AR5003 (30 credit)
History and Theory Year 2 Essay Question 2018/19
The City:
Urbanism, Culture and Experience
Assessment is by the submission of a 4000 word essay to be submitted to turnitin by
4.00 pm on Friday 8 March 2019
Essay Question
In this essay you will write about one aspect of a particular contemporary city. This may be one street, neighbourhood, community or even a single block. Your discussion should include:
- urban architecture
- urban space
- urban design
- urban infrastructure
Your essay must draw on the subjects, and reading material presented in the lectures. Do not simply present facts; write a critical investigation.
Your essay will:
- engage with critical perspectives on urbanism
- construct an argument around these perspectives
- use your own research and thinking
- NOT only be about the history of a city
- NOT describe the details of your unit design project
Plagiarism will not be tolerated.
This is automatically identified by the turnitin system and double-checked by your tutors. There is no ‘acceptable’ level of plagiarism and ALL cases of such misconduct will be subject to UEL’s academic breach of regulations procedure. It is therefore essential that any quotation employed is clearly identified, and differentiated from your own original text, using the means described in the guidance on essay writing supplied elsewhere. Note that turnitin will identify ‘similarities’ resulting from proper quotation and references to book titles etc., but these do not, of course, count as plagiarism. Tutors will carefully investigate any similarities flagged up by the turnitin system and exclude such factors.
Essays must be submitted via the turnitin system.
In order to ensure that you allow time to resolve any difficulties in submitting to turnitin, you should test submitting your essay around 48 hours prior to the final deadline. The turnitin system will not accept essays after 4pm on the submission date.
You must submit an Abstract and Narrative Bibliography of 400 words prior to 4.00 pm Thursday 6 December 2018. This abstract counts for 10% of the mark for this module.
Your essay must consist of:
- An abstract of 400 words.
- A clear introduction to the subject matter, aims and structure of your essay.
- A series of coherently organised sections through which the discussion and argument of the essay are developed.
- A conclusion that summarises the essay’s key points and effectively draws these together in a concluding statement.
- BETWEEN 4 AND 8 IMAGES, NUMBERED AND TITLED, AND REFERENCED WITHIN THE MAIN body of the text as appropriate (e.g. ‘see figure 1.’).
- A bibliography/account of sources.
- HARVARD REFERENCING SYSTEM
Marking criteria:
- Clarity in defining subject matter
- Development and use of ideas critically applied and appropriate to the subject and its theoretical issues
- Evidence of understanding and integrating a range of relevant sources and texts
- Development of a clear and coherent argument
- Development of critical and imaginative engagement
- Demonstration of analytical rigour
- Fluency of writing style
- Standards of presentation (use of illustrations, references, general presentation)
Miho Nakagawa
Sabina Andron
Christoph Hadrys
Recommended Resources
Bhaba, H. (2004) The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.
Borden, I. et als (2002) The Unknown City, Contesting Architecture and Social Space. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press
Cullen, G. (1971) The Concise Townscape, Oxford: Architectural Press
Curtis, W. (1996) Modern Architecture since 1900. London: Phaidon
Davies, C. (2011) Thinking about Architecture: An introduction to Architectural Theory London: Laurence King
Farrelly, L. (2011) Drawing for Urban Design. London: Laurence King
Gehl, J. (2011) Life Between Buildings; Using Public Space. London: Island Press
Kostof, S. (1991) The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History, London: Thames and Hudson
Lynch, K. (2010) The Image of the City, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press
London: W. W. Norton Publishing
Rasmussen, S. E. (1988) London – The Unique City, Boston: MIT Press
Robbins, E. (1996) “Thinking Space/ Seeing Space: Thamesmead Revisited”, Urban Design International
Rowe, C., Koetter, F. (2000) Collage City. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press
Scott, F. (2008) On Altering Architecture. London: Routledge
Sennett, R. (1996) Flesh and Stone; The Body and the City in Western Civilisation
Summerson, J. (2003) Georgian London. London: Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art
Tanizaki, J. (1991) In Praise of Shadows, London: Cape
Unwin, S. (2009) Analysing Architecture. London: Routledge
Venturi, R., Scott Brown, D., Izenour, C. (2014) Learning from Las Vegas: The forgotten symbolism of Architectural Form. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press
Rossi, A. (1984) The Architecture of the City, Cambridge MA: MIT Press