Pratt Institute
AC-5: Immersive Experience

The following is a brief list of Immersive Educational Study Programs offered at Pratt Institute. Please see spreadsheet for more information.

INT-702 Exterior Environment w/Exterior Conditions (Spring 2021)
Students are working on design elements for RETI Center Blue City project. Students will meet with director virtually for discussion and tour of the barge site. Students will present projects to RETI at the end of the semester. RETI may build some of the projects they will supply materials and volunteers will build,, if students are in Brooklyn they can volunteer to build projects.
____________

ADE 408/624: Art, Community, and Social Change
Art, Community and Social Change, is a hands-on exploration of urban art and design and their relationship to local communities. Through research and realization of a community-based project in Pratt’s “backyard”—Downtown Brooklyn, Fort Green, Clinton Hill or Bedford Stuyvesant—students will study and work with local community based organizations. Students will explore the following questions as they do their research and work on the community-based project: How do artists, designers, planners, architects and art educators shape and develop a sense of social responsibility at the community level? How do they become informed about and learn from the communities in which they work? How can art and design contribute to community-based efforts to address urban issues such as gentrification, foreclosure, community health, and access to healthy and affordable food?
_________

GCPE: Green Infrastructure Fellowship (ongoing)
Green Infrastructure Fellowship: In 2020-2021 one student fellow was selected to split time during the 10-week Sumer semester, between support for the Summer SES-739 Green Infrastrcuture studio, and work under the guidance of Professor Dr. Paul Mankiewicz on various aspects of green infrastructure planning, design, construction, and maintenance. Sponsored by the Sustainable Environmental Systems program, this Fellowships is linked variously to the Department of Environmental Protection Green Infrastructure work, the National Park Service, not-for profit groups, and other initiatives. In 2020-2021, one GI Fellow supported independent projects by faculty and implementation planning for client-based studio outcomes for 10 weeks.
____________________________________________________________________

GCPE: NYC Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA) fellowships (year long fellows, 2011-2019 and on pause during the pandemic)
In partnership with Pratt Institute, NYC-EJA is recruiting current graduate students in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment to work directly with our member organizations, supporting community planning, outreach, research, GIS, and policy analysis. Positions are open to GCPE Students with an interest in environmental justice, climate resilience, sustainability, racial justice, and community-led planning. Up to six (6) Fellows are placed, based on organizational need and match. One other student works directly with NYC-EJA, often with regard to technical support such as GIS. Fellows will work 1 day per week at the respective organization.
___________________________________
SPECIAL PROJECTS: JAPAN SUMMER STUDY COURSE
Gather. Immerse. Inspire. Tokyo/Kyoto 2020
INT456/656 Summer (version 02.12.20)
Tetsu Ohara: Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Design: Interior Design
Description:
This Interior Design course re-examines the definition of ‘interior space' It is available to all School of Design students. The departments include Industrial, Interior, Fashion and Communication Design. This 6 week immersion course will be held in Tokyo/Kyoto + NYC. At the end of the course, the classes will be held on Brooklyn Campus. And this 2020 program will take place in June in Japan and early July in Brooklyn. This experience is structured in three parts. First the participant will GATHER information about Japanese culture/design/language and choose several research topics on this ephemeral culture in Tokyo. During the stay in Tokyo/Kyoto, they will IMMERSE in series of experiences. And bring those experiences back to NY and work on design proposals that will INSPIRE the world around them.
_______________________________________
(GCPE) SWIM Coalition Fellowship:
The SWIM Coalition Fellow attends SWIM’s meetings with elected officials to discuss waterway steward concerns, attends NYC DEP and NY DEC public meetings with SWIM staff and steering committee to learn about the City’s various water quality improvement plans, attends public hearings where SWIM testifies on green infrastructure and clean waterway related legislation, plans or programs. Fellow also attends and helps coordinate community workshops that SWIM conducts with our member organizations. Fellows with a graphic design skill set can also work on fact sheets and other materials produced for the Clean Water Steward program, and those with GIS skills can help generate maps of project areas where SWIM is supporting Community Action Plans to reduce CSO’s in local waterways. In 2019-2020, one fellow worked for 10 hours a week, for 15 weeks in each of the Fall and Spring semesters.
________________________

Pratt Center for Community Development worked with graduate students to assist with a planning project for East Flatbush, Brooklyn and Brooklyn Community District 17 more broadly. Five (5) student interns worked on this project during the Fall 2019 semester, for 10-15 hours a week. Pratt students worked closely with a selected cohort of local high school students by helping to design a community engagement process that the high schoolers can participate in, helping to train them to conduct outreach, supporting their community engagement efforts in the field, and by exposing them to the field and practice of community-based planning.