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Global History of Urban Design II
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:23:23
Abstract
This course focuses on the history of the city, as well as on the ideas, processes and actors that propel their development and transformation. This course approaches the history of urban design as a cross-cultural field of knowledge that integrates scientific, economic and technical innovation as well as social and cultural change.
Objective
The lectures in this course deal with the definition of urban design as an independent discipline that nevertheless maintains strong connections with other disciplines and fields that affect the transformation of the city (e.g. politics, sociology, geography, etc). The aim is to introduce students to the multiple theories, concepts and approaches of urban design that have been articulated from the turn of the 20th century to today, in a variety of cultural contexts. The course thus offers a historical and theoretical framework for students’ future design work.
Content
23.02.2023 / lecture 1: Housing and the Industrial City 02.03.2023 / lecture 2: Cities and Ideologies 09.03.2023 / lecture 3: Envisioning Urban Utopias 16.03.2023 / lecture 4: Reconstructing the City, Constructing New Towns 23.03.2023 / no class (Seminar Woche) 30.03.2023 / lecture 5: New Capitals for New Democracies, New Institutions for Old Democracies 06.04.2023 / lecture 6: Rethinking Masterplanning (guest lecture) 13.04.2023 / no class (Easter) 20.04.2023 / lecture 7: Countercultural Experiments with Urbanity 27.04.2023 / lecture 8: Finding Meaning in the Postmodern City 04.05.2023 / lecture 9: Open-Ended Strategies for Imploding Cities 11.05.2023 / lecture 10: Reflections on an Age of Urbanisation
Resources
Lecture Notes
Prior to each lecture a chapter of the reader (Skript) will be made available through the webpage of the Chair. These Skripts will introduce the lecture, as well as the basic visual references of each lecture, key dates and events, and references to further/additional readings.
Literature
The book that will function as main reference literature throughout the course is: -Tom Avermaete, Janina Gosseye, Urban Design in the 20th Century: A History (Zürich: gta Verlag, 2021). Other books that provide background information for the course are: -Eric Mumford, Designing the Modern City: Urban Design Since 1850 (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2018) -Francis D. K. Ching, Mark Jarzombek and Vikramditya Prakash, A Global History of Architecture (Hoboken: Wiley & Sons, 2017) -David Grahame Shane, Urban Design Since 1945: A Global Perspective (Hoboken: Wiley & Sons, 2011) These books will be reserved for consultation in the ETH Baubibliothek, and will not be available for individual loans. A list of further recommended literature will be found within each chapter of the reader (Skript).
Learning Materials (Links)
- Main link
- Information
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC , MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- session examination
- Mode
- written 120 minutes
- Aids
- None
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture |
Global History of Urban Design II
No course 23.3, (seminar week) and in the last two semester weeks (final critiques).
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2 h weekly |
Offered In
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Electives (The entire course programs of ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich are open to the students to individual selection. The students have themselves to check whether they meet the admission requirements for a course.)
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