Housing and Urbanism
Housing and Urbanism
Housing and Urbanism
POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL
TEACHING STAFF
LIST OF CONTENTS
2. Introduction 4
3. Teaching Staff 5
4. Programme Specification 7
B) Programme Structure
6. Assessment 15
7. Resources 19
8. Courses 20
HOUSING & URBANISM PROGRAMME 2019-20
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Completion of a total of 180 credit units over 45 weeks of 40 hours each (1,800 hours of
study);
Participation in the Design Workshop on Housing and the City in Terms 1, 2, & 3 - a total of
40 credits (22.22% of total credits);
Participation in four additional courses of 10 credits in Terms 1 & 2 - a total of 40 credits
(22.22% of total credits);
Participation in the Design Workshop overseas in Term 3 - equivalent of 10 credits (5.55% of
total credits);
Up to 20 credits can be taken in complementary courses within other Graduate
School programmes (11.11% of total credits);
MA Final dissertation/project (12 to 15,000 words) to be submitted at the end of term 4 (18
September 2020) - equivalent of 90 credits (50% of total credits);
MArch Design Thesis (7000 to 8000 words plus design project) to be submitted at the end
of term 4 (8 January 2021) - equivalent of 90 credits (50% of total credits);
All course work is double marked and overall assessment of students’ work is done by an
examining board composed by all members of staff and the external examiner/s.
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2. Introduction
The Housing & Urbanism programme investigates both practical and theoretical issues
surrounding urban design and strategy, drawing together architecture, urbanism, and critical
human sciences. Students develop a deeper understanding of the connection between urban
fabric and urban process, and a greater facility with the practical aspects of a critically informed
urbanism. The problem of housing is a recurring theme in the programme, both as a critical
element within the pursuit of urbanism and as the occasion for reflection on issues of domesticity,
identity, and public space. The programme is addressed to practising architects and planners as
well as to those with continuing academic interests.
The programme applies architecture to the challenges of contemporary urban strategies. Today’s
metropolitan regions show tremendous diversity and complexity with significant global shifts in
the patterns of urban growth and decline. Architecture has a central role to play in this dynamic
context, developing far-reaching strategies and generating novel urban clusters. The MA and
MArch Courses focus on the most important changes in the contemporary urban condition and
investigate how architectural intelligence helps us to understand and respond to these trends.
The Courses are balanced between cross-disciplinary research and design application, and
students’ work is divided among three equally important areas: design workshops; lectures and
seminars; and a thesis/project which allows students to develop an extended and focused study
within the broader themes of the programme. While the MA concludes with the submission of a
written analytical dissertation showing conceptual and theoretical grasp of a problem in
architectural urbanism, the MArch concludes with a thesis demonstrating a comprehensive
design response to an urban challenge.
The core perspective of the Housing & Urbanism Programme directs students’ attention to the
dynamism of the urban process. We are interested in urban change, emergent practices and
economic forces, and most especially in the development of urban strategies capable of
harnessing these forces. Our lecture courses and readings reflect this preoccupation with urban
change, developing students’ facility with a historically informed view of urbanism as a critical
practice and a sound recognition of key drivers of contemporary change, exploring in particular
the interplay of urbanism as a spatial discipline and the political processes of the city. The
programme addresses the relation between spatial design strategies in the city and the
redesigning of urban institutions through the critique of dominant understandings and practices
in urbanism and the experimentation with alternative methods and tools of an architecturally
driven spatial design. In all of the students’ course work, this orientation to urbanism as a process
is read, in its multidimensionality and multidisciplinarity, through the lens of architecture. We study
how architecture has registered and supported urban trends and, even more importantly, how
architecture plays a critical and generative role, driving effective experimentation in urbanism.
Through the full range of students’ coursework, architecture’s relation to the urban process takes
on analytic, synthetic, and critical dimensions.
The Courses act as a testing ground of certain lines of investigation, consultancy and research
currently being developed within the programme. The search for a broader reasoning about
housing densities and urban intensification, in which architecture is seen more dynamically in
relation to an urban process; the exploring of what is an appropriate urbanism to address urban
irregularity and informality and to engage with the interaction of spatial strategies and urban social
policies; and the investigation of the role of urbanism in enhancing ‘innovation environments’ and
‘knowledge-based’ clusters through their urbanization – in contrast to earlier models of science
and technological parks – are the main themes H&U is currently engaged with. In common is
the fact that they all expose the limitations of prevailing practices in urbanism and urban design
and call for alternative approaches. The design workshops, both in London and abroad, explore
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those themes in real projects situations, collaborating with the relevant stakeholders in a quasi
consultancy format.
The programme addresses itself to a terrain between politics and the building of cities, and we
locate our work where there is the challenge of political dispute and the opportunity for significant
change. This year, our primary work in London will be directed toward a significant inner periphery
site. This will allow us to explore the dynamics of urban change at different scales, and the
potential of an architectural urbanism. From a comparative perspective, the issues of inner-city
redevelopment in the large metropolises of the southern countries will be investigated through a
study trip overseas. The main activities of the course will be supplemented by a series of public
debates and events, and by a study trip to a European city to explore recent urban interventions
related to the main themes of our Courses.
The programme’s regular teaching staff come from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines and
is engaged in a wide range of academic and professional activities at the Architectural
Association and elsewhere. Their combined experience covers a vast amount of architectural
and planning practice, consultancy work for national and international agencies as well as
academic research. Since its creation in the mid-1970s the programme has established links and
collaborations with academics and practitioners in many institutions in Britain and abroad. In
addition the programme invites every year a large number of contributors from all over the world.
One of the central features of the H&U programme has been its constant exposure to the external
academic and professional world. This is accentuated by the presence in the programme of
numerous outside experts who participate every year as lecturers, supervisors, reviewers of
dissertation work and at times as examiners. In addition, all the programme’s members of staff
have direct experience teaching, supervising and examining in other prestigious academic
institutions in Britain and abroad. All these forms of interaction with institutions and colleagues
ensure that standards can be judged against those of the wider academic world while providing,
at the same time, the conditions for a continuing reviewing and updating of the programme’s
content as well as methods of teaching.
This document introduces the structure and contents of the MA & MArch Courses. It discusses
teaching and learning strategies, resources and assessment and provides outlines of the
programme’s main courses and other regular events. There are appendices with short CVs of
the members of staff, an outline of the Course on academic writing and a list of available libraries.
Studied in Chile and worked as researcher and lecturer in several Chilean and British institutions,
specialising on issues of urban development planning and housing. Currently: senior lecturer at
the Housing and Urbanism Programme of the Architectural Association Graduate School and
senior lecturer at the Development Planning Unit, University College London. Additional
teaching experience as a Visiting Lecturer to several Master and post-graduate courses on
urban studies in Europe and Latin America.
Research and publications mainly on the interface of urbanism and urban social policy. Recent
publications, focused on housing and the informal city, include: 2013, “Informal City: Design as
Political Engagement”, in Verebes, T. (Ed), Master-planning the Adaptable City, Routledge; 2012,
(with J. Brandão) “Spatial Strategies and Urban Social Policy: Urbanism and Poverty Reduction
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in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro”, in Hernandez, F; L. Allen & P. Kellett (eds) Rethinking the
Informal City: Critical Perspectives from Latin America, Berghan Books (Oxfrod - New York).
Has worked in recent years as a consultant to several international and national agencies on
issues of urban development planning and housing in developing countries, working in particular
in Latin America. Among them, acted as consultant to the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), the
Interamerican Development Bank (IDB), UN-HABITAT and the World Bank.
Studied urbanism in California, Germany, and Canada. Lectures in the Housing and Urbanism
Programme at the Architectural Association Graduate School. Consultant urbanist to cities,
architects, and landscape architects on large urban projects. Advisor to the Board of INTA, the
International Urban Development Association, a member of the International Advisory Council
for the Fundación Metropoli in Madrid, and served on the International Advisory Panel of the
Vysokovsky Graduate School of Urbanism at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow.
Consultancy
He has worked as consultant urbanist for architectural offices on issues of urban planning,
process, and strategy. He recently completed plans for the strategic intensification of Singapore
Science Parks I&II, together with S333 Architecture and Urbanism, and continues consulting on
other projects in Europe and Asia.
Dominic Papa has over 17 years experience on large-scale urban and architectural projects.
Dominic is a co-founding director of S333 Architecture + Urbanism. Founded in 1997 in
Amsterdam it is now based in London. The studio’s first completed project, a mixed-use housing
project in Groningen won international recognition and positioned S333 at the leading edge of
contemporary urban design. Their first built project in the UK has also won awards in 2009. He is
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a design review panel member for CABE and the West Midlands. He has judged a number of
international awards and competitions and has contributed to TV debates in the UK , Netherlands
and New Zealand .
Professional experience
Success in competitions has played a key role in winning contracts and focusing attention on the
practice. Won the International Competition for the Revitalization of Samarkand, CIS in 1991, and
a national design award in 1993 for urban proposals for the city of Karlsruhe, Germany with Ove
Arup & Partners, London. Have also won two Europan housing competitions: Europan 3 in
Groningen, The Netherlands, in 1994, and Europan 4 in Manchester, England in 1996. In 1998,
S333 won a housing competition in Vijfhuizen, The Netherlands. Current work under construction
includes a large inner city housing project on a 6 hectare former industrial site in Groningen; the
topographical transformation of an old waste dump into a new park in Zaanstad; and the design
of fifty-six houses in Vijfhuizen.
Current projects under development are: an urban plan for the centre of Nieuw Vennep; mixed-
use housing for a town centre in Eschmarke; and an urban housing development in Auckland,
New Zealand.
Publications
In 2001: Space Invaders, September; New Architects 2, September; Wired No.9.02, February;
De Architect, May.
In 2000: A+T 16, November; l'ARCA n°153, November; Quaderns 227, October; City Levels;
Breathing Cities; VilleGiardini n° 363, November; Building n° 36, September; Topos 30, March;
De Architect, January; De Architect, March.
In 1999: Spazio e Societa, October; Trace: ³Trois², September;
In 1998: Blauwkamer, August; BluePrint, July; Architect¹s Journal, April;
In 1996: Arch +. n°133, September; Architectural Design. Profile n°122, July
In 1995: Span. n°2, September; Tefchos. n°14/15
In 1994: Arkitehti. n°5/6; Building Design, March; De Architect, April.
Elena Pascolo has trained and practiced in South Africa and London as an architect and urbanist
in the field of housing, urban planning and policy. She has worked on projects that have ranged
from the transformation of 40hectares of de-industrialised land in inner city London to research
agendas of a regional strategic scale in Southern Africa.
Her research interests include the potential of a transactive urbanism to assemble more inclusive
and productive urban futures that augment the relationships between informality, infrastructure,
institutions and industry. Central to this is the latent political potential of drawing and of radical
cartography to expose and explore the ambiguities and contradictions of the urban process and
urban governance.
She has also taught at the Bartlett, was a Visiting Professor at the School of architecture of the
University of Cagliari and has led workshop groups at the Global Studio in Johannesburg. She
has also been a guest critic at the Contemporary City Institute, ETH Studio Basel and at the MA
Cities, Design and Urban Culture, London Metropolitan Univeristy, London.
Co-founder of Urban Projects Bureau and co-ordinator of the Informal City Research Cluster at
the AA.
