MISSION     Who We Are  We are an interdisciplinary group of faculty at the University of Washington that seeks to enhance learning and community well-being through participatory research and design processes. Drawing on faculty from the university's professional, social science, and humanities programs, we strive to engage in transformational partnerships with K-12 schools, industry, and neighborhood organizations. We are especially interested in partnerships that utilize the need for constructing new physical facilities as a catalyst for organizational change. Our overarching goal is to utilize participative processes to create democratic learning communities--in the university and beyond--while also sparking theory-building and policy-making nationally on this topic. Through collaborative teaching, research, and service, we aspire to bring about systemic change in communities, especially those serving children and families with limited access and untapped talents.   Our Values We believe that a rich understanding of sociocultural and environmental issues requires interdisciplinary and inclusive dialogue. We believe that respectful relationships with nature and with each other can enhance the human spirit, imagination, and intellect. We believe that engagement with cultural and esthetic artifacts are fundamental to individual and community development. We believe that all individuals and communities have the ability--and responsibility--to shape their own surroundings. And we believe that joy is a vital component of learning and community well-being.   Our Methodogy We seek to integrate our teaching, research, and service activities, drawing from the disciplines of architecture, education, industrial design, landscape architecture, psychology, public health and community medicine, and social work. These activities focus on   Environment as the linked sociocultural and physical context of human development, Education as the formal and informal learning that underlies all forms of human development, Design as the process of shaping human experience within sociocultural and physical contexts, and Studies as the development and application of theory.     Our Teaching Our courses help students gain insights into new professional roles and ways of working with communities--especially those that are distanced from the mainstream due to poverty, race, or ethnicity. Students in design and nondesign disciplines can learn to create spaces for communities, but they can also learn to work with them, enabling both children and adults to create their own schools and communities. Ee convene design charrettes that bring children and adults together with university students, faculty, and distinguished practitioners to generate alternative models for a school or community.   Our Research Our scholarship focuses on children, place, and the educational opportunities placemaking creates. Faculty Affiliates document children's perceptions of their neighborhoods and attempt to understand the adult and institutional support children need to become engaged citizens. We look at the design process, particularly the design charrette, as a participative process that creates more meaningful schools and communities, while encouraging the creative growth of those involved. And we seek to develop a theory-based methods for teaching the public about design. Our students may undertake their own independent research in these areas.   Our Service Our outreach uses a community-service-learning model to bring design excellence to local schools and communities, while enriching university students' professional education. We provide oversight for students wishing to conduct classroom design activities that enhance children's environmental awareness and competence to influence their surroundings. Some outreach activities last only a few hours; others extend over a month or an entire year. Students may undertake outreach activities for credit, through an endowed internship, as externally funded projects, or in collaboration with local design offices.