From data to design to decision: a hybrid PBL–SBL studio model for urban informatics and planning education through a human–elephant conflict case in Sri Lanka

Urban planning education increasingly requires students to connect data-intensive analysis with context-sensitive design and defensible decisions. This paper documents a hybrid Problem-Based Learning (PBL)–Studio-Based Learning (SBL) model implemented in the Eco-Sensitive Regional Planning Studio of the BSc (Hons) Urban Informatics and Planning program at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. A single-cohort reflective case study examines how 31 third-year students, working in three groups with support from six academic mentors, addressed Human–Elephant Conflict (HEC) as a complex socio-ecological and spatial planning problem. The studio combined student-led problem framing, individual inquiry, expert engagement, two field immersions, LUCIS-based spatial diagnostics, structured debate, scenario construction, iterative critique, exhibition-style assessment, and professional communication. The revised framework organizes these activities through a Data → Design → Decision logic linking learning activities, evidence, student outputs, and assessment. Evidence reported here is based on module documentation, observable student artifacts and processes, and teaching-team reflection; no causal pre/post comparison is claimed. The case demonstrates how PBL inquiry and SBL iteration can be combined to make the transition from spatial evidence to alternative scenarios and decision-oriented outputs explicit, while identifying implementation conditions including scaffolded autonomy, distributed mentoring, selective blended delivery, and transparent ethics and data-governance procedures. The study offers a reproducible pedagogical design proposition for sustainability-oriented Urban Informatics and Planning education that requires further testing across cohorts and institutional settings.