Course syllabus for Community architecture and urban design

Course syllabus adopted 2024-02-02 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameArkitektur och stadsbyggnad för gemenskap
  • CodeACE550
  • Credits15 Credits
  • OwnerMPDSD
  • Education cycleSecond-cycle
  • Main field of studyArchitecture
  • ThemeArchitectural design project 15 c
  • DepartmentARCHITECTURE AND CIVIL ENGINEERING
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language English
  • Application code 17120
  • Maximum participants35 (at least 10% of the seats are reserved for exchange students)
  • Minimum participants8
  • Open for exchange studentsYes
  • Only students with the course round in the programme overview.

Credit distribution

0123 Project 15 c
Grading: TH		0 c15 c0 c0 c0 c0 c

In programmes

Examiner

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Eligibility

General entry requirements for Master's level (second cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

English 6 (or by other approved means with the equivalent proficiency level)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Course specific prerequisites


Aim

The course, that is a studio, aims to create design interventions that engage students with topics of social inclusion, equity, justice and citizen participation in architecture and urban design, through dialogue with local actors in stigmatized suburban contexts of Gothenburg. The course focuses specifically on those areas built in the 1960s and 70s as part of the Swedish Million Homes Program, working with their challenges and opportunities. This course examines social inclusion both as a process and as a goal of design projects by working with real stakeholders, their ongoing initiatives in the aforementioned areas and the existing power dynamics, inequalities and different levels of influence. It highlights the role of communities, social movements, and institutions in favour of, or against, social inclusion.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

The course prepares students to work as professionals with design, planning and regeneration/reconstruction of suburban areas, focusing on social inclusion. Still, the methodology of the course, and particularly its relationship with context-sensitive design projects and real stakeholders, is useful in general for any architecture practice when dealing with client-relations and design project management. The learning outcomes are achieved in the studio mainly through design projects and individual reflections and are structured as follows:

Knowledge and understanding

1. Describe, analyse and understand the local suburban context such as a Swedish Million Home Programme area in relation to its physical and natural environment and socio-cultural characteristics:
2. Describe, analyse and understand the potential differences in perspectives between different stakeholders related to the local suburban context

Competence and skills

3. Carry out planning and design projects in collaboration with citizens and other local actors by identifying, (re)designing and applying participatory tools and methods
4. Design a proposal that aims to contribute to social inclusion and sustainable development in the studied area, with an emphasis on socio-cultural and socio-ecological local conditions
5. Communicate the work through oral presentations and graphical visualizations to a broad target group of local and external actors and project partners

Judgement and approach

6. Reflect critically on your role in the project group
7. Reflect critically on how your project relates to the local community but also to relevant global trends such as socio-spatial segregation, ethnic discriminations, gender inequalities and so on.
8. View oneself capable of appreciating, through and during your project work, the potential conflicts between different aspects of sustainability, and between different stakeholders' interests
9. Reflect on the professional role of architects in a broader sense, including its socio-political dimension

Content

This course focuses on the challenges and opportunities that architects and other built environment professions encounter when dealing with the sustainable development for social inclusion in the context of stigmatized suburban areas such as the Million Programme Areas. The course stresses the social and cultural dimensions of sustainable development but, at the same time, relates them to other dimensions e.g. environmental, technical, aesthetic, economic etc.

Course assignments include the learning of different methods and tools through which the students engage with a variety of stakeholders, analyse the area object of study and gather the knowledge that they need to realize their design projects. Some of these assignments are developed in close collaboration with the local community e.g. people living or working there. There is a specific focus on introducing and practicing different methods for citizen participation in co-creation processes, as an important dimension of working for social inclusion.

The rich programme with lectures, seminars and workshops involves practitioners and researchers with expertise in the studio's key themes.

The main task is the project work, which is carried out in small groups. The studio's projects are initiated in collaboration with several local stakeholders to connect to real projects and needs and give the students possibilities to develop skills for their future professions with a local and sustainable participatory impact.

The design work is a key feature of the course, executed with an emphasis on teamwork and co-creation/participatory processes. Expected hand-ins can include different types of graphics (illustrations, drawings, diagrams, etc.), written reflections, posters and presentation material of different kind, as well as interactive models. Various types of media will be used for presenting the studio project and communicating the work process and results to different sorts of audiences.

Organisation

This is a full­time study course (according to Chalmers this means: average 40 hours a week of scheduled activities and 5 hours a week of homework) and it consists of lectures, seminars, study visits, workshops, exercises, literature studies, project work, presentation and project evaluation feedback (in the format of co-evaluation involving the project stakeholders). The course follows a pedagogical process based on a co-creation methodological framework (including co-initiation, co-analysis, co-design, co-implementation, and co-evaluation). Through such a process students co-create their project with stakeholders from the local suburban context and also critically reflect on the process. During their work, the students are introduced to and approach a series of participatory methods within architecture and planning, from collaborative methods of analysis of project background and circumstances to co-designing tools.

In the co-initiation students learn about the Gothenburg suburban context where they work, develop knowledge and understanding of the course’s theoretical and conceptual frameworks and start to work with projects in smaller groups in collaboration with local stakeholders. In the co-analysis students focus on how they, in preparation for their future profession, can work with different collaborative tools for inquiry and collection of information on their study area.
In the co-design students work with their design projects and develop them in close contact with citizens, organisations and other stakeholders, active and involved in the areas. Co-evaluation of students’ projects occurs in collaboration with the respective stakeholders, in order for students to receive feedback on the entire process and outcome.

Literature

A comprehensive literature list will be available on Canvas when the studio starts.

Examination including compulsory elements

To pass the course and receive a grade, you need:

  1. Presence at scheduled activities is required. For short absences, complementary assignments can be required as compensation.
  2. Active participation at seminars, workshops and in group work;
  3. Course exercises of sufficient quality (i.e. that fulfils the course objectives and presentation requirements);
  4. Delayed submission of hand-ins without any approved motivation will negatively influence the grades.

Criteria for grading (3, 4 or 5) is found in the Assessment and Grading table available in the course folder on Canvas.

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers on educational support due to disability.