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Irénée Scalbert
Irénée Scalbert is an architectural critic. He has held academic posts in schools of architecture in
Europe, North America, and Asia, and has published widely on housing and architectural theory.
Irénée is the author of several books including a recent collection of essays published by Park
Books, entitled, A Real Living Contact with the Things Themselves.
Anna Shapiro is an architect and urbanist. Anna graduated from Tel Aviv University with BArch
in Architecture & Urban Planning, and from Architectural Association School with MA (dist) in
Housing & Urbanism. She has worked for a range of architectural practices in Israel and UK and
currently she is an urban designer with Sheppard Robson Architects. She is mainly involved with
masterplanning and residential projects’ design and delivery. Anna is an initiator and an active
member of “Collective Formations”, an international design research group focusing on the
architectural challenges of Bigness – spatial models emerging globally and shaping the
contemporary city. She is also an exhibiting artist and illustrator, involved in various printed
productions and design initiatives. She uses her drawings and paintings as an exploratory tool –
driving and formulating the communication process, rather than the final moment of any specific
body of work.
Francesco studied architecture, engineering and urbanism at the University of Cagliari and at the
Architectural Association. He is Senior Lecturer at the Leeds School of Architecture and
Associate Lecturer at Central Saint Martins in London. Between 2009-2015 he taught at the
Faculty of Architecture in Cagliari. In 2013-14 he was a Visiting Research Scholar at GSAPP,
Columbia University. He completed a PhD on the space of the university as a critical testing
ground for an idea of the city, which he is currently developing into a book. In parallel to his
academic activities he co-directs the practice urbanaarchitettura focusing on domestic projects
and urbanism.
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4.Programme Specification
The primary concern of the Housing & Urbanism programme is to contribute to the definition of
innovative urban strategies of physical intervention and design, capable of responding to the
changing nature of contemporary cities. From an interdisciplinary and international comparative
perspective, the programme explores the relationship between architectural and urban design,
urban development policies and planning, and the social and political processes and forces
operating in the making of cities. The programme aims to provide students with the analytical
tools to comprehend the interplay between design and the politics of urbanism as well as the
capacity to represent graphically that understanding and translate it into design strategies and
proposals.
On successful completion of the MA/MArch in Housing & Urbanism students should be able to:
A1 demonstrate a good grasp of the theories and concepts which help understanding the
interplay of social/political and spatial processes in the city;
A2 demonstrate critical and analytical capacity in the use of those conceptual tools;
A3 demonstrate good knowledge of the historical precedents;
A4 demonstrate good knowledge of the history of ideas in the field of urbanism and housing
theory;
A5 demonstrate good knowledge of tools and methods of spatial analysis and intervention;
A6 apply their analytical capacity to a real context and situation.
B/ Subject Specific Skills and Attributes
On successful completion of the MA/MArch in Housing & Urbanism students should be able to:
On successful completion of the MA/MArch in Housing & Urbanism students should be able to:
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Curriculum Map
This table indicates which study units are responsible for delivering (shaded) and assessing (X)
particular learning outcomes
A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 C1 C2 C3
Design Workshop
on Housing and the
City – Terms 1,2 & 3 X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Cities in a
Transnational World
- Term 1 X X X X X X
The Reason of
Urbanism- Term 1
X X X X X X
Critical Urbanism–
Terms 1 & 2
X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Reshaping the
Modern City -
Terms 1 & 2 X X X X X
Domesticity - Term
2
X X X X X X X
MA Thesis &
Seminar
Terms1,2,3& 4 X X X X X X X X X
MArch Design
Thesis &Seminar X X X X X X X X X X X X X
Terms 1,2,3&4
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B) Programme Structure
The MA & the MArch Courses offer several lecture and seminar courses as well as design
projects and workshops that are organised within the Design Workshop on Housing and the City.
Attendance to the Design Workshop in Terms 1 & 2 is obligatory. In addition students have to
choose two courses per term in the first two terms, out of the options offered by H & U. Students
are also entitled, in consultation with their main tutors, to do a maximum of two courses during
the academic year outside H&U. In Term 3 is when the main study trip takes place. The trip
overseas is compulsory and students with financial problems can request help so as to be able
to participate. After the main study trip, for the whole of Term 4 all activities are related with the
preparation of the final dissertation for the MA and the design thesis for the MArch.
The duration of the MA & the MArch Courses is 45 weeks with an average of 40 hours per week.
This represents a total of 1800 student learning hours, organised over 4 terms The MA Course
encompasses the whole calendar year, beginning on 23 September 2019 and ending on 18
September 2020. The MArch Course starts on 23 September 2019 and ends on 8 January 2021,
stopping over the summer and running Term 4 from 28 September 2020. Student work is
assigned by academic term, but extends into the vacation periods. Term 3 is shorter and, in
addition to the main study trip and the conclusion of the Design Workshop together with the
preparation of the end of the year exhibition, is devoted primarily to the formulation of the MA
Dissertation and the MArch Design Thesis.
The first three terms of the academic year (Phase 1) are run jointly and entail the same activities
and coursework for all students. Following an introductory seminar in Term 1 on the nature and
expectations of the final Dissertation/Design Thesis, all students are required to submit a first
statement of their proposed topic for the MA Dissertation and the MArch Design Thesis in the last
week of Term 2, enabling students and faculty to plan their studies and supervisory
arrangements. The whole of the last week of the term is dedicated to that. In the Term 3 students
further develop the formulation of their research project through tutorials, independent research,
and seminar discussions involving all students and members of staff. Each student will be asked
to give a presentation to the seminar and submit a well developed proposal for their
Dissertation/Design Thesis (including a text of around 1000 words and related graphic material)
by the end of June. It is expected that the greater design orientation of the MArch students will
be reflected in their seminar presentations and proposals and that their Design Thesis will be an
in-depth exploration of work already initiated through the Design Workshop.
While the MA Dissertation is an individual piece of research under one assigned supervisor on a
subject of the student’s choice, the MArch Design Thesis relates to the main areas of research
by design defined by the different tutoring groups within the Design Workshop. The Design Thesis
is group driven throughout the work but culminates with individual submissions.
All students will need to pass all their Phase 1 coursework and submit an acceptable proposal to
qualify for Phase 2 (Term 4). While MA students start Phase 2 immediately after the end of Term
3 working towards a final Dissertation of 12/15,000 words, the MArch students return in late
September - after the summer break - to start their Phase 2 and the development of their Design
Thesis combining a text of no more than 8,000 words with a design project. In the case of the
MArch students whose proposal is considered underdeveloped or inappropriate by the end of
June, they will work over the summer with their tutors until reaching an acceptable formulation.
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Phase 2 for the MArch students culminates with a public presentation in the second week of
January 2020.
The lecture series and other events delivered by the programme in Terms 1 and 2 are held over
three days each week in single or double sessions. Individual tutorials are arranged at convenient
times outside these time slots. Students are also encouraged to attend selective courses with the
other post-graduate programmes, and evening lectures offered weekly by the school.
MA & MArch students are given credits for each 10 hours of learning time (which includes
lectures, seminars, course reading, workshops and tutorials, as well as time spent on projects,
essays and other assigned tasks). A total of 180 credits are required. These are distributed
between the four terms of the year as follows:
A detailed breakdown of credits is given in the following section. A total of up to 20 credits can be
taken outside the programme by attending other graduate course/s approved by the student’s
main tutors and completing the assigned task for that course/s.
For a summary of the course structure and assessed activities, see the table below:
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Summary of Course Structure and Assessed Activities
Term 2 - 6 January to 20 March 2020 (11 weeks)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Domesticity L.Barth
Dissertation &
Design Thesis
Seminar and
Preparation
All Staff
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5. Teaching and Learning Strategies
The MA & the MArch Courses are structured around three primary types of teaching/learning
activities: design workshops, which offer the opportunity to investigate urban areas and to test
design strategies; lectures and seminars, which provide theoretical underpinning to the concepts
and approaches developed in the design work; and Dissertation/Design Thesis work, which
allows students to develop an extended and focused study within the field. Theoretical reflection
and the pursuit of practical design solutions are evenly balanced within the programme’s work
agenda, with design projects providing an arena to test ideas and illustrate current problems and
strategies within urbanism.
In the term 1 we introduce the students to the theoretical and historical foundations of the course
and provide them with some analytical and methodological tools. Term 2 tends to be more applied
and case study orientated, emphasising especially the students’ own experiences and countries.
Term 3 consists mostly of seminars and individual and group tutorials organised around the
student's work for the final Dissertation/Design Thesis. Term 4 is entirely dedicated to the
preparation of the final work. A series of design projects and exercises are done throughout the
first three terms within the Design Workshop on Housing and the City as a way of grounding the
analytical work done in the other courses.
The Design Workshop is the central element of our academic structure, providing the space to
test through design the main research agendas of the programme. While the groups of tutors
within the studio share similar concerns and understanding of the place of design in the re-
designing of the city as a political/institutional construct – and often share the same brief and site
– they provide and emphasise different entry points, research questions, methodologies of design
and pedagogical approaches. Indeed, the objective is to provide the students with a space of
debate among contrasting perspectives as a teaching strategy.
As an integral part to the taught programme, there are two study trips during the academic year:
one in Europe in Term 1 and a two-week design workshop overseas in Term 3. Study trips
provide an excellent and challenging context to explore and develop a comparative perspective
on issues of urbanism and housing. The fact that in recent years we have been able to combine
trips to developing and developed countries has enriched immensely the experience of our
students.
The model of the intensive design workshop abroad is one that the H&U programme has been
using for many years, working in many different cities worldwide – normally in cycles of three
years to reach a depth of knowledge and institutional relations that can maximise the ability to
contribute to the local debates and strategies. In recent years we have worked in Bogota, Mexico
City, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Shanghai, Hanoi, Taipei, Tainan and Warsaw, collaborating with
local academic institutions – mixing students and academic staff- to address challenging urban
conditions, often in the context of real plans and projects, and always engaging all the relevant
stakeholders, private and public. These workshops are a central part of a pedagogy that attempts
not only to expose the students to the pressures, complexities and politics of real projects and
plans, but also to expose them to other pedagogic approaches to the urban project, as well as to
other understandings of urbanism itself. Indeed, pedagogy as an intensive contrasting of
pedagogies and conceptual perspectives.
The goal is to make spatial and design proposals that relate to an argument about how to
intervene in the urban condition. It is not about finished designs. The scale of this work is neither
the architectural project nor the fixed model of masterplans. The proposals aim to develop an
architectural urbanism to inform methods of intervention in the urban condition, and to debate
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this with a broad range of stakeholders in the real situation. If these proposals influence public
policy and plans or the action of any of the stakeholders, this is a most welcomed outcome, which
testifies to the relevance, of what is primarily an academic exercise. The fact that our workshops
abroad have often acted as the spur of a real plan or project is something that testifies to the
value of these collaborative workshops.
All courses and workshops involve a series of contact and non-contact hours. The contact hours
refer to the teaching and the tutorial time, and in the case of the design work, studio times. In
addition, students are expected to dedicate considerable time to reading, researching and
preparing their course work - the non-contact hours. In the case of the design projects these also
include the visits. For a detailed breakdown of the balance of hours for each course/activity see
the next table.
