Course Syllabus

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The European Urban Experience:

Why Cities Matter B

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Semester & Location:

Spring 2024 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:

Core Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:

Urban Studies, Urban Design
Prerequisite(s):

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

Regitze Marianne Hess (current students please reach out to faculty via Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:

Tues. 14:50-17:45 in N7-B21

SUBJECT to CHANGES in sequencing of talks'n'walks

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, mainly from Copenhagen, Gothenburg, and Barcelona, will be our case studies which will help understanding how these concepts apply in practice.

Learning Objectives

This course aims to offer an understanding of:

  • The challenges with urbanisation and the solution to these challenges that cities offer.
  • Historical and contemporary European urban development
  • The role of culture, infrastructure, urban governance and the built environment in shaping a city and city life
  • The complex relationship between the various scales of the urban experience (bottom up vs. top town)
  • The relationship between theory and practice in urban development through the application of critical thinking

Faculty

Regitze Marianne Hess

Architect MAA, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, Copenhagen (1993). B.Eng. – Civil, McGill University, Montreal (1985). A career of working with and advocating for better cities and built environments through the world of philanthropy, non-profits, academia & private practice; as curator; publisher, editor & writer; teacher and critic. Currently engaged in International Federation for Housing and Planning [IFHP], UIA 2023 Copenhagen World Congress of Architects, B Architectural Publisher. Positions of trust include: UIA 2023 Copenhagen Advisory; Scale Denmark Advisory; COurban Advisory; along with DIS Faculty Chair, DIS Board member and DIS Going Greener Committee. Affiliated with DIS since 2002.

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

Field studies form an integral part of the course to support our understanding of how development is conducted in a practical urban setting. While in Copenhagen, we will be going on a half-day field study around the city: 

  • Wednesday afternoon, 21st February 2024 (13:00 – 17:00)
  • Wednesday afternoon, 1st May 2024 (13:00 – 17:00)

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 Gothenburg and a long study tour to Barcelona.

CCW: Core Course Week

The short study tour is to the city of Gothenburg, the second largest city in Sweden. Gothenburg is similar to Copenhagen undergoing intensive harbour transformations and is a growing city. Being the home of some of the largest transformation projects in Europe, we will learn how Gothenburg is working with the city's identity as a post industrial city, as well as the visions for housing and mobility for a growing city. 

LST: Long Study Tour

Barcelona is an obvious choice for studying contemporary urban studies. The Catalonian capital is currently undergoing a political situation which over the past decades have greatly influenced urban development and the urban life in the city. The city has influences from its history within the Roman Empire, and at the same time it is known for a very strong identity in terms of politics, society, and culture such as food and arts. Furthermore, Barcelona has unique infrastructure within the L’exiample - the expansion district, which in combination with the coast and former olympic villages creates an urban playground not to be seen and experienced anywhere else in Europe. In Barcelona, you will discover how the city has become a focal point for cultural expression, social movements, and a venue of human interaction and experience.

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 times during the semester, in addition to field studies and study tours. Lectures, assigned readings and student presentations will act as background for class discussion. This course relies heavily on readings in order to gain a deeper understanding of varying case studies addressed during the semester. Assigned texts are to be read in advance of the class. Reading will go beyond finding information, or identifying main ideas. The purpose with the readings is to dig deep to identify meaning, relationships between ideas, their impact on the urban world. This involves analysis, synthesis and creativity. You are encouraged to draw on and share own experiences of cities and urban issues. In short, critical reading requires intense questioning.

Copenhagen will serve as a living classroom and will be discussed in juxtaposition with various European cities. Cities are a collective effort. And the class will also include group work in the analysis and understanding of the European urban experience.

Expectations of the Students

This is not a traditional lecture course. Classes will be conducted both in the classroom and out on site 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 
  • Sharing your urban experiences and observations in class discussions, with your fellow students and via assignments and on class discussion, informed by an in-depth, critical reading of the assigned texts.

You are expected to engage and participate actively in class discussions. Students are expected to come to class prepared with questions with points of departure in the readings or references. You are expected to keep a notebook or journal recording your observations, experiences, and critical analysis of readings. Readings are to be analyzed and critiqued. Overall grades will be depending 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 excerps, 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 - Reporting on Urban European Experiences: Why Cities Matter 

The final is a reportage, a form of travel piece, where you are to make a case for cities and sites seen and observed, why they are worth worth visiting, why they matter, what kind of lessons can be learned. 

The reportage can take the form of an article, essay, personal journal, photo essay, audio or video recording, documenting your urban experience via specific sites you find worth visiting, including details location, address and access; recommendation of when to go and who to share the experience with. To be accompanied with illustrations: 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 cities - Gothenburg

20%

Travel Log 2: Recording European Urban Experiences: Comparing cities - Barcelona   

30%

Final Reportage: Reporting on European Urban Experiences

30%

Policy on late papers: Late papers will be accepted, but your grade for the paper will be reduced.

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