JPER, Volume 17, Number 4, Summer 1998

Symposium: Community Outreach Partnership Centers:

Forging New Relationships Between University and Community

To the Readers

Andrew Cuomo, Secretary, HUD

Forward

Michael A. Stegman

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Introduction

Marcia Marker Feld

University of Rhode Island

Goal Achievement, Relationship Building, and Incrementalism:

The Challenges of University-Community Partnerships

Wim Wiewel and Michael Lieber, University of Illinois at Chicago

Abstract

The University of Illinois at Chicago’s Neighborhoods Initiative is used as a case study of how planning occurs in a situation of shared power; what the relationship is between the goals of participants and what actually gets done; and what the role of planners is in linking knowledge to action. The collaborative planning model is characterized by incrementalism, and relationship building is a key element. Relationship building and goal achievement are not opposites; the achievement of goals requires some level of trust in a partnership. The relative emphasis on one or the other depends on the specific context in which planning is done. The implications for planners and planning education are a greater emphasis on political and communicative skills in order to be effective in collaborative planning.

The Roles of Universities in Community-Building Initiatives

Victor Rubin, University of California-Berkeley

Abstract

Community-building initiatives in American inner-cities combine resident organizing, neighborhood economic development, reform and integration of human services, and collaboration among diverse organizations into a more comprehensive approach to community renewal. As these initiatives have proliferated, universities—often led by their programs in urban planning—have played varied and important roles. They have assisted in the creation of the initiatives, provided guidance and feedback, contributed technical expertise and financial support, and evaluated the outcomes. In this article, I examine the roles played by universities in three distinct community-building activities in Oakland, California, over a five-year period. Using three cases and other experiences in the same city, I outline four types of lessons for university-community partnerships. The lessons affirm that the contributions that universities can make to community-building are very important—and that the process of maintaining an effective par

nership is complex, with a number of potential pitfalls.

Institutionalizing University-Community Partnerships

Richard T. LeGates and Gib Robinson, San Francisco State University

Abstract

Sporadic government initiatives and successful individual demonstration university-community partnership projects are of limited value unless they are incorporated into self-maintaining institutional arrangements. This article is based on San Francisco State University’s experience with the HUD-funded Bay Area Community Outreach Partnership Center and the academic literature on institutionalization of reforms within public sector bureaucracies. It argues that universities are well suited for certain partnership roles—convener, planner, and capacity builder—and not for others. True partnerships between universities and their communities must be built on mutual respect, equal status, and mutual give and take. Institutionalization of federally funded university-community partnerships must progress simultaneously at the federal and local levels. It must respond to the interests of community, university, and governmental stakeholders. At the local level, change in both the internal structure and the operating procedures of universities and their neighborhood partners is essential.

Enhancing the Capacity of Community-Based Organizations

In East St. Louis

Kenneth M. Reardon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Abstract

This article describes the efforts of students and faculty from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to strengthen the organizing, planning, and development capacity of community-based organizations seeking to enhance the quality of life in East St. Louis’s poorest residential neighborhoods. The article demonstrates the effectiveness of the university’s empowerment planning approach to capacity-building that integrates the concepts and methods of participatory action research, direct action organizing, and critical theory into a new paradigm for community planning. The article concludes with a preliminary assessment of the empowerment planning approach’s effectiveness in capacity-building in East St. Louis.

Learning from Difference: The Potentially Transforming Experience of Community-University Collaboration

Margaret E. Dewar, University of Michigan, and Claudia B. Isaac , University of New Mexico

Abstract

The University of Michigan’s Detroit Community Outreach Partnership Center generates faculty-student teams who work on community development projects with Detroit’s community organizations. Projects are designed to enrich students’ experiential learning in community settings and to help build communities’ organizational capacity. This relationship has exposed a culture clash between universities and community organizations in at least three major areas: the style of work, social justice understanding, and power relations. Further, although the COPC is committed to a community-driven planning model, the nature of the community-university relationship tends to push the work toward a consultant-driven model. Improving community-university collaboration will require restructuring of university pedagogy.

Instruction

Problem-Based Learning:

A Bridge Between Planning Education and Planning Practice

Anne Shepherd, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Bryna Cosgriff

Abstract

Problem-based learning (PBL) is a promising educational method to help students acquire the skills and knowledge to be more effective practitioners. Students learn how to learn as they tackle a real-world planning problem. The instructor, as a cognitive coach, ensures that students are active, collaborative, and reflective problem-solvers. In this article, we explore the theoretical foundations and the practical benefits of problem-based learning for planning education. We detail a process for implementing problem-based learning in the classroom, illustrated with an example from a planning course. This article suggests that PBL can help to bridge the gap between planning education and practice, and can help to improve traditional methods of academic instruction.

Comment

Professionally Related Public Service as Applied Scholarship:

Guidelines for the Evaluation of Planning Faculty

Barry Checkoway, University of Michigan