Urban Design

Structure & Teaching

LHere are the units you will study:

• Practice: This unit allows you to engage with the design of the urban landscape and with key aspects of professional practice. You will be involved in discussions on the social, political, economic and professional contexts that drive the construction of the urban space. You will be expected to analyse and critically evaluate the urban context, develop briefs, strategies and a proposal for a given area.
• Theory: This unit covers the history and theory of urban planning and design from the origins of these disciplines to date, providing you with the opportunity to critically analyse the development of key ideas, theories and practices involved in the construction of cities. It covers the emergence and growth of modern urban planning since the nineteenth century, its main trends in the twentieth century and the progression of urban design from the crisis of the Modern Movement to contemporary debates. You will reflect on the historical, social, cultural and physical processes involved in the production of the urban fabric, allowing you to establish links between past and current experiences, as well as engage with contemporary theoretical discussions and critically reflect upon your own practice. You will also develop your research and writing skills.
• Research Methods and Research Proposal: In this unit you will develop research skills, which will aid you throughout your course and particularly in producing your thesis. You will be asked to establish a critical position within an Outline Research Proposal. You will develop techniques, which will allowyou to engage proactively within your area of study. You will be encouraged to explore methods of investigation that are responsive to, as well as inquisitive of, the conditions presented and which therefore speculate around possible critical scenarios. Implicit within these explorations is the need to investigate diverse means of representation and depiction through a variety of possible media and discourse.
• Integration: This unit allows you to work in a multi-disciplinary context through groups within your own subject area and across the areas of interior design, urban design, sustainable architecture and historic building conservation, as well as explore the interrelationships of all disciplines. You will need to work collectively on given projects or problems related to staff run studios, which explore a range of given themes. This unit will introduce you to these themes at the start of the course and connect you to research areas within the School. There will be a group-based activity that is either subject specific or spans different areas of the disciplines as agreed by tutors.
• Work-Based Learning: This unit gives you the opportunity to replace a 30-credit core unit with a work-based version of that unit. Not all units can be replaced and you will need to discuss the appropriateness of a unit with tutors. Work-based learning requires you to engage in critical and reflective learning in the workplace. This will be developed through a learning contract, negotiated by you, your employer and School. The work undertaken in practice will be appraised through critical reflective writing that engages with the practice of the particular subject discipline and this will form the assessment artefacts. Where professional body criteria and attributes need to be evidenced, these will form the minimum requirements of the learning outcomes.
• Thesis: Your thesis is a substantial research-based project that enables you to carry out an in-depth investigation into a subject area of personal interest, which is related to or developed from a theme studied during the course. The proposed research theme should have a clearly defined focus to allow for in depth theoretical, contextual and visual research.

 

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