This collection of case studies by design educators critically explores the current practice of service-learning in architecture, landscape design, and urban planning, radically revising the standard protocol for university-initiated design and planning projects in the community. The authors' lively examination of real-life community collaborations forms a pedagogical framework for educators, professionals, and students alike, offering guidelines for a generative and inclusive collaborative design process.
About the Author: Tom Angotti is Professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Hunter College, City University of New York, and Director of the Hunter College Center for Community Planning and Development. He formerly chaired the Pratt Institute Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment, and was a senior planner in the New York City Department of City Planning and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development. He also taught at Columbia University, Harvard, and University of California, Berkeley. He is a Fellow at the American Academy in Rome, the Land Use columnist for Gotham Gazette, co-edits Progressive Planning Magazine and is an editor for Latin American Perspectives and Local Environment. He has published three books: New York For Sale: Community Planning Confronts Global Real Estate (MIT Press, 2008), Metropolis 2000: Planning Poverty and Politics (Routledge, 1993) and Housing in Italy (Praeger, 1976) and numerous articles on urban affairs and planning. He is a founding member of the Task Force on Community-Based Planning in New York City.

Cheryl Doble is an Associate Professor in Department of Landscape Architecture and director of the Center for Community Design Research at the State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry. A public service and research program in the department of Landscape Architecture, the Center provides technical assistance, educational programs and research assistance that build community capacity to manage sustainable futures. For the past twelve years Doble has coordinated interdisciplinary studios that introduce graduate students and upper division undergraduate students to participatory practices of design through service learning projects. Currently Doble is working with the New York State's Department of State and Department of Environmental Conservation to initiate a state wide training program to prepare community members for leadership roles in community-based planning.

Paula Horrigan is a professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at Cornell University. In her teaching, research and outreach, she advocates for action research and service-learning, and is dedicated to fostering the theory and practice of place-based design. For the past five years she has acted as faculty chair of Cornell's Faculty Fellow-in-Service Governance Board, convening a Fellows Seminar on Service-Learning and producing a publication of faculty essays entitled: Extending Our Reach: Voices of Service Learning at Cornell (2007). Horrigan has spearheaded many participatory, community-driven processes resulting in the design and construction of public spaces, restorative landscapes, and parks. As a licensed, practicing landscape architect, Horrigan also focuses on sustainable design and the development of winery landscapes, combining agricultural production and cultural presentation.