History and Theory of Architecture VIII: Global Theories of Urban Design

Tutors:
Prof. Dr. Tom Avermaete
Dr. María Novas Ferradas
Dr. Sebastiaan Loosen

Course description

Our understanding of how urban designers and architects can design cities is still largely affected by Western urban conditions and perspectives. The European city, in particular, with its steady and controlled growth, has served for a long time as the background against which new urban design methods and instruments are developed. As scholars who advocate a decentring and reframing of the widest conceptualisations of the urban have argued, urban design history is still based upon the dichotomy of “First World” model cities, seen as generators of new theories versus “Third World” cities, perceived as problematic and in need of correction. However, if our urban theorisations remain anchored in this Euro-American experience, we will be incapable of analysing and understanding the heterogeneity of urbanisms around the world.

This course sets out to contribute to overcome this asymmetry by reconsidering our perspective. Course reading, lectures and in-class discussions centre around urban theories developed in cities in the so-called Global South to illustrate that urban design and urbanisation are not prerogatives of the Western world. The course will highlight alternative canons of knowledge which have been hitherto marginalised or dismissed, yet are crucial in understanding the design and production of cities. Through studying urban theories based on cities that develop according to their own logics and generate different urban experiences, this course seeks to extend our knowledge of urban design, interrogate its assumptions, and enlarge our intellectual horizons to include a wider range of perspectives.

Time and Location

The course will take place on Friday afternoons from 13.45 to 15.30 in room HIL E4.

• Seminar 01 | Introduction
  Friday 21 February 2025 | protected page slides
  
• Seminar 02 | Vernacular & Participation
  Friday 28 February 2025 – Guest Speaker Peter Makachia (Technical University of Kenya) | protected page slides
• Seminar 03 | Poetics & Practice
  Friday 7 March 2025 – Guest Speaker Óscar Andrade (Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso) | protected page Full Text by Colectivo Amereida (protected page Translation in English)
• Seminar 04 | The Tropical & the Regional
  Friday 14 March 2025 – Guest Speaker Setiadi Sopandi (Indra Tata Adilaras, Museum Arsitektur Indonesia) | protected page Full Exhibition Catalogue
• [SEMINAR WEEK]
• Seminar 05 | Preservation & Positionality
  Friday 28 March 2025 – Guest Speaker Alessandra Gola & Abed Kittana (Birzeit University, Tampere University, Yalla Project)
• Seminar 06 | Design & the Emotional
  Friday 4 April 2025 – Guest Speaker Menna Agha (Carleton University)
• Seminar 07 | Embodied Knowledge & Cartographies
  Friday 11 April 2025 – Guest Speaker Rossana Brandão Tavares (Fluminense Federal University)
• [EASTER BREAK]
• Seminar 08 | In-class Workshop
  Friday 2 May 2025
  
• Seminar 09 | Final Presentations
  Friday 9 May 2025
  
• Seminar 10 | Final Presentations
  Friday 16 May 2025

Download Course Reader protected page here.