History of the city and urbanization

Duration

45h Th, 10h Proj.

Number of credits

Lecturer

Philippe Hanocq

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

The course consists of a contextualised approach of the typomorphologic evolution of the cities.
The course focuses essentially on the evolution and the spreading of the models which shaped the "European" city. It tries to identify the impulse of this evolution since the origins of the phenomenon of urbanization until the most recent contemporary developments.
It particularly highlights the speeches and the concepts (possibly utopian) expressed on the city in various periods, the characteristic processes of urbanization of these periods and their realizations considering the ambient contingencies.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

The history of the town planning and urban design involves an essential general knowledge for those who intend to intervene professionally on the built environment. The course offers the opportunity of an heuristic investigation on the evolution of this environment. In this context, the student will be introduced to the principles of the mobilization of documentary resources and to the writing of critical syntheses.
The student will learn about the evolution of the city considered as a complex phenomenon involving at the same time the culture and the capacity of innovation of a society but also its pragmatism and several contingencies, peculiar to a place and a time.
In addition, the student will perceive that the city is a long-life organism in perpetual evolution whose sustainability is closely linked to its capacity to respond to continuous external stimuli. This report will allow the students to step back to put in perspective their own contributions and those of their contemporaries in the continuum of the urban evolution.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

No prerequisite

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

First, the class is based on lectures involving numerous examples.
Secondly, the class involves a research work in small groups on a given theme. During this work, the student has to learn to mobilize the adequate documentary resources, to write a critical synthesis and to deliver these back in a coherent way with regard to the frame of lectures.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

Face-to-face teaching + Research work (methods to be defined by the student in agreement with the teacher)

Recommended or required readings

Documents supplied in the beginning of the period :

• Notes (synthesis of the lectures)
• Portfolio of scientific articles in connection with the lectures
• Bibliography from which the students will select 1 or more references in connection with their research work

Assessment methods and criteria

Evaluation:

• The writing of the research work made in small groups and its public oral presentation at the end of the period (common evaluation for the group). The research work accounts for 40 % of the final quotation.
• An individual oral test during the session of January, allowing to verify the assimilation of the lectures. The interrogation accounts for 60 % of the final quotation.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Class on first 4-months period, on Tuesday afternoon from 14:00 till 16:30.
For any additional information or any appointment, please contact me by e-mail

Contacts

Philippe Hanocq :
ULg Faculté des Sciences Appliquées Bât B52 1 chemin des Chevreuils B-4000 LIEGE1
Tél. 04 366 93 35 Fax 04 366 95 48 Adresse e-mail : p.hanocq@ulg.ac.be