Urban morphology and landscape analysis - Urban morphology and landscape reading

Language

French
> English-friendly

Main themes

This course aims to define understandings of the contemporary urban landscape as a product.
In the last decades, cities and territories have radically changed, and their analysis, description and representation are now raising different questions. Today, the production of maps and representations of territories is increasing - due to the greater availability of data and the improvement of technology - to the point of overwhelming the comprehension of the space itself, and of paradoxically hiding the complexity behind the construction of the contemporary landscape. Mapping complexity is neither a linear nor a generic operation: it requires indeed an effort of comprehension, selection, and ultimately of interpretation.
The course will range between different thematic axes, explored both as traditional and operational:
(a) critical cartographies as devices for defining, applying and exploring the potential of visual interpretations of cities and territories;
(b) the site, its specificity, survey and description;
(c) history as an active agent of space production.

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

recognize and understand the models and theories that form our current way of understanding urbanized territories; analyze a complex constructed situation, by identifying its structuring elements, the underlying theoretical and political models. Students will explore assumptions about the technical, social and economic interactions that produced it to contribute to the collective development of urban projects, by understanding the challenges of each of the actors and by knowing the general processes of urbanization in different European contexts.  Contribution to the LO repository: Build up an architectural culture Acquire and criticize multiple references of the disciplinary culture. Produce knowledge and actively participate in their own learning process. Situate design action Recognize, observe, analyze and critically evaluate complex places and contexts. Identify and question, through cross-examination, the paradigms underlying the analyses. State questions that condition the future of the context studied and build scenarios regarding its potential evolution. Mobilize other disciplines Learn other concepts and methods, to exchange and nourish architectural thinking. Strategically manipulate content from other disciplines to question the design and implementation of the architectural project. Express an architectural approach Express clearly orally, graphically and in writing the foundations of idea(s). Adopt a professional attitude Act as an independent and critical actor, aware of the stakes of one’s mission, one’s responsibilities toward third parties and one’s legal obligations. Make committed choices Demonstrate ethics and a capacity for resistance through architectural positions.Be aware of the political significance of one's activity, and of one's responsibility to society, in the public interest. Also, among the achievements of this Teaching Unit will be the ability to work on a European territory in an international team and in English.

Content

Theories and tools of representation of the territory; Methods of analysis of urban structures and territory in situations of compact and diffuse urbanisation (urban surveys; typo-morphological analysis; historical reading; analysis of territorial urban structures); Methods of analysis of landscape structures (environmental analysis; landscape ecology, landscape urbanism); other methods of analysis overview (participatory mapping; big data)

Teaching methods

    
The course is given in a lecture mode by the teaching team, and includes sessions dedicated to practical issues that can lead to field trips, specific exercises, more technical explanations (use of software or specific analysis techniques), and critiques of the work proposed for evaluation. With a view to capitalising on the work, the priority references for the latter are the territories explored in the workshops of the various training programmes followed by the students. The holder(s) will be likely to invite external speakers to certain sessions. They may, if necessary, participate in the evaluation.

Evaluation methods

Continuous evaluation during the course and final evaluation on the basis of an analysis notebook (carried out individually or in groups of 2 to 3 students) that include a critical reading of a bibliography of the student's choice.

Other information

english friendly

Bibliography

Banham, R., 1971, Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, Harper&Row Publishers, New York
Belanger P. (ed), 2011, “Landscape Infrastructure Primer”, DVD, fall semester 2011, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Burklin T., Peterek M., 2008, Morphologie Urbaine, Birkhauser, Basel, Boston, Berlin
Corboz, A., 1993, Atlas du territoire genevois permanences et modifications cadastrales aux XIXe et XXe siècles. Georg, Chêne-Bourg, Genève.
Corboz A., 2001, Le Territoire Comme Palimpseste et Autres Essais, Collection Tranches de Villes. Editions de l’Imprimeur, Besançon.
Corner J. (ed), 1999, Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Theory, Princeston Architectural Press
Corner, J., 1999. “The Agency of Mapping: Speculation, Critique and Invention”, in: Cosgrove D. (ed) Mappings , Reaktion Books, London, p.213
Corner J., McLean A., 1996, Taking Measures Across the American Landscape, Yale University Press
Da Cunha D., Mathur A., 2001, Mississippi Floods, Yale university Press, New Haven
Forman, R.T.T., Godron, M., 1986. Landscape ecology. Wiley, New York.
Forman R.T.T., 1995, Land Mosaic. The Ecology of Landscapes and Regions, Cambridge University Press
Gandelsonas, M., 1991, The urban text, MIT Press, Cambridge, US
Geddes P., 1915, Cities in Evolution, Williams & Norgate, London
Jackson J.B., 1984, Discovering the Vernacular Landscape, Yale University Press
Lynch K., 1972, What time is this place, MIT Press, Cambridge, US Mc Hargh I., 1969, Design with nature, Natural History press, Philadelphia
McHargh, 1969, Design with Nature, Wiley and Sons, New York.
MacKaye B., 1928, The New Exploration: A Philosophy of Regional Planning, Harcourt, Brace
Marot, S., 1995, “L'alternative du paysage”. Le visiteur, Automne 1(54)
Mostafavi M., Doherty G. (eds), 2010 Ecological Urbanism, Lars Müller Publishers, Harvard University Press, US
Muratori S., 1960, Studi per un’operante storia di Venezia, Roma, Istituto poligrafico dello Stato, Libreria dello Stato
Koolhaas, 1978, Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan, Oxford University Press, UK
Panerai, P., Castex, J., Depaule, J.-C., 1997. Formes urbaines: de l’îlot à la barre, Collection Eupalinos Série Architecture et urbanisme. Éd. Parenthèses, Marseille.
Rowe C., 1978, Collage City, MIT Press, Cambridge, US
Secchi B., 2000, Prima lezione di urbanistica, Laterza, Roma Bari [french edition: 2006, Première leçon d’urbanisme, Éditions Parenthèses, Marseille]
Venturi, R., Scott Brown, D., Izenour, S., 1972. Learning from Las Vegas: the forgotten symbolism of architectural form, 17th print. ed. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Viganò P., 2010, I territori dell’urbanistica. Il progetto come produttore di conoscenza, Officina Edizioni, Roma [french edition: 2016, Les territoires de l’urbanisme. Le projet comme producteur de connaissance, MetisPresses, Geneva]
Waldheim C. (ed), 2005, The Landscape Urbanism Reader, Princeton Architectural Press, US
Waldheim C, Doherty G. (eds), 2015, Is Landscape...?: Essays on the Identity of Landscape, Routledge, UK
Wolff J., 2003, Delta Primer. A field guide to the California Delta, William Stout Publishers, San Francisco

Faculty or entity

LOCI