The Urban Design Course (10 cfu) consists of two modules: a theoretical teaching module and a module of design exercises.
The bibliography of the course consists of books and extracts from books and magazines that the teacher selects during the semester, providing it to the student at the same time.
- G. Zucconi, "The disputed city. From urban planners to hygienists", Jaca Book;
- R. Pavia, "The fears of urban planning", Meltemi;
- G. Clement, "Third landscape", Quodlibet;
- Angrilli, M., Landscape Project Plan. Urban planning and recovery of the common good, Franco Angeli, Milan, 2018.
The course intends to offer the conceptual and methodological tools necessary to address the themes of the urban project in different contexts of application of the urban plan.
Its assumptions refer to a conception of the project intended as a strategy of transformation of the existing that assumes as determinant values:
- the critical interpretation of the sense of place, against the current propensity to emphasize eradication and de-contextualization;
- the sustainability of the foreseen transformations, from an environmental point of view but also of the technical, administrative, economic and social feasibility of the interventions, with the aim of ensuring an effective integration between intentions, actions and outcomes;
- the recognition of an idea of a city taken as a reference to the project.
The only requirement of propaedeuticity required is to pass the Urban Planning exam 2. There are no other prerequisites in terms of specific knowledge and skills for a profitable learning of teaching.
From a methodological point of view the course is structured in two modules:
A) Theoretical teaching module: it is structured in four didactic cycles, in which they are treated respectively:
1. geographical and landscape analysis of urban and metropolitan contexts;
2. the themes of the relationship between project and context, developed with reference to the operations of extraction of the sense of place, and of evaluation of urban and environmental transformability;
3. the relationship between project and structure, with reference to the operations of interpretation of the existing, of anticipation of possible futures, of configuration of the settlement structures and of the infrastructural networks;
4. the relationship between design and conformation, relative to the use of the different modes of physical and functional organization of the settlement forms.
B) Design exercise module: it is intended for the elaboration of a proposal in which the individual interpretative and conformation operations of the physical spaces reproduce the main stages of the design process.
In particular, the exercises deal with the following topics, which correspond to specific thematic maps:
1. Interpretation of the context: the sense of places; conditions of transformability; ongoing or planned projects; prospective scenarios
2. Structure of the existing: settlement system, infrastructural system, environmental system
3. Plan structure: settlement system, infrastructural system, environmental system
4. Proposed configuration: the framework of coherence of the transformation projects
The course lasts for one semester. The lessons, exercises and reviews will take place exclusively in the first semester of the A.A. 2020/2021.
Attendance at the didactic activities of the course is a guarantee of admission to the exam within the semester.
Students are allowed to take the exam individually or in groups of up to 3 people.
The verification of learning takes place in the first place through the ongoing monitoring of the exercise carried out (periodic reviews of the project) which contributes to the formation of the final judgment.
The final exam consists of a discussion concerning the exercise carried out by the student during the semester and an oral discussion on the topics covered in the lessons and in the course bibliography. The examination in its entirety is aimed at verifying the learning results in relation to the following objectives:
- mastery of the conceptual and operational tools of the urban project;
- ability to solve complex urban planning problems at the scale of the urban project;
- autonomy in judging the quality and functionality of medium-sized urban areas;
- ability to communicate and argue the choices made with the project.
