Curricular Unit:			Code:
Structure of the Territory of Diffuse Urbanization			145ETUD
Year:	Level:	Course:	Credits:
4	Master	Architecture and Urbanism	7 ects
Learning Period:		Language of Instruction:	Total Hours:
Spring Semester		Portuguese/English	91
Learning Outcomes of the Curricular Unit:
The course aims to work on the student’s sensitivity towards the different characteristics of the territory that was urbanised throughout the last decades of the 20th century and is commonly referred to as «urban», from the deconstruction of preconceived ideas and concepts and the broadening of terminological understanding. Focusing on Central Europe and, particularly, Portugal, the CU seeks to offer a set of ordered knowledge about the spatial functioning of the contemporary urban territories and to develop the ability to perceive the different configurations imprinted in the territory caused by diverse kinds of phenomenon. Throughout the space analysis at different scales, the student should still be able to recognize (some of) the latent or explicit structuring physical elements of the territories of diffuse urbanisation, explaining their quality on the basis of functional and morphological organisation.
Syllabus:
1 – TERRITORIAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT 1.1 – Basic notions and concepts 1.2 – Urbanisation processes 2 – URBANISED SPACES 2.1 – The urban systems 2.2 – The apprehension processes of the urbanized spaces 3 – NEW TERRITORIAL “SPATIALITIES” 3.1 – Form(s) of the urban space 3.2 – Apprehension of the urban space 3.3 – Urban forms and territorial organization logics 3.4 – Urban forms and logics/instruments of regulation
Demonstration of the Syllabus Coherence with the Curricular Unit's Objectives:
Chapter 1 provides the student the basic notions that allow him to understand the urban mutation of the second half of the 20th century. Chapter 2 sustains the fundamental issues of «urban form» change, debating the types of agglomeration and the territorial intervention units, whether formal or informal. The contents’ organisation provided by these two first sections of the syllabus allow the student to distinguish the typical processes of the urban expansion and some of the more frequent configurations of the contemporary city (specially in opposition to the industrial city). Chapter 3 grounds the territory’s observation and explanation in a concrete case-study area, offering the students a real support for applying the lectured contents at the same time that demands and gives them the ability to work at different scales, as well as an effective reasoning about the structuring elements existing in the case study and its transformation within those diverse cartographic representation
Teaching Methodologies (Including Evaluation):
The methodology of this CU is in close relation with the syllabus: the first chapter is supported in the reading and intra-class discussion of a series of texts previously set available to the student; the second chapter is organised in lectures; the third one is structured around an assignment under an individualised tutorial supervision in class. The assessment method is divided in two components: the theoretical component and the theoretical-practical/experimental component. The theoretical component fundamentally lies in two written tests. The theoretical-practical/experimental component lies in the accomplishment of an essentially practical work, whose development and justification implies specific research and theoretical support. The final grade will be the result from the achieved classification in each one of this assessment moments, which will be accounted in different percentages.
Demonstration of the Coherence between the Teaching Methodologies and the Learning Outcomes:
The set of proposed readings about the theme of «urban» and its debate in class aims to provoke a confrontation «shock» between the students and their own notions regarding urban designations and processes, perceptions that are interesting to question as a starting point, as they are commonly demonstrated to be narrow and preconceived. What normally comes out is that, gradually, throughout the conceptual assimilation contained in the texts, those evolve from a more traditional understanding into another one, of a larger and more up to date extent, opening to broader horizons of understanding and to a wider mental flexibility. After this first moment of terminological and process deconstruction, a set of lectures organises the previous contents, going from a more general perspective into its concretion within national boundaries. Developed in parallel, during the whole semester, the urban analysis exercise (assignment), focused in a «fragment» of the Porto Metropolitan Area, allows the confrontation between theory and reality that is established from various units of territorial perception, as well as to assess the recognition in a concrete place of the discussed contents and what is their specific expression – whether using maps of different scales and distinct time periods (3 moments between the late forties and the present), or «in loco», visiting the study area. The tutorial assessment of this exercise allows the student’s orientation according to their own individual progress, responding to the comprehension difficulties and gaps of each student, but also stimulating each one’s potentialities.
Reading:
[1] AAVV (2004). L'explosió de la ciutat/The explosion of the city. Barcelona. COACPUBLICACIONS. [2] Graham, S.; Marvin, S. (2003). Splintering Urbanism: networked infrastructures, technological mobilities and the urban condition. London/NY. Routledge. [3] Ferrão, J.; Marques, T. S. (2003). Sistema Urbano Nacional: Síntese. Lisboa. DGOTDU. [4] Marques, T. S. (2004). Portugal na Transição do Século: Retratos e Dinâmicas Territoriais. Porto. Edições Afrontamento. [5] Portas, N. et al. (2003). Políticas Urbanas: tendências, estratégias e oportunidades. Lisboa. FCG. [6] Portas, N. et al. (2011). Políticas Urbanas II: transformações, regulação e projectos. Lisboa. FCG. [7] Sociedade e Território: Revista de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais (42) – Ocupação dispersa: problemática, custos e benefícios (2009). Porto. Afrontamento. [8] Eizaguirre, X. (Ed.) (2001) La construcción del territorio disperso: Talleres de reflexión sobre la forma difusa. Barcelona. Edicions UPC.
Lecturer (* Responsible):
Sara Sucena (ssg@ufp.edu.pt)