Purpose: An undergraduate civil engineering programme is assessed for its relevance to the building construction sector. Its contrast from the existing curriculum structure is also highlighted. Design/methodology/approach: The curriculum is clustered into 15 groups based on disciplines. A pairwise comparison of groups is conducted by experts from…

Planning curricula have continually evolved to meet changing societal needs, technological change and employer expectations. The professional accrediting body in the United Kingdom, the Royal Town Planning Institute, stipulates the core planning skills required, differentiating between formal classroom-based learning and professional competencies,…

In response to requests for assistance from a Tibetan refugee community in Mainpat, India, Northern Arizona University developed a unique service-learning experience, the Mainpat Project, to provide health and other services. The project continued for 4 years despite the limited infrastructure and resources of a small public university and the…

This report is situated within the context of college sector reform, specifically regionalisation and the implementation of regional "outcome agreements" (ROA), and, within the wider context of public service reform, the refreshed guidance on Single Outcome Agreements (SOA) for Community Planning Partnerships (CPP). It sets out to…

This article reports on an analysis of the effects of a quasinatural experiment in which 16 rural communities participated in public discussion, leadership training, and community visioning as part of an Extension program at Montana State University. Difference-in-differences methods reveal that key U.S. Census socioeconomic indicators either…

Asset mapping is a relatively new data collection strategy to identify services, staff capacity, programs, resources, values, and other protective factors in a geographic area that can be juxtaposed to risk factors when initiating community planning. A substance abuse prevention course for undergraduates added an assignment of assessing community…

SWAT (Student Weekend Arborist Team) is a program affiliated with Cornell University and Extension founded to conduct street tree inventories in New York State communities with 10,000 residents or fewer, a group of communities underserved in community forestry planning. Between 2002 and 2010, SWAT conducted 40 inventories, and data from these…

In this article we take a closer look at a developing university-community engagement project being undertaken between California State University, Fresno, and the City of Fresno. A history of the project is provided, along with a review of the relevant literature and a summary of what pieces of the puzzle we feel should be in place for a…

Sustainable design is a philosophy adopted by people concerned with the health of society and the natural environment. The practice of sustainable design works toward the improvement of the quality of the built environment, while reducing or eradicating the negative impact on the natural environment (McLennan 2004). It is a philosophical approach…

The University Green program of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) is an urban forestry partnership between four universities and their surrounding communities. The program offers excellent strategies for fostering improved college-community relations and stewardship by students and residents alike. University Green aims to improve the…

This article is essentially written as two linked parts. The first part considers how space, spatiality and history can contribute to understanding and "doing something about" the sustainability of rural communities. This is done by extensive reference to Soja's (1989 & 1996) space and spatial theorising and selective perspectives of…

Community visioning is based upon principles that maximize group participation in a creative problem-solving process. The process itself is structured to solicit and use the full range of interests and expertise within a given community to develop an implementation plan that specifically addresses the needs of the community and that fosters change…

Geography increasingly relies on training of professionals who can apply geographic concepts to solve real-world problems. The planning profession for years has been training professionals to work in the area of community planning. Planning programs typically include experiential learning modules throughout the curriculum. This article looks at…

This article presents an overview of a community development service learning programme operating in the Greek Ionian Island community of Farsa Village. The philosophical approach of the Kefalonia Program is one of "threading the past with the future". It seeks to combine traditional knowledge with contemporary technologies in order to…

Colleges and universities are growing, and they need new facilities to accommodate this growth. Whether it's space for new academic classrooms, laboratories, dormitories, research centers, business incubators, or space for retail and services necessary for a campus to thrive, college and university business officers are involved in decision-making…