South Africa faces a multitude of social, economic and environmental challenges, which require well-considered planning efforts. However, the efficacy of the built environment professions to adequately plan for the current and future populations can to some extent be questioned. Factors that are arguably responsible for the failure of the professions to achieve the desired outcomes include the following: (1) the inability of professionals to comprehensively analyse community problems and (2) although the various professions might work on the same issues, they largely fail to transcend disciplinary boundaries. This state of affairs can in part be linked to the role of higher education, which is in a good position to equip future professionals with the skills required for the analysis of diverse societal problems. In spite of the importance of education and training, there is a paucity of literature that explore ways in which the South African higher education sector instils transdisciplinary thinking and, accordingly, imparts the requisite soft skills to students. Using the case study of Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, the aim of this article was to present efforts that are pursued towards instilling transdisciplinarity in students. The efforts revolve around community service-learning pedagogy, which grants students a platform to work in close collaboration with communities. In the process, students and community members develop an in-depth understanding of the community’s problems and how they could be collectively resolved.
South Africa is characterised by a myriad of social, economic and environmental challenges, which include,
The inability to achieve the intended objectives can, in part, be linked to the role of the higher education sector, which is entrusted with the responsibility of training professionals who can tackle multifaceted societal problems head-on. It therefore stands to reason that the sector is in a good position to equip future professionals with the skills required to analyse and appreciate the multidimensional societal problems. Relatedly, the higher education sector is expected to train students in ways that instil collaborative thinking and practice. With specific reference to urban and regional planning, Duminy et al. (
In spite of the undeniable importance of education and training, there is limited literature on ways in which the South African higher education sector instils transdisciplinarity, and accordingly imparts the requisite soft skills to students. This gap particularly exists in the context of the built environment and allied disciplines. Using a case study of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in Cape Town, South Africa, the aim of this article is to, at least in part, contribute towards filling that gap by presenting efforts that are currently undertaken to instil transdisciplinarity in students. As discussed herein, the efforts presented are not claimed to be the so-called best practice but are merely the beginning of a journey towards transdisciplinary teaching and learning. The article is specifically centred on community service-learning (henceforth used interchangeably with service-learning) as a vehicle for transdisciplinary education.
Transdisciplinarity is becoming a catchword that is increasingly difficult to define, constituting what Nicolescu (
Hadorn et al. (
Although there is no consensus in the literature, the distinguishing characteristics of transdisciplinarity from the associated concepts are: (1) it integrates the disciplines with non-academic actors (see Palmer, Owens & Sparks
Typically occurring in the context of community–university partnerships, community service-learning affords students an opportunity to work with communities on projects. It familiarises students with socially contingent modes of knowledge generation (Elwood
The South African higher education system requires that Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) incorporate community engagement as one of the pillars alongside teaching and learning, and research (Hall
Before discussing the community service-learning initiative, which is the subject of this article, it is pertinent to provide a snapshot of the literature on transdisciplinary education. Although they are not easy to isolate, the overview focusses specifically on transdisciplinary education as opposed to transdisciplinary research. Furthermore, the discussion focusses on HEIs as opposed to schools (e.g. Woest
As with the ambiguity regarding the definition of transdisciplinarity relative to the associated concepts, Nash (
It stands to reason that there is a wide gap between the environment where students are trained and the contexts they are expected to work within upon qualifying. At university, training is typically geared towards discipline-specific qualifications under the guidance of mentors in given disciplines, although the students are ultimately required to understand and solve transdisciplinary problems (McClam & Flores-Scott
There are various approaches to transdisciplinary education that are advanced in the literature, while acknowledging that individual disciplines do not necessarily vanish (see the case of CPUT presented herein). The following approaches (which are also relevant to other modes of integrative training) can be highlighted: firstly, it is typically recommended that students enrol in courses or subjects in a wide range of disciplines, while developing a solid background in one (Bradbeer
It cannot be claimed that the list of approaches above is exhaustive, and Stokols et al. (
McDaniels and Skogsberg (