Tutorials play a key role within the quite flexible structure of our programme and it is through them
that each student can define and organise his/her activities and course work. Every student is
assigned a main tutor as from the third week for general orientation concerning the appropriate
combination of courses and optional activities. In addition students can request tutorials from
any lecturer regarding course work, papers and the dissertation proposal. Once the subject of
the final Dissertation/Design Thesis is defined, each student is assigned a tutor/s. Students are
expected to meet a few times their tutor/s during the first stage of Dissertation/Design Thesis
work (term 3) and to meet and/or communicate with their tutor/s on a regular basis during Term
4, up to the submission at the end of September for the MA Dissertation and early January for
the MArch Design Thesis.
Students have a central role in the development of the programme. At the beginning of Term 2
there is a meeting to evaluate the programme's activities and to discuss possible adjustments. At
the end of the year there is another evaluation meeting attended by all members of staff and the
suggestions made are taken into consideration in the planning of the next academic year.
For a summary of Course hours and credits see the table below:
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2-12 Critical Urbanism 1 10 Lectures/Sem 20hrs 5.55%
Lawrence Barth Tutorials 10hrs
Reading 30hrs
Research &
Essay 40hrs
2-12 Reshaping the Modern City 1 10 Lectures/Sem 20hrs 5.55%
Anna Shapiro, Dominic Papa, Tutorials 10hrs
Elena Pascolo Reading 30hrs
Research &
Essay 40hrs
2-5 Introduction to final 8 Presentations/Seminars/ 4.44%
Dissertation/Design Thesis Tutorials 80hrs
Term 2
1-11 Design Workshop on Housing 20 Lectures/Sem 20hrs 11.11%
and the City Visits 20hrs
All staff Studio 60hrs
Student work 100hrs
Two Courses out of the Term 2 four options 24 13.33%
plus preparation of final work proposal
1-11 Critical Urbanism 10 Lectures/Sem 20hrs 5.55%
Lawrence Barth Tutorials 10hrs
Reading 30hrs
Research &
Essay 40hrs
1-11 Housing and the Informal City 10 Lectures/Sem 20hrs 5.55%
Jorge Fiori Tutorials 10hrs
Reading 30hrs
Res &Essay 40hrs
Term 3
1-7 Dissertation & Design Thesis 26 Seminars 40hrs 14.44%
Seminar and Preparation Tutorials 40hrs
Readings 60hrs
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Research &
Write/design 120hrs
7-8 Design Workshop abroad 10 Lectures/Sem 10hrs 5.55%
All staff Visits 10hrs
Studio 80hrs
Term 4
1-13 MA Dissertation & MArch 52 Research, writing & 28.91%
Design Thesis Preparation and designing 520hrs
Completion
Total 180 1800hrs 100%
6. Assessment
MA & MArch students are assessed on submitted design projects, essays and dissertations.
The essays and the documents associated with the design work should be submitted in the last
day of the term to the Graduate School Co-ordinator. The design work will also involve
presentations within the correspondent term. The final Dissertation/Design Thesis should be
submitted by the end of Term 4. Successful completion of assessed tasks requires attendance
of all the activities associated with that task.
Assessments of coursework and of the final submission are based on the criteria below and work
should demonstrate:
Students in the Course come from a variety of cultural and educational backgrounds, and also
hold diverse intellectual interests. This diversity will be reflected in the range of topics and styles.
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Some will emphasize historical and theoretical themes within the field, while others will focus on
issues of contemporary application. However, the Course places great importance on the
integration of design, urban strategy, and politics, and the best dissertations and design theses
will demonstrate a critical ability to respond to this ambition through writing as well as design.
All submissions are assessed and marked by two members of the programme’s regular teaching
staff. Student work is then reviewed by the External Examiners, who always combine substantial
academic and professional experience and whose role is to ensure fair and objective marking
and the maintenance of high academic standards. The External Examiners receive a sample of
dissertations, projects and essays in time for the meeting of the Examination Boards. The MA
Examination Board meets in late October 2020 and the MArch Examination Board meets in early
March 2021. The Examination Boards are composed by the regular members of teaching staff
and the External Examiners. They are assisted by the Graduate School’s Administrative Co-
ordinator. The Examination Boards have the responsibility for the final marking of all submitted
work and make decisions on distinctions and resubmission. The Boards and their External
Examiners report to the Joint Assessment Board (see Graduate School Academic Organisation
section of the AA Regulations document) who in turn informs the AA Academic Board. The
Academic Board reports to The Open University, the validating body for the AA Graduate
School’s Masters Programmes. Notification of results is given to students by the Registrar's Office
through the Graduate School Co-ordinator.
The marking of all course work is on a scale of 0 - 100% with a pass mark of 50% and grading
as shown below:
The marks given by each of the two internal assessors are averaged to give the overall mark for
each item. A coursework average mark is calculated based on the credit rating of each submitted
item. The dissertation/design thesis is marked separately, also by two internal assessors. To
qualify for the MA & MArch, students must attain the 50% threshold mark on both the coursework
average, and on the final project average mark. An overall final mark is then calculated as the
weighted average of course work (representing 50% of the total credits) and Dissertation/Design
Thesis (representing 50% of the total credits). Large differences (of more than 10 percentage
points) in the marking of the assessors are raised for discussion at the Examination Board
meeting.
The MA & MArch certificates are awarded "with Distinction" when the overall final mark (i.e. the
combined weighted average of course work and final project) is 70% or higher. All other grades
attained by students are also kept on record on the AA Graduate School’s database, and are
available for transcripts, but do not appear on the certificates.
16
Students who fail to attain a pass mark on one item of coursework (project or essay) may still
satisfy the programme requirements if they can attain an overall mark of 50% for the particular
course. If they fail more than one item or fail to attain an overall mark of 50% for the correspondent
course work, they will be required to resubmit (only once) and pass before being allowed to
proceed with their final project.
In cases where there are no accepted mitigating circumstances and where coursework is
submitted late, marks will be deducted. Any element of assessed work submitted up to seven
days after the deadline will be marked and 10 marks (on a scale of 100) will be deducted for that
element, for each calendar day of lateness incurred. Any piece of work submitted 7 or more days
after the deadline would not be assessed and assigned a mark of 0, unless the student submits
personal circumstances and these are accepted.
Students failing a submission during Phase 1 are required to resubmit and pass before
proceeding to Phase 2. Failure to resubmit and achieve a pass mark of at least 50% will result in
the withdrawal from the programme on academic grounds. Students who fail to attain an average
of 50% for their dissertation/design thesis will be allowed to resubmit for the Examination Board
of the following academic year. Resubmission of Term 1 course work should be done for the last
Monday of Term 2; resubmission of second term course work should be done by the last Monday
of Term 3. Failure in the resubmission will lead to disqualification from the degree. Submissions
failed or recorded as failed can only be resubmitted once. All resubmissions are capped at 50%.
Guidance from programme staff during the preparation of any resubmission is available.
Plagiarism and student substitution in the preparation of coursework are practices considered
very serious and unacceptable at the AA School and can lead to failure and removal from the
School (see AA Regulations document on Plagiarism). Plagiarism is defined as stealing another
person's work and ideas and using them as though they were your own. It is also plagiarism if
you do not acknowledge the co-operation of another person who works with you or who gives
you permission to use their work. Student substitution is defined as getting someone else to do
your work. If the School suspects that one of these practices has taken place, it reserves the right
of using appropriate software to detect them.
For further information on assessment, progression and award credits please consult the
Graduate School Academic Organisation and Regulations document.
17
The elements of assessment of the H&U programme can be summarised as per table below:
ELEMENTS OF ASSESSMENT
Course/Activity Credits Assessment % Final Award
Term 1
Design Workshop on 20 Individual Presentation 11.11%
Housing and the City and submission - 100%
Term 2
Design Workshop on 20 Team presentation and 11.11%
Housing and the City submission - 100%
Terms 3 & 4
Design Workshop 10 Team presentation - 5.55%
abroad 100%
MA final Dissertation 90 MA: 12-15,000wds 50.00%
or MArch Design MArch: 7-8000 words
Thesis plus design project
100%
Total 180 100%
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7. Resources
Masters’ and doctorate students in the Graduate School have access to all of the AA School's
facilities. The relevant departments at the beginning of the academic year provide introductory
sessions. For further information on these facilities refer to the AA Students Handbook.
H&U provides students with two large studio spaces – for Phase 1 and Phase students
respectively – with the appropriate furniture for students to store their own material. The studios
are connected to the School’s media facilities.
In terms of human resources, students have access to all members of staff for support and
tutorials. The course's regular staff comes from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines and are
engaged in a wide range of academic and professional activities at the Architectural Association
and elsewhere. Their combined experience covers a vast amount of architectural and planning
practice, consultancy work for national and international agencies as well as academic research.
In addition, the programme invites every year a number of visiting staff.
In addition to the supervision taking place within the Design Workshop, members of staff will be
available for tutorials at the times provided at the beginning of the academic year. On practical
and administrative matters students should refer to Jorge Fiori or Lawrence Barth.
19
ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION GRADUATE SCHOOL
Tutors: Lawrence Barth, Jorge Fiori, Dominic Papa, Elena Pascolo, Irénée
Scalbert, Anna Shapiro, and Giorgio Talocci
The Design Workshop forms the core of the H&U curriculum, teaching students to
investigate, explore, and respond to the urban process through design reasoning.
Working in teams with close participation of faculty, students are introduced to a specific
but complex set of challenges faced in cities today, through which they learn to
understand, envision, and initiate urban transformation through a project. We emphasise
argument through design, building a capacity for comparison and evaluation. The course
develops research, drawing, and writing skills while encouraging collaboration,
discussion, and invention.
Term 2
In Term 2, students are divided into tutor groups, each with a specific research agenda
based on an urban theme driving new developments in London, such as Workspace
Urbanity, Complex Living, or Mobility and Integration. In the second term, student
research and exploration are increasingly oriented toward design synthesis, application,
and urban transformation. Our primary interest is in specific projects strong enough to
initiate or further the positive transformation of urban areas. We work across scales,
from detailed plans of contemporary housing to the mobility infrastructure of the regional
metropolis, with emphases placed differently among the three tutor groups. The capacity
for critical synthesis drives all our work and enables students to understand their project
as the coalescence of a range of urban forces and trends. Just as in the first term, the
Design Workshop emphasises the integration of a critical urban politics with architecture
and design reasoning. Students will be shown how urban transformation is organised
and pursued through the investigation of the city as architecture.
Term 3
H&U collaborates every year with a host city and university in a sponsored, intensive
workshop addressing a specific live challenge under conditions of complexity and rapid
change. Our partner cities have included Bogotá, Recife, Taipei, Hanoi, Shanghai, Rio
de Janeiro, Mexico City, and this past year, Warsaw. H&U students become part of a
vibrant network of international urban learning. The workshop typically is spread over 10
days, and involves continuous investigation and design development, with both an
interim presentation and a final presentation to representatives of the host city, academic
community, and the public. This year we will return for a second year of collaboration
with the city of Warsaw.
Student groups will consolidate their Term 2 group work for submission in the middle of
Term 3, and this process benefits from the intensive production experience of the
Workshop Abroad.
Taking the three terms together, the Design Workshop enables students to develop a
capacity for well-founded, critical, propositions for urban change, which are based upon
a solid understanding of driving trends and current practices.
