Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment
Urban Design Cases
Objectives
An internationally respected October 2008 United Nations report rated South African cities as the most inequitable in the world (UN Habitat, ‘State of the World’s Cities 2008/2009’). On the evidence of their existing structure, form and poor performance, they are not simply unjust: they are also inefficient, unsustainable and virtually unlivable for many, particularly the poor majority. The need for reform in settlement-making has been recognized as recently as November 2011 in the South African National Planning Commission Report “National Plan Vision 2030”, which calls for a paradigm-shift.
A major contributing cause of this situation is that there appears to be no shared agreement amongst professionals concerned with the built environment about the nature of the urban problem or about a vision of what it is they should collectively be seeking to achieve. Moreover, the gap between government and professional rhetoric on the matter of settlement-making, on the one hand, and the actual practice, on the other, appears to be growing rather than narrowing. Arguably, neither urban policy nor professional practice in contemporary South Africa is sufficiently grounded on ways of approaching settlement design in contexts where poverty and inequality are endemic and where there are significant resource and capacity constraints. Contemporary settlement-making practice continues to be based largely on the concepts, formulations and general mindset of the ‘Brave New World’ of so-called ‘Modern Town Planning’, now about a century old, with origins in Europe and the United States of America, not in a developing-country, post-colonial and post-apartheid context.
Yet, people have been making settlements for over 5,000 years in many parts of the world. Rather than theorising, this short course presents a total of 11 actual international and local urban design cases which appear to be very relevant in the quest to improve our collective capacity to help promote decent settlement-making in South Africa at the current time.The course is aimed at all built environment professionals ─ engineers, urban planners, urban designers, architects, landscape architects and environmental and heritage practitioners. It is a course that complements two others offered at UCT this year, respectively entitled ‘Aspects of City Design’ and ‘Placing Design central to Urban Decision Making’.
Course Content
The course is an inductive exploration into the physical structure and form of cities through the examination of selected case studies. Its general purpose is to develop awareness and understanding about the making of cities and about the degree to which they accommodate and celebrate life and living. Its specific purposes are:
to develop literacy in urban form in two senses;
(i).acquire skills in the reading of urban structure,
(ii).acquire basic knowledge about the art of settlement-making as exemplified in many traditions worldwide, spanningmillenia;
to expand the sense of possibilities in urban form;
to develop awareness of the nature of urbanity.
In the process, the role and responsibility of the many urbanists,and the public at large, in the making of settlement will be explored.
Course Lecturers
The convenor and co-lecturer of the course, Prof. Fabio Todeschini, is an architect, city planner and urban designer, an academic and a practitioner. Some well known professional urban designers/planners have been invited to be co-lecturers: Prof. Julian Cooke, Prof. David Dewar, Ms. Barbara Southworth, Mrs. Claire Donovan and Ms. Ashleigh Brander. The intention, however, is to make the course as interactive as possible.
Course Information
Who should attend?
The course will benefit all who are involved in the built environment. This includes engineers, land surveyors, architects, landscape architects, urban planners, urban designers, heritage and environmental practitioners. The course is widely applicable and designed to satisfy the inter-disciplinary nature of urban development and urban growth management.
Format
The course will comprise six three-hour sessions and will meet twice a week over three weeks.
Cost
The fee for the total 18-hour course will be R4600.00. Discounts for staff and students of UCT, and students of other tertiary education institutes are available under certain circumstances.
Certificates
A certificate of attendance will be awarded to all course members who attend a minimum of 5 of the 6 sessions.
CPD Credit Requirements
The course is registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa, the Cape Institute for Architectureand the Urban Design Institute of South Africa (Western Cape) and is accredited for the award of CPD points, which are now required for continuing professional registration. The ECSA course code is UCTUDC12
Applications and cancellations
In order to ensure a place on the course applicants should complete and return a signed application form (available on the website to the course administrators: Heidi Tait or Sandra Jemaar:
The application form can be found on the website
Confirmation of acceptance will be sent on receipt of an application form.
Payment is due one week before the start of a course.
Cancellations must be received one week before the start of a course, or the full course fee will be charged
Venue
Seminar Room, Chemical Engineering Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town.
Date and Time
17h30 – 20h30
Tuesday30 October
Thursday1 November
Tuesday 6 November
Thursday 8 November
Tuesday 13 November
Thursday 15 November
Registration
17h00, 30 October2012, just before the first lecture. Only for confirmed applicants.
Foyer Chemical Engineering Building
Corner Ring Rd and South Lane
Upper Campus
University of Cape Town
Lecture Programme and Course Content
Twice weekly from 30 October – 15 November 2012, 5.30 – 8.30pm, as noted below session by session (6 Sessions over 3 weeks, comprising a total of 18 hours).
Tuesday 30th October
Session 1: Introduction and Urban Design Cases 1 and 2
Double lecture, discussion. Lecturers: Todeschini and Brander
Brief Introduction: The overall purpose, structure and content of the course, as well as the identity of the cases chosen to be presented and discussed
Case 1: Ben U Sen in Diyarbakir, Turkey
Case 2: Central Ahmedabad, India
Discussion, Housekeeping, Participants and References relied on in the course
Thursday 1st November
Session 2: Urban Design Cases 3 and 4
Two lectures and a discussion class. Lecturers: Southworth and Gould-Pratt
- Case 3: Graaff Reinet, South Africa
- Case 4: Barcelona, Spain
- Discussion and References
Tuesday 6th November
Session 3: Urban Design Cases 5 and 6
Two lectures and a discussion class. Lecturer: Cooke
- Case 5: Venice, Italy
- Case 6: Kyoto, Japan
- Discussion and References
Thursday 8th November
Session 4: Urban Design Cases 7 and 8
Two lectures and a discussion class. Lecturer: Donovan
- Case 7: Lisbon, Portugal
- Case 8: Mumbai, India
- Discussion and References
Tuesday 13th November
Session 5: Urban Design Cases 9 and 10
Two lectures and a discussion class. Lecturer: Louw and Donovan
- Case 9: Bath, UK
- Case 10: Boston, USA
- Discussion and References
Thursday 15th November
Session 6: Urban Design Case 11
Two lectures and a concluding discussion class. Lecturers: Todeschini, Dewar and Snell
- Case 11: Cape Town
- Concluding Discussion and course evaluation. Panelists: Southworth, Gould-Pratt, Cooke, Donovan, Dewar, Brander, Snell and Todeschini
Note: This course is accredited with The Cape Institute for Architecture for 1.8 CPD points.
This course is accredited with the Engineering Council of South Africa for 1.8 CPD points.
CPD Programme, Engineering Faculty, Menzies Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town
Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701
Tel: ++27 (0)21 6505793; Fax: ++27 (0)21 6502669; email: ; web: