COURSE OBJECTIVES

1. To introduce basic concepts of urban design that have historical precedents in European and American cities through a review of design literature;

2. To demonstrate how those concepts apply to contemporary American cities;

3. To relate urban design to public policies in the areas of physical planning and development including such issues as zoning, historic preservation standards, transportation policies and particularly urban design guidelines;

4. To examine economic feasibility and other financial aspects of urban design as they relate to large-scale, mixed-use projects in the city;

5. To identify the actors that participate in the private land development process, the roles they assume and their relationship to urban design and planning agencies

METHODS

In order to achieve the above objectives, the class will have lectures by the principal instructor, readings in the urban design field, site visits and evaluations of development projects including collection of data for a final report and class discussions in which students presents their findings.

Site visits will include field trips to Pittsburgh, Toledo and Erie, Pa. We will attempt to make the opportunity as convenient as possible for the student. Cost of the trips is minimal.

COURSE GRADING

Grades for the course will be based on student papers, presentations, a takehome exam and class participation. Though teams will be assembled for collection of data, all students will be graded on their own individual papers.

TEXT

The text for this course is Urban Design: The American Exnerience by Jon Lang. (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1994). For those who wish to pursue the study of urban design, the following books are also recommended.

OPTIONAL READING

Bacon, Edmund. The Design of Cities. New York: Viking Press, 1967.

Barnett, Jonathan.Introduction to Urban Design.New York: Harper & Row, 1982.

The Elusive City: Five Centuries of Design Ambition and Miscalculation, Harper & Row, 1986.

Blake, Peter. Form Follows Fiasco. Boston/Toronto: Little, Brown & Co., 1977.

Boyer, Christine. Dreaming the Rational City. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1986.

Cutler and Cutler. Recycling Cities for Peonle:The Urban Design Process. Boston, Mass. :CBI Publishing Co., Inc., 1982.

Downs, Roger and David Stea. Image and Environment. Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 1970.

Garreau, Joel. Edge City: Life on the New Frontier. Doubleday, 1988.

Gosling, David and Barry Maitland. Concents of Urban Design. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984.

Howard, Ebenezer. Garden Cities of Tomorrow, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press,1965.

Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House, 1961.

Jordan, R. Furneaux. The History of Western Architecture. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984.

Lynch, Kevin. Image of the City. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1960.

Mumford, Lewis. From the Ground Up. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1956.

Tunnard, Christopher and Boris Pushkarev. Man-Made America: Chaos or Control? New York: Harmony Books, 1981.

Week One Meet at 9:00 a.m.

Introduction to Urban Design, course lecture

Films: Ed Bacon series 'Design of Cities" on London, Paris, Rome, ; William Whyte film on "Social Life of Small Urban Spaces" (which will form the criteria on which design project evaluations will be made) . You may also refer to Whyte, William H., City: Rediscovering The Center. New York: Doubleday, Inc., 1988.

Lunch

Continuation of Film Series and Class Discussion

All class assignments will be made at this class.

Week Two Meet at 8:00 a.m.

Field trip to Erie, Pa. with examination of Erie Bayfront waterfront development and its relation to downtown Erie and Erie's neighborhoods as well as the Presque Isle State Park.

Week Three Meet at 9:00 a.m.

Debrief Erie field trip. Slide presentation of waterfront developments throughout North America.

Discussion on the Civic Vision(s) planning in Cleveland particularly related to Cleveland's waterfronts, North Coast Harbor and the Flats.

Lunch.

Travel to South Lorain for presentation of urban design charrette results.

Week Four Meet at 8:00 a.m.

Field trip to Toledo with examination of Portside and its relation to downtown Toledo and Toledo's neighborhoods.

Handout Take Home Midterm Exams. Due in One Week.

Week Five Meet at 9:00 a.m.

Debrief Toledo trip. Discuss economic issues in Toledo as they relate to Portside and urban design in general.

Lunch

Lecture on three urban design trends (Barnett): citizen participation, historic preservation, environmental issues.

Return and discuss Take Home Midterm Exams.

Week Six Meet at 8:00 a.m.

Field trip to Pittsburgh with examination of Station Square and its relation to downtown Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh's neighborhoods.

Week Seven Meet at 9:00 a.m.

Class presentations of waterfront development and findings with slides in morning and afternoon.

All papers must by type-written and citations should follow the department's citation form or Turabian. Papers will be graded on originality of ideas, clarity of writing, organization and professional appearance. The paper will be presented to the class at the final class session. The paper should be accompanied by slides of the project.

Paper 1 - This paper will address the issue of historic preservation as it relates to waterfront development. Most urban waterfronts are the historic hearth of the city, the place where the city began. This research should address at least one city outside of Cleveland that has used historic preservation as a major component of its waterfront development. Students will be expected to contact planners in that city and to elicit information on the historic component of their waterfront specifically answering the questions: 1) what buildings have been recycled and how are they now used? 2) is the historic preservation economically successful? 3) what problems have arisen in the course of preservation of these older structures? 4) have these older structures been used to educate the public about the history of the community? 30 pts. possible. Paper due on the last day of class.

Paper 2- This paper will surumarize your urban design analysis of the waterfront developments visited by the class. Although your paper will focus on one particular aspect of the project, it is expected that you will place the whole development into a context by discussing characteristics of the larger city, social, political and economic, that might impact on the design of its waterfront. The paper will be no more than 20 pp. in length and should cite sources other than those mentioned in class regarding waterfront development in general as well as the city in question. 40 pts. possible. Due on the last day of class.

The Take Home midterm will account for 30 points. The test will cover material delivered in class lectures including those by guest lecturers, any additional reading material handed out in class, and the material in the textbook. Rather than assigned readings, students will be responsible for reading the entire textboook.