Course Syllabus

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The European Urban Experience:

Why Cities Matter C

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Photo: R.M.Hess

Semester & Location:

Fall 2024 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:

Core Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:

Urban Studies, Urban Design, Urban Policy
Prerequisite(s):

Some classes will be spent visiting sites via bicycle, so confidence in cycling is mandatory.  
Faculty:

Mathilde Riou (current students please reach out to faculty via Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:

Thurs 14:50-17:45 in F24-402


Description of Course

Cities are both creative and destructive friction machines, full of contradictory tensions, goals, and visions about what constitutes the good life. This course is an introduction to the driving forces of this friction within a European context, including social, economic, environmental, technical, cultural, historical, and spatial influences.

The main goal of the course is to provide a connection between theory and practice, between thinking and making. The texts we will read provide our theoretical framework. The sites we will visit in Copenhagen, the Øresund Region and Paris, will be our case studies serving as points of departure for reflections on criteria and indicators of urban quality and what makes for cities, for better or for worse.

Learning Objectives

This course aims to offer an understanding of:

  • The fields and paradigms of European urban configuration, design and planning
  • Main drivers of historical and contemporary European urban development
  • The role of culture, infrastructure, urban governance and the built environment in shaping a city
  • The complex relationship between the various scales of the urban experience
  • The relationship between theory and practice in urban development through the application of critical thinking

Faculty

Mathilde Riou
MSc (Urban Studies, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, 2017). MSc (Urban Planning, National Institute of Applied Sciences, Lyon, France, 2016) BSc. (Civil Engineering, National Institute of Applied Sciences, Lyon, France, 2014). Founder of The Urban Mycelium, focusing on visual tools and facilitation for placemaking. Previously worked as a project manager and process consultant in a French firm specialized in participatory approaches and citizen engagement for urban projects (at different scales and for both public and private clients). Active leader member of Placemaking Europe since 2017 and co-initiator of a regional network for Danish-based placemakers in 2023. 

Readings & References

There is no physical textbook to be picked up during arrival workshop.

References are by and large on-line, either via Canvas or links.

Key sources include:

Other sources:

  • City of Copenhagen 
    • A Metropolis for People: Visions and Goals for Urban Life in Copenhagen 2015, 2009.
    • City of Copenhagen. Copenhagen Climate Adaptation Plan: Copenhagen Carbon Neutral by 2025, Oct. 2011
    • City of Copenhagen. Copenhagen Climate Projects, Annual Report, 2015
  • Hess, Regitze Marianne. #1 City to Live In Copenhagen, Metropolis Magazine, Sept. 2016.
  • Exploring Copenhagen. Scale Denmark, 2018. 
  • Atlas of the Copenhagens. Ruby Press 2018.
  • Gehl, Jan & Gehl Architects www.gehlpeople.com 
  • LSE, Shaping Cities in an Urban Age 2018.
  • The Guardian - Cities https://www.theguardian.com/cities 

Field Studies and Study Tours

Field studies and study tours, together with walks and talks, form an integral part of the course to support our understanding of the qualities of cities and how they have come about, how they can be improved and how they can be sustained. 

Field Studies

During the course of the semester, there are 2 half-day field studies to somewhere in Greater Copenhagen.

Core Course Week and Study Tours

Core Course week and study tours are an integral part of the core course as we take the classroom on the road and see how theory presented in the classroom is translated into practice in the field. You will travel with your classmates and DIS faculty/staff on two study tours; a short study tour during Core Course Week to Malmö, Helsingborg and Helsingør, and a long study tour to Paris in France.  

CCW: Core Course Week

9th - 10th Sep = CCW in Copenhagen
12th - 14th Sep = Short study tour to Malmö, Helsingborg and Helsingør

The focus of the CCW is cities as harbors and the Øresund region, visiting Copenhagen, Malmö, Helsingborg and Helsingør. 

CCW will start with explorations of Copenhagen's formation, transformation and co-creation past, present and future. 

The second part of CCW involves a tour to Malmö, Helsingborg, and Helsingør. These cities not only boast diverse harborscapes and unique identities, but they also provide a glimpse into the Øresund Region — a cross-border metropolitan area encompassing Sjælland and Bornholm in Denmark, along with the Swedish region Skåne. Before the Øresund Bridge was inaugurated in 2000, ferries were the main mode of transport between Denmark and Sweden, particularly the route between Helsingborg and Helsingør. Our journey, combining train and ferry rides, will allow us to experience this interconnectedness in a loop within the Øresund Region.

