Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Designing Healthy Public Spaces
Other languages of instruction: Catalan, English,
Teaching staff
Introduction
In the current situation of environmental and health crisis, the contribution in the design of public space of the architect is extremely necessary. Administrations ask for urban and architectural projects that integrate urban comfort and citizen well-being and environmental ustainability into a single entity. In this landscape of increasing complexity, it is appropriate to train degree students in useful subjects and techniques from other disciplines such as landscaping, ecology or bioengineering. This multidimensional learning will complement their traditional training and expand their professional capacity to act in all scales, from the landscape of our peripheries, rivers and coasts to consolidated urban and neighborhood areas. The course will teach the great potential of public space to create and/or transform our environments into more livable, healthy and sustainable places.
Pre-course requirements
The course is mainly oriented to students who have already taken some urban planning subjects and architectural projects. Recommended for 3rd year students or higher.
Objectives
Student will be provided with a conceptual framework and specific tools through the complementarity between directed practice and a contrasted theoretical body to face the public space project considering the sustainability of people’s health environment.
The main goals are:
- Introduce basic concepts and parameters from other disciplines, necessary for the current design of public space.
- Provide bibliography and reference cases that allow building a database on this type of project. Especially important will be the visits to redevelopment actions in Barcelona to discuss strategies and solutions on site.
- Practice the formulation of project ideas based on the interaction of scales and incorporating tools and methods arising from graphic exploration.
- Introduce the student to the existing urbanization products on the market: paving, urban furniture and lighting to discuss criteria and forms of use.
- Prepare the student for collective work and the construction of group documents that lead to a unique project.
- Provide concrete and complementary knowledge that the student can apply in the Projects subjects, especially for 4th year and TFG. The subject will serve as a basis for the development of the Urbanism 4 subject in the 5th year
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 03 - To acquire adequate knowledge of spatial representation systems applied to architecture and urbanism .
- 05 - To acquire adequate knowlege of metric and projective geometry applied to architecture and urbanism.
- 06 - To acquire adequate knowledge of graphic surveying techniques in all stages, from sketching to scientific restitution.
- 34-T - Ability to design, practice and develop basic and execution projects, sketches and blueprints.
- 39-T - Ability to eliminate architectural barriers
- 51 - To acquire adequate knowledge of the study methods of social needs, quality of life, habitability and basic housing programmes
- 52 - To acquire adequate knowlege of the environment, sustainability and the principles of conserving energy and environmental resources.
- 65 - Ability to recognise contemporary characteristics and freedom in the understanding of architecture.
- 69 - Ability to discover the critical-cultural dimension of the role of the architect
Learning outcomes of the subject
At the end of the course the student will be able to:
- Evaluate with critical judgment the multidimensional character that must guide the design of healthy public space and recognize it in recent practices.
- Interpret the information on health and the environment provided by other disciplines and apply them in the formalization of public space.
- Design and propose strategies in a multidisciplinary team.
Syllabus
The course is organized around five main themes:
The ground: Topography, water and paving
Green as infrastructure and sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS)
Light: natural and artificial lighting in public spaces
Urban equipment, playable and intergenerational
Communication and representation of public space
The sessions will consist of a presentation with theoretical content during the first 45 minutes and then the practical workshop will take place following the topic presented. One session will be dedicated to visiting some representative public spaces of Barcelona and at least one session to visiting a company producing urban elements.
In groups of 2 students, 2 exercises will be carried out throughout the course focused on the design of public space in a Barcelona context.
Teaching and learning activities
In person
The methodology used is Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL), a cyclical and progressive model built on the premise that involving students in the search for their own knowledge is the best way to generate understanding. Both in the theoretical part and in practice, the student will work on the discussion of ideas and arguments that will lead him to a synthesis that he will have to communicate expressively in the graphic presentation. The aim is to train the student in making coherent decisions in a short time and communicating them clearly and concisely.
The essential outcome of the learning process will be a proposal that will be presented in an A1 panel, which will collect research on the new health and well-being criteria applied creatively to the design of public space.
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
Each exercise will count 50% of the final course grade. In this exercise, the student's ability to:
- Carry out a critical reflection of the existing situation, precise and coherent description of the issues involved in the space and the construction of improvement concepts
- Interpret the context and relate the elements of the space.
- Represent ideas and choose appropriate graphic communication criteria. Be rigorous in graphic precision, proper use of scales, legends, pens, dimensions, etc.
- Putting into practice the normative parameters and criteria explained in the theory.
- Provide a persibak reflection on contemporary aspects that underlie the urban planning and urbanization of the city.
Bibliography and resources
Regulation, organization and representation books
- Architecture, space form and Order. F. Ching
- Elements in landscape. Areas, distances, dimensions. Zimmermann, Astrid, 1967
- Landscape architecture. A manual of environmental planning. John Ormsbee Simonds, Barry W. Starke
- Drawing in the Landscape Project. Hutchison, Edward. 2012-2019
Project consultation
Consulta de proyectos
- WEB: https://landezine.com/
- WEB https://www.amb.cat/s/web/territori/espai-public.html
- WEB: https://www.publicspace.org/ca/
- WEB: https://www.diba.cat/es/web/entorn-urba-i-salut/espai-public
Online tools to assess the health of public spaces:
- WEB EINA ESPAI PUBLIC I SALUT DE LA DIPUTACIO DE BARCELONA:
https://espai-public-i-salut.diba.cat/
- WEB SALURBAN