Obstacles to transdisciplinary education (and the associated modes of disciplinary collaboration) that are highlighted in the literature include the following: (1) challenges emerge when there is a clash between the natural learning of the students and the approaches used in various disciplines. (2) The learning of the values, culture, language and so on of various disciplines can be confusing and frustrating to students. (3) Students have to learn to operate in the ambiguous environment between the disciplines, which is an unknown space that is overseen by the educator, who might also feel lost. (4) It can be frustrating for the students to engage with unfamiliar community members and counterparts from other disciplines. (5) The engagement in various disciplines can result in a fear of loss of disciplinary identity (Bradbeer
In light of the overview of concepts and literature presented above, this section delineates attempts towards transdisciplinary education at CPUT’s Department of Town and Regional Planning. It is important to note that the efforts presented herein were not strictly designed according to the prescripts of transdisciplinary training projects. Similarly, the initiatives were not designed as research projects but were merely conceived as ways of training students through community engagement. Community engagement at CPUT involves collaboration with individuals, groups and organisations, outside of CPUT, wherein particular economic and social objectives are pursued. Engaged teaching and learning initiatives, volunteerism, research, cooperative education and community service-learning are employed in these interactions (Scheepers
It should be noted that currently, although the academic structure of CPUT allows students to enrol in subjects across academic departments, and even across faculties, such cross-fertilisation is not a common practice, and it is not promoted in earnest. This apparent lack of coordination creates a barrier to the implementation of various approaches to transdisciplinary education advanced by, among others, Klein (
As a point of entry into community service-learning, in 2010, the Department of Town and Regional Planning released five students to participate in the Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading (VPUU) programme in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Violence Prevention through Urban Upgrading aims to develop safe, integrated and sustainable communities through area-based community development programmes. It is a partnership between the City of Cape Town municipality, international agencies and non-governmental organisations. Notably, there was no written partnership agreement between the department, the community and other organisations involved in the project, so the participation of students was essentially voluntary. Unfortunately, the apparent lack of support from other stakeholders (and confusion on the role of the university) resulted in the students becoming despondent and finally withdrawing from the project (Pinfold
In 2012, the Department of Town and Regional Planning participated in the Flamingo Crescent informal settlement upgrade in Lansdowne, Cape Town (see Pinfold
Since 2014, the department has been involved in the Goedverwacht Moravian Mission Station community service-learning project, and also commenced work on St Mark’s Church (District Six) baptismal records mapping project in 2018. The two projects integrate students and academic staff of different departments (across faculties) at CPUT. At some stage, the St Mark’s Church project also included students (enrolled in diverse courses) from the University of Michigan, USA. Goedverwacht and St Mark’s projects are at least in part transdisciplinary in their approach given that a shared conceptual framework (which draws on the concepts and approaches of various disciplines) is used to analyse community dynamics. Prefaced with a note on ethics, the Goedverwacht Moravian Mission Station project is presented hereunder.
This article followed all ethical standards for a research. Service-learning activities at CPUT are administered through the policy and procedures for community engagement. If departments pursue research-specific community engagement activities, then formal ethical clearance approval is needed. As mentioned before, Goedverwacht Mission Station initiative was not designed as a research project. As such, no research proposal was submitted to CPUT for ethical clearance. It should nonetheless be noted that the initiative was scrutinised by the relevant units of CPUT, and ultimately registered by the university as a service-learning project. The registration was followed by the signing of a memorandum of agreement by the various stakeholders. In light of a grey area on what constitutes ‘ethical clearance’ in this regard, the presentation below does not include details that may raise ethical questions, namely, names of community members, student names, photographs or any work that emanated from the project. The narrative merely reports on the teaching and learning methods used and processes followed.
Established in 1889, Goedverwacht Moravian Mission Station is a communal village located in Bergriver local municipality, approximately 150 km north of Cape Town, in the Western Cape province (
Location of Goedverwacht Moravian Mission station.
An official of the Bergriver local municipality approached CPUT’s service-learning unit, requesting the university to assist the community of Goedverwacht Moravian Mission Station with planning-related matters. The community required assistance particularly because the Bergriver municipal spatial development framework did not have concrete development proposals pertaining to Goedverwacht. This was the case because, as noted above, Goedverwacht is not under the jurisdiction of the municipality. At the time, the expectation was that CPUT would, among others, prepare a plan (i.e. spatial development framework) for the settlement. The service-learning unit then asked the Department of Town and Regional Planning and other departments at CPUT to step in and lend a helping hand.
