Information Package
baskent.edu.tr

Program of Architecture (English 30%)

MİM439

CRITICS ON ARCHITECTURE AND CITY

Course Code
MİM439
Semester
-
Theory+Practice
3 + 0
ECTS
4
Course TypeElective Course
Course LevelBachelor's Degree
Year of Study-
Semester-
ECTS4
Name of Lecturer(s)
Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, the students;

  1. Read urban space as a dynamic network of relationships and analyse it from a critical perspective
  2. Gain the ability to read fundamental urban theories from the beginning of the 20th century to the present, and to analyze the multidimensional (sociological, economic, political) parameters that shape these theories.
  3. Evaluate the interaction of architectural design practice with the current urban debates, such as globalization, gentrification, the commons, the right to the city, tactical urbanism, and digital urbanism within a theoretical framework
  4. Visualize urban theories, relevant actors, and socio-spatial processes using interactive digital interfaces such as Graph Commons, Miro, and Slido; gain the skill to read the relationalities between concepts through a network.
Mode of DeliveryFace to face
PrerequisitesNo
Recommended Optional Programme Components-
Course DescriptionThis course aims to examine, from an interdisciplinary perspective, the fundamental theoretical thresholds that have transformed the disciplines of architecture and urbanism since the beginning of the 20th century. The main axis of the course forms a historical and theoretical trajectory ranging from the rational planning principles of modernism to post-structuralist spatial analysis, and from neoliberal urbanization practices to today?s digital and ecological urban paradigms. Within the scope of the curriculum, key concepts such as the production of space, urban morphology, psychogeography, global city networks, and the commons will be problematized within the context of urban actors and power relations. The methodology of the course is based on an interactive seminar format that combines the critical analysis of theoretical texts with interactive digital network mapping tools (such as Graph Commons and Miro). Students build a collective urban knowledge network on the Miro interface by relating the theoretical concepts discussed each week with their spatial projections and actor networks. The goal in this process is to enable the student to position architectural design practice as a component of social, economic, and technological processes, and to help them gain a multi-layered reading skill regarding urban space. By the end of the course, students develop a critical position on contemporary urban debates.
Course Contents
WEEK TOPICS
1st Week Introduction of the course; overview of workflow-methodology and evaluation criteria
2nd Week Lecture: What is the City?
3rd Week Lecture: Modernist Urban Theory and the Chicago School
4th Week Lecture: Critical Urban Theory: Neo-Marxist Urban Theories; The Right to the City and The Commons
5th Week Lecture: Global City Theory; The Informational City and Network Society
6th Week Lecture: Post-structuralism and Psychogeography
7th Week Lecture: Planetary Urbanization and Postcolonial Urbanization
8th Week MID-TERM EXAM 1
9th Week Lecture: The Anthropocene and Resilient Cities; Landscape Urbanism and Infrastructural Urbanism
10th Week Lecture: Smart Cities and Platform Urbanism
11th Week Field Trip (Esat Hal)
12th Week Lecture: Tactical Urbanism, DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Urbanism
13th Week MIDTERM EXAM 2: Research Presentations
14th Week MIDTERM EXAM 2: Research Presentations
15th Week Miro Board Concept Map
Recommended or Required ReadingBatty, M. and Longley, P.A. (1994). Fractal Cities: A Geometry of Form and Function. London: Academic Press.
Batty, M. (1995). New Ways of Looking at Cities. Nature 377. 574.
Bilsel, C. (2010). Kent Tasarımı ve Çevre Estetiği. Dosya 23. TMMOB Mimarlar Odası Ankara Şubesi, 6-15.
Branzi, A. (2006). No-Stop City: Archizoom Associati. Hyx Editions.
Bunschoten, R. (2006). CHORA/ Raoul Bunschoten: From Matter to Metaspace: Cave, Ground, Horizon, Wind (Consequence Book Series on Fresh Architecture), 1st edn, New York: Springer.
Cullen, G. (1961). The Concise Townscape. Boston: Architectural Press.
Gehl, J. (2006). Life between Buildings: Using Public Space. USA: Island Press.
Goodchild, M.F. (2007). Citizens as Sensors: The World of Volunteered Geography. GeoJournal Vol69. 211-221.
Ingold, T. (2000). The Perception of the Environment. London: Routledge
Jacobs, J. (1961). The Life and Death of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books.
Keleş, R. (2016). Şehirciliğin Kuramsal Temelleri. Ankara: idealkent Yayınları.
Erzen, J. (2015). Üç Habitus: Yeryüzü, Kent, Yapı. İstanbul: YKY Yayınları.
Lefebvre, H. (1991). The Production of Space. Oxford, England: Blackwell.
Lynch, K. 1960. The Image of the City. Cambridge: The Technology Press & Harvard Press.
Lynch, K. (1985). Theory of Good City Form. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Pickles, J. (1995). Representations in an Electronic Age: Geography, GIS, and Democracy. In Pickles, J.(Ed.) Ground Truth: The Social Implications of Geographic Information Systems. New York: Guildford
Sadler, S. (2005). Archigram: Architecture Without Architecture. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Sendra, P. and Sennett, R. (2020). Designing Disorder: Experiments and Disruptions in the City. London: Verso.
Smith, R.J. and Hetherington, K. (Eds.) (2013). Urban Rhythms: Mobilities, Space and Interaction in the Contemporary City. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons.
Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods
  • Lecture
  • Discussion
  • Questions/Answers
  • Presentation
  • Other
  • Case Study
  • Problem Solving
  • Practice
Assessment Methods and Criteria
Quantity Percentage (%)
Mid-term 2 40
Assignment 1 20
Total(%) 60
Contribution of In-term Studies to Overall Grade(%) 60
Contribution of Final Examination to Overall Grade(%) 40
Total(%) 100
ECTS Allocated Based on Student Workload
Activities Quantity Duration (Hour) Total Workload (Hour)
Midterm exam 2 3 6
Preparation for Quiz
Individual or group work 12 1 12
Preparation for Final exam 1 23 23
Course hours 12 3 36
Preparation for Midterm exam 2 10 20
Laboratory (including preparation)
Final exam 1 3 3
Homework 1 10 10
Project
Field Research
Research 1 10 10
Article Presentation
Article
Total Work Load120
Total Work Load / 30 (h)4
ECTS Credit of the Course4
Language of InstructionTurkish
Work Placement(s)No

Programme Qualifications / Learning Outcomes

LO1 LO2 LO3 LO4
K1
K2 X X
K3
K4
K5
K6 X
K7 X X
K8
K9 X
K10
K11 X X X
K12
K13
K14
K15 X
K16
K17
K18
K19
K20
K21
K22
K23
K24
K25