In addition, during Term 1, tutors will offer additional readings connected to the
exemplary projects being investigated. During Term 2, the distinct tutor groups will set
readings to support the research aims of their particular Design Workshop theme.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the Design Workshop students should be able to:
Understand the fundamental and constitutive relationship between architecture and
urban transformation
Make effective use of the conventions of architectural thought to explore and develop
urban propositions
Have command of graphic tools of investigation, exploration, and analysis in relation
to exemplary urban projects
Be proficient in the use of graphic tools to demonstrate generative and
developmental aspects of architectural thought for urban change
Integrate textual and graphic arguments and propositions convincingly in
presentations and documents
Research effectively and evaluate the relationship between drivers of change and
specific urban projects
Develop the capacity for informed and critical appraisal of current urban projects in
specific thematic areas of urban development
Show skill in the development and presentation of group work
Assessed Work
Students will present a group document concerning their Term 2, London-based,
research theme at the beginning of Term 3. This will cover all of the work of Term 2,
demonstrating both research into the politics of urban transformation and the pragmatics
of the proposed projects.
A second group submission is required for the work covering the intensive workshop
abroad, and this will be due two weeks after the conclusion of the workshop.
Assessment criteria
All assessed materials should demonstrate the following:
Clarity and consistency of the argument for urban transformation and the validity
of the projects proposed to achieve it
Depth and breadth of critical awareness supporting the argument
Substantial evidence of research to support the argument, well-chosen and
germane to the topic
Well organised and written presentation of materials
Excellent development of graphic material to demonstrate exploration, analysis,
and evolution of the design investigation and final project
A strong ability to communicate persuasively through graphic material, including
its integration into the textual argument
A distinctive grasp of the core ideas of the discipline, such that they show
originality in the group or individual work
ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION GRADUATE SCHOOL
Globalization is a subject that permeates most development debates today. While its exact
meaning and implications remain a matter of great controversy, it is undeniable that
substantial qualitative changes are taking place in the world economy, with major spatial and
social implications. Cities are at the core of this process. Their nature, role and potential
development are being continuously redefined, together with the meaning, instruments and
role of urban development planning.
This course aims to explore from a theoretical and historical perspective the processes of
urban transformation in the context of internationalization of the world economy. It explores
the articulation of social and spatial changes in cities and the context of globalisation in the
last few decades, paying particular attention to the reflection of that in terms of changing
systems of urban governance. This course uses the growing informalisation of cities and of
the world economy as an entry point to reflect on the changing nature of cities and the
challenges for urban policy and planning. Drawing from the realities of developing countries
as its starting point, it offers a critical and comparative analysis of the changing nature of
cities and housing in the context of globalization, economic adjustment and political
restructuring. It will explore the implications of different strategies of development - in
particular in the post-war period - in terms of the social and spatial transformations of cities
and of the change in the systems of urban governance, placing strong emphasis on issues of
policy and planning.
This course will combine lectures with seminars organised around students’ presentations of the
central issues raised by the minimum bibliography provided for those sessions. The additional
bibliography can also be consulted and can be of use for those doing Coursework in this option.
Essays can be done on any of the themes addressed by the course and can be defined in
collaboration with the course tutor.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course students will be expected to have:
an understanding of the relation between development processes and the social and spatial
urban conditions;
a critical understanding of the different interpretations and perspectives on the place of cities
in the process of globalization;
an understanding of the dilemmas posed by globalization and market liberalisation policies
to the governance of cities and to urban development policy and planning.
Assessment Criteria
Students submitting work to this course are expected to:
complete a 2,500 words essay demonstrating good command of the English language and
ability to structure a coherent argument;
demonstrate understanding of the selected and relevant readings for the essay;
show evidence of independent work, properly referenced;
show critical awareness in the use of theoretical work and case examples.
Introductory Readings:
Brenner, N., Marcuse. P. and Mayer. M. (eds) Cities for People, Not for Profit, Routledge, 2012
Chang, H.J., 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism, Allen Lane, 2010
Friedmann, J., The Propsect of Cities, Univ. of Minnesota Press, London, 2002
Harvey, D., Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution, Verso, 2012
Le Gates, R. & Stout, F., The City Reader, Routledge Urban Reader Series, 2016
Sassen, S. Cities in a World Economy, Thousand Oaks, Pine Forge Press. 2001
SESSIONS 1:
Planning and the Changing Approaches to the Irregular City.
A general overview of the evolution of strategies to deal with one of the issues which characterise
the contemporary city - irregularity in building, land occupation and economic practices - as an
introduction to the debates on development, urbanisation and planning which will follow in this
course.
SESSION 2:
Trends in World Urbanisation: Facts and Interpretation.
A descriptive overview of urbanisation statistics and a discussion of what they might hide: the
change in the nature of cities.
UN-HABITAT, The State of the World Cities 2004, Earthscan/UN-HABITAT, UK, 2004
SESSION 3:
Seminar: A Tale of Two Cities
A discussion of alternative experiences of urban development as documented by two videos:
Singapore and Mumbai
SESSION 4:
Theorising Development and its Spatial Implications
A review of different theories and strategies of development and of their assumptions and
implications in terms of spatial organisation.
Armstrong, W and McGee, T.G: Theatres of Accumulation, Chaps. 1, 2 & 3, Methuen, London,
1985
SESSION 5:
The Changing Nature of the World Economy: Globalization.
A critical review of current debates on the extent and implications of globalization.
Hirst, P. and Thompson, G. Globalization in Question, Chaps. 1 & 2, Polity Press, 1996
SESSION 6:
Seminar : Cities in a Global Economy.
A discussion of the role and place of cities in the processes of globalization and of the new
challenges for urban development policies.
Simon, D., “ The World City Hypothesis: Reflections from the Periphery”, in Knox, P and Taylor,
PJ (eds), World Cities in a World System, Cambridge University Press, 1995
Sassen, S. “Locating Cities in Global Circuits”, in Environment & Urbanization, Vol.5, N.1, 2002
SESSION 7:
Urban Poverty and the New Dualism.
A review of different interpretations of urban poverty in the process of development with a focus
on the new forms of social exclusion.
Beall, J., “Globalization and Social Exclusion in Cities: Framing the Debate with Lessons from
Africa and Asia”, in Environment & Urbanization, Vol.5, N.1, 2002
McGrew, A., “Sustainable Globalisation? The Global Politics of Development and Exclusion in the
New World Order”, in Allen, T and A Thomas (editors), Poverty and development into the 21st
Century, Oxford University Press, 2000
SESSION 8:
Seminar: Urban Governance and State Restructuring.
A review of the dilemmas posed by globalization and economic adjustment to the governance of
cities.
Hirst, P., “Cities, Globalization and Governance”, in P. Hirst Space and Power: Politics, War and
Architecture, Polity, London, 2005
McCarney, P., “Considerations on the Notion of ‘Governance’: New Directions for Cities in the
Developing World”, in P. McCarney (ed) Cities and Governance: New Directions in Latin America,
Asia and Africa, University of Toronto, 1997
SESSION 9:
Strategic Planning: Tool for All Tastes?
A critical discussion of Strategic Planning: instrument and expression of a new consensual search
for competitiveness in the global economy or threat to the future of democratic cities?
Borja, J. and Castells, M., Local and Global: Management of Cities in the Information Age, Chaps.
5, 6 & 8, Earthscan, 1997
Kaufman, J & Jacobs, H., “A Public Planning Perspective on Strategic Planning”, in Cambell, S.
& Fainstein, S. (Eds), op. Cit., 1996
Abbott, J., Governance and Participation, paper presented to the International Conference
Governance and Participation: Practical Approaches to Urban Poverty Reduction, UNCHS
(Habitat), Florence, 1998
Agamben, G. State of Exception, The University of Chicago Press, 2005
Amin, S. Capitalism in the Age of Globalization, Chaps. 1,2 & 5, Zed Books, 1997
Angotti, T: Metropolis 2000: Planning, Poverty and Politics, Routledge, 1993
Balbo, M., "Urban Planning and the Fragmented Cities of Developing Countries", in Third World
Planning Review, vol.15, n.1, 1993, pp. 23-35
Biel, R, The New Imperialism: Crisis and Contradictions in North/South Relations, Zed Books,
London, 2000
Bruyns, G & Graafland, A. African Perspectives – South Africa: City, Society, Space,
Literature and Architecture, 010 Publishers, Rotterdam, 2012
Burgess,R., Carmona, M. & Kolstee, T., Contemporary Urban Strategies and Urban Design in
Developing Countries, Section 3 (pp.53-72), Publikatieburo Bouwkunde, Delft, 1994
De Soto, H., “The Five Mysteries of Capital”, in H. De Soto, The Mystery of Capital: why capitalism
triumphs in the West and fails everywhere else, Black Swan, UK, 2001
De Soto, H, Constraints on People: The Origins of Underground Economies and Limits to Their
Growth (mimeo), 1990
Ding, W, Graafland, A. & Lu, A. Cities in Transition: Power, Environment & Society, Nai010
Publishers, Rotterdam, 2015
Castells, M. & Portes, A, "World Underneath: The Origins, Dynamic and Effects of the Informal
Economy", in Portes, A., Castells, M. & Benton, L.A. (eds) The Informal Economy: Studies in
Advanced and Less Developed Countries, The John Hopkins University Press, 1989
Castells, M, The Informational City, Blackwell, 1989
Castells, M., The Rise of the Network Society, Blackwell, 1996
Cornia, G, R Jolly and F Stewart, Adjustment with a Human Face: Vol.1: Protecting the Vulnerable
and Promoting Growth, UNICEF1987
Demery, L, The Alleviation of Poverty under Structural Adjustment, World Bank, Washington
DC1987
Devas, N & Rakodi, C (eds), Managing Fast Growing Cities: New Approaches to Urban Planning
and Management in the Developing World, Longman, 1993
Douglass, M. & J. Friedmann, Cities for Citzens, Wiley, London, 1998
Environment and Urbanization, vol.7, N.1, on "Urban Poverty", 1995
Environment & Urbanisation, Globalisation and Cities, Vol.14, N.1, 2002
Feagin, J.R. & Smith, M.P., "Cities and the New International Division of Labour", in M. Smith &
J. Feagin (Eds) The Capitalist City, Basil Blackwell, London, 1987
Freire, M. & Stren, R., The Challenge of Urban Government. Policies and Practices, World Bank,
Washington, 2001
Friedmann, J., Empowerment: The Politics of Alternative Development, Blackwell, Oxford. 1992
Fukiama, F., The Origins of Political Order, Profile Books, London, 2010
Gilbert, A and Gugler,J: Cities, Poverty and Development, Oxford University Press, 1992
Gray, J., Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals, Granta Books, London2003
Gray, J., False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism, Granta Books, London2002
Hall, P., Cities of Tomorrow, Pluto Press, 1997
Hardoy, J. and Satterthwaite, D: Squatter Citizen; Life in the Urban Third World, Earthscan,
London, 1989
Harris, N and Fabricius, I (eds), Cities and Structural Adjustment, UCL Press, 1996
Harris, N (ed), Cities in the 1990s; the Challenge for Developing Countries, UCL Press, London,
1992
Harris, N., “Cities in a Global Economy: Structural Change and Policy Reactions”, in Urban
Studies, Vol. 34, N.10, pp 1693-1703
Harris, N, " Urbanisation, Economic Development and Policy in Developing Countries", DPU
Working Paper, N.19, 1990
Harris, N., "Some Trends in the Evolution of Big Cities: Case Studies of the USA and India", in N.
