European Urban Design Theories

Semester & Location:	Fall 2024 - DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design
Prerequisites:	None
Faculty:	Heitor Lantarón (current students please reach out to faculty via Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:	Tue and Fri 08:30-09:50 in V10-A32

“Urban design is that part of city planning which deals with the physical form of the city. This is the most creative phase of city planning and that in which imagination and artistic capacities can play a more important part. It may also be in some respects the most difficult and controversial phase … The urban designer must first of all believe in cities, their importance, and their value to human progress and culture. We must be urban-minded.”

(José Luis Sert, Progressive Architecture, August 1956)

 
“The right to the city is far more than the individual liberty to access urban resources: it is a right to change ourselves by changing the city. It is, moreover, a common rather than an individual right since this transformation inevitably depends upon the exercise of a collective power to reshape the process of urbanization. The freedom to make and remake our cities and ourselves is, I want to argue, one of the most precious yet most neglected of our human rights.”

(David Harvey, The Right to the City, New Left Review 53, 2008)

 

"What is a city? What determines its specificity? What shapes its quality? The evolution of the contemporary city does not follow a linear movement. It is shaped by transformation processes that are directed toward often distant and conflicting goals. Even though cities are inscribed into global processes and networks, they develop their own specific ways of dealing with these conditions. They tend to produce and reproduce their own specificity, their own patterns and character traits."

(Manuel Herz (Ed.), The Inevitable Specificity of Cities, Lars Müller Publishers, 2015)

 

Description of course: 

This course is an introduction to contemporary urban design in Europe and aims to establish a critical understanding of some of the main theories and positions of urban design as they appear today and have developed over the course of the past five decades. Urban design, as it will be understood within the framework of this course, is a discipline that seeks to integrate aspects from a variety of different fields, such as planning, landscape architecture, architectural design, sociology, geography, cultural studies, and urban history. A principal goal of the course is to tie a connection between theory and practice, between thinking and doing. We will read and study texts on urban design issues. We will visit urban design, architecture, and landscape architecture in Copenhagen and use these as case studies throughout the semester. We will meet practitioners involved in urban design and learn how they view the world. We will work on assignments that bridge the gap between the world of thinking and the world of making. Please notice that this is a discussion-based participative course.

Learning objectives of the course: 

By the end of this course you should:

• be able to orient yourself in the current European landscape of urban design theory
• understand how urban design theory can be applied in a practical urban setting
• understand the importance and fundamentals of critical reading and writing
• be able to reflect on the role and task of urban design and the urban designer through the application of critical thinking
• understand how user´s diversity and complexity can be addressed as a main urban design strategy

Faculty:

Heitor Lantarón, Architect
Ph.D. Department of Architectural Design (DPA), ETSAM, UPM (Technical School of Architecture, Polythecnic University of Madrid). Madrid, Spain (2016). Thesis: Danish examples of Housing for the Elderly. Academic and professional interests focused on the housing challenges, related to the ageing process, by addressing them as a great opportunity for enhancing the domestic space quality for any age and (dis)ability. Nieto-Sobejano Architects (2008-2009), Herzog & de Meuron (2006-2008). With DIS since 2017.

Required Readings:  

• AugeÌ, Marc. Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity. Verso, 2006

•  Cresswell, Tim. Place: an Introduction. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.

•  Bloom, Brett A. “Superkilen: Participatory Park Extreme!” Kritik, Apr. 2013, www.academia.edu/3344295/Superkilen_Participatory_Park_Extreme_.

•  Browne, Beth, and Philip Jodidio. Jean-Marie Duthilleul and Etienne Tricaud: AREP. Images Publishing Group, 2008.

•  Carmona, Matthew, and Steven Tiesdell. Urban Design Reader. Architectural, 2007.

•  Coreil-Allen, Graham. “The Typology of New Public Sites - A Field Guide to Invisible Public Space.” Maryland Institute College of Art, 2010.

•  Cresswell, Tim. Place: an Introduction. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.

  Cuthbert, Alexander R. Designing Cities: Critical Readings in Urban Design. Blackwell Pub., 2007.

•  Simmel, Georg, and Donald N. Levine. The Metropolis and Mental Life. University of Chicago Press, 1971.

•  Gehl, Jan, and Lord Richard. Rogers. Cities for People. Island Press, 2013.

•  Gehl, Jan. Life between Buildings. Kajima Institute Publishing, 1990.

•  “Global Age-Friendly Cities Project.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/43755?locale-attribute=en&
  

•  Harvey, David. Rebel Cities: from the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution. Verso, 2013.

•  “Interview with Star Architect Rem Koolhaas.” SPIEGEL ONLINE, 16 Dec. 2011.

•  Jones, Siôn Eryl. Ageing and the City: Making Urban Spaces Work for Older People. HelpAge International, 2016, Ageing and the City: Making Urban Spaces Work for Older People.

•  Larice, Michael, and Elizabeth Macdonald. The Urban Design Reader. Taylor, 2007.

•  Neugarten, Bernice L. “Age Groups in American Society and the Rise of the Young-Old.” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 415, no. 1, 1974, pp. 187–198., doi:10.1177/000271627441500114.

•  Riesto, S. (ed.). European Cities in a Global Era: Urban Identities and Regional Development. Ministry of the Environment, Spatial Planning Dept., 2002.

•  Schüller, Nicola, et al. Urban Reports: Urban Strategies and Visions in Mid-Sized Cities in a Local and Global Context. Gta Verlag, ETH Zurich 2009.

•  Simmel, Georg. Metropolis and Mental Life. Syllabus Division, University of Chicago Press, 1961.

•  SLA and Stig Lennart Andersson, directors. Process Urbanism. Process Urbanism, 2010, www.processurbanism.com/. Waldheim, Charles. Landscape as Urbanism: a General Theory. Princeton University Press, 2016.

