Antonio Raciti: Embracing the Unfamiliar: Bridging Knowledge and Action through International Planning Pedagogy

Cornell in Rome Spring 2025 Lecture Series

Abstract

Planning scholarship widely acknowledges that the field of Planning operates at the intersection of knowledge and action. However, translating newly generated knowledge into effective planning processes and outcomes remains a persistent challenge, particularly for practitioners tasked with bridging this gap. As future professionals, Planning students navigate an academic journey aimed at developing the capacity to generate knowledge, interpret complex realities, and envision future possibilities.

This challenge is further intensified in international learning planning experiences, where students engage with unfamiliar planning contexts that expand their understanding of urban phenomena beyond their home environments. Drawing on a decade-long experience in international planning education, this talk explores how to create a space of encounter where students, educators, and community members collaboratively engage at the knowledge-action interface. It examines pedagogical approaches that facilitate critical engagement, experiential learning, and mutual exchange, ultimately strengthening students' ability to apply planning knowledge in unfamiliar contexts and their country of origin.

Bio

Antonio Raciti is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and Community Development at the School for the Environment, UMass Boston. His research takes a transdisciplinary and collaborative approach, actively engaging community groups and stakeholders in contexts of power asymmetry. Through this work, he seeks to address place-based challenges and contribute to advancing theory and practice in housing, environmental stewardship, community development, and design policies. He is currently involved in community-based projects in the Boston area (MA, USA) and Eastern Sicily (Italy). In addition to teaching courses in urban planning, he codirects the Community Planning and Ecological Design (CoPED) International Summer School in Eastern Sicily.