Harris City, Class and Trade: Social and Economic Transformation in the Third World, DPU/IB
Tauris, London, 1991
Harris, N: The End of the Third World, I.B. Tauris, London, 1987
Harvey, D., The Condition of Postmodernity, Blackwell, Oxford 1989
Harvey, D., “On Planning the Ideology of Planning”, in Campbell, S & Fainstein, S. (Eds) Readings
in Planning Theory, Blackwell, 1996
Harvey, D: "Money, Time, Space and the City", The Denman Lecture, University of Cambridge,
1985
Healey, P. et all (eds), Managing Cities: the New Urban Context, Longman, 1995
Healey, P., Collaborative Planning: Shaping Places in Fragmented Societies, Macmillan Press,
1997
Held, D., A Globalising World? Culture, Economics, Politics, Routledge, London 2004
Held, D., & McGrew, A., The Global Transformations Reader, Polity Press, 2003
Henderson, J & Castells, M (eds): Global Restructuring and Territorial Development, Sage,
London, 1987
Hernandez, F., Kellet, P. & Allen, L. (eds.) Rethinking the Informal City: Critical Perspectives
from Latin America, Berghahn Books, New York, 2012
Kaminer, T, Robles-Duran, M & Sohn, H. (eds) Urban Asymetries: Studies and Projects on
Neoliberal Urbanization, 010 Publishers, Rotterdam, 2011
King, A, Urbanism, Colonialism and the World Economy, Routledge, London, 1991
King, A: Global Cities: Post-Imperialism and the Internationalisation of London, Routledge, 1990
Knox, P and Taylor, PJ (eds), World Cities in a World System, Cambridge University Press, 1995
Komninos, N. Intelligent Cities and Globalisation of Innovation Networks, Routledge, 2008
Larrain, J., Theories of Development, Polity Press, 1994
Latour, B., We Have Never Been Modern, Harvard University Press, 1993
Latour, B., Politics of Nature, Harvard University Press, 2004
Lubell, H, The Informal Sector in the 1980s and the 1990s, OECD, Paris, 1991
Martinussen, J., Society, State and Market, Zed Books, London, 2005
McGrew, A., 2000, “Sustainable Globalisation? The Global Politics of Development and Exclusion
in the New World Order”, in Allen, T and A Thomas (editors), Poverty and development into the
21st Century, Oxford University Press
Mingione, E (Ed), Urban Poverty and the Underclass, Pluto Press, 1996
Mouffe, C., The Democratic Paradox, Verso, 2009
Mouffe, C., Agonistics, Verso, 2013
Moser, C., "Urban Social Policy and Poverty Reduction", in Environment and Urbanization, Vol.7,
N.1, pp. 159-171, 1995
Mosley, P., “Attacking Poverty and the Post-Washington Consensus”, in Journal of International
Development, N.13, 2001
Mouffe, C., The Democratic Paradox, Verso, 2009
Mouffe, C., Agonistics, Verso, 2013
Nederveen Pieterse, J., Development Theory: Deconstructions/Reconstructions, Sage,
London, 2001
Nederveen Pieterse, J., “After Post-Development”, in Third World Quarterly, Vol.21, N.2, pp
175-191, 2000
Nederveen Pieterse, J., Globalisation or Empire, Routledge, London 2004
Portes, A and Walton, J: Labor, Class and the International System, Academic Press, New York,
1981
Pugh, C., "International Structural Adjustment and its Sectoral and Spatial Impacts", in Urban
Studies, Vol.32, N.2, pp.261-285. 1995
Rodrik, D., The Globalization Paradox: Why Global Markets, States and Democracy Can’t
Coexist, Chap. 10, Oxford University Press, 2011
Sandercock, Cosmopolis II: Mongrel Cities in the 21st Century, Continuum, London 2003
Sandercock, L., Towards Cosmopolis, Wiley, London, 1998
Sassen, S., The Global City: New York, London, Tokio, Princeton University Press1992
Sassen, S. Losing Control? Sovereignity in an Age of Globalization, Columbia, 1996
Sassen, S . Globalization and its Discontents, The New Press, 1998
Sassen, S. Territory, Authority and Rights, Princeton University Press, 2006
Satterthwaite, D.(Ed), The Millennium Development Goals and Local Processes, IIED, UK, 2003
Shane, D. G. Recombinant Urbanism, Wiley-Academy, 2008
Shane, D. G. Urban Design Since 1945 – A Global Perspective, Wiley 2011
Smith, D. & M. Timberlake, "Conceptualising and Mapping the Structure of the World System's
City System", in Urban Studies, vol.32, N.2, pp.287-302, 1995
Soja, Edward (1989): Postmodern Geographies: The Reassessment of Space in Critical Social
Theory, Verso
Stiglitz, J., The Role of the State in Financial Markets, Proceedings of the World Bank Annual
Conference on Development Economics, Washington 1994
Stiglitz, J., Globalization and its Discontents, Penguin Books, London 2001
Stiglitz, J., The Roaring Nineties: Seeds of Destruction, Allen Lane, London 2003
Thomas, J.J, Surviving in the City, Pluto Press, 1994
Timberlake, M, Urbanisation in the World Economy, Academic Press, Orlando, chap.1, 1985
Timberlake, M., "World-system Theory and the Study of Comparative Urbanisation", in M.P.Smith
& J.R. Feagin (eds) The Capitalist City, Basil Blackwell, London, 1987
UNCHS, The Istanbul Declaration and the Habitat Agenda, UNCHS, Nairobi, 1997
UNCHS (Habitat), An Urbanizing World: Global Report on Human Settlements, Oxford University
Press, 1996
UNCHS (Habitat), People, Settlements, Environment and Development, Habitat, Nairobi, 1990
UNDP, Human Development Report, Overview and Chaps. 1 & 2, Oxford University Press, 1997
UNDP, Cities, People and Poverty: Urban Development Cooperation for the 1990s, N.Y., 1991
UNDP, Human Development Report, Chaps. 3 & 4, Oxford University Press, 2010
Walden, B. with Cunnigham, S. and Rau, B., Dark Victory: the United States, Structural
Adjustment and Global Poverty, Pluto Press, London 1994
Wallerstein, I., The Capitalist World-Economy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1984
Wallerstein, I., “Culture as the Ideological Battleground of the Modern World-System”, in M.
Featherstone (ed) Global Culture, Sage, London 1990
Wallerstein, I., After Liberalism, New Press, New York 1995
Waters, M., Globalization, Routledge, 2000
Wilkinson, R., & Hughes, S., Global Governance: Critical Perspectives, Routledge, London
2002
Wolfensohn, J. et. Al., A Case for Aid: Building Consensus for Development Assistance, World
Bank, Washington, 2002
World Bank, World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty, Washington DC, 2000
World Bank, Cities Without Slums: Action Plan for Moving Slum Upgrading to Scale”, Washington
DC , 1999
World Bank, The State in a Changing World, Oxford University Press, 1997
World Bank, Urban Policy and Economic Development; An Agenda for the 1990s, Washington
D.C., 1991
World Bank, World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty, Washington DC 2000
World Bank, Cities in Transition: Urban and Local Government Strategy, Washington DC 2000
World Bank, Cities Development Strategies: Taking Stock and Signposting the Way Forward,
DFID and World Bank 2000
Wratten, E., “Conceptualising Urban Poverty” in Environment and Urbanisation, Vol.7, N.1, 1995
Zanetta, C. The Influence of the World Bank in National Housing and Urban Policies, Ashgate,
London, 2004
ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION GRADUATE SCHOOL
Urbanism arose as a specific field of problems within the government of Western liberal
societies, and in this course we introduce students to this deeper political history which
continues to play out in arguments about urban change. The lectures and readings are
structured to enable architects to gain a capacity for fundamental understanding of politics
and governance, so that we have a richer grasp of the complexity of today’s urban problems.
A key feature of urbanism, in addition to its distinctive genealogy in Western governance, is its
projective attitude. It looks toward a future that is meant to mark out a progressive response to
present promises and past failings. This entails urbanism having a politics: a point of view
about the human world it proposes to alter. In this sense, the ends toward which urbanism
strives are always greater than the immediate project. Its aims and critical perspectives, both,
are formed by particular humanist understandings of history and progress. We will take an
associationalist and pragmatic point of view in reflecting on these core aspects of urban
reason, with the hope of gaining a certain maturity in our handling of the key political challenges
of urban transformation.
This lecture series will draw connections between urban projects and key political issues and
problems, with readings drawn from both domains. While the material for each of the topics
ranges broadly over the last two centuries, and occasionally into the more distant past, each
of the topics will be oriented toward an analysis of aspects of current thought and practice in
urbanism. Throughout, the aim of the course will be to deepen students’ critical awareness of
connections between urbanism and political thought, and promote their familiarity with the
politics of cities and urban design.
Learning Outcomes
Students attending this course are likely to bring a wide variety of intellectual skills and
academic interests, and the learning outcomes will reflect this diversity. Some students will
focus more on current themes within urbanism, others more on urban history, and still others
on the definition of a new theoretical approach to the problem of the urban. Experience in
recent years has shown that this diversity can be accommodated while developing an
awareness of connections among different emphases. The following are meant to highlight the
relationships between new theoretical approaches, historical awareness, and contemporary
themes in urbanism.
Assessed Work
Students will submit an essay of 2500 words on a topic agreed with the tutor. This will be due
at the end of the term.
Assessment Criteria
In acknowledging the diversity of student experience and interests, the assessment criteria will
be negotiated on an individual basis. However, emphasis will be placed on core criteria which
demonstrate a student’s engagement with the complexity of historical and theoretical material
presented in the course. Thoughtful questioning will be valued more highly than quick
certainties.
