A31SFA Urban Morphology and Urban Design Theories 6.0 credits

This course is an introduction to urban morphology—its fundamental concepts and components and the analytical theories and methods for describing and critically discussing them. The key concepts and components that are introduced, discussed, and tested in exercises are: density, accessibility, diversity, landscape, place, and typology. Central to the course is giving students a deeper understanding of urban morphology as the key medium for architects engaged in urban development, but also how it interacts with and influences other fundamental urban phenomena such as public character, market segments, and ecosystems. In lectures and readings, the course presents the fundamental importance of urban space for social sustainability through for example social integration, economic sustainability through local markets, and ecological sustainability through establishing and strengthening urban ecological systems. These aspects are also applied in concrete exercises.

The course also introduces different traditions in urban theory from a global perspective. Students confront many examples with various points of departure, approaches, and methods to help them critically reflect and evaluate the consequences of each in relation to various urban planning traditions. The course aims to develop a frame of reference made up of various viewpoints and strategies that are relevant to contemporary urban development. It includes fundamental discussions about power theory perspectives, and how socioeconomic conditions and political systems and practices influence the role of the architect and the practice of urban planning.

The course is divided into two parts.

Upon successful completion of the course, students should be able to:

• gain an understanding of the city as a multidisciplinary field of study and demonstrate their ability to reflect on how the architect’s perspectives, methods, and tools contribute to the form and theory of the contemporary city
• acquire basic knowledge of spatial phenomena and urban elements and demonstrate their ability to observe, document, and critically analyze these as components of the built environment
• acquire basic knowledge of the city as a complex of interrelated structures (spatial, material, social, legal, economic, and political) and demonstrate the ability to reflect on this relationship from a sustainability perspective
• acquire basic knowledge of the historical development of the Western city [with an emphasis on the modern period up to the present] and demonstrate the ability to understand, evaluate, and discuss the urban planning ideals that have prevailed in modern times

You should pass the course A11HIB History and Theory of Architecture 1: Introduction to European Architecture 7.5 credits and A21HIC History and Theory of Architecture 2: Architecture and Modernity 9.0 credits

• MOM1 - Moment 1, 3.0 credits, grading scale: P, F
• MOM2 - Moment 2, 3.0 credits, grading scale: P, F

Based on recommendation from KTH’s coordinator for disabilities, the examiner will decide how to adapt an examination for students with documented disability.

The examiner may apply another examination format when re-examining individual students.

If the course is discontinued, students may request to be examined during the following two academic years.

Learning outcomes are assessed through presentations of the process and results in assignments specified at the start of the course. To receive a grade, students must submit all required assignments and maintain 80% attendance at lectures, seminars, tutorials, and review sessions. Students must also submit a reflection on their own learning.

Course module supplementation means that a student who has received a grade of F and is deemed to be close to meeting the requirements for a passing grade of P may be given the opportunity to complete supplementary work to achieve a passing grade. The course examiner decides whether supplementation is possible. The supplementary assignment is designed based on the learning objectives the student has not achieved. The student shall be given 15 working days to complete the supplementary work. After that, supplementary work may not be done, in accordance with KTH’s guidelines on course syllabi, grading systems, and examination.

Catharina Gabrielsson

• All members of a group are responsible for the group's work.
• In any assessment, every student shall honestly disclose any help received and sources used.
• In an oral assessment, every student shall be able to present and answer questions about the entire assignment and solution.