URD2013YF
Fall 2024 Option Studio
Instructor: Misha Bereznyak
Meeting Section: L0101
Tuesdays, 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., 2:00-6:00 p.m.

It has now been over 60 years since Jane Jacob published Death and Life of Great American Cities and more than 50 years since Jahn Gehl published Life Between Buildings, both of which criticized the modernist urban design practices of the post-WW2 era. After these ideas became mainstream enough, we have been gradually moving back to older urban design approaches, while also accommodating the different needs and possibilities of our time.

Thanks to these changes, it is fair to say that we do a much better job designing neighbourhoods today than we did 50 years ago. And yet, it is still very hard to find a neighbourhood from the last couple of decades that is as successful as our best old neighbourhood. It is even harder for high-density neighbourhoods, which are often very lacking in spite of the potential provided by a large concentration of people and resources.

What is it that makes our best old neighbourhoods so appealing to us? Why are they so charming and attractive and make us feel comfortable even today, even though they were built in very different times and in very different contexts?  

What exactly are these qualities that they have that make them work so well? And why are we missing these qualities in almost anything built in the last decades?

In the studio, we will explore older neighbourhoods to understand what qualities they have and why, choose which qualities we find the most important for today, and take on a challenge of designing a new neighbourhood that incorporates these qualities.

A major challenge will be to incorporate these qualities while accommodating the very different needs of today – including the need to accommodate motorized traffic, higher standards for daylight and views, and the need for high density in some areas.

High density, specifically, will be an important theme in the studio – this is because in larger cities, high density development is a critical component for access and affordability, both of which are critical for functional and inclusive cities.  

Students will explore these themes through the design of a new urban neighbourhood on a large site ( 15-30 hectare).