SESSION 1:
The Urban, the Present, and the Political
Choay, F. The Rule and the Model: On the Theory of Architecture and Urbanism 1997
Burchell, G., Gordon, C., and Miller, P. The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality 1991
Chs. 1, 4, 6, & 7
Rose, N. and Miller, P. “Political Power Beyond the State: Problematics of Government” 1992
British Journal of Sociology 43:2
Term-long Readings – These readings provide a good survey of the literature on architecture
and urbanism of the 20th Century:
Mumford, E. The CIAM Discourse on Urbanism, 1928-1960 2000
Hays, K. M. Modernism and the Posthumanist Subject: The architecture of Hannes Meyer and
Ludwig Hilbersheimer 1992
Rabinow, P. French Modern: Norms and Forms of the Social Environment 1989
Blau, E. and Platzer, M. (Eds.) Shaping the Great City: Modern Architecture in Central Europe
1890-1937 1999
Gold, J. The Experience of Modernism: Modern Architects and the Future City, 1928-1953
1997
Tafuri, M. and Dal Co, F. Modern Architecture 1979
SESSION 2:
Public, Private, Social, and Civic
Burchell, G., Gordon, C., and Miller, P. The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality 1991
Chs. 1, 4, 6, & 7
SESSION 3:
Association
Hirst, P. From Statism to Pluralism: Democracy, Civil Society and Global Politics 1997
Hirst, P. Associative Democracy: New Forms of Economic and Social Governance 1994
Rabinow, P. French Modern: Norms and Forms of the Social Environment 1989
SESSION 4:
Urbanism and the Analytic of Power
Golder, B. Foucault and the Politics of Rights 2015 esp. Introduction and Ch. 1
Vidler, A. “Confinement and Cure: Reforming the Hospital, 1770-1789” in The Writing of the
Walls 1987
SESSION 5:
Autonomy
Sennett, R. Flesh and Stone: The Body and the City in Western Civilization 1994 Chs. 1, 8-10
Burchell, G. “Peculiar Interests: Civil Society and Governing ‘The System of Natural Liberty’”
in Burchell, G., et al The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality 1991
Joyce, P. The Rule of Freedom: Liberalism and the Modern City 2003
SESSION 6:
Usurpation
SESSION 7:
Difference
Sennett, R. Flesh and Stone: The Body and the City in Western Civilization 1994
SESSION 8:
Urbanism and Biopolitics: The Transition to Modernism
Rabinow, P. French Modern: Norms and Forms of the Social Environment 1989
Rose, N. “Life, Reason and History: reading Georges Canguilhem today” Economy and
Society Vol. 27, Nos. 2 & 3 1998
Rose, N. The Politics of Life Itself: Biomedicine, Power, and Subjectivity in the Twenty-First
Century 2007
Blau, E. and Platzer, M. (Eds.) Shaping the Great City: Modern Architecture in Central Europe
1890-1937 1999
Gold, J. The Experience of Modernism: Modern Architects and the Future City, 1928-1953
1997
SESSION 9:
Critique
Koselleck, R. Critique and Crisis: Enlightenment and the Pathogenesis of Modern Society 1988
Golder, B. Foucault and the Politics of Rights 2015 esp. Introduction and Ch. 1
Barth, L. “Michel Foucault” in Stones, R. Key Sociological Thinkers 3rd Edition 2017
This course establishes the conceptual and theoretical foundations through which
architecture brings a capacity for critical synthesis to the urban process. We learn how
architects incorporate lessons from a range of fields – from geography to politics and
philosophy – and draw these lessons into a reflection on urban form. Also, through a series
of case examples, we explore how the project comes to drive forward a critical response to
the existing city and encourage evaluation and reflection. Urbanism has its foundations in
projects, and it is the project that gives architecture a role and a trajectory in driving urban
change. However, the project must draw together many diverse voices and actors in
ambitions for change. The underlying discourses that call for urban transformation are
organized not as a single vision, but in a broad range of sometimes conflicting themes.
These might refer to new values given to education, learning, and schools, for example. Or
they might be based on new understandings of the ideal workspace. Or, again, they might be
founded upon a sense that today, we live differently in our homes than in the past. In each
case, a discursive theme drives a sense that today we may seize a critical potential and
change the cities in which we live. So, the theme and the project are the joint foci of our
enquiry into urbanism as a critical and forward-looking practice. However, it is through
architecture that these become concrete, substantial, and realizable.
The pursuit of critical transformation through projects has been at the heart of both modernist
and recent approaches to urbanism. However, what we have understood as the important
problems and challenges inside architecture and the city have not remained static over the
course of the last century. Instead, we have had numerous important debates within the field,
and a shifting range of thematic and methodological preoccupations over the decades. In these
lectures, we will aim to understand what has remained consistent and what has changed within
the practical and intellectual cauldron of architectural urbanism.
In the second term, we will explore a range of large-scale urban projects, focussing on a series
of current issues in the urbanism of transformation, including waterfronts, civic environments,
integrated communities, and event-spaces. While the first term focuses on the intellectual
foundations of architectural urbanism, the second-term sessions will highlight the role of the
design process in the formation of specific urban strategies and the registering of decisions.
Students will be encouraged to work in groups for the debate portion of the course. In the first
term, the sessions will be largely given to lectures with minor input from student groups. In the
second term, a greater role will be handed over to student group discussion and debate.
Learning outcomes
Students attending this course are likely to bring a wide variety of intellectual skills and
academic interests, and the learning outcomes will reflect this diversity. Some students will
direct their attention more toward issues related to the design and spatiality of urban projects,
while others will direct their attention more toward political and theoretical aspects. This
diversity can enrich the seminar portion of the course, and the key learning outcomes will
reflect this emphasis upon deepening students’ understanding of the relationship between the
spatial and the political.
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
Understand the foundational texts and positions of an architecturally driven urbanism
Understand the significance and potential of themes and ambitions in clarifying the goals
of urban projects
Recognize key ideas and events within architectural urbanism in terms of their critical
substance and orientation
Describe different critical responses in recent decades to modernist urbanism
Employ graphic materials to define and pursue researchable questions in urbanism
Question status of current critical responses to 20th Century urbanism
Assessed Work
Students will select projects to investigate and discuss (an overview and list of suggestions will
be provided at the beginning of the term.) The work for each term of the course will be to write
an essay of 2500 words, analysing the critical content of an urban project, and linking the
analysis of the project to currents and debates within architectural urbanism. Each of these
essays will be due at the end of the term.
Assessment Criteria
In acknowledging the diversity of student experience and interests, the assessment criteria will
reflect this diversity and respond to the scholarly objectives of individual students. However,
emphasis will be placed on core criteria which demonstrate attentiveness to the
interrelationship of urban spatiality, design, and politics, and which show clear engagement
with the historical and theoretical problem of critique through design in urbanism.
TERM 1
SESSION 1:
Putting Architecture to Work: The Architectural Foundations of Urbanism
De Graaf, R. Four Walls and a Roof: The Complex Nature of a Simple Profession 2017
SESSION 3:
Architecture and Urban Difference: Type, Distinctiveness, and Transformation
Vidler, A. “From the Hut to the Temple: Quatremere de Quincy and the Idea of Type” in The
Writing of the Walls 1987
SESSION 4:
Distinctiveness and Transformation: Pathways to Urban Change
Maki, F. Nurturing Dreams: Collected Essays on Architecture and the City 2008
Waldheim, C. CASE Hilberseimer/Mies van der Rohe: Lafayette Park Detroit 2004
Le Corbusier The City of Tomorrow and its Planning 1987 [originally 1929]
SESSION 6:
Architecture and Urban Difference: Multiplicity and Composite Time
SESSION 7:
Architecture as Urban Performance
SESSION 8:
Architecture in the Urban Process: Plans for the Layered City
SESSION 9:
Architecture in the Urban Process: Plans for the Layered City
SESSION 1:
Introduction: Projecting Urban Change
Introducing Student Projects and Debates
SESSION 2:
Strategy and Disjuncture
Meyer, H. City and Port: Transformation of Port Cities—London, Barcelona, New York,
Rotterdam 1999
SESSION 3:
Student Debate: Edges, Ruptures, and the Role of Housing in Urban Change
SESSION 4:
Strategy and Interstice
Herzog, L. Return to the Center: Culture, Public Space, and City Building in a Global Era 2006
Maki, F. Nurturing Dreams: Collected Essays on Architecture and the City 2008
Panerai, P. et al Urban Forms: The Death and Life of the Urban Block 2004
Goossens, J., Guinee, A. and Oosterhoff, W. (eds) Public Space: Design, Layout and
Management of Public Open Space in Rotterdam 1995
SESSION 5:
Student Debate: Collective Environments and Urban Intensification
SESSION 6:
Strategy and Size
Koolhaas, R. S, M, L, XL
SESSION 7:
Student Debate: Plans, Projects, and Neighbourhoods: Housing and Urban Area
SESSION 8:
Strategy and Event
Hughes, J. and Sadler, S. Non-Plan: Essays on Freedom, Participation and Change in Modern
Architecture and Urbanism 2000
SESSION 9:
Student Debate: Architecture, Diagram, and Event Structure
Additional Readings:
Hays, K. M. Modernism and the Posthumanist Subject: The Architecture of Hannes Meyer
and Ludwig Hilbersheimer 1995
Ciucci, G., Dal Co, F., Manieri-Elia, M., and Tafuri, M. The American City 1979
Smithson, A. for Team 10 The Team 10 Primer 1968
Sarkis, H. (ed.) CASE: Le Corbusier’s Venice Hospital and the Mat Building Revival 2001
This course draws from the extreme circumstances of irregularity and fragmentation of the
cities of the developing world to reflect both on the place of housing in the making of cities –
housing as drivers of urbanism - as well as the role of urbanism in the redesigning of the city
as a political construct. It aims to provide a critical analysis of the evolution of housing and
informal settlements’ upgrading policies in the post-war as a valuable vehicle for investigating
the evolution of ideas and approaches to scaling up in housing and urban development. In
particular, it reviews critically the growing despatialisation of strategies to deal with urban
informality, and explores the role that urbanism and spatial design can play in facing those
conditions. Informality places a radical challenge to the traditions of urbanism and addressing
it involves a rethinking of the discipline of urbanism itself – its methodologies, tools and
instruments of design – in ways that can be relevant in contexts far beyond informality.
The aim of this course is to provide an overview of the evolution of ideas and practices in
housing policies and strategies in the last few decades – with particular emphasis on housing
policies in the context of the informal city – as a way of exploring different understandings of
the relationship between housing and urbanism, of the articulation of spatial/design strategies
and urban politics and of the meaning and the tools of scaling up to the dimension of social
need in housing and urban development. After an initial review of the contextual and historical
circumstances of the evolution of housing theories and policies, this course will explore through
examples the spatial and social challenges of a multi-sectoral, multi-dimensional and multi-
scalar approach to the implementation of housing strategies and policies as drivers of
urbanism. Indeed, housing as urbanism.
This course combines lectures with seminars and the participation of invited practitioners and
academics. The seminars will address issues in the light of cases selected by the students. The
additional bibliography can be of use for those doing Coursework in this option. Essays can be
done on any of the themes addressed by the course or related subject identified in collaboration
with the course tutor.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course students will be expected to have:
a critical understanding of the changing approaches to housing and the informal city and of
their contextual and historical determinations;
an understanding of the growing articulation of housing and urban development strategies;
an understanding of the place of housing and urbanism in urban social policy;
an understanding of methodologies and tools of spatial design to address informal housing
and the informal city.
Assessment Criteria
Students submitting work to this course are expected to:
complete a 2,500 words essay demonstrating good command of the English language and
ability to structure a coherent argument;
demonstrate understanding of the selected and relevant readings for the essay;
show evidence of independent work, properly referenced;
show critical awareness in the use of theoretical work and case examples.
Introductory Readings:
Architectural Design, 2011, Latin America at the Crossroads, Profile N. 211, Wiley
Fiori, J, Riley, L & Ramirez, R, Urban Poverty Alleviation Through Environmental Upgrading in
Rio de Janeiro: Favela-Bairro, Research Report to the UK Department for International
Development (DFID), London, 2000
Fiori, J. & Z. Brandão, “Spatial Strategies and Urban Social Policy: Urbanism and Poverty
Reduction in the favelas of rio de Janeiro”, in Hernandez F., P.Kellet & L.Allen, Rethinking the
Informal City: Critical Perspectives from Latin America, Berghahn Books, 2010
Fiori, J., “Informal City: Design as Political Engagement”, in Verebes, T. (Ed), Master-planning the
Adaptable City, Routledge, 2013
Lectures:
SESSION 1:
Housing: Mimesis and the Loss of Identity
An overview of the rise and fall of housing as an object of analysis and of public policy
Hardoy, J. & D Satterthwaite: Squatter Citizen; Life in the Urban Third World, Chaps. 4 & 5,
Earthscan, London, 1989
Wakely, P, “The Development of Housing Trough the Withdrawal from Construction”, in Habitat
International, Vol.12, n.3, 1988
SESSION 2:
Housing Policy and the Crisis of Modernisation: Abandoning the House
An analysis of the shift from conventional to non-conventional “self-help” housing policies and the
emergent preoccupation with the informal. The loss of scale.