• Waldheim, Charles. The Landscape Urbanism Reader. Princeton, 2006.

• Jarvis, Cloke & Kantor (2009): Trends in urban restructuring, gender and feminist theory. In “Cities and Gender”, Chapter 3, pp. 64-96 Routledge, New York

• Johnston-Zimmerman, K. (2017): Urban Planning Has a Sexism Problem. Next City - Inspiring for Better Cities. https://nextcity.org/features/view/urban-planning-sexism-problem 

Supplementary Material:

• Arnstein, Sherry R. “A Ladder Of Citizen Participation.” Journal of the American Institute of Planners, vol. 35, no. 4, 1969, pp. 216–224., doi:10.1080/01944366908977225.

•  Booth, Michael. “Copenhagen's New Cool Neighbourhood.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 9 Oct. 2009, www.theguardian.com/travel/2009/oct/10/copehagen-city-break-kodbyen.

•   Makovsky, Paul. “Baby Rems.” Metropolis, 1 Jan. 2011, www.metropolismag.com/architecture/baby-rems/.

•  Peter Newmann and Anne Matan: Reigniting Urban Design – The Theory and Practice of Jan Gehl, unpublished article, April 2012, Curtin University, Australia

•  Purcell, Mark. “Excavating Lefebvre: The Right to the City and Its Urban Politics of the Inhabitant.” GeoJournal, vol. 58, no. 2/3, 2002, pp. 99–108., doi:10.1023/b:gejo.0000010829.62237.8f.

•  Roberts, Jason. “How to Build a Better Block.” TED . TEDxOU.

•  “Superkilen.” EUMiesAward, www.miesarch.com/work/2780.

• Fenster, Toni (2005): The Right to the Gendered City: Different Formations of Belonging in Everyday Life. Journal of Gender Studies, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 217-231.

Approach to Teaching:

The class will meet twice a week and consists of lectures, student presentations, and class discussions. This course relies heavy on reading in order to gain understanding of the varying theories we will discuss. Assigned texts must be read in advance of the class. This class requires reading that moves beyond simply finding information, locating an author’s purpose, or identifying main ideas (as useful as these skills might be). It will ask you to dig deep into theoretical texts to ferret out meaning, systems of relationships between ideas, and to examine your own response to these ideas and their impact on the world around them.

In short, critical reading requires that you question intensely. For critical reading, you cannot sit back and wait. These texts are not necessarily easy, nor are you expected to swallow the words without consideration. True reading demands that you first actively listen to the author without projecting your own agenda. In this sense, you might imagine that you are engaged in a conversation with the author—once he/she has completed what he/she wants to say to you, you are then in a position to speak back, to say something of your own, something meaningful and well thought-out. If you have no response, you are reading lazily and must instead read critically to formulate a response. Such a response involves analysis, synthesis, and creativity.

Expectations of the students: 

I expect you to fully engage in lectures, to participate actively in any class discussion, and to be open minded to your fellow student’s contribution in class. I hope to establish an environment where we can learn from each other as well as from the texts and cases we engage with, and I expect you to actively support this approach. Readings must be done before class and should be done with inquisitiveness. This is a discussion-based participative course. The ability to frame the appropriate questions and to apply critical thinking will be valued, and the classroom should form the setting in which to actively exercise this ability. In our class discussions, please make references to our readings in order to support the points or questions you wish to raise.

Field studies and/or study tour: 

The field studies are a primary experiential learning component of the course. These activities should be viewed as an integrated component of the course, as the visits will illustrate and expand directly upon the content of the lectures and readings. Copenhagen and its examples of Urban Design will provide the basis for in-class field studies.

Assignments:

The Platzgeist Assignment: A group exercise consisting of…

1. Finding an overlooked space in the city
2. Analyzing it based on a framework supplied by the course instructor
3. Mapping it through photos, maps, sketches, etc.
4. Producing a poster in A1 landscape format presenting your findings
5. Presenting this poster in a joint class session

Urban Design Dilemma (Canvas Discussion): Take a picture in Copenhagen (or another city during your travels) that illustrates a dilemma in urban design and submit it to Canvas with a short description. A dilemma is a problem offering two possibilities, neither of which is unambiguously acceptable or preferable. This is an ongoing assignment throughout the hole course. And you have to post at least one of your findings, but also, participate in the discussion by giving feedback and comments to the others posts.

Field Study Documentation: Individual assignment that consists of an A4 document for each of the 3 field studies chosen by the student among the 6 examples visited during the Course. The documentation should state relevant urban design learning points gained from the field study based on your notes. A learning point can be a dilemma you describe, a solution we saw, and/or a reflection based on the pertinent reading vis-a-vis the field study visit. The project must include images such as photos or sketches that highlight the learning points. These images should be annotated. Active use of and reference to pertinent readings from the course must take place. You will receive comments and an indicative grade for the first documentation to help you establish a productive procedure, but as a whole you will receive only one aggregate grade for the combined effort at the end of the term.

Attendance and active participation classes and field studies is required. Students will prepare question points for class on a regular basis. These should reflect on the readings carried out and provide the class as a whole with a platform for engaged and informed discussion. Late hand-in of papers and documentations is not accepted. To be eligible for a passing grade in this class, you must complete all of the assigned work.

Grading:

Assignment	Percent
Active individual participation, in-class presentations, and provision of question points	25%
The Platzgeist Assignment (group poster presentation with 600-800 words and illustrations)	25%
Urban Design Dilemma (Canvas Discussion)	25%
Documentation of field study learning points (essay with 300-500 words and illustrations)	25%

Academic Regulations

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

  • Course Enrollment and Grading  
  • Academic Expectations and Honor Code 

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