| CODE | SPI1302 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Understanding Urban Public Space and Place-Making | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Spatial Planning and Infrastructure | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will commence with a discussion on the social life of urban form, followed by an in-depth understanding of the following city principles (inspired by Kim Dovey's conceptual urban design toolkit), to be dealt with in separate lectures: Access, Mix, Density, Action and Drama, (Spatial) Interface, Type/Morphology (including a discussion of specific case studies of built forms) and Image, Discourse and Memory (including a discussion on legibility). This will be followed by a series of core lectures that will seek to develop the notion of place and placelessness, together with a discussion of sense of place and place-making and character. It will then apply this discussion to important contemporary issues, including: the interface and overlap of public and private space, most notably privatisation and space appropriation, the production of 'bottom-up' places and transit-oriented places. The discussions will be supplemented by specific local and foreign case studies. The above knowledge will enable students to critically assess urban spaces and developments in terms of their positive contribution, or otherwise to positive and successful place-making. Study-unit Aims: The aim of the study-unit is to build on the underlying principles of urban design and to introduce students to the main strands of urban design thinking. It contains dedicated lectures that deal with key city principles, presenting them as a 'toolkit', and subsequently applies this knowledge to the understanding of place and place-making. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - describe pragmatically the key components of city form and city design, together with the meaning of place and place-making, through clear theoretical concepts and practical case studies; - compare and differentiate between formal and informal city practices to place-making, while demonstrating the contribution of both, through the choice of appropriate case studies to be compiled in a short presentation; - apply the urban design toolkit to important contemporary discussions such as space appropriation, bottom-up places and transit-oriented places through the written assignment. 2. Skills By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - apply key urban design principles in practice to assess the degree of 'placeness' of different urban spaces; - develop a critical outlook towards the production of space and be able to define the intrinsic spatial qualities of places; - connect the above knowledge to spatial planning and apply it in both development control and forward planning (policy). Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main texts: GEHL, J., 2011, Life Between Buildings, Island Press. RELPH, E., 1976, Place and Placelessness, Sage (available in library)TIBBALDS, F., 2001, Making people-friendly towns, E. & F. N. Spon. Other readings: DOVEY, K., 2016, Urban Design Thinking, Bloomsbury Academic. GEHL, J., 2010, Cities for People, Island Press (available in library)LYNCH, K., 1960,The Image of the City, MIT Press. TONKISS, F., 2013, Cities by Design, Polity. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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