Burgess, R, "Helping Some to Help Themselves: Third World Housing Policies and Development
Strategies", in Mathey, K (ed) Beyond Self-help Housing, Mansell, London, 1992
Fiori, J & R Ramirez, “Notes on the Self-help Housing Critique: Towards a Conceptual Framework
for the Analysis of Self-help Housing Policies in Developing Countries”, in K. Mathey (ed) : Beyond
Self-help Housing, Mansell, 1992
SESSION 3:
Housing Policy and Structural Adjustment: Abandoning the Poor?
A discussion of the growing focus of housing policy on institutional reform and market enablement.
The loss of space.
Pugh, C., “The Theory and Practice of Housing Sector Development for Developing Countries,
1950-99”. In Housing Studies, Vol.16, N.4, 2001
Gilbert, A., “Power, Ideology and the Washington Consensus: The development and Spread
of Chilean Housing Policy”, in Housing Studies, Volume 17, Issue 2, pp. 305-324, 2002
SESSION 4:
Housing Policy and the Search for Scaling-up: Towards a New Generation of Policies,
Programmes and Projects
A discussion of the potential and limitations of an emergent new generation of housing policies
and upgrading programmes informed by new perspectives on poverty, the informal and the place
of space.
Fiori, J. L. Riley & R. Ramirez, “Physical Upgrading and Social Integration in Rio de Janeiro: the
Case of Favela Bairro”, in DISP 147, N.4, Zurich, 2001
SESSION 5:
Spatial Strategies and Social Policy in the Informal
A discussion of the place of design in reaching the scale of housing and social needs in the
informal city with reference to a variety of cases and experiences.
Fiori, J., “Informal City: Design as Political Engagement”, in Verebes, T. (Ed), Master-planning the
Adaptable City, Routledge, 2013
Fiori, J. & Z. Brandão, “Spatial Strategies and Urban Social Policy: Urbanism and Poverty
Reduction in the favelas of rio de Janeiro”, in Hernandez F., P.Kellet & L.Allen, Rethinking the
Informal City: Critical Perspectives from Latin America, Berghahn Books, 2012
Fiori, J & Hinsley, H et al, Transforming Cities: Design in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, AA
Publications 2001
SESSION 6:
Back to the Future: the Return of Mass Housing Policies
A critical discussion of the latest generation of private sector driven mass housing policies:
their significance, implications and impact.
Fiori, J. & Santa Rosa, J., New Formal Housing Policies: building just cities? , notes for
presentation to the panel of same title in the 7 World Urban Forum, Medellín, Colombia, April,
2014
Seminars:
The seminars will be presented by students, with reference to cases. Readings from minimum
and additional bibliography will be identified during preparation of seminars. The focus will be on
the spatial and design challenges of addressing the themes of the seminars in the light of a
selection of projects.
SESSION 7:
Seminar: The Changing Place of “Communities” - From Territory to Identity
SESSION 8:
Seminar: Ghettos, Enclaves and Enclosures – the Question of Connectivity
SESSION 9:
Seminar: Multisectoriality, Space and Scaling-up
Albrow, M, 1997, “Travelling Beyond Local Cultures: Socioscapes in a Global City”, in J Eade (ed)
Living the Global City: Globalization as Local Process, Routledge
Aina, T A, "Understanding the Role of Community Organisations in Environmental and Urban
Contexts", Environment and Urbanisation, Vol.2, No.1, 1990
Aquilino, M. (ed) Beyond Shelter: Architecture for Crisis Paperback, Thames & Hudson, 2011
Amis, P, “Making Sense of Urban Poverty”, in Environment and Urbanisation, Vol. 7 , N.1 1995
Amis, P, “Thinking About Chronic Urban Poverty”, CPRC Working Paper 12, University of
Birmingham, www.chronicpoverty.org/pdfs/urbanareas.pdf 2002
Architectural Design Brazil: Restructuring the Urban, Wiley, 2016
Architecture for Humanity (eds) Design Like you Give a Damn, Thames & Hudson, 2006
Architecture for Humanity (eds) Design Like You Give a Damn 2: Building Change from the
Ground Up, Thames & Hudson, 2012
Astolfo, G. & Boano, C. Bangkok: On Transformation and Urbanism, DPU Paperback, 2016
Baulch, B., “The New Poverty Agenda: A Disputed Consensus”, in IDS Bulletin, N.27, Sussex
1996
Berenstein-Jacques, P. “The Aesthetics of the Favela: the Case of an Extreme”, in Fiori, J. &
H. Hinsley (eds) Transforming Cities: Design in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, AA Publications,
London, 2001
Boano, C., Hunter, W. & Newton, C. Contested Urbanism in Dharavi, DPU Paperback, 2013
Boonyabancha, S.,“Baan Mankong: Going to Scale with “Slum” and Squatter Upgrading in
Thailand”, in Environment & Urbanization, Vol.17, N.1, 2005
Brandão, J., The Role of Urban Design in Strategic Planning: The Case of Rio de Janeiro.
Unpublished PhD Thesis, AA School, London, 2004
Brillembourg, A, Feireiss, K. & Klumpner, H., Informal City: Caracas Case, Prestel, Munich,
2005
Brakarz, J., Rojas, E. & Greene, M., Cities for All, Interamerican Development Bank (IDB),
Washington 2002
Brillembourg, A. et. Al. (eds), Informal City: Caracas Case, Prestel, 2005
Burgess,R., Carmona, M. & Kolstee, T., Contemporary Urban Strategies and Urban Design in
Developing Countriews, Section 3 (pp.53-72), Publikatieburo Bouwkunde, Delft, 1994
Castells, M., The Power of Identity, Blackwell, 1997
Castells, M, The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements,
Arnold, UK. 1983
Castillo, J., “Urbanism of the Informal: Transformations in the Urban Fringe of México City”, in
Praxis (Mexico City Projects from the Megacity), N.2, Vol.1, 2001
Cities Alliance, Cities Alliance for Cities Without Slums: Annual report 2003, World Bank & UN-
HABITAT, 2003
Cities Alliance, Cities Alliance for Cities Without Slums: Action Plan for Moving Slum Upgrading
to Scale, World Bank & UN-HABITAT 2000
Chase, J, Crawford, M. & Kaliski, J., Everyday Urbanism, Monacelli Press, New York, 1999
Clark, J. Democratising Development: The Role of Voluntary Organisation, Earthscan, London,
pp. 34-51, 1991
Coit, K, 1994, "Self-help Housing for the Poor", in Cities II (2), pp 115-124
Davis, M, “Planet of Slums”, in New Left Review, N.26., London, 2004
Davies, W. and D. Herbert, 1993, Communities Within Cities, Belhaven Press
D’Cruz, C. & Satterthwaite, D., Building Homes, Changing Official Approaches, IIED Poverty
Reduction in Urban Aereas Series, Working Paper 16, 2005
De Soto, H., The Mystery of Capital, Black Swan, UK, 2001
De Soto, H, Constraints on People: The Origins of Underground Economies and Limits to Their
Growth (mimeo), 1990
De Soto, H., The Other Path, Taurus, UK, 1989
Douglass, M & Fridmann, J, Cities for Citzens, Wiley, London, 1998
Eade, J., 1997 (ed) Living the Global City: Globalization as Local Process, Routledge
Environment and Urbanization, The Struggle for Shelter, (especially chapters by Yves Cabannes
and Jan van der Linden), vol 9, N.1,1997
Environment & Urbanisation, Globalisation and Cities, Vol.14, N.1, 2002
Environment & Urbanisation, Meeting the millennium Development Goals in Urban Areas, Vol 17,
N. 1, 2005
Fiori, J, Riley, L & Ramirez, R, Urban Poverty Alleviation Through Environmental Upgrading in
Rio de Janeiro: Favela-Bairro, Research Report to the UK Department for International
Development (DFID), London, 2000
Fiori, J ; R Ramirez; H Harms & K Mathey: “The Commodification of Self-help Housing and State
Intervention: Household Experiences in the Barrios of Caracas”, in K Mathey (ed) op.cit., 1992
Fiori, J. & Hinsley, H et al, Transforming Cities: Design in the Favelas of Rio de Janeiro, AA
Publications, 2001
Flyvbjerg, B., “Empowering Civil Society: Habermas, Foucault and the Question of Conflict”, in in
Douglass, M & Friedmannn, J, op.cit., 1998
Garau, P. et. al., A Home in the City, UN Millennium Project, Task Force on Improving the Lives
of Slum Dwellers, Earthscan, London, 2005
Gerxhani, K., “The Informal Sector in Developed and Less Developed Countries: A Literature
Review”, in Public Choice, Vol. 120, No. 3-4, Amsterdam, 2004
Gilbert, A, "Third World Cities: Housing, Infrastructure and Servicing", Urban Studies, vol.29,
ns.3/4 1992
Gilbert, A., "The Housing of the Urban Poor", in A. Gilbert & J. Gugler, Cities, Poverty and
Development, Oxford University Press 1992
Gilbert, A G, “On the Mystery of Capital and the Myths of Hernando de Soto: What Difference
Does Legal Title Make?” , Mimeo, UCL, London2001
Hamdi, N. & Goethert, R. , Action Planning for Cities: A Guide for Community Practice, Wiley,
1997
Hamdi, N, Housing Without Houses: Participation, Flexibility, Enablement, Van Nostrand
Reinhold, New York, 1991
Hamdi, N. & R Goethert, “The Support Paradigm for Housing and its Impact on Practice”, Habitat
International, Vol.13, n.4, 1989
Hernandez, F. Kellet, P. & Allen, L. Rethinking the Informal City: Critical Perspectives from
latin America, Berghahn Books, 2012
Hill, D.: Citizens and Cities: Urban Policy in the 1990s, Chapters 4 & 9, Harvester, 1994
Holston, J.: “ The Spaces of Insurgent Citizenship”, in Architectural Design, Nov 1996
Keivani, R & E. Werna, “Refocusing the Housing Debate in Developing Countries from a Pluralist
Perspective”, in Habitat International , 25 2001
Koolhaas, R. & others, (2002), Mutations, ACTAR, Bordeaux
Lowe, S, Urban Social Movements: The City after Castells, MacMillan, UK. 1986
Jenkins, R., 1996, Social Identity, Routledge
Massey, D: “The Conceptualisation of Place”, in D. Massey & P. Jess (eds) A Place in the World?,
Oxford University Press, 1995
Massey D. & Jess, P “Places and Cultures in an Uneven World”, in D Massey & P Jess (eds)
op.cit., 1995
Mathey, K., 1992, Beyond Self-help Housing, Mansell
Mayo, S, S Malpezzi & D Gross, 1986, "Shelter Strategies for the Urban Poor in Developing
Countries", The World Bank Research Observer, vol,1, n.2
McCarney, P. (Ed), Cities and Governance: New Directions in Latin America, Asia and Africa,
Chapter 1, University of Toronto, 1997
Mitlin, D. & Satterthwaite, D., Empowering Squatter Citzen, Earthscan, London, 2004
Moser, C., "Urban Social Policy and Poverty Reduction", in Environment and Urbanization, Vol.7,
N.1, pp. 159-171, 1995
Mosley, P., 2001, “Attacking Poverty and the Post-Washington Consensus”, in Journal of
International Development, N.13
Oxley, M., 1989, "Housing Policy: Comparing International Comparisons", in Housing Studies,
Vol.4, N.2
Pugh, C, "Housing Policy Development in Developing Countries: The World Bank and
Internationalisation, 1972-93", in Cities II (3), pp.159-180, 1994
Pugh, C., "International Structural Adjustment and its Sectoral and Spatial Impacts", in Urban
Studies, Vol.32, N.2, pp.261-285. 1995
Ribe, H, 1990, How Adjustment Programmes Can Help the Poor: The World Bank's Experience,
World Bank, Washinton D.C.
