Building Stories

Urban design can be regarded as an autonomous discipline that develops according to internal logics. The perpetual reinvention of the urban grid is a good example; think, for instance, of Hippodamus in ancient Greece, the supermanzanas in 19th century Barcelona, and Parc de la Villette in 20th century Paris. This seminar, however, will focus not on the autonomy of the discipline, but on its heteronomy. We will investigate how urban design responds to external developments taking place in the social, economic, political, and cultural realms. During the 20th century, architects had to respond to a novel set of challenges, such as growing democratization, emerging ecological concerns, the rise of neo-liberalism, etc. During this seminar, each student will select and analyze one case-study urban design project from the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s that responds to a particular ‘heteronomous’ challenge. The analysis of this project will take the form of a graphic novel short story and will draw on storytelling and fictocriticism as research methods.