Introduction

This seminar explores ways to make better urban places both as a means to serve a cities inhabitants, and also as a catalyst to urban regeneration. City leaders are increasingly realizing that the urban landscape of cities is a key functional and social ingredient, becoming also a visual and perceptual index of a cities integrity and quality of life. Also, urban landscape is increasingly seen as a means to 'green the city', with emphasis upon ecology, water harvesting, and food production.

This shift to space, being deemed as important as the buildings themselves, requires careful study so we may improve the design quality of streets and public places. As such, this seminar should be of benefit to all students interested in the design of cities.

Program

The seminar is composed of a rich mix of readings, talks, discussions, visits, and projects. We meet for an interactive seminar, that is supplemented by your own workshops, readings, and site visits.

PART I. Integrity of place, and the threat of the urban non-place realm. This somewhat daunting introduction considers those forces and attitudes that have led to the erosion of place and the destruction of landscape. Our aim, by understanding them, is to counter trends that have proved harmful to neighborhoods, downtowns, and the environment generally in and adjacent to cities.

PART II. A legacy of urban places, streets, and parks, is seen as an initial key resource. Rather than a history sequence, this is a presentation and discussion of significant designed places and the social, political, and functional criteria that shaped them. From classical times to the modern period, from local contexts to internationally acclaimed places, these human environments were designed. Our aim is to develop criteria to consider their integrity and design performance.

PART III. The current context of urban landscape and place design is a new phenomenon of a better educated public re-engaging cities, which in turn have new demands. What will be the emerging needs and lifestyles of urban living in the twenty first century, and what design implications will this have? To what extent are issues of function, quality of life, sustainability, art and culture, influencing the design of places? What case studies exemplify new design thinking regarding landscape and place making? This is the main part of the seminar explored through readings of urban theorists, and a selection of significant case studies drawn from internationally known and more local contexts.

PART IV. Designing a place as our own case study is a useful tool to bring this thinking together. In a group context we will apply our findings to a defined urban fabric.

Organization

Full participation in readings, talks, discussions, field visits, and projects is essential. Our aim will be to form a participatory group that can increase our understanding of design thinking at different scales of urban landscape. Students will engage in weekly readings, case study presentations, and a project.

Background Readings

Billingham, John. The Good Place Guide: Urban Design in Britain and Ireland.

Carmona, M, et al. Urban Places-Urban Spaces.

Cooper, Marcus, Clare. People Places.

Gastil, Raymond and Ryan Zoe, eds. Open: New Designs for Public Space.

Gehl, Jan. Life Between Buildings and New City Spaces, and New City Life.

Haydn, Dolores. The Power of Place: Urban Landscapes as Public History.

Jodice, Francesco. What we want: Landscapes as a Projection of People's Desires.

Lynch, Kevin. What Time is This Place.

Porter, Douglas. Thepower of Ideas: Five People Who Changds the Urban Landscape.

Sorkin, Michael. Variations of a Theme Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space.

Spirn, Anne Whiston. The Granite Garden.

Whyte, William. The Social Life of Small Urban Places.