Procedures regarding urban and territorial projects: urban planning and territorial development

Duration

24h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Roger Hagelstein

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

This course addresses concepts of town planning and regional development through contemporary questions about how urban, suburban and rural environments are evolving.
On different spatial scales and using various planning instruments, practical approaches to urban and regional projects will be analysed. For the examination of practical cases which have led to builds on new sites or urban rehabilitation, the course offers critical reflection on the methods used, particularly territorial diagnostics, formulating issues and objectives, designing master plans, drafting the means for implementation, and evaluation.
Through exercises which are integrated into the course, we aim to develop students' ability to critically approach urban development. We stress the importance of architects taking into account these elements in every project.
The course is structured in four parts:
1. Introduction: modes of production in an urban environment: issues, opportunities, challenges, implications for the architect.
2. Evolution of contemporary towns and an attempt at defining regional development and town planning
- The challenges of heritage, sustainable regional development, built and non-built landscapes.
- Areas of activity, methods and tools involved in town planning and development
3. Current town planning and development trends
- Main trends in town planning and contemporary regional development
- Strategic objectives and their implementation on the regional, communal and local scale, particularly the structure of space, sustainable responses to primordial requirements, managing accessibility and mobility, and protecting resources.
- Critical analysis of the main instruments involved in planning, regulation and evaluation in the Walloon region.
4. Some case studies of intervention and their evaluation: analytical, design and realisation approaches.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- understand how the urban environment is formed and evolves,
- identify the impact of ideological thought, and socio-economic and environmental factors on the evolution, design and transformation of urban space,
- develop a critical approach to projects and processes in town planning and regional development,
- to identify, from a range of actors involved in changing the urban environment, the role of the architect in his or her overarching context of regional development and town planning in terms of respect for the built and non-built environment.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Elementary notions of history and geography; basic knowledge of Belgian institutions.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The course includes lectures given in the form of modules. The course contains several practical examples which will help students to understand the subject. Short critical analysis exercises of town planning and regional development projects and processes will be offered during the course sessions. These examples and exercises are not necessarily covered in the syllabus.

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

In class.

Recommended or required readings

Compulsory reading: syllabus 'Approaches to town planning and regional development 2 - town planning and regional development', which changes yearly.
Optional reading: reference bibliography given in class.

Assessment methods and criteria

At the end of the term, in the form of a written exam.
The assessment will cover the theoretical information developed during the course as well as students' ability to understand, reflect upon and critically analyse issues relating to town planning and regional development in practical situations.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

The course takes place in the first term.
Location: lecture hall B01 (large auditorium on ground floor, Botanical Gardens site of the Faculty)
Time: Mondays from 4 PM to 6PM.

Contacts

Head lecturer:
Roger Hagelstein,
Faculty of Architecture,
Project and Regions
Boulevard de la Constitution, 41
url: roger.hagelstein@ulg.ac.be

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