This online lecture course is concerned with the design of urban life-world. It is concerned with the history and theory of urban design, with how it is currently being practiced, and with how it could and should be critiqued in the context of contemporary politics, economy and culture. The course recognizes the hybridized nature of urban design, sees it as a complex field whose opportunities and constraints, as well as influences and bounding forces vary, and attempts to map these variables.
The course is divided into three units: ‘Foundations’, ‘Dimensions’, and ‘Outlooks’. The ‘Foundations’ unit reviews a history of urban form, and the ideational infrastructure and professional practices that come to us today as precedents. It progresses chronologically along key chapters in the annals of city making, from Classical politics through Renaissance idealism towards Modern utopias and dystopias. It then addresses the influence of the field’s founders, of Jane Jacobs, Kevin Lynch, Christopher Alexander, Colin Rowe, Allan Jacobs and William Whyte, among others, and sees how their somehow disparate works have coalesced urban design as a distinct field. For the second unit ‘Dimensions’ the course adopts the analytical structure of Carmona’s and Tiesdell’s ‘Urban Design Reader’ [2007]. Our study progresses along six influencing dimensions of urban design: morphological—configuration of urban form, perceptual—perceived and experienced spaces, social—link between social variation and formal organization, visual—aesthetic measurements of urban development, functional—use of spaces, and temporal—evolvement of spaces through and over time. The third unit ‘Outlooks’ is designated to students’ presentations and class discussion. Each participating student is requested to present a series of observations of urban design projects located in Tokyo and vicinity that correspond with the class’s themes and evoke further discussion in them. The unit and course then conclude by trying to determine the challenges of future urban design.
As a whole, the course follows the theoretical principals of urban design, see how they evolve in particular cultural, social and political contexts, and how they contribute to a physical form of place at specific urban conditions.