ARC 368R/388R
18th-Century Cities and Landscapes

Instructor: Dr. Richard Cleary
Time and Place: T Th 9:30-10:50, WMB 4.118
Unique Numbers: 00765 (368R) / 00960 (388R)

Prerequisites

Students in the School of Architecture must have completed the architectural history survey sequence. Students from other units of the university are welcome and may enroll with the consent of the instructor.

Instructor's office hours

Sutton Hall 4.122: T 1:30-2:30, W 11-12, and by appointment. Telephone 471-6165; email cleary@mail.utexas.edu

Scope and Format

In 18th-century Europe and its colonies, many intellectuals viewed cities and landscapes from the dual vantage points of utility and embellishment, the useful and the beautiful, and believed that both could be mastered through reason. In terms of the mastery of utility, reason provided the framework for advancements in the planning of more salubrious and economically efficient cities and the mapping and inventory of the natural world. In terms of embellishment, reason guided the transformation of "ill-formed" medieval cities into works of art and the improvement of rural landscapes into gardens deemed beautiful.

This seminar course will examine attitudes towards cities and landscapes and approaches taken for their design. Topics to be examined through class discussions and individual research will include case studies of cities such as Paris, Nancy, Bath, and Savannah; urban and rural garden desigh, along formal and picturesque principles; and land surveys, such as the mapping of France and the allocation of land in the United States according to the "township and range" system defined in the Northwest Ordinance of 1787.