052-0801-00L  Global History of Urban Design I

SemesterHerbstsemester 2022
DozierendeT. Avermaete
Periodizitätjährlich wiederkehrende Veranstaltung
LehrspracheEnglisch


KurzbeschreibungThis course focuses on the history of the design of cities, as well as on the ideas, processes and actors that engender and lead their development and transformation. 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 advances.
LernzielThe 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.
InhaltIn the first semester the genesis of the objects of study, the city, urban culture and urban design, are introduced and situated within their intellectual, cultural and political contexts:

01. The History and Theory of the City as Project
02. Of Rituals, Water and Mud: The Urban Revolution in Mesopotamia and the Indus
03: The Idea of the Polis: Rome, Greece and Beyond
04: The Long Middle Ages and their Counterparts: From the Towns of Tuscany to Delhi
05: Between Ideal and Laboratory: Of Middle Eastern Grids and European Renaissance Principles
06: Of Absolutism and Enlightenment: Baroque, Defense and Colonization
07: The City of Labor: Company Towns as Cross-Cultural Phenomenon
09: Garden Cities of Tomorrow: From the Global North to the Global South and Back Again
010: Civilized Wilderness and City Beautiful: The Park Movement of Olmsted and The Urban Plans of Burnham
011: The Extension of the European City: From the Viennese Ringstrasse to Amsterdam Zuid
SkriptPrior to each lecture a chapter of the reader (Skript) will be made available through the webpage of the Chair. These chapters will provide an introduction to the lecture, the basic visual references of each lecture, key dates and events, as well as references to the compulsory and additional reading.
LiteraturThere are three books that will function as main reference literature throughout the course:

-Ching, Francis D. K, Mark Jarzombek, and Vikramditya Prakash. A Global History of Architecture. Hoboken: Wiley, 2017.
-Ingersoll, Richard. World Architecture: A Cross-Cultural History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.
-James-Chakraborty, Kathleen. Architecture Since 1400. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.

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).
Voraussetzungen / BesonderesStudents are required to familiarize themselves with the conventions of architectural drawing (reading and analyzing plans at various scales).