POLITECNICO DI MILANO - SCUOLA DI ARCHITETTURA URBANISTICA INGEGNERIA DELLE COSTRUZIONI

(CAMPUS PIACENZA)
LAUREA MAGISTRALE IN SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE DESIGN

MONOGRAPHIC COURSE:
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE IN THE CONTEMPORARY AGE

2017-2018 SYLLABUS

Professor: Carlos Garca Vzquez

1.- COURSE CONTENTS.

This course uses the big city and the landscape as the natural playground where the contemporary
architecture was born and developed. The students will face a History of the Contemporary City which
is, at the same time, a History of the Contemporary Architecture and a History of the Contemporary
Landscape.
The historical period known as contemporaneity is divided in three phases related to changes of
paradigm in economy and philosophy: 1882-1939 (monopolist capitalism and scientifism); 1939-1979
(welfare state and existencialism); and 1979-2007 (late capitalism and relativism). Each period gave birth
to a new kind of territorial city: Metropolis, Megalopolis and Metapolis.
The course makes two parallel approaches to this topic. The first one is mainly theoretical, and focuses
on the historical evolution of the idea of urban landscape. The second one is more practical, and
analyzes six cases of study corresponding to cities that were emblematic in each period: New York and
Berlin in the metropolitan one, London and Los Angeles in the megalopolitan one, and Shanghai and
Bogota in the metapolitan one.

2.-OBJECTIVES AND OUTCOMES.

Objectives.
- Use the big city as the node that connects contemporary architecture and landscape.
- Convey a complex vision of history, avoiding simplifications and lineal readings.
- Insert the contemporary architecture and landscape in its social, political, cultural and
productive context.
- Introduce the student in the most advance topics of the contemporary theory of architecture,
city and landscape.
- Introduce the student in the research techniques on architecture.
- Use innovative learning systems (Flipped and Blended Learning).

Outcomes.
- Ability for architectural critic.
- Ability to work in groups as well as with personal autonomy.
- Ability to manage in public debates.
- Ability in research techniques.

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3.- LECTURES.

A.- Metropolis, 1882-1939.

A1.- Metropolis. From the laissez-faire times to the monopolist capitalism. The birth of city
planning. Modern urban models: The Chart of Athens. Architecture: from historicism to
rationalism.
A2.- Metropolitan landscapes. The roots of the sustainability debate: geographers and
sociologists. From the Garden City to Broadacre: Howard, Geddes, Mumford. The Regional
Planning Association of America and the New Deal experience.
A3.- New York. The expansion further Manhattan: trains and parkways. The Regional Plan for
New York and Surroundings. Architecture: birth and evolution of skyscrapers.
A4.- Berlin. Housing and planning crisis before World War I. The Weimar Republic (1919-1933):
housing Siedlungen and the rationalization of the urban center. The Nazi times and the
destruction of Berlin.

B.- Megalopolis, 1939-1979.

B1.- Megalopolis. Existencialism and the ethic reorganization of Megalopolis. Megalopolitan
dynamics; growing peripheries and shrinking centers. 1960s criticism: new conditions, new
paradigms.

B2.- Megalopolitan landscapes. The garden city criticism: Doxiadis, McHarg. A different
approach, the vernacular: Rudofsky, Turner, Alexander.

B3.- London. Suburban London: the New Towns of the Greater London Plan. Central London:
the failure of the Slum Clearance programs. Architecture: from Brutalism to technological
utopias.

B4.- Los Angeles. The roots of the suburban model: from trams to cars. The post-war period:
the construction of the first American city. The architecture of Suburbia: from mail-order
buildings to Case Study Houses.

C.- Metapolis, 1979-2007.

C1.- Metapolis. Latecapitalism and postmodernity. Economic and physical features of the
Metapolis. Metapolitan theories and models: from the generic city to the New Urbanism.
C2.- Metapolitan landscapes. Urban sustainable development: Ecocities and Landscape
Urbanism. The De-growth movement: Latouche, Magnaghi. Posthumanism: Sloterdijk, Clment.
C3.- Shanghai. Preceding: from semi-colonialism to communism. Territorial and urban change
in post-Mao China. Shanghai as a global Metapolis.
C4.- Bogota. The urban crisis of 1985-1995: violence and poverty. Contemporary urban
renaissance: the Latin American way.

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4.- DIDACTIC FORMATS.

There are two didactic formats: lectures and seminars.

Lectures will relate to the content of the course and will be given by the teacher. There are also four
scheduled occasional lectures that could be given by students, professors or invited guests.

Seminars will be devoted to study the concept of Creative City. The students will work in groups. In
total there will be 12 groups, that will be divided in three sets of 4 groups, each one working in a
different classroom. The groups will work in pairs.
We will use the Flipped and Blended Learning system.

1.- One week before each seminar: The professor will upload on the BEEP web site of
the course a 7-10 minutes long video about a question related to the topic of the
Creative City. At the end of it, the professor will propose to the groups a homework to
be presented the day of the seminar. It will be about the implementation of the
question of the video to the case of Piacenza.