LST: Long Study Tour - Paris

Sun Oct 6 - Fri Oct 11 = LST Paris

For the long study tour we will discover Paris in a way that goes beyond the typical tourist experience.
We'll explore the city's many layers, from its rich history to its vibrant cultural, architectural, and societal dimensions.

Our journey includes neighborhood tours to understand the city's planning, visits to suburbs to explore urban and social challenges and modernist architecture, and discussions about the impact of large-scale events such as the Summer 24 Olympic Games. We'll see Paris from the water with a boat tour on the Seine and Canal Saint-Martin, and visit repurposed vacant buildings and brownfields turned into dynamic third-places for creatives. With local experts, we'll explore the role of arts and culture in public spaces, the development of bicycle infrastructure and behaviour, and participatory urbanism. 

Paris, with its mix of beauty, heritage and contemporary challenges, provides a fascinating backdrop for understanding the complexities of a modern metropolis. This tour will offer a condensed yet comprehensive glimpse into the capital's many layers.

Expectations for Study Tours

  • Participate in all activities
  • Engage in discussions, ask questions, and contribute to achieving the learning objectives
  • Respect the destination, the speakers, DIS staff, and your fellow classmates
  • Represent yourself, your home university and DIS in a positive light

While on a program study tour DIS will provide hostel/hotel accommodation, transportation to/from the destination(s), approx. 2 meals per day and entrances, guides, and visits relevant to your area of study or the destination. You will receive a more detailed itinerary prior to departure.

Travel policies: You are required to travel with your group to the destination. If you have to deviate from the group travel plans, you need approval from the program director and the study tours office.   

Approach to Teaching

The class meets 9 back-to-back double sessions (= to 18 sessions) during the semester.

Talks, walks, site visits, sounds & visions, readings and other references, travel logs and dialogues form the basis of an investigation of European urban experiences. References support the understanding of urban observations and experiences, and are worthy of review in stride with class sessions. Students are encouraged to draw on and share own experiences of cities. 

Copenhagen will serve as a living classroom and will be traversed and discussed in juxtaposition with various European cities. Cities are a collective effort. This course will involve collaborative group work and analysis and understanding features of European cities and urban criteria which indicate and account for urban quality.

Expectations of the Students

This is not a traditional lecture course. Classes will be conducted both in the classroom and out and about in the context of the city. It relies on:

  • Experiencing the European city full on, together as a class, and on your own,
  • Recording and reporting your urban observations and experiences
  • Critical reading and analysis
  • In-class discussions: sharing your urban experiences and observations 
  • Reflections and recommendations 

You are expected to engage and participate actively in class discussions, coming to class prepared with questions with points of departure in the readings or references.

📖 Each student is to keep a logbook - in the form of a notebook, journal, record of images and/or recordings - capturing your observations, experiences, and critical analysis of readings and references. Excerpts from your logbooks will form a basis for your assignments. 

Overall grades depend on an engaged, informed, and highly active participation in class discussion.

Evaluation

Participation 
Individual participation, preparation of questions, in-class presentations and engaged and active study tour participation.

Travel Logs: Recording European Urban Experiences 

Consists of recorded & written documentation of observations from the field, on site visits, field studies and/or study tours, in the the form or notebook excerpts, either submitted at direct notebook scanning and/or as one pagers, registering learning points from the site visits, field studies and study tours, specifying urban features and urban challenges and solutions experienced in the field, referencing pertinent course readings. Documentation may include illustrations in the form of photos, images or sketches.

Final - Tackling Urban Challenges & Why Cities Matter 

The final assignment involves analyzing a site in your hometown or another familiar location facing urban challenges. This is where you demonstrate that you have learned to understand urban environments and critically assess urban challenges.

Your task is to assess the site and present one key challenge in-depth, supported by research, quantitative / qualitative data and course readings. You will then propose three strategies to address this challenge, inspired by best practices from cities visited and studied during the semester. Your findings will be presented in a 10-minute oral presentation accompanied with maps, charts, photos and/or sketches.

Grading

Assignment

Percent
Participation: individual engagement & attendance,  including preparation & participation in group discussions and activities

20%

Travel Log 1: Recording European Urban Experiences: Comparing harbor cities - Malmö, Helsingborg and Helsingør

20%

Travel Log 2: Recording European Urban Experiences: The many layers of Paris

30%

Final Reportage: Reporting on Urban Challenges

30%


Academic Regulations  

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on: 

DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org

Course Summary:

Date Details Due