The Goedverwacht project was thus envisaged to be an interdisciplinary initiative involving multiple faculties and departments. The intention was that the project would encourage a partnership between departments to explore issues and integrate disciplinary perspectives. It became evident that a transdisciplinary approach was emerging, which combined community’s wisdom with students’ elementary knowledge. Engagement with non-academic communities requires breaking down of disciplinary boundaries to address the fragmented manner in which students favour their disciplines rather than learning beyond the university curricula. The community also developed a sense that they had control over the outcomes and processes followed by students. It is hoped that the project will have a long-term impact for the community, such as awareness of public policy, land reform and access to community services. The underlying core value of the project is social justice.
The Goedverwacht community service-learning project was inaugurated in July 2014, with a meeting between Bergrivier local municipality, Goedverwacht community (represented by the church) and a group of service-learning coordinators from various departments at CPUT. An official of the Bergrivier municipality, who grew up on the Goedverwacht Mission Station, arranged that meeting. Instead of convening a community meeting, it was understood that the church leadership would subsequently apprise the community of CPUT’s anticipated role in the community.
One of the crucial elements of community–university partnerships is a carefully crafted and co-signed agreement, which specifies activities to be conducted (see Ball
Following preliminary conversations with the community, it was confirmed that Goedverwacht Mission Station had no cadastral boundaries, which is a characteristic that acted as a stumbling block to development, particularly the installation of bulk infrastructural services (water, sewer, storm water and electricity). Relatedly, it was also discovered that the community did not have a basic map that showed, among others, a layout of the settlement. Given these revelations, and in consultation with the community, it was established that the immediate need was to compile a map towards determining the cadastral boundaries. Notably, the immediate focus was no longer the preparation of a spatial development framework per the original expectation.
A conventional way of addressing the problem of cadastral boundaries would be for the experts to use topographical maps and aerial photographs of the settlement (supplemented with other secondary material and site visits) to decide on the logical property boundaries that comply with the technical and legal requirements for formal land registration. However, as elaborated below, instead of the said technical exercise, the Department of Town and Regional Planning opted for what is arguably a transdisciplinary approach that involved community members and students enrolled in various courses. This approach had characteristics of qualitative geographic information system (GIS), which incorporated various forms of knowledge, new practices and knowledge production through reflexive methods (Elwood & Cope
In accordance with the service-learning agreement, the Goedverwacht Mission Station initiative involved students and academic staff from the faculties of informatics and design (Department of Town and Regional Planning), and engineering and built environment (Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying). Under the supervision of academic staff, students collaborated with community members to better understand the
Between 2014 and 2018, a total of 539 students participated in the initiative (see
Number of students involved in the Goedverwacht project between 2014 and 2018.
Faculty | Department | Number of students |
---|---|---|
Informatics and Design | Town and Regional Planning | 166 |
Engineering and Built Environment | Construction Management and Quantity Surveying | 370 |
Business | Management and Project Management | 3 |
Students from the various departments (as noted above) worked together on the project in groups varying in size from 12 to 24 members wherein only one group per week visited the community. Each group (including the academic staff) was bussed from CPUT’s District Six and Bellville campuses to Goedverwacht Mission Station where they spent 1 day with the community. The average age of first-year students was 19 years, with most students beginning their tertiary education directly after high school.
Upon arrival at Goedverwacht, students would congregate at the village centre referred to as the
With the input of community members, the project facilitated the gathering of geospatial information into a simple database and map, which can in the future be used by the community and other stakeholders for planning purposes. As noted earlier, the purpose of the mapping exercise was to establish cadastral boundaries at an accuracy that was not necessarily constrained by technical and legal requirements for formal land registration. Property boundaries were determined based on a combination of the knowledge of the residents, visible physical topographies captured using mobile GIS/global positioning systems (GPSs), smartphone data-gathering and application software, and aerial photography captured with a drone. The geographic data were stored in an ArcGIS computer program’s geo-database where it could be readily accessed and updated by the students and/or staff. The intention was to ultimately equip and empower community representatives with elementary GIS skills so that they could view and update the database themselves as well as pass the skill to other community members.
During the aforesaid data collection process, students were exposed to a unique experience, which required a sense of responsibility towards the community. Reflective sessions before, during and after engagement provided a means to measure changes in the students’ knowledge. It also granted the students time and space to critically reflect on their experience and understand the relevance of the project to their learning in the classroom. The main form of reflection was where students told stories (orally and pictorially) about their experience. During these sessions, students began to understand that impressions and ideas vary and that not everyone would necessarily have a positive feedback. Individual reflective essays were also presented, outlining what students had performed and what they intended to do in the future. The final submission was a portfolio, which included maps (compiled in GIS) accompanied by statistics, graphs and the associated analysis.
