Urban Planning process
Is the city a form, or a process, or both? Are architects and urban designers responsible for the form and urban planners for the process part? How can these two, together with other parties cooperate to promote sustainable urban development and to resolve conflicting interests? Which skills, instruments and tools are needed?
The aim of this course is to familiarize participants with the dimension of the urban planning process so that architects and urban designers understand their role and responsibilities in relation to other stakeholders. Based on a reflection of the legacy of architectural and planning professions and their paradigms the course will explore the potentials of architects and urban designers as part of a new urban planning approach that is integrated, inclusive and participatory and that follows principles such as compactness, social inclusion, integration and connected cities and neighbourhoods that are resilient to climate change. The class builds on the knowledge established in the introductory contemporary cities course (SSCI 101). It integrates research and practice and will explore lessons from relevant case studies from Egypt and beyond. Selected issues comprise: economic development, infrastructure and services, housing, environment, food security, historic preservation, regional development.
1. Recognise and reflect the relevance of planning (in a broad sense). (Why planning?)
2. Understand the role of planning versus the role of other disciplines and stakeholders.
3. Appreciate basic urban concepts and planning approaches in history and in various regions.
4. Appreciate human settlements as dynamic open complex and self-organised systems, between form and process.
5. Understand various the dimensions and forces that ‘produce’ urban systems.
6. Apprehend the main frontiers, issues and problems that urban planning processes seek to address.
7. Recognise the role various stakeholders and disciplines that are “planning” cities.
8. Appreciate the potentials and the limitations of urban planning in contributing to urban development.
9. Understand diverse planning approaches.
10. Be familiar with the main methods and tools (e.g. in planning and research) and know how to access them.
11. Be familiar with fundamental principles, norms, stadards (i.e SDGs)
12. Know and reflect on potential factors of failure and success.
13. Generally know, how to make plans.
14. Generally understand, how to assess plans.
15. Deal with uninteneded effects, contradictions, conflicts and dimemmas.
16. Draw lessons from case studies on urban expansion, economic development, infrastructure and services, housing, environment, food security, historic preservation, regional development…
17. Better skills in communication, presentation, group work, and interdisciplinary cooperstion