This course is an introduction to urban morphology—its fundamental concepts and components and the analytical theories and methods for describing and critically discussing them. The key concepts and components that are introduced, discussed, and tested in exercises are: density, accessibility, diversity, landscape, place, and typology. Central to the course is giving students a deeper understanding of urban morphology as the key medium for architects engaged in urban development, but also how it interacts with and influences other fundamental urban phenomena such as public character, market segments, and ecosystems. In lectures and readings, the course presents the fundamental importance of urban space for social sustainability through for example social integration, economic sustainability through local markets, and ecological sustainability through establishing and strengthening urban ecological systems. These aspects are also applied in concrete exercises.
The course also introduces different traditions in urban theory from a global perspective. Students confront many examples with various points of departure, approaches, and methods to help them critically reflect and evaluate the consequences of each in relation to various urban planning traditions. The course aims to develop a frame of reference made up of various viewpoints and strategies that are relevant to contemporary urban development. It includes fundamental discussions about power theory perspectives, and how socioeconomic conditions and political systems and practices influence the role of the architect and the practice of urban planning.
The course is divided into two parts.