Duration
24h Th
Number of credits
| Bachelor in architecture | 2 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
French language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
This class provides basic theoretical concepts which are required for the understanding and practice of the design of an urban project. The first part aims to characterise the town as a system and a living organism which is produced over time by successive incorporation and re-composition and to understand the different rationales which contribute to it and the mechanisms by which it has been produced; urban projects consist of inflecting the 'natural' process of the transformation of the town in a given direction. The concepts of coherent unity, organisation, balance, imprints, and spatial and temporal continuity will be addressed. The major challenges which towns, and thus the urban project, present today will be looked at and repositioned in light of changes in social values. A critical reading of the concept of sustainable development is proposed. The second part compares the major methods of planning and strategic management by repositioning them in the major trends of thought on the integration of the future in decision making and public action. The concept of the project, the global project, the operational project and working diagrams are defined and developed. The central role of public authorities is highlighted and its role within the approach is characterised. The concepts of public authority, the institutional system and governance are addressed. The various public authorities and decision-making bodies operating in the town planning domain are listed and differentiated according to their role, the institutional level to which they belong, and the level of dependence or independence which they have between themselves. Other non-institutional actors are identified and their respective interests will be examined. The third part is devoted to the characterisation of the contemporary approach to design of the urban project. It is presented as an open-ended non-analytical approach which is synthetic, iterative and discursive, focussing on issues around the relationship between space and project. Concepts of reading and describing a landscape will be developed as well as those of schematic diagrams and the principle of spatial organisation. The fourth part will set out the major possible avenues for action and will list the main instruments involved in the framework and implementation which will be compared on the basis of their field of application and conditions of efficiency, to then address the question of drafting strategies combining relevant actions.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
- to initiate understanding of the urban setting and space with all its complexities. - to provide the theoretical bases necessary for undertaking an urban project, - to provide the basic theoretical elements required for designing architectural projects integrating and acting in the urban context, - to raise awareness of the extent of 'architectural acts' upon the urban equilibrium.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
The class will provide the necessary foundations for and will support the ARCH0356-1 course on the urban project workshop in the third year of the Bachelors, organised in parallel in the first term.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
Lectures - analysis of practical examples taken to demonstrate application of theoretical concepts.
Recommended or required readings
Course materials in the form of slides
Assessment methods and criteria
Written or oral exam