ABSTRACT
Urban design is a professionally oriented field and it is the norm for most students who study urban design to have the goal of becoming professional practitioners. Within urban design study programs, they learn by gaining new knowledge and by applying that knowledge to problem-solving; by self-criticism and that of their teachers and colleagues; by trying out their creative ideas and getting responses to them from professors, professionals, community activists, and others. Anticipating graduation, they want to know what might be expected of them as professionals and they want to have the skills necessary to get a job in either public agencies or private consulting firms. Studios have long been a part of urban design education because they incorporate these types of learning. In studio, students bring together all they are learning in their other courses and grapple with how to make use of that knowledge as a professional. The best studios take qualitative and quantitative learning and direct it to the activity of making urban design proposals for specific places, responding to complex existing conditions and community needs, with the goal of creating good urban environments as defined through the considered weighing of competing values. As well, they encourage both collaborative and individual creative work. This experience approximates best urban design practice. Studios let students know what might be expected of them as professionals and gives them some experience of professional work.
