051-0364-00L  History of Urban Design II

SemesterSpring Semester 2019
LecturersT. Avermaete, J. Gosseye
Periodicityyearly recurring course
Language of instructionEnglish
CommentOnly for Architecture BSc, Programme Regulations 2011.


AbstractThis course focuses on the history of the city, as well as on the ideas, processes and actors that engender and lead their developments and transformations. The history of urban design will be approached as a cross-cultural field of knowledge that integrates scientific, economic and technical innovation as well as social and cultural advance.
ObjectiveThe lectures deal mainly with the definition of urban design as an independent discipline, which maintains connections with other disciplines (politics, sociology, geography) that are concerned with the transformation of the city. The aim is to make students conversant with the multiple theories, concepts and approaches of urban design as they were articulated throughout time in a variety of cultural contexts, thus offering a theoretical framework for students’ future design work.
Content21.02.2019: Housing and the Industrial City: From Speculative to Cooperative

28.02.2019: Cities and Ideologies: Building for Healthy Minds in Healthy Bodies

07.03.2019: no class

14.03.2019: Envisioning Urban Utopias

28.03.2019: Reconstructing the City, Constructing New Towns

04.04.2019: New Capitals for New Democracies; New Institutions for Old Democracies

11.04.2019: Rethinking Masterplanning

18.04.2019: The Countercultural City

02.05.2019: The Postmodern City: From Neo-rationalism to Neo-liberalism

09.05.2019: Global Cities: Urban Explosion /Urban Implosion

16.05.2019: Reflection
Lecture notesPrior to each lecture a chapter of the reader (Skript) will be made available through the webpage of the Chair. These chapters will introduce the lecture, the basic visual references of each lecture, key dates and events, as well as references to the compulsory and additional reading.
LiteratureThere are three books that will function as main reference literature throughout the course:

Eric Mumford, Designing the Modern City: Urban Design Since 1850 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018)

Francis D. K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek and Vikramditya Prakash, A Global History of Architecture (Hoboken: Wiley & Sons, 2017)

David Grahame Shane, Urban Design Since 1945: A Global Perspective (Hoboken: Wiley & Sons, 2011)

These books will be reserved for consultation in the ETH Baubibliothek, and will not be available for individual loans. A list of further recommended literature will be found within each chapter of the reader (Skript).