Globale Geschichte des Städtebaus I

Vorlesung (052-0801)
Veranstalter: Professur Avermaete
Dozierende: Prof. Dr. Tom Avermaete
 

Course description
This course, together with Geschichte des Städtebaus II / A Global History of Urban Design II that will be offered in the Spring semester, provides an overview of the development of cities and urban design from the very beginning until today. It specifically challenges students to value this history on a broader, global scale, highlighting cross-cultural developments. The course aims to extend this field of knowledge beyond the focus on urban developments in Europe and North America, taking into account the various instances of cultural cross-fertilization that build up a global history of cities and urban design. From the earliest human settlements in India, Turkey and the Near East, the survey examines the traditional, pre-modern and modern concepts that have historically had a bearing on urban development, up to and including the dynamic growth of contemporary cities in Asia and Africa.

Time and Location
Given the special COVID-related circumstances, the lecture will be held purely through Zoom, until further notice. An email will be sent in the beginning of each week, containing all the relevant links and information for the week's lecture. Recordings of the lectures will be made available to students of the course.

Course overview
  • Lecture 1.01 / 17.09.2020: The History and Theory of the City as Project
    SCRIPT 1.01 
  • Lecture 1.02 / 24.09.2020: Of Rituals, Water and Mud: The Urban Revolution in Mesopotamia and the Indus
    SCRIPT 1.02 
  • Lecture 1.03 / 01.10.2020: The Idea of the Polis: Rome, Greece and Beyond
    SCRIPT 1.03 
  • Lecture 1.04 / 08.10.2020: The Long Middle Ages and their Counterparts: From the Towns of Tuscany to Delhi
    SCRIPT 1.04 
  • Lecture 1.05 / 15.10.2020: Between Ideal and Laboratory: Of Middle Eastern Grids and European Renaissance Principles
    SCRIPT 1.05 
  • No lecture on 22.10.2020 (Seminar week)
  • Lecture 1.06 / 29.10.2020: Of Absolutism and Enlightenment: The Norms and Forms of the Baroque City
    SCRIPT 1.06 
  • Lecture 1.07 / 05.11.2020: The City of Labor: Company Towns as Cross-Cultural Phenomenon
    SCRIPT 1.07 
  • Lecture 1.08 / 12.11.2020: Garden Cities of Tomorrow: From the Global North to the Global South and Back Again
    SCRIPT 1.08 
  • Lecture 1.09 / 19.11.2020: Civilized Wilderness and City Beautiful: The Park Movement of Olmsted and The Urban Plans of Burnham
    SCRIPT 1.09 
  • Lecture 1.10 / 26.11.2020: The Extension of the European City: From the Viennese Ringstrasse to Amsterdam Zuid
    SCRIPT 1.10 
  • Lecture 1.11 / 03.12.2020: Reflection


Lectures
  • Attendance to all lectures is expected and strongly recommended.
  • Lectures will be recorded and uploaded to the D-ARCH Remote Cloud.
  • For each lecture, a script can be downloaded from the GTA Chair website two days before the lecture, see: https://avermaete.arch.ethz.ch/courses
  • This script is conceived as a working tool and we recommend you bring a print-out to the lecture to use in your note-taking.


Further / Additional readings
  • At the end of each lecture-script you will find the list of further readings in relation to that specific lecture.
  • Additional readings will be available for download at the end of the semester from our Chair website: https://avermaete.arch.ethz.ch/courses


Assessment
  • Assessment by written examination.
  • Questions will cover the compulsory scripts and lectures.


Exam for the BSC Architecture Students
  • Students from the Bachelor of Architecture will do one examination that covers both courses (Geschichte des Städtebaus I and II) in the Sessions-Prüfungen FS2021 (2 hours).
  • The specific date of the mentioned exam will be announced online in due course.

The exam consists of:
  • 3 encyclopaedic questions (30% of grade)
  • 3 open, interpretative questions (45% of grade)
  • 1 drawing question (25% of grade)


Exam for the GESS Students
  • GESS students that only follow the course in the first semester have their examination in the Sessions-Prüfungen HS2020 (1 hour).
  • The specific date of the mentioned exam will be announced online in due course.

The exam consists of:
  • 2 encyclopaedic question (30% of grade)
  • 2 open interpretative question (70% of grade)


Language
  • The lectures are given in English.
  • The scripts supporting the lectures are offered in English.
  • The exam will be bilingual (English/German). Students are free to do the exam in English, German or French.


General Literature
We recommend the readings below as general reference for the course. These may be found in the library, where they have been reserved.
  • Ching, Francis D. K, Mark Jarzombek, and Vikramditya Prakash. A Global History of Architecture. Hoboken: Wiley, 2017.
  • Ingersoll, Richard. World Architecture: A Cross-Cultural History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2018.
  • James-Chakraborty, Kathleen. Architecture Since 1400. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2014.


Contact
Chair for the History and Theory of Urban Design
Prof.dr.ir. Tom Avermaete
HIL D 75.2
https://avermaete.arch.ethz.ch

Student assistant:
Luca Can (lcan@student.ethz.ch)