4.241J Theory of City Form (Spring 2013, MIT OCW) | Architectural and Civil Engineering

4.241J Theory of City Form

4.241J Theory of City Form (Spring 2013, MIT OCW). Instructor: Professor Julian Beinart. This course covers theories about the form that settlements should take and attempts a distinction between descriptive and normative theory by examining examples of various theories of city form over time. Case studies will highlight the origins of the modern city and theories about its emerging form, including the transformation of the nineteenth-century city and its organization. Through examples and historical context, current issues of city form in relation to city-making, social structure, and physical design will also be discussed and analyzed. (from ocw.mit.edu)

Introduction

Lecture 01 - Introduction

Lecture 02 - Normative Theory I: The City as Supernatural

Lecture 03 - Normative Theory II: The City as Machine

Lecture 04 - Normative Theory III: The City as Organism

Lecture 05 - Descriptive and Functional Theory

Lecture 06 - Dimensions, Patterns, Agreements, Structure, and Syntax

Lecture 07 - The Early Cities of Capitalism

Lecture 08 - Transformations I: London

Lecture 09 - Transformations II: Paris

Lecture 10 - Transformations III: Vienna and Barcelona

Lecture 11 - Transformations IV: Chicago

Lecture 12 - Transformations V: Panopticism, St. Petersburg and Berlin

Lecture 13 - Utopianism as Social Reform and Built Form

Lecture 14 - 20th Century Realizations: Russian and Great Britain

Lecture 15 - City Form and Process

Lecture 16 - Spatial & Social Structure I: Theory

Lecture 17 - Spatial & Social Structure II: Bipolarity

Lecture 18 - Spatial & Social Structure III: Colony and Post-colony

Lecture 19 - Form Models I: Modern and Post-modern Urbanism

Lecture 20 - Form Models II: Open-endedness and Prophecy

Lecture 21 - Form Models III and IV: Rationality and Memory

Lecture 22 - Cases I: Public and Private Domains

Lecture 23 - Cases II: Suburbs and Periphery

Lecture 24 - Cases III: Post-urbanism and Resource Conservation

Lecture 25 - Cases IV: Hyper and Mega-urbanism

Lecture 26 - Conclusion: Towards a Theory of City Form

References

Theory of City Form (Spring 2013)
Instructor: Professor Julian Beinart. Lecture Notes. This course covers theories about the form that settlements should take and attempts a distinction between descriptive and normative theory by examining examples of various theories of city form over time.