History and Theory of Urban Form

Karl F. G. DuPuy AIA. Instructor.

This course consists of lectures, readings and discussions related to the history of cities, theories of urbanism and design techniques for future development and its implementation.

During the course of this semester we will identify and study those attributes of urban form (past and present) which, when thoroughly understood, will better prepare us to plan and design cities, sections of cities, and urban places and buildings in the future. We will analyze a number of the antecedents of modern urban form, evaluating them not only from an historian’s perspective, but also from our own personal points of view. The student will be encouraged to share and communicate his/her own visual, perceptual experiences and attitudes through the class discussions and his/her individual class project. We will discuss the patterns and processes in which cities have developed, the techniques of planning and designing for urban growth, some idealized concepts of urban form, and a few of the tools presently used by urban designers, planners, and architects to achieve design success. It is expected that the urban design and planning vocabulary will become an active part of your everyday speech, and that you will apply these tools to your future design solutions.