ARCHITECTURE OF PUBLIC SPACES

Academic year
2024/2025 Syllabus of previous years
Official course title
ARCHITECTURE OF PUBLIC SPACES
Course code
EM3A19 (AF:444264 AR:288256)
Modality
On campus classes
ECTS credits
6
Degree level
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)
Educational sector code
ICAR/18
Period
2nd Term
Course year
2
The course aims to deepen and analyze the themes of the architecture of public spaces, with particular attention to open spaces and places, interconnections, disconnections, urban voids of centers and suburbs. The course aims to discuss both the evolution of the concept of creative city and its application in terms of urban strategies in order to improve local development. We will also discuss the theme of "Creative City", a term used for the first time at the end of the 1980s by the urban planner Charles Landry to describe an approach to the construction and governance of the city based on the logic of creativity, focused on the promotion of culture and "creative industries". The course will examine the theory and practice of the creative city, finally evaluating the design and impact of cultural policies and urban interventions aimed at improving city environments.
On completion of this course, the student will:

• Investigate how urban interconnection spaces represent an important programming point for planning and interventions to improve people's lives in the centers and suburbs. The basic methods for field observations of social behaviors in public spaces will be addressed, both for improving interventions and for checking the results achieved;
• Acquire a thorough understanding of the theory and practice of the creative city, as well as related topics such as creative industries, regeneration and gentrification;
• Understand how to design a sustainable cultural development strategy, including measuring the impact on territorial and ecosystem governance;
• Develop his/her research capacity by structuring and presenting his/her arguments and methodological positions independently and as part of a working group.
None in particular to highlight.
The course will deepen which are the interventions and policies in the area where culture and creativity play a key role in improving territorial development. The use of urban regeneration will be examined with particular attention to the effects (positive and negative) on the local context. The role of peak interventions in medium-sized European and non-European cities will be considered as an example of urban regeneration and city branding projects, as well as the comparison between top-down and bottom-up strategies in city regeneration. The case studies will be used to translate some of the developed theories into practice. Furthermore, the creative sectors and their particularities will be explored by approaching new collaborative models developed between these sectors and the city. From networks to governance issues, the course will also focus on identifying innovative institutional practices for managing the public goods.

Definitions of public and private space. Brief historical evolution of these concepts. Complementarity between public and built open space. Revolutions in big cities: public and private mobility. The consequences of the technological evolution of transport and communications. Urban furniture and reuse of abandoned space. Buildings with public functions. Buildings of culture, sports, and social buildings from a regenerative perspective. Aggregating places and their spatial requirements, of practicability, of flexibility. Third places and other analytical contributions by sociology. Analysis of some achievements and specific projects, with attention to quality and innovation. Notes on urban planning and participatory planning.

Meetings will be provided in hybrid mode or in presence with European participatory planning experts also in collaboration with Urbact, a European program co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by the Member States, created with the aim of promoting a sustainable urban development through the exchange of experiences and the dissemination of knowledge between European cities.

Lessons will involve students with classroom activities to practice the concepts developed by the teacher.
To be specified by the assigned adjunct professor.
To be specified by the assigned adjunct professor.
In any case, the final exam will be aimed at testing the students' knowledge and skills acquired throughout the course.
Lectures with slides presentations. Field visits and exercises (workshops).
English
written and oral

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Cities, infrastructure and social capital" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development

Definitive programme.
Last update of the programme: 28/06/2024