Introduction to the Special Issue: Universities designing with and learning from communities’

This special issue explores the evolving field of university-based, community-engaged urban design. With roots in the 1960s social justice movements, universities have engaged with their surrounding communities with design practices in various forms, from discrete studios to multi-year partnerships and even full Community Design Centers. Contributions to this issue highlight both the promise and pitfalls of these collaborations, as they can foster a symbiosis of democratic design and experiential learning, but also risk reproducing extractive and inequitable practices. The articles advance new theoretical frameworks, ranging from instrumental design to retro-afro-futurism, and ground these frameworks in case studies from North America, China, and beyond. They reveal various ways to leverage the pedagogical power of engaging students with lived community realities, while simultaneously discussing the oft-prickly political and institutional dimensions of this engagement. The issue emphasizes the importance of long-term commitment, understanding agency and equity, and continuous methodological innovations to ensure that universities design with and learn from communities in transformative, just, and sustainable ways.