Course Leader:

conf.dr.arh Florin Mureșanu

Learning outcomes:

Major objective of the course is to get students familiar with the structure, organisation and functioning of the central zones of bigger cities. Besides this, some other specific objectives are: getting students to know the concepts, theories and methods to identify and analyse the central zones, knowing and understanding the functional relations within the central zones in relation to the socio-economic and cultural elements, knowing their evolution and understanding the causes of their transformation and development as well as getting skills and knowledge for achieving multicriterial analyses.

Content:

Titles of lectures:
1. Current classification of towns and cities at national and international level.
2. The central area of big cities and ways to define them: criteria and methods, techniques of definition
3. Typologies of central areas in big cities as to position, form, prevailing function, social structure, spatial and volumetric configuration, symbolic value
4. Central zones in Romanian big cities – comparative analysis
5. Central zones of European cities – case studies
6. Specific functions of central areas and their characteristic features: administrative, commercial, representation, culture
7. Circulation in central areas and technical equipment. Environmental issues of central areas
8. Aspects concerning the heritage buildings of the central areas: legislation, the relation between the old and the new, the type of intervention applied, and the urban operation in the central urban areas.
9. The management of central areas: aspects concerning their organization and administration. Urban regeneration policies and the use of EU Structural Funds
10. The evolution of central areas: future development, relation to territory, strategy of development of central areas in relation to their local, regional, national role
Practical works:
1. Direct observation fiche of a public space in a central / pericentral area (field research)
2. Indirect observation fiche of a public space in a central area (through inquiry, poll)
3. Text analysis and intervention exercises in central areas

Teaching Method:

Ex-cathedra lectures, interactive presentations, debates.

Assessment:

Practical works and exercises

Bibliography:

1. Benevolo, L. – Orașul în istoria Europei /City in European History, ed. Polirom, 2003
2. Derer P. – Capitalele Scandinaviei / Scandinavian Capitals, ed. Tehnică, 1979;
3. Gehl, J. – Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space (1987) and Cities for People (2010) (Romanian versions editited by Igloo 2011, 2012. (Viața între clădiri și Orașe pentru oameni)
5. Iurov, C. – Centre civice / Civic Centres, ed. Tehnică, 1979;
6. Lynch, K. – The image of the city, 1960; (Romanian version edited by RUR, 2012)
7. Sandu, Al. – Centrul orașului / City centre – in Romanian Urbanism (chap. 6.9), ed. Tehnică 1977;
8. Leipzig Charter for European Sustainable Cities, 2007, CE
9. The magazine Urbanismul – Serie Nouă, nr. 3 (București -500 de ani), nr. 7-8 (Momente de urbanism), nr. 9 (Cultură urbană), nr. 10 (Mobilitate), nr. 18 (Vă plac spațiile publice?)
10. The magazine Urbanisme, nr. 346 / 2006 Espace(s) public(s); nr. 339 / 2004 Villes européennes; quels modelés?

Notes:

Students will be evaluated throughout the semester and during final session. The final grade will be an average mark computed from those obtained for practical works and evaluation tests. Computation for the evaluation tests is done on the basis of a computation grid.