The course offers an introduction to the history of “urban design”, intended both as a notion and as a set of practices that have aimed at bridging the professional gap between architecture and urbanism. Different definitions of the term have been proposed, the best known being possibly the one promoted by Harvard University with the organization of an “Urban Design Conference” in 1956. However, attempts at elaborating instruments for the visual and physical planning of the built environment can be traced back to previous centuries and to a plurality of cultures and languages. The transnational circulation and diffusion of urban design ideas over the course of the twentieth century has resulted in an astounding plurality of interpretations. The course will explore both the complex international geographies of urban design and the manifold architectural and planning traditions behind the current use of the term.

The course will provide students: - A thorough historical understanding of the international geographies of urban design and of the architectural and planning traditions related to them; - An in-depth knowledge of key writings and debates in the field of urban design; - An in-depth knowledge of historically relevant design schemes and built environments related to this field of professional practice. The course will bring students to develop the following skills: - The ability to integrate time and temporality as essential elements of architectural thinking; - The ability to understand the processes of circulation of ideas and practices in the global, interconnected world of contemporary architecture; - The ability to meaningfully compare design processes promoted and carried out in different regions of the world; - The ability to situate contemporary architectural practice in the field of urban design within a broader set of questions and experiences; - The ability to critically discuss the manifold interpretations of urban design that have been proposed and are currently proposed both in architectural theory and in various strands of architectural practice.

Students attending the course are expected to have already acquired essential elements of information on the global histories of architecture and urban planning in the modern period (19th-21st centuries). The course will be entirely held in English and a good knowledge of the language (reading, speaking, writing) is an essential requirement.

The course will introduce the students to the history of “urban design”, intended both as a notion and as a set of practices that have aimed at bridging the professional gap between architecture and urbanism. We will focus on the international circulation of the English term “urban design” in English-speaking and non-English speaking countries after the 1950s and on the various ways in which it has been understood. We will also analyze the historical origin of some of the practices usually associated with the notion of urban design, with special attention to traditions of visual planning dating back to the 19th century.

The course will be articulated into: - a series of lectures on a number of relevant historical examples of urban design; - lectures by invited guests who are either historians of urban design or practitioners involved in urban design schemes; - a series of commented readings and discussions focusing on key texts in urban design history and theory from the 19th century to the present day; - a research exercise carried out by the student under the supervision of the professor; this will result in the submission of a written paper focusing on an aspect of the global history of urban design

A detailed bibliography will be provided during the semester. The following texts serve as an introduction to the themes touched by the course. The Origins and Evolution of “Urban Design,” 1956–2006, “Harvard Design Magazine”, 24 (2006); Charles C. Bohl, Jean-François Lejeune (eds.), Sitte, Hegemann and the Metropolis: Modern Civic Art and International Exchanges, Abingdon, Routledge, 2009; Alex Krieger, William S. Saunders (eds.), Urban Design, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 2009; Eric Mumford, Defining Urban Design: CIAM Architects and the Formation of a Discipline, 1937-69, New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 2009; David Grahame Shane, Urban Design Since 1945: A Global Perspective, Hoboken, NJ, Wiley, 2011; Barrie Shelton, Learning from the Japanese City: Looking East in Urban Design, Abingdon, Routledge, 2012; John Pendlebury, Erdem Erten, Peter Larkham (eds.), Alternative Visions of Post-War Reconstruction: Creating the Modern Townscape, Abingdon, Routledge, 2014; Wolfgang Sonne, Urbanity and Density in 20th-Century Urban Design, Berlin, DOM Publishers, 2017; Leonardo Zuccaro Marchi, The Heart of the City: Legacy and Complexity of a Modern Design Idea Abingdon, Routledge, 2017; Wenwen Sun, Public space in Chinese urban design theory after 1978: a compressed transculturation, “The Journal of Architecture”, 25, 1 (2020), pp. 65-76.

Modalità di esame: Prova orale obbligatoria; Elaborato scritto individuale; Elaborato scritto prodotto in gruppo;

Exam: Compulsory oral exam; Individual essay; Group essay;

... The final grade will be based upon: - an evaluation of the written paper (1/3) - an oral discussion of the information presented during the lectures (1/3) - an oral discussion of some of the texts on the history of urban design presented in class (1/3) The evaluation will assess: a) the capacity of the students to report historical facts with accuracy and precision; b) the capacity of the students to forge connections between the various elements of information acquired during the course and to critically discuss the historical problems raised by the bibliography; c) the capacity of each student to clearly express herself/himself through oral presentations and writing. Active participation in the course activities and discussions over the course of the semester will be much appreciated. Further details concerning the organization of the course and the final evaluation will be given in the detailed version of the course program.

Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.