Postgraduate Course: Critical Urban Project (Online) (EFIE11489)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course focuses on a critical exploration of the different conditions affecting and characterising urban areas, identifying main challenges that underpinned its development across a range of thematic approaches that include: mobility and socio-spatial integration; public space, green infrastructure and wellbeing; housing and habitat, heritage and cultural context, among other interconnected themes.
Students will be introduced to critical concepts developed across a range of disciplinary approaches that engage with urban analysis. Through in-depth analysis of physical, political, economic and design conditions around a specific thematic perspective among those mentioned above, students will engage with a critical review of a situation in the set urban area and set the scene for future urban development challenges and opportunities. Students will then engage with proposed interventions that are aimed to tackle existing challenges, explored through a diversity of perspectives. The course also provides a helpful underpinning to support urban approaches that may be included within the student's final thesis should they include city and urban analysis. |
| Course description |
During this course students will use and analyse diverse data related with urban conditions and explore theoretical approaches surrounding strategic urban interventions. Sources will include academic papers, policy documents, observations and maps. A key component of the course is the understanding of the different perspectives and capabilities of the range of actors intervening in urban areas. This will provide an understanding of drivers, enablers and barriers in the making and management of urban areas. By applying this knowledge, students will have the capabilities to understand complexities around urban conditions and the particularities of place-based interventions. They will explore possible approaches to designing and managing urban interventions based on the specific conditions of a chosen case study and on theoretical research.
Course Content Covers:
- Key theoretical approaches and complex perspectives of the range of challenges affecting urban transformation, including policy approaches, community-based actions and experimental design interventions.
- Context-specific conditions in a given urban area to set the scene for possible strategies and design interventions, considering and understanding the variety of conditions provided by local cultures, policy contexts and geographies, with a specific focus on experimental approaches.
- Critical analysis of interventions and actions that are aimed to tackle place-specific challenges across a range of global examples.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Online Hybrid Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities. Students should note that their interactions may be recorded and live-streamed (see the Lecture Recording and Virtual Classroom policies for more details). There will, however, be options to control whether or not your video and audio are enabled.
You will need access to a personal computing device for this course. Most activities will take place in a web browser, unless otherwise stated. We recommend using a device with a screen, a physical keyboard, and internet access.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 16,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 4,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by means of the following components:
1) Group Project (20%)
Presentation submitted and presented by a group.
2) 3,000 Word Report (80%)
Individual written report of 3,000 words. |
| Feedback |
Feedback on any formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The Course Organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment(s) will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and develop knowledge that critically integrate areas surrounding urban processes, including social and cultural features, physical aspects, terminology and conventions.
- Develop critical knowledge and understanding of principle urban theories, concepts and principles regarding urban processes and transformations.
- Communicate critical analysis, perspectives and proposals, using appropriate methods, to a range of audiences with different levels of knowledge and expertise, including peers and specialists.
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Reading List
Required Reading:
Brenner, N. et al. (2012) Cities for people, not for profit: critical urban theory and the right to the city. London ; Routledge.
Castells, M. (1996) The rise of the network society, Oxford: Blackwell.
Hartig, T., Mitchell, R., De Vries, S., & Frumkin, H. (2014). Nature and health. Annual Review of Public Health, 35(1), 207-228.
Carmona, M., Tiesdell, S., Heath, T.,Oc, T. (2010). Public Places Urban Spaces. The dimensions of urban design. 2nd Ed. Abingdon: Routledge.
Garcia Ferrari, S.; Kaesehage, K.; Crane De Narváez, S.; Bain, A. (2021) Adaptation strategies for people: mitigating climate change related risks in low-income and informal urban communities through co-production, Journal of the British Academy: The urban impacts of climate change.
Harvey, D. (1985) The Urbanisation of Capital. Baltimore: J. Hopkins University Press.
Harvey, D. (2013) Rebel cities: from the right to the city to the urban revolution. London: Verso.
Jenkins, P. Smith, H. & Wang, Y. (2007) Planning and Housing in the Rapidly Urbanising World. London: Routledge.
McGuirk, J. (2014) Radical Cities. London: Verso. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Urbanism,Urban Challenges,Urban Theory,Urban Interventions,Sustainability |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Soledad Garcia Ferrari
Tel: (0131 6)50 5689
Email: s.garcia@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Yasmine Lewis
Tel:
Email: yasmine.lewis@ed.ac.uk |
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