UDI5601 · Fabric for urban life

Overview

This unit examines the theoretical and historical foundations of urban design, emphasising the reciprocal relationship between physical form and social life. Central to the unit is the connection between urban forms, infrastructures, technologies, environments, and the communities - both human and non-human - they are designed to support. You will investigate how the physical fabric of cities - their form, organisation, grain, porosity, and texture - sustains social, cultural, environmental, and economic life.

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 a critical understanding of how the physical fabric of cities - form, grain, porosity, and texture - shapes, and is shaped by, social, cultural, environmental, and economic life;
2. Assess the benefits and challenges of various urban design models, such as 15-minute towns, vertical innovation hubs, and sponge cities, considering their potential for inclusion, sustainability, and their unintended consequences, such as gentrification or social inequality;
3. Explore the role of technology and ecological systems in urban environments, analysing how cyber-physical places and green infrastructure influence public spaces, resilience, and community dynamics, both positively and negatively;
4. Synthesise theoretical knowledge and practical design strategies to address urban challenges across multiple scales, from neighbourhood-level interventions to regional systems, balancing innovation with the realities of social equity and sustainability;
5. Formulate design approaches that engage with the reciprocal relationship between the physical form of cities and the social life they sustain, aiming for inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban futures.

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.