Riley, L, Fiori, J & Ramirez, R., “Favela-Bairro and a New Generation of Housing Programmes
for the Urban Poor”, in Geoforum, Vol.32, N.4, 2001
Robbins, E: “Imagining the City Multiple”, in Civitas, Harvard Architectural Review, Princeton
Architectural Press, 1997
Robbins, E, Can/Should Architects Design Communities?, mimeo,
Rojas, E., 2001, “The Long Road to Housing Sector Reform: Lessons from the Chilean Housing
Experience”, in Housing Studies, Vol.16, N.4
Rolnik, R. Housing Under the Empire of Finance: Urban Warfare, Verso, 2019
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Countries: a Political-Economy Framework", Development and Change, Vol. 20(1), pp. 57-87,
1989
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AlSayyad (eds) Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives from the Middle East, South
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Roy, A., “Urban Informality: Toward an Epistemology of Planning”, in Journal of the American
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Sandercock, Cosmopolis II: Mongrel Cities in the 21st Century, Continuum, London 2003
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Satterthwaite, D., The Millennium Development Goals and Local Processes, IIED, London, 2003
Satterthwaite, D., Reducing Urban Poverty; Some Lessons From Experience, IIED Poverty
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, 1997
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ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION GRADUATE SCHOOL
Projects today contain a history. Urban change is shaped by judgements and reactions to
previous solutions, and in this course, we explore a series of ongoing debates through which
we understand the evolving landscape of argument about our cities. The course begins with
an overview of some of the key institutional developments that made the planning of the
modern city both possible and subject to revision. Following on from these introductory
lectures, the sessions each explore the relationships between contemporary urban practices
and the histories – both institutional and disciplinary – which situate our current attitudes and
approaches. Examples will be drawn both from the UK and broader international debates and
histories.
Urban projects are best understood as involving arguments that cross a range of scales, from
very detailed spatial organizations to complex territorial dispositions. In the urban project,
these scalar arguments become interconnected and synthetic. But, when we emphasize one
scale over others at any moment in time, we are drawing attention to the particular set of
actors, processes, and decision-making environments that bring vitality to the urban area this
scale pulls into focus. So, scale and the vitality of the urban process are linked, and design
allows us to call attention to the key features of this vitality we are seeing in urban projects
today. The lectures are organized so that particular urban challenges, visions, ambitions, or
conditions are grouped together, enabling us to investigate the changing actors, attitudes, and
approaches associated with processes of urban transformation. Understanding these
particular histories gives students an appreciation of the background against which new
methods of design and instruments of urban development emerge.
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course, students should be able to:
Understand the historically situated character of contemporary urban projects and how
they differ from previous periods
Be aware of current trends in attitudes, approaches, methods, and instruments
deployed in urban projects today
Appreciate the multi-scalar condition of urban projects and the relationship between
scale and urban processes
Understand the role of design in assembling urban actors, initiating and nurturing urban
strategies
Assessed Work
Assessment will be based upon an essay of 2500 words on a topic agreed with one of the
tutors. This will be due at the end of the term.
Assessment Criteria
The essay should:
Show evidence of historical awareness concerning urban projects
Show familiarity with current approaches to challenges in the field of urbanism
Integrate or outline a clear point of view regarding projects or strategies for urban
change
Demonstrate an ability to relate questions of scale to critical urban argument
Employ design and graphic material in building an argument concerning urban
processes and strategies
TERM 1
Block 1
Shapiro: Strategies of Regeneration
SESSION 1: Shapiro
Not Like a Housing Estate: Reflecting Back from Urban Regeneration Projects Today
SESSION 2: Shapiro
Multi-layered Suburbia: Accordia, Cambridge and the Span Developments
SESSION 3: Shapiro
Pop-Up Project: Meanwhile Uses and Urban Strategy
Agrell, S. “Cities Rethink Urban Spaces with ‘Pop-Up’ Projects,” The Globe and Mail July 14,
2011
SESSION 4: Shapiro
Collective Formations: Peckham Levels and Community-Led Initiatives
Kries, M. and Müller, M. Together! The New Architecture of the Collective 2017
https://www.makeshift.org/
http://assemblestudio.co.uk/
Block 2
Papa: Urban Integration and the Evolving Workplace
SESSION 5: Papa
The Emerging Workspace Neighbourhood: New Approaches to the Layered City
Hoeger, K. and Christiaanse, K. Campus and the City: Urban Design for the Knowledge
Society 2007
Schüller, N., Wollenburg, P., and Christiaanse, K. Urban Reports: Urban Strategies and
Visions in Mid-Sized Cities 2012
Ábalos, I. Tower and Office: From Modernist Theory to Contemporary Practice 2005
Martin, R. The Organizational Complex: Architecture, Media, and Corporate Space 2003
Hise, G. Magnetic Los Angeles: Planning the 20th Century City 1997
SESSION 6: Papa
Cities that Work: Integrating Light Industry into the Urban Fabric
London Development Agency from Urhahn Urban Design Industry in the City 2006
Block 3
Pascolo: Complex_Assembly: The Infrastructure of (Climate) Change
SESSION 8: Pascolo
Mobility
Enright T, The Making of Grand Paris: Metropolitan Urbanism in the Twenty-First Century
2016
TERM 2
Block 3
Pascolo: Complex_Assembly: The Infrastructure of (Climate) Change (Cont’d)
SESSION 1: Pascolo
Resilience
Savini F. (2017) Planning, Uncertainty and Risk: the neoliberal logic of Amsterdam
urbanism, Environment and Planning A, 49(4), 857 -
875 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0308518X16684520
SESSION 2: Pascolo
Smartness
Cardullo, P and Kitchin, R :” Smart urbanism and smart citizenship: The neoliberal logic of
‘citizen-focused’ smart cities in Europe “
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0263774X18806508
Block 4
Shapiro and Papa: The City’s Changing Industries
SESSION 3: Shapiro
Med-city: The Case of Whitechapel, London
Hoeger, K. and Christiaanse, K. Campus and the City: Urban Design for the Knowledge
Society 2007
Martin, R. The Organizational Complex: Architecture, Media, and Corporate Space 2003
SESSION 4: Shapiro
Urbanising Innovation: Knowledge Buildings for Higher Education Environments in the
City
Hall, P. and Landry, C. Innovative and Sustainable Cities, Dublin, European Foundation for
the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions 1997
Kimonos, N. Intelligent Cities. Innovation, knowledge systems and digital spaces. 2002
SESSION 5: Papa
Cities that Work: Integrating Light Industry into the Urban Fabric
London Development Agency from Urhahn Urban Design Industry in the City 2006
SESSION 6: Papa
Industrial Urbanity: Toward the New Urbanised Factory Environment
Jacques, R. Manufacturing the Employee: Management Knowledge from the 19th to 21st
Centuries 1996
Block 5
Shapiro: The Evolving Public Realm
SESSION 7: Shapiro
The City as Gallery: Art, Media, and Contemporary Urbanity
Dercon, C. “What is the museum of the future?”. In: Tate Etc. issue 35, Autumn 2015.
Graham, B. and Cook, S. “Rethinking curating: art after new media”. Cambridge, Mass.: MlT
Press, 2010.
Servais, A. “Should we be worried about the future of small galleries?” In: Apollo Maganize,
December 2017.
Landry, C. “The Creative City: a toolkit for urban innovators”. New Stroud, UK: Comedia,
2008.
SESSION 8: Shapiro
The Architecture of the Park: A Wider Array – The Next Generation of Urban Parks
Gehl, J & Gemzoe, L (2000) New City SpacesCopenhagen, Danish Architectural Press.
Hajer, M and Reijndorp, A (2001) In Search of New Public Domain. Netherlands. NAi.
TSCHUMI, Bernard. “Event-Cities 3: Concept vs. Context vs. Content”. Cambridge, Mass.:
MIT Press, 2004.
Housing Form
Term 1 – Mondays 11:00am – 1:00pm
The last three decades have seen a renewed interest in architect-designed mass housing.
While the exterior has dominated architectural focus, the interior of dwellings has, by and
large, been relatively neglected. Housing is not constituted as an envelope merely to receive
typical unit plans. Form and experience cannot be conveniently dissociated. To the contrary,
the most committed architects conceive of housing form from the inside out as the source and
guarantor of meaningful experience. This course will review in detail the best housing projects
built in the last 100 years and ask, what constitutes excellence in the field.
Aims
The aim is to open discussion as to what constitutes excellence in the field of housing. The
lecture and seminar course will assist students in becoming conversant in the history of
housing design and to develop their own terms of reference including specific housing
projects, design priorities and values. The course will demonstrate the detailed observation
and the depth of understanding that are necessary to integrate a work of design in one's
personal canon. It will further demonstrate that models, rather than being confined to the latest
examples, can be found throughout history. The course is intended to be of immediate
relevance to the work carried out in the Design Workshop.
Content
The course will be structured in 9 lectures, each being dedicated to a particular example and
a particular moment in housing design. Each lecture will be profusely illustrated with both
archival and contemporary images and documents. The approach will be descriptive and
critical. Lectures will be followed with a discussion concerning the value and limitations of the
project, in itself and in the light of the present time. Contents will include:
Learning Outcomes
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
Assessment Criteria
The essay should:
TERM 1
SESSION 1:
Introduction
SESSION 2
Economy 1
SESSION 3
Standards
SESSION 4
Indeterminacy
SESSION 5
Vernacular
SESSION 6
Urbanity
Aldo Rossi and Giorgio Grassi, San Rocco housing, 1966, and other projects
SESSION 7
Economy 2
SESSION 8
Choice
SESSION 9
Essay topics
Bibliography
Introduction
Aurora Fernandez Per, Dbook: Density, Data, Diagrams, Dwellings, a+t, 2010
*Walter Gropius, “Sociological premises for the minimum dwelling of urban industrial
populations” (1929), in The Scope of Total Architecture, 1956
Susan H. Henderson, Building Culture. Ernst May and the New Frankfurt Alternative, 1926-
1931, 2013
Standards
*Peter Serenyi, “Le Corbusier, Fourier and the Monastery of Ema” in Le Corbusier in
Perspective, 1975
Difference
*Herman Hertzberger, Architecture and Structuralism: The ordering of space, nai 2015
Vernacular
*Brigitte Fleck and Günther Pfeifer (eds.), Malagueira: Alvaro Siza in Évora, Syntagma 2013
Nuno Teotónio Pereira et al, Arquitectura Popular em Portugal, 2 vols, Lisbon 2004, esp. vol.2,
p.121-239 (English p.419-422)
Urbanity
*Giorgio Grassi, “Questions of design”, Giorgio Grassi, Architecture, Dead Language, Lotus
Documents, 1988
Economy 2
Pierre Soria, Jean Nouvel, Gilbert Lézènès, Saint-Ouen. Rendre l'Espace au Logement, Plan
Construction et Architecture, 1990
Choice
Florian Beigel and Phil Christou, Architecture as City: Seamangeum Island City, 2008