This summer, 15 Environmental Design students spent six weeks abroad in Italy for the Rome Global Seminar, led by Assistant Clinical Professor Marianne Holbert. It's been over a year and a half since the Urban Site Analysis and Design seminar gathered and traveled abroad due to restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 global pandemic. 

"It was a celebration of the return of experiential learning," Assistant Clinical Professor Marianne Holbert said. "Being together, even with face masks on, was a delight. We did not take for granted the ability to be in the same moment–to hear the same sounds, to share laughter and to discuss our mutual experiences."

Holbert's seminar experienced the city of Rome during a time that was "virtually devoid" of tourists and travelers. Students visited sites such as the Pantheon, Colosseum and Vatican. Academic excursions included the towns of Tivoli, Siena, Montepulciano, Pienza, Sabaudia and San Felice Circeo. The group also attended a chair-building workshop that focused on the work of the Milanese designer Enzo Mari at the Appia Antica Park. 

While Holbert admits that selecting one memory or highlight from the trip would be difficult, she reminisced of their time at Appia Antica Park. The group found themselves in a mausoleum where they were able to reflect and discuss their experiences abroad.

"Discussing our experiences in Rome and living abroad in this context was unlike any other teaching experience I have ever had," Holbert said. "I will hold onto that moment and memory to revisit in years to come. I am reminded of the value of teaching courses like these, where the dialogue with the world, culture and one another becomes enriching in ways that no other constructed academic environment or prescribed format can ever offer."

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Global Seminar: The Medellin Practicum/Studio (Medellin, Colombia)

Register for the for an informal information session about our ENVD Colombia global seminar, which will be offered during summer 2021. 

Tuesday, January 26, from 2-3 p.m.

The Zoom rooms are meant to be informal and serve as a time for students to ask faculty directors questions to get a better feel for the program. The format is drop-ins.

Zoom link: . 

Applications are open
Applications are now open for the Global Seminar: The Medellin Practicum/Studio (Medellin, Colombia). Learn about planning and urban design methodologies in the innovative Colombian city of Medellín. Engage with a marginalized community, working side by side with community members in the production of a plan for neighborhood development. Integrate with locals by living with a host family and participating in a ‘buddy’ program with other university students. Earn 9 credits while taking two exciting courses: a practicum/studio and complimentary seminar.

Deadline to apply: March 1, 2021

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In summer 2018, 12 Environmental Design students participated in our Medellín, Colombia Global Seminar, a six-week program abroad. It is a hands-on planning studio that collaborates directly with the community of Manantiales, helping to define, design and develop infrastructure projects that can be used to improve the quality of life in their community. The overall goal of the studio is for students to understand the potential impact of the project. Alongside students and faculty from the Facultad Arquitectura Universidad Nacional, ENVD students develop and refine their design skills to understand and work with members of a community in need. A faculty grant from the Office for Outreach and Engagement sponsored on-site work. 

An info session for the 2019 Medellín, Colombia Global Seminar will take place in ENVD 102 on October 18, at 5:30 p.m. 

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In January, Assistant Professor Shawhin Roudbari traveled to Santiago, Chile with ENVD undergraduate research assistants Alicia Gonzales and Kristina Lu. The trio conducted fieldwork on social justice and activism in design through visual experience and interviews with various architects, planners and professors.

A month before the trip, the team identified a list of people to interview. This allowed them the opportunity to meet with Founder and Editor in Chief, David Basulto.

“They have a huge influence and responsibility to help shape the architecture world, but I had no idea that the global impact was so great,” Lu said about ArchDaily.

Roudbari, Gonzales and Lu made their way to Valparaíso, the second largest metropolitan area in Chile, known as a global hotbed of community activism.

“I think the context is the first part of understanding social justice and activism,” Gonzales said. “The city itself is already telling you with graffiti and murals that there is something here people want to say, and they’re saying it through drawings and pictures, etc…”

For Roudbari, the context of Santiago is much different from what’s available in �鶹ӰԺ. The experience allowed for a better understanding of global perspectives, culture and societies.

“Trips like this, I think are valuable, because not only do we see it and feel it… but, we also take a little bit of that culture back to our program and share with each other.” Roudbari said. 

The larger, overall project will last 3-5 years for Roudbari. His ultimate goal is in the works and will showcase the global perspectives on political engagement in design. But for now, he believes the trip was most successful in other ways.

“Part of the thing I’m excited about and that I value is that it lives on in their [Gonzales and Lu] lives, and they take those lessons with them,” Roudbari said.

After the trip, Gonzales and Lu enrolled in an independent study with Roudbari to code, analyze and find notable themes in their data. The findings will be used in, what Roudbari categorized in three different areas, “teaching, research and student’s lives.”

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