UDI5501 · Urban design studio 1A: Design actions

Overview

This unit introduces you to the essential tools and methods for addressing complex urban challenges through design. Focusing on 'Design Actions' - practical, creative tools that combine the sensitivity of place-based design with the analytical precision of systems thinking - you will learn to generate innovative approaches to multifaceted issues. This studio centres on future urban life at the neighbourhood scale, examining how design actions shape spaces, places, forms, and the infrastructure that supports social life. You will focus on the unique needs of neighbourhoods while considering their interconnectedness with towns, cities, and regions.

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

100% in-semester assessment

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

Learning outcomes

1. Demonstrate the ability to use practical and creative design tools to address complex urban challenges at the neighbourhood scale;
2. Critically assess how spaces, forms, and infrastructure interact to support social life in localised settings, while understanding their broader impacts on towns, cities, and regions;
3. Generate and articulate innovative, credible solutions for complex, interconnected urban issues that resist simple definitions and require multifaceted approaches;
4. Appreciate systems-thinking approaches to link localised neighbourhood design interventions to larger urban and regional scales;
5. Effectively communicate design ideas and proposals through visual presentations, models, and reports, using clear and persuasive design language;
6. Work collaboratively in a studio setting, incorporating feedback to refine and iterate design experiments toward a final proposal.

Workload

12 hours per week including 3 contact hours. The remaining 9 hours are to be used for self and group learning activities.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.