Abstract

A disconnect between academic training and practical application continues to challenge contemporary professional practice in the fields of design and planning. Academic programs often emphasize theoretical knowledge, whereas practice-oriented curricula frequently lack substantive theoretical depth or conceptual development. This gap between theory and practice undermines professional competence: practitioners tend to apply established solutions to well-defined problems grounded in theoretical instrumental assumptions, yet they are often unprepared to engage with contextual complexity and diverse value systems. Within this framework, the article explores the concepts of reflective practice and fourfold knowledge as methodological tools for integrating scientific knowledge with subjective experience and values. Drawing on a collaborative design project—a public shade structure (pati) in Chobhar, Nepal—the article examines how knowledge is generated in contexts shaped by diverse value systems to achieve favorable outcomes. The findings suggest that a practitioner’s reflection is shaped by value-related knowledge, which co-evolves through collaborative processes within specific social contexts and is normatively oriented toward human action. Therefore, professional training should cultivate the ability to develop normatively grounded justifications that support systematic collective reflection and the effective application of scientific knowledge in practice.