Urban Design, Landscape and Infrastructure

Module coordinators: Amelie Mayer & Tabea Michaelis

Teaching team: Christopher Dell with guest Dominique Peck

Research assistants: Sarah Bühler & Fidelia Gartner

In order to (continue to) shape spatial and infrastructure development in a high-quality and programmatic manner and to perpetuate Swiss building culture in all its diversity, a sound understanding of historical and contemporary planning principles and models is required. Only by accurately interpreting complex spatial and infrastructural contexts and their potential can developments in relational space be negotiated. The module introduces key positions in European urban planning, highlights the interplay between spatial development and transport systems, and examines the context-based development of planning instruments and legislation. Particular attention is paid to the role of the model as a political and planning tool and its application in current planning processes in the Swiss context.

Under the motto ‘Reading the city, showing the city’, situation analyses and various techniques for representing urban and landscape spaces are practised. The unit ‘Building City_Landscape’ examines in detail urban and architectural typologies and their role in urban space and urban development. This is followed by an in-depth examination of the concepts of the contextual city and the grid city, their historical classification and their significance for contemporary planning.

Requirements: Students examine theoretical and representational positions and classifications of urban development. They learn to locate positions and classifications in the history of urban development, place them in a current context, and understand their relevance for contemporary practice.

Semester assignment: Report on the Ko:Lab practical project.

Events

Mondays 17 November to 15 December 25

09:30 to 17:30