Global Urban Humanities/Future Histories Lab

Instructor: Jennifer Wolch

Term: Spring 2022

Course #: CYP 291

Why Read This Case Study?

Many graduate students are keenly  interested in urban communities, but many of them miss the opportunity to work directly with community-based partners and/or learn as part of a team working in a studio-based setting. 

In this graduate research studio, Buzz  Studio: Planning Equitable Cities for People and Pollinators, led by urban planner and geographer Jennifer Wolch and botanist and landscape architect Maria Fernandez Gonzalez, students from a variety of disciplines worked with Friends of Peralta Hacienda Historical Park (PHHP), located in  Oakland’s Fruitvale District, on making the neighborhood greener and more pollinator-friendly.  

Students studied the research literature on pollinators – bees, birds, butterflies, bats, and many more – and how to design urban neighborhoods to support them. They also delved into indigenous, colonial, and contemporary social  and landscape history of Oakland, the Fruitvale District, and Peralta Hacienda Park itself. Looking to the future, students also proposed a walking tour; designs to make Fruitvale more pollinator friendly; and pollinator-centric curricula for local schools and PHHP’s youth  education programs. 

Enjoying dedicated studio space, student teams studied historical as well as contemporary maps and plans, and pinned up maps and schematic designs for critique by instructors, students, and visiting experts. This studio-based pedagogy, unfamiliar to many students, exposed them to a learning model based on teamwork, frequent iteration of ideas and interim work products, and continuous feedback from PHHP leadership as well as instructors and  fellow students. 

One of the last research studios in the Global Urban Humanities/Future Histories Lab, Buzz Studio challenged students from diverse disciplines to not only study the city but also to propose strategies in the context of a lively community-university partnership.