The course pretends to be a guide to understanding the shape and planning of cities in Europe and the USA, through a comparative study of the relationships between urbanism, city transformation and urban culture from a historical perspective.

The course will be divided in two parts. First lessons will focus on Utopia. Because of the will of a perfect society cities have been transformed along history, being Utopia the engine for urban design evolution. These lessons won’t only focus on utopian’s ideas and experiments; it’ll show their legacy in our towns and society. The second part will be based mostly in discussions and field trips based on an analysis of our cities and urban phenomenons such as suburbs, “projects”, cars, malls.

Understanding which have been the needs and thoughts of the city inhabitants throughout history by exploring the cities will make the student more conscious about the logic and necessary transformations in the past, present and future of any city.

Barcelona will serve as a site-specific laboratory in which students will explore its transportation networks, the fabric of different quarters, residential settlements and “projects”, commercial and industrial areas, so as to investigate the forces continuing to shape a sense of place which is particular in every city and significantly different between Europe and the USA. (3 credits)