Urban Design Seminar

Lecture Notes

WEEK #	TOPICS	LECTURE NOTES
Part 1: Urban Design Now
1	Designing Places and Policies	Introduction to the seminar and subject material. What do urban designers do and why do they do it? What are the larger forces that help give direction to the types of projects that seem to be emerging as important? Is there a difference between the conception of urban design held by architects seeking to intervene at a larger scale and by planners seeking to improve the quality of the physical environment? On what basis do we (or should we) judge urban design quality?
2	Assessing the Current State of Urban Design	Discussion of themes and cases to be discussed during March and April. What are the important socio-environmental issues that urban designers must contend with currently? Which urban design approaches and agendas of the recent past now seem outdated and no longer “of the future”? How are urban design precedents set and transmitted? How is the nature of cities changing and how does this affect urban design practice?
3	Urban Design Competitions and How to Judge Them	What can be learned from the study of recent urban design competitions? What kinds of new urban fabrics are being proposed by leading urban designers? What are the strengths and weaknesses of urban design competitions as instigators of “good” urban design ideas? Case: World Trade Center Master Plan and Memorial Competitions Guest: Frank Sanchez, The Municipal Art Society (tentative)
4	Evaluating Urban Design	How should we judge “urban excellence”? Is this the same thing as “excellent urban design?” How do we judge the longevity and/or future significance of present day projects? Are these issues important? Case: Rudy Bruner Awards, 2003 Guests: Rudy Bruner Foundation officials
5	Discussion of Assignment 1
Part 2: Assessing Urban Design Future
6	Past Futures	How was the present envisioned in the past? What models of future urban form and function emerged in the 20th century? How effective were they in shaping the present? What do they say about current models of the future? Examples Industrial visions: Italian Futurists; “World of Tomorrow” Modernist visions: Broad-acre City; Radiant City “Go-go” visions: Metabolists; Archigram “No-go” visions: The 80’s and 90’s
7	Topic 1: Inventing New Ways of Living: Homes and Neighborhoods	How will demographic trends such as the aging population affect demands for housing design and the formation of neighborhoods? What will these trends mean for the existing urban housing stock? What affect will communications technology have on daily quality of life? What about new live-work arrangements? What are the alternatives to class-stratified, uniformly designed residential developments? Examples Technology: House_n MIT CyberHome, Chino Hills, CA Miniature Homes Aging: Hismen Hin-nu Terrace (San Antonio NDC), Oakland, CA Rosa Vista, Mesa, AZ Life Care Communities Live-work: Stoudtburg Village in Adamstown, Pa Rosemary Beach, Santa Rosa Beach, Fla Marina Heights, Kirkland, Wash Respondents (tentative) Kent Larson, MIT Lee Cott, Harvard
8	Topic 2: Distributing Work: The New Workplace	How is work and production now being organized? Where is work being done? What is the changing nature of the “workplace” and does this concept make sense anymore? What effects will these changes have on real estate, development products and programming? What is the future of the high-rise office building? Factories? Other places of work? Examples Industrial: VW Glaserne Factory, Dresden Autocity, Wolfsburg Carl Zeiss Plant/University, Jena, Germany Offices: Chiat/Day Offices, New York SAS Headquarters, Stockholm BA Waterside Complex, Heathrow, London Mixed use urban offices Respondents (tentative) Michael Joroff William Porter
9	Topic 3: The Advent of “mediated” space: Public Places and Technology	How will advanced communication technologies and media affect the form and function of cities? What technologies are available and who will control them? Will they change and energize the use of public space? Is a new kind of space emerging? Examples 2nd generation technopoles: Seoul Digital Media City Singapore One North Science Park Helsinki Virtual Village Crossroads Copenhagen Media Park Cologne Urban retrofit: Lower Manhattan Bryant Park Samsung’s U-city project Ubiquitous computing Respondents (tentative) Bill Mitchell Carlo Ratti
10	Topic 4: Creating a City of Learning: Schools and Stories in the City	How can schools become “centers” for communities? Can the construction of design-enhanced narratives and designed arts and culture districts give new value to places? How can we come to terms with the merits and drawbacks of “themed environments?” Is a new kind of public realm emerging that merges information and form? Examples Public learning: Patterson, Union City and Trenton, NJ schools West Main Street Corridor, Charlottesville, VA UC Irvine Main Street, CA Narrative places: Llobregat River Corridor; Agrarian Park, Catalunya, Spain Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Area Allegheny Ridge State Heritage Park, PA Automobile National Heritage Area, Detroit Augusta Canal National Heritage Area Arts districts: Worcester Arts District, Worcester, MA DownCity, Providence, Rhode Island Respondents (tentative) Steve Heikin Susan Silberberg
11	Topic 5: Reclaiming the industrial landscape: Land and Water Infrastructure	How can industrial landscapes and underused urban port infrastructure be transformed to serve a post-industrial economy and culture? What is the right balance between preserving the waterfront for traditional uses and developing new uses and activities? Who should decide? Examples Ports: Huangpu River Vision Plan, Shanghai London Docklands Narragansett Landing, Providence, Rhode Island Waterfront, Cape Town Flats Oxbow Long-Range Development Plan, Cleveland, OH La Vieux Port de Montreal Transportation: Central Artery, Boston Southwest Corridor, Boston, MA Cheonggye Expressway, Seoul Park East Expressway, Milwaukee Viaduc des Artes, Paris Promenade Plantee, Paris Respondents Dennis Pieprz Ken Kruckemeyer
12	Topic 6: Rediscovering Nature: Natural Systems in the City	How will cities be shaped by the need to sustain natural systems? What does this mean for managing the environment on a regional level? How will technology come into play? Examples Urban recovery: West Philadelphia Landscape Project Charles River Basin Project Boston Harbor Beaches Development: Haymount, VA Woodlands, Texas Redland Preservation Plan, FL Farmview, Yardley, PA Portola Valley Ranch, Portola Valley, CA Village Homes, Davis, CA Tama New Town, Japan Respondents Anne Whiston Spirn Eran Ben-Joseph
13	What Have We Missed?	What are common themes among the topics we discussed? Do they add up to a larger vision of the future city? What topics have we not discussed? How will these affect future form and function?
14	Redesigning Urban Design	What will urban designers be doing in fifty years?