Learning objectives
See the corresponding entry of the Core Urban, Regional and Landscape Planning Studio.
Prerequisites
It is recommended that you have given the exam of the Urban Planning and Design Studio of the first year of the Master of Science in Architecture.
Course unit content
The course contents are divided into lectures and practical exercises. The main topics of the lectures are aimed to classify analysis and intervention on the physical space of the city as an action that refers , above all, the dynamics of the relational character that exist between the various components that make up the built environment (arrangement, network paths, public and green space and, more indirectly, urban fitting); the intent is to bring out the relative independence of these structural relationships from the choices of language (often , the only topic of design research), to be able to explore ways of mutual composition.
We will proceed with the analysis of design alternatives that outline the characteristics (location and morphological settlement) of the three main classes of entities that make up the urban environment (paths, built-up area, open space), to highlight the role of centrality of open spaces, often regarded as residual elements while they form the prime reference for the organization, the identity and quality of the urban environment. The exposure of significant examples of public environment analysis will aim to illustrate the mutual influences between the repertoire of settlement elements and the plans for the development and qualification of urban space. This approach, which considers the urban planning activities as eminently empirical, is intended to avoid the dangers of a kind of guidance only conceptual and formalistic.
The cultural content described above will be shown through the analysis of some of the most significant European experience of integrated urban planning, paying particular attention to the role of urban form and usability in the definition of environmental performance criteria of collective space.
What emerged from this cultural reconstruction will be applied in the context of a proposed reorganization of the complex of open spaces related to some public housing neighbourhoods of the city of Parma.
The work consists of a design in appropriate scale (1:1000), which returns the layout of the plan and a technical report that contains the reasons and criteria of the above items.
Additional insights may be of interest :
• Analysis of the urban landscape:
With reference to the natural matrices (altimetry, slope , hydrography, phytosociology), anthropogenic (demography , land use, mobility), cultural (history of the area, witnesses emergencies / identity, sources ...) and perceptual (visibility, semiology). Examples of semiotic reading of the urban landscape and suburban areas;
• Introduction to ecology of the urban landscape:
Definition of ecology and urban ecology, ecological planning of settlements, tasks of vegetation in urban areas;
• Themes of landscape architecture in urban areas:
Codification of urban green spaces and main landscape functions, with reference to the protagonists of the outdoor design of the last century;
The urban park;
Recreational and sport areas, social vegetable garden, urban agriculture, urban fringe forests;
• Criteria for the design of urban comfort and climate change adaptation techniques:
Definition of heat island and requirements for thermal control of solar radiation; paving, roofing, body of water, vertical greenery.
Bibliography
F.Angeli, Milano, 2000.
Rowe C. & Koetter F., Collage city, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass., 1978 (trad. it. Il Saggiatore, Milano, 1981).
Secchi B., Un progetto per l’urbanistica, Einaudi, Torino, 1989.8
Teaching methods
Topics covered in this Module are developed by:
summary of the main lessons on theoretical content of urban, regional and landscape planning and design;
seminars related to the discussion of specific bibliographic contributions and planning&design tools, considered as an example;
seminars with external lecturers from academia or the professions;
coordination and review of students' planning applications and collective discussion of the results.
Assessment methods and criteria
See the corresponding entry of the Core Urban, Regional and Landscape Planning Studio.