In summary, the mapping process taught the students communication, collaboration and mapping skills.
A summary of expectations before and after transdisciplinary collaboration.
Participants | Expected contribution | Outcome |
---|---|---|
Department of Town and Regional Planning |
Community profiling and mapping |
Engineering and urban and regional planning students collaborated with the community members. This process replaced the traditional (categorical) method of data collection with a more responsive and context-sensitive approach. |
Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying |
Inventory of existing infrastructure and services |
|
Community of Goedverwacht Moravian Mission Station |
Tacit knowledge (e.g. the history and dynamics of the community) |
Given the apparent inability of the built environment and the allied disciplines to contribute meaningfully towards solving societal problems, it is believed that the higher education sector can play a significant role in grooming graduates who are able to tackle complex social, economic and environmental problems head-on. It stands to reason that transdisciplinarity is one of the skills that can be imparted in this regard. A number of approaches to transdisciplinary education are advanced in the literature, including a call for students to enrol in a variety of subjects that are beyond the ambit of one’s discipline. The article extends the literature by reflecting on how community service-learning can be used as a vehicle for instilling transdisciplinary skills in students. The article does not claim that the work presented herein is best practice; instead, it is a reflective, retrospective account of engaging transdisciplinary studies with the intention of instilling transdisciplinarity in higher education curriculum. The primary aim of the Goedverwacht Mission Station community service-learning project was to produce a cadastral map of the settlement’s property boundaries. It was intended that the map would prepare the community for land tenure reform through a community-driven land rights enquiry. The map also provided residents with a visual account of community assets. Students from different faculties and departments worked together and shared their disciplinary skills. Town planning students responded to community challenges with particular reference to the social, economic and natural resources. Their focus centred on community dynamics and community participation. Students from the Department of Construction Management and Quantity Surveying focussed more on the cost, procurement and management of construction projects and property development. Students and community members were collectively able to identify a shared vision of engagement and empowerment. This transdisciplinary learning approach allowed students to collectively unravel the social undercurrents of communal life and share disciplinary perspectives to achieve co-production of analytical and problem-solving skills.
In the post-apartheid era, South African HEIs are called upon to commit to community service-learning initiatives. Cape Peninsula University of Technology academics have accordingly embarked on service-learning pedagogy in an attempt to provide students with an in-depth appreciation of social, economic, environmental and physical problems and aspirations of communities. However, the academics question the value of service-learning pedagogy in providing a service (with immediate tangible benefits) to a community during engaged scholarship learning. Community service-learning projects at CPUT have provided evidence that service-learning provides an opportunity for students to learn practical skills, while community members benefit from the awareness created. People who live in communal settlements have a direct and immediate interest in their space and identify with the place they live in. The general assumption is that the mapping provides an approach, which empowers community members to realise their own development potential. Knowledge production in this instance is socially constructed and mediated locally.
University–community engagement should not only be seen as an opportunity for students to learn by contributing towards solving problems in a community but should also provide a more reflective scholarly approach where students are exposed to deeper issues than merely preconceived problems. The complexity of societal undercurrents requires a transdisciplinary approach to community service-learning where cooperation between disciplines results in co-production of knowledge and shared outcomes. Co-constructed knowledge generated by university students and community partners provides perspectives that can be integrated to provide a holistic understanding of community dynamics. This project shows that community service-learning is flexible and can accommodate multiple disciplines and provide meaningful service to communities. The positive progress of the Goedverwacht community service-learning project at CPUT indeed points to a pedagogy, which could encompass transdisciplinary learning to enrich scholarship and provide civic responsibility.
The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.
All authors contributed equally to this work.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.
The built environment and allied professions include, among others, urban and regional planning, engineering, construction management, architecture and quantity surveying.
Re-blocking is an
Mission towns were established in South Africa to provide housing for the marginalised in society where they could live under the guidance of the church. In the Western Cape province, mission stations provided a sheltered existence to people who were mainly former slaves and Khoisan pastoralists deprived of their land (Fransen 2006).