2.- The day of the seminar: the groups will present and defend their proposals during
15 minutes, using the PowerPoint program or similar. They will do it in couples. After
each 2 presentations there will be a 45 minutes long debate in which the other 2
groups will act as an evaluation commission.

5.- REQUIREMENTS.
- Attend the classes (minimum 75%).
- Participate in the seminars group presentations.
- Participate in the seminars debates.
- Do the written tests (related to the videos and lessons content).
- Do the research paper and video.

6.- EVALUATION.
Grades.
The final grade will result of the proportional addition of four partial grades:
- 25% corresponding to 6 short tests about the videos and the lessons content.
- 25% corresponding to the 5 seminars group presentations.
- 25% corresponding to the participation in the seminars debates.
- 25% corresponding to the research paper.
In order to pass the course, the four partial grades have to have been evaluated. In case anyone would
have not, the student will have to submit the corresponding task at the end of the term (in the day of
the exam). In case no one of them had been evaluated, he/she will have to do, at the end of the term (in
the day of the exam), a written exam about the lectures of the course (this will also be the case of the
non-assisting students).

If the student wishes to improve his/her final grade, he/she will have to do this same written exam at
the end of the term and about the contents of the course lectures. The grade of this exam will substitute
the previous one.

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Research paper.
The aim of this task is introducing the students in the techniques of research in architecture, learning
how to do a paper to be published in an international journal.

The topic will be: Tactical Piacenza, that is, the implementation in Piacenza of the concepts of the
Creative City. Each group will reorganize the 5 proposals developed during the seminars presentation
and give it the format of a research paper, that is, they cannot be expressed as if they were an urban or
architectural project (with plans and drawings), but through written guidelines, and with the help of
sketches or visual references.

Each group will produce:

1.- A two minutes long video where the proposals are recreated.

2.- A 6000-8000 words long paper that will be structured as follows:

Title
Abstract (max. 500 words)
6 keywords
Introduction of the topic.
Objectives.
Methodology.
Results: strategies proposed.
Conclusions
Bibliography.

The progress of the research work will be reviewed in two tutorials: November 10th, and November 24th
2017
The deadline for the submission of the paper will be: December 3rd, 2017.
The videos will be presented on a final review that will take place on December 15th, 2017

7.- BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Carta, Maurizio (2007), Creative City.
Florida, Richard (2005), Cities and the Creative Class.
Landry, Charles (2008), The Creative City.
Lerner, Jaime (2014), Urban acupuncture.
Lydon, Mike (2012), Tactical Urbanism 2.

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8.-SCHEDULE.

DATE TIME CLASS FORMAT CONTENT

Sep. 28th, Thursday 14:00-16:00 Lecture Course presentation
16:00-17:00 Work in classroom Organization
9:00-13:00 Lecture Opening lecture
Break
Sep. 29th, Friday 14:00-15:00 Lecture Occasional lecture 1
What is a research paper?.
15:00-17:00 Work in classroom Organization
Oct. 12th, Thursday 14:00-17:00 Lecture A1.- Metropolis
9:00-12:00 Lecture A2.- Metropolitan landscapes
12:00-13:00 Lecture Occasional lecture 2
Break
Oct. 13th, Friday 14:00-14:15 Written test Test 1
14:15-17:00 Seminar Seminar 1
th
Oct. 26 , Thursday 14:00-17:00 Lecture A3.- New York
9:00-12:00 Lecture A4.- Berlin
12:00-13:00 Film Berlin. Symphony of a big city
Break
Oct. 27th, Friday 14:00-14:15 Written test Test 2
14:15-17:00 Seminar Seminar 2
Nov. 9th, Thursday 14:00-17:00 Lecture B1.- Megalopolis
9:00-12:00 Lecture B2.- Megalopolitan landscapes
12:00-13:00 Lecture Occasional lecture 3
th
Nov. 10 , Friday Break
14:00-14:15 Written test Test 3
14:15-17:00 Seminar Seminar 3
17:00- 19:30 Tutorial 1 Research work
Nov. 21st, Tuesday 14:00-17:00 Lecture B3.- London
Nov. 22nd, Wednes. 14:00-17:00 Lecture B4.- Los Angeles
17:00-18:00 Film Reyner Banham loves Los Angeles
Nov. 23rd, Thursday 10:00-10:15 Written test Test 4
10:15-13:00 Seminar Seminar 4
rd
Nov. 23 , Thursday 14:00-17:00 Lecture C1.- Metapolis
9:00-12:00 Lecture C2.- Metapolitan landscapes
12:00-13:00 Lecture Occasional lecture 4
Nov. 24th, Friday Break
14:00-14:15 Written test Test 5
14:15-17:00 Seminar Seminar 5
17:00- 19:30 Tutorial 2 Research work
Dec. 14th, Thursday 14:00-17:00 Lecture C3.- Shanghai
9:00-11:30 Lecture C4.- Bogota
11:30-12:30 Film Bogota change
Dec. 15th, Friday 12:30-13:00 Written test Test 6
Break
14:00-17:00 Final Review Presentation research work on Creative City