Syllabus Format (ERP)
1 Name of the subject Urban Design
2 L-T-P 3-0-0
3 Credits 3
4 Name of the Department Architecture and Regional Planning
5 Status of the (a) Specify the Session, Semester: Spring
subject (b) Please specify the level of the subject: 1st Year, PG
(c) Whether the subject will be offered as core Core
or elective:
(d) The semester in which the subject will be Spring
offered:
(e) Name of the program in whose curricula MCP
this subject will be included:
6 Prerequisites for None
subject, if any
7 Course 1. To examine historically the structure of urban areas and the evolving path of
Objectives urbanization as a process analysing the spatial correspondence between
urban patterns and human life
2. To document a varied range of theories and concepts which have addressed
urban problems and acted to alter cities, suburbs, and regions through urban
design and development
3. To understand the process how urban areas through an integrated physical
setting create an image and play a social role through a self-driven
explorations on urban form by the students
4. To acquire the technical knowhow and rigour of basic research to identify
and critically analyse various challenges of urban design, methods of
interpretation of urban phenomena and data, stressing the connections
between ideas and design.
5. To understand the established principles, multidisciplinary and collaborative
process of working as well as the legal framework for Urban Design.
6. To introduce students to application of computer-aided techniques like
simulation exercises, eye tracking mechanism for a grounded understanding
of several urban phenomena.
7. To promote hands-on studio exercises for free experimentation and in-depth
inquiry into the patterns and processes of urbanism, the relationship
between space and human activities leading to production of successful
urban places
8. To evolve new methods of pedagogy in the subject by collaborative research
and studio exercises with other institutions teaching urban design in India
and outside
8 Course Contents 1. Introduction: Evolution of the scope and definition of Urban Design,
Elements and Components of Urban Design
2. Concept and Theories: Different ideological and practical premises for
urban design, Development of theories and historical circumstances in which
they evolved. Contemporary theories of urban design which analyse the
various forces which act to shape and change cities. Theories which explain
city as a human network – social structure and urban form.
3. Design and Planning Interventions: Methods of Urban appreciation - the
morphological dimensions of urban patterns and spaces. Key models of
physical form and social intervention that have been deployed to resolve
competing forces acting on the city. Topics include urban rejuvenation,
integration or urban brownfield, heritage conservation, place-making,
inclusive planning for vulnerable groups.
4. Tools and Techniques: Models of urban analysis to understand, decode and
interpret the city as a complex system, Methods of urban design surveys,
documentation and representation- Building and spatial analysis,
Architectural expression. Introduction to Institutional frameworks and legal
mechanism for Urban Design
5. Good Practices: Understand the policies and operational Context - practice
of urban design and development, using international examples.
9 Names of the faculty members Dr. Haimanti Banerji
of the Department who have Prof. Jaydip Barman
the necessary expertise and
will be willing to teach the
subject
10 Do the contents of the subject No
have an overlap with any other
subject offered in the Institute?
11 Recommendedtext books and Text Books
reference books 1. Bacon, E.N., Design of Cities.
2. Cullen, G., Townscape.
3. Gallion A.B, Urban Pattern.
4. Sprieregen, P.D., Urban Design: The Architecture of Town and
Cities.
5. The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs
6. The City in History: Its Origins, Its Transformations, and Its
Prospects by Lewis Mumford
7. Contemporary Urban Planning by John M. Levy
8. Lynch, Kevin. The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT
Press, 1960, pp. 4-5. ISBN: 0262620014.
Reference Books and Manuals:
1. Frenchman, Dennis. “Narrative Places and the New Practice of
Urban Design.” In Imaging the City: Continuing Struggles and
New Directions. Edited by Lawrence J. Vale and Sam Bass
Warner, Jr. New Brunswick, NJ: Center for Urban Policy
Research, 2001. ISBN: 0882851691.
2. Howard, Ebenezer. “Introduction,” and “The Town-Country
Magnet.” In Garden Cities of To-Morrow. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 1965, pp. 41-57. ISBN: 9780262580021.
3. Hall, Peter. “The City of Dreadful Night.” In Cities of
Tomorrow. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, 1988, pp. 14-46. ISBN:
0631134441.
4. Scheer, Brenda Case. “Introduction: The Debate on Design
Review.” In Design Review: Challenging Urban Aesthetic
Control. Edited by Brenda Case Scheer and Wolfgang F. E.
Preiser. New York, NY: Chapman & Hall, 1994, pp. 1-10.
ISBN: 0412991616.
5. Southworth, Michael, and Peter M. Owens. “The Evolving
Metropolis: Studies of Community, Neighborhood and Street
Form at the Urban Edge.” Journal of the American Planning
Association 59, no. 3 (1993): 271-287.
6. Gans, Herbert. “Urbanism and Suburbanism as Ways of Life:
A Re-evaluation of Definitions.” In People, Plans and
Policies: Essays on Poverty, Racism, and Other National
Urban Problems. New York, NY: Columbia University Press,
1994. ISBN: 0231074034.
7. Krier, Leon. “Town and Country,” “Critique of Zoning,”
“Critique of Industrialisation,” “The Idea of Reconstruction,”
and “Urban Components.” In Leon Krier: Houses, Palaces,
Cities. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 1985, pp. 30-42.
ISBN: 0312479905.
8. Stein, Clarence. “Radburn, New Jersey.” In Toward New
Towns for America . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1966.
ISBN: 9780262690096.
9. Barnett, Jonathan. “Zoning, Mapping, and Urban Renewal As
Urban Design Techniques,” and “Designing Cities Without
Designing Buildings.” In An Introduction to Urban Design.
New York, NY: Harper and Row, 1982, pp. 57- 97. ISBN:
0064301141.
Lectures and discussions will be supplemented by videos, by
field study, and by visits from guest speakers who will
present cases involving recent projects that illustrate the
scope and methods of urban design practice and theory
12 Names of Departments/ 1. Architecture and Regional Planning
Centers/Schools whose 2. Ranbir and Chitra Gupta School of Infrastructure Design
students are expected to and Management
register for this subject
13 Course Contents Topics Number of
& Hourly break- hours
up Introduction 3 hrs
Concept and Theories 6 hrs
Design and Planning Interventions 6 hrs
Tools and Techniques 9 hrs
Good Practices 9 hrs
Total 33 hrs
