CRP 386
Design for Planners II

Instructor: Prof. Anne Beamish
E-mail: abeamish@mail.utexas.edu
Unique No.: 01280
Time: Monday, 4:00-7:00 PM
Room number: SUT 3.134
Location: SUT 2.112

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to introduce planners to both the theory and practice of urban design, with a special focus on public space, and to build the basic skills and background needed for further work in urban design.

There are three themes to the course. The first is theoretical and will cover the development of cities and urban environments, and in particular how public spaces such as streets, parks, plazas, etc. have developed, how we use them, and how they have changed over time. This course will approach understanding public space through its physical characteristics as well as the behavioral, cultural, sociological, and/or historical perspective of people who inhabit the space. Topics include: city form, social and cultural production of space, privatization, community and public life, streets, parks, gender differences in the use of public space, and the basic design requirements for successful public space.

The second will focus on the practice of urban design and familiarizing students with the design process, including designing and creating physical objects or spaces, presenting work to colleagues and critiquing otheršs work. In this course it is assumed that both urban designers and planners design. Designers may produce a physical place, space, or object and planners may produce a more abstract policy, plan or process, but both are based on design in the larger sense of approaching problems and finding solutions through listening, observing, reflecting, and responding. Students will also have the opportunity to practice design skills on several projects, ranging from the very small-scale to the urban level.

The third theme that ties together theory and practice is learning basic visual communication techniques that are used to observe and analyze existing urban environments, as well as designing and presenting original work. Students will learn to observe and represent the city through visual observation, measuring, analysis, and drawing. Note that in this course, design is not synonymous with drawing. Design is considered to be a process with an outcome while graphic techniques such as drawing are used to develop, communicate, illustrate, and describe that outcome. Though they may not be the same, they are often complementary skills.