve familiarisation with:

• Urban informality
• International comparative case studies of pro-poor, community-based slum upgrading
• South Africa and the metropolitan region's vexed history
• South Africa's housing policy, subsidies and experience
• SDI's history and role globally
• CORC's history and method engagement with local communities
• Study of the area, housing, planning and design issues
• The experience of community engagement in the area

It is expected that the student will have a substantive knowledge of housing and slum upgrading issues confronting the community, and also past experience of professional engagement with communities in the region, before leaving for South Africa.

The conduct of the studio will be based on engagement with CORC and the community. It is expected that the class will form teams to address particular issues, for example, in discussion with the community, the design of housing, the process of upgrading, environmentally appropriate building materials, the planning framework for housing and other land uses, and so on. Students will present a draft of their work to the community, to SDI and other invited guests on the last day of the studio.

On returning to Australia, the work completed will be revised in the light of the comments received at the presentation and further discussion and research, and be compiled in a format that can be returned to SDI and the community as a finished product, be put on the Web, and serve as the basis for an Exhibition.

• To provide students with comparative experience in international urban development.
• To encourage students to forego the mantle of technical expert and to engage with community organizations and members in the discussion of upgrading options, methods and preferences.
• To stimulate systematic/creative thinking and problem solving within students through their experiences of how local issues govern planning, design and construction processes.
• Based on consultation, to formulate applied proposals for planning, construction and design for upgrading.

• Class participation (20%)
• Presentation to CORC and community members and other invited guests (40%)
• Final reports, prepared in a format that can be sent to CORC and put on the web (40%)
• Exhibition (which is included in class participation)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• Interdisciplinary teamwork.
• Understanding and navigating social and cultural differences.
• Ability to listen to, hear and learn from communities.
• Organisational collaboration.