Revealing Nature Through Play in Urban Design Education

Abstract

The challenge for urban design today is to help development of the healthy, vital, sustainable and resilient cities in which humans and nature flourish together. Consequently, urban design education needs to help future architects and urbanists to develop knowledge, skills and awareness to create more ecologically sensible urban settings. Assuming that effective design helps inform us of our place within the nature, Sim Van der Ryn and Stuart Cowan ask designers to “Make nature visible” in order to bring the designed environments back to life and to activate our potential for learning. Based on the analysis of the students’ works (design projects, artefacts and portfolios) from Ecological Urban Design Studio at University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture, this study explores: How can design of the playground help students rethink the relation between man and nature, and create places where urban nature is revealed and enjoyed? We argue that “the play” as concept and “learning by doing” as methodology together have a potential to help students develop ecological awareness.