Community Partnership – An Interdisciplinary Approach to Planning for a Better UBC

The Community Partnership project aims to engage UBC students from the School of Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of Social Work, Faculty of Commerce, and other interested students in an interdisciplinary learning opportunity with the Office of Campus Planning. The project will allow students from different areas of study to participate in the evolution of the UBC campus, in relation to the planning and management of the physical environment and the creation of a fully integrated and livable community.

The students will interact with the Community and Land Use Planning group, which exists as a subset of the Office of Campus Planning. Initially, one student will be hired to explore the different areas of Campus Planning that could provide integrated teaming opportunities for the Community Partnership project. Working full-time between May 2002 and August 2002, this individual will develop an action plan for the Community Partnership project. A team of 15 students, working part-time between October 2002 and April 2003, will focus on several key areas of planning at UBC: community building, housing studies, land use management long range strategic planning, and communication of the changes on campus (through Campus Planning web content and campus news sources).

The objectives of the Community Partnership are:

• To establish meaningful and creative employment and mentoring opportunities for students with the Office of Campus Planning.
• To encourage a hands on approach to learning by teaming students with professional planners.
• To facilitate interaction between students from different areas of study.
• To empower students to take on a role in planning their own environment (i.e. the community, the physical campus).
• To enhance students’ personal development, career development, and leadership capacity, significantly improving their future employment opportunities.
• To provide opportunities for further student involvement on projects with Campus Planning, as employees or volunteers; to use the students hired for 2002-2003 as points of contact in the student population.
• To provide opportunities for future partnerships between Campus Planning and various academic programs at UBC, such as SCARP, Social Work, and Commerce.

Fred Pritchard, Director, Planning, Office of Campus Planning and Development