Exchange Program with the Bauhaus

Do you want to learn how urban planning is done in another country and have a great time doing it? Then consider studying for a semester at the famous Bauhaus, in Weimar, Germany. The Bauhaus had more influence on 20th century architecture and possibly planning practice than any other single institution in the world. Everything from tableware, to furniture, to buildings was influenced by the Bauhaus. And the beautiful town of Weimar is called the seat of German classicism because brilliant poets, philosophers and musicians lived and worked there. And a relatively short train ride will get you to Berlin, a fascinating and dynamic capital city.

We are now starting to take applications for the Spring/Summer 2013 semester, which runs from about April 1 until about August 1, 2013.

For more information about this yearly exchange opportunity, contact:

John Accordino, PhD, AICP
Professor of Urban & Regional Planning
L. Douglas Wilder School of Government & Public Affairs
Director, VCU - University of Messina Partnership
Virginia Commonwealth University
923 West Franklin Street
Richmond, VA 23284-2028
(804) 827-0525
jaccordi@vcu.edu

Other Opportunities

Check out VCU Education Abroad for all of the university-sponsored study abroad opportunities available.

Related Study Abroad Offers

Global Scholar/Activist Spaces: Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies in India

This is an intensive summer course in intersectional feminist, queer and postcolonial theories and practices that allows students to work within various social justice organizations and to engage directly with local activists and scholars in Mumbai and Delhi.

This course would be a good compliment for those who have taken URSP 691 | Topics: Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in Planning

May 15 through June 15, 2012
Registration deadline is February 24, 2012
Cost: $3,000 + airfare + tuition
3-6 graduate or undergraduate credits in Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies

Learn more about this course.

Past Experiences

Guatemala: Rural Development for Socio-economic and Ecological Resilience

The Global Education Office and the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs are pleased to offer a unique opportunity for students to engage in a field course to explore environmental issues, political-economic challenges and sustainability concerns in the context of the developing country of Guatemala. The course will include an important service-learning component through applied work with rural communities in the Western Highlands region of the country. This work will be carried out in conjunction with the Highland Support Project, a non-governmental organization that is active in the region. Topics and themes to be examined through the course include land hunger and distribution, social vulnerability, community health, indigenous rights, land degradation, household energy use, common property resource management, sustainable livelihoods, agricultural development and disaster risk reduction.

London Urban Housing

The Global Education Office and the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs are pleased to offer a unique opportunity for students to study how greater London has addressed the planning and urban regeneration needs of the region in recent years. London is an excellent place to explore urban planning because there are strong similarities between the issues faced by local governments in the U.K. and those faced by U.S. cities. In particular, a lack of quality affordable housing poses a serious challenge to both economic competitiveness and social equity in London and other cities. The number of homeless households in temporary accommodation has risen dramatically, while many essential workers have been priced out of town, impacting vital services such as health, transport, policing and education. This exciting study tour includes visits to London housing and community development organizations as well as trips to Birmingham and the Letchworth Garden City.

India Study Abroad—Planning Gandhi's Neighborhood

Graduate students from Virginia Commonwealth University teamed up with others from the University of Southern California and the Center for Environmental and Planning Technology University (CEPT) in India for a major conservation and development planning project in the area where India’s independence movement was born.

The trip was sponsored through the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and included five students from the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program, one student in the Master of Public Administration Program and another from the Department of History Graduate Program.

For three weeks, the students worked in the Sabarmarti or Gandhi Ashram (spiritual community) in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The ashram became a national shrine to the movement of Indian independence from the British in the 1930s. National freedom fighter Mohandas Gandhi lived on the site and taught his philosophies to others. These teachings became inspirational to all Indian people. Gandhi eventually left the ashram, and India, in protest of the colonization.

Guided by Gandhian philosophy and sustainable concepts, students from the three institutions worked together in mixed groups to develop a long-range vision for the area and a specific plan to guide future development and further memorialize the Gandhi Ashram.

“Over the course of three weeks, the students participated in brainstorming sessions, mental mapping exercises, stakeholder presentations, interviews with experts on relevant topics and intense daily group work sessions,” said Meghan Gough, Ph.D., assistant professor of urban studies and regional planning, who led the trip to India during VCU’s winter break.

In the end, students created seven group plans, or design solutions, for the Gandhi Ashram. In April, the participating VCU students presented their finished project, “Planning Gandhi’s Neighborhood,” to fellow students and professors at Scherer Hall.

“While all of the students were enrolled in a graduate level planning program, design or social based planning, the different cultural backgrounds, personal experiences and undergraduate disciplines contributed to the shared experience of the students, professors and stakeholders,” Gough said.

Students described the experience as a great way to learn about planning in a new way in an international setting.

“Local knowledge is the most important aspect of international planning. India has planning issues of which we have virtually no working knowledge and listening more than talking was a highly regarded asset,” said student Brian Koziol.

Students quickly learned they needed to broaden their American perspective on planning to incorporate India’s style, customs and traditions into the plan.

“It is important to never judge a culture on our own beliefs and to realize that their reality is not our own,” said student Alissa Akins.

Other students described the journey as the trip of a lifetime.

“The beautiful controlled chaos of the markets in the old city was always a reminder of how far I really was from my own world,” said student Andrea Houseman.

The trip proved that sometimes learning takes place outside of a classroom in a way that even the most advanced planning students couldn’t plan for.

“A defining moment of the trip was standing around in the absolute middle of nowhere, drinking coconut water with village elders as the sun was going down over a concrete plant,” Koziol said.

Please check out the complete report with all the alternative plans. Also, more photographs and student posters.

A Comparative Analysis of Housing and Transportation Policies and Planning in the U.S. and the U.K.

In June 2007, Dr. Michela Zonta led a group of Urban & Regional Planning students on a two-week study tour of London. The tour focused on the housing and transportation needs of the region in recent years, which present strong similarities with the issues faced by American cities. During the study tour, students had the opportunity to visit local housing and transportation organizations, including CDS Co-operatives Limited, the largest specialist co-operative housing service agency in London and the South East of England providing accommodation for rent; London TravelWatch, the official watchdog organization representing the interests of transport users in and around the capital; and the National Housing Federation, which represents 1300 independent, not-for-profit housing associations in England and is the voice of affordable housing. The tour also included visits to local ethnic neighborhoods, such as the Punjabi community of Southall, Chinatown, the Middle Eastern neighborhood of Edgware Road, Afro-Caribbean Brixton, and Brick Lane, also known as Banglatown. Side trips included visits to Birmingham, the Letchworth Garden City, and the Department of Architecture of the University of Cambridge, where Prof. Echenique gave a lecture on sprawl in Greater London.