Design-Build: teaching landscape design through applied theory and practice

Green infrastructures represent fundamental elements in designing solutions to promote resilient territories. The involvement of the users and local community members that these infrastructures serve is a process resulting in responsive designs that meet the user’s real needs, increase comprehension about these systems and, consequently, their use, respect, and maintenance. This work incorporates the experience of co-designing and implementing a community garden within the monumental complex of San Pietro in Perugia (Italy). To achieve these outcomes an innovative methodology (Design-Build) was adopted, which completed the design and construction by an interdisciplinary team made up of 4 professors from three different Universities and 25 students belonging to various degree courses and different nationalities, led by Prof. Daniel Winterbottom of the University of Washington. The stakeholders of the project were the inhabitants of the neighborhood, non-profit mental health organizations, pensioners, students, and professors. The project duration was ten weeks: two weeks of community engagement and co-design and eight of construction. The main results were the creation of an accessible shared space, diverse gardening opportunities, additional spaces of social exchange, performance, craft activities and the achievement of important educational objectives. Service learning and Problem-based learning are integral components of the Design-Build method, enabling students to navigate the multifaceted dimensions of messy, real-life complexity. This approach empowers students to leverage acquired skills and competencies in a tangible, impactful manner, bridging the gap between theoretical understanding and practical implementation, developing technical knowledge and practical skills, and fostering cooperation, empathy, providing community service, and recognition and navigation of the complexities of the real world.