Explore UCD

UCD Home >

ARCT40180

Academic Year 2023/2024

Urban Design Theory (UDT) (ARCT40180)

Subject:
Architecture
College:
Engineering & Architecture
School:
Architecture, Plan & Env Pol
Level:
4 (Masters)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Dr Miriam Fitzpatrick
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

In a mix of lectures and seminars, this module will explore key concepts and thinkers in Urban Design. The module is grounded in classic writings on the city, predominantly about the 20th- 21st-century city, as a springboard for discussions so that each student can develop their own interest for an end-of-module paper. The structure for continual assignments relates to the course content/building blocks and varies between book/literature reviews, class discussions/presentations, and an end-of-module illustrated literature review (showing evidence of process).

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the module the student should be able to:1. Summaries a range of theories in Urban Design.2. Show evidence of individual research via a Literature Review.3. Capture findings in a submission that develops a research question .4. Include a critical appraisal of a theorist or theory and uses info-graphics/ visual diagrams.

Indicative Module Content:

The overarching theme for this module is City Life- Urbanism as a way of thinking and the aim will be to cover a range of texts from the late 19th, 20th to 21st century.

In his book ‘Building and Dwelling: Ethics for the City’, the sociologist Richard Sennett acknowledges the distinction between the city as a place and the city as ‘a mentality compiled from perceptions, behaviors and beliefs’. Accordingly, this module in Urban Design Theory seeks to help your understanding of the development of and plurality of urban thinking by examining a spectrum of theories, contrasted conceptually and chronologically. This module, therefore, not only aims to provide you with a framework for thinking about urban design, it will also provide you with academic writing and research tactics.

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

46
Autonomous Student Learning

36
Lectures

6
Small Group

20
Total

108

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
Discouraging looking at the city through a singular theoretic framework, architectural critic Kim Dovey proposed that the ‘best of urban designs emerge from new ways of thinking about the city, from new conceptual tools’ necessitating an ongoing search for how ideas ‘overlap and resonate together.’

The final output will capture this quest for intersections and the module will provide you with clear steps on how to undertake a literature review.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment: Engagement with weekly readings in seminars including leading one as a group Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No
15
 No
Continuous Assessment: Develop an annotated bibliography/ based on a reading template (Further details provided in class) Varies over the Trimester n/a Graded No
20
 Yes
Continuous Assessment: Summative Illustrated Essay (and reflective chapter) to capture synthesis of existing literature and the development of a research question. (further details provided in class) Varies over the Trimester n/a Graded No
65
 No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Summer No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Peer review activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback is given with the opportunity to improve grades on components that build up to summative synthesis.

Readings will be uploaded to Bightspace with live links to UCD Library where possible.
Print this page
Fill in the following details:
Enter the body of your query here.

From time to time UCD would like to send you further information that we feel, based on your enquiry, would be of interest to you.