ARCH221 URBAN STUDIES, 2024-2025
Essay Topics
The essay accounts for 70% of your total module mark. Please choose one topic from the list below. Note that the bullet points under each topic are intended as prompts to help you develop your ideas, not as a suggested structure for the essay. You should not simply answer the questions in the bullet points; instead, use them to guide your thinking.
Essay length: 2000 words including references (both in text information and reference list/bibliography at the end) (10% flexibility allowed).
Online Submission Date: Friday 16th May 2024, 2.00pm via CANVAS. No Hard Copy required.
For learning difficult students: Please include a cover sheet stating I confirm that I have a Student Support Information Sheet (SSIS) which recommends ‘Appropriate marking for spelling and written expression for students with Specific Learning Difficulties’.
Topic 1: Explore the historical forces that have shaped an urban area and discuss how design can respond to this historical development in a positive manner
· Investigate the natural, social, economic, and political factors that influenced the development of a specific urban area (e.g., a neighbourhood, district, or city) of your choice.
· Discuss how these factors shaped the urban area and its main characteristics as a result;
· Explore how urban design can respond to these characteristics and enhance the area’s identity; Draw lessons can be learnt.
Topic 2: To what extend should a city be planned or not planned by architects/planners?
· Choose a planned city or a planned district within a city by a particular architect/planner or a team of architects and planners as your case study;
· Considering the arguments related to the top-down vs bottom-up; grand planning products vs piecemeal development.
· Discuss how the planned city works for its residents in the long run;
· Discuss the role of architects and planners in the design of cities and lessons can be learnt.
Topic 3: Can an urban design principle be applied to a context different from where it originated?
· Choose a specific urban design principle discussed in the lecture (e.g. mixed use, legibility, diversity, ease of movement, robustness) as the focus of your investigation;
· Select a city or town you are familiar with as a case study. Investigate whether this urban design principle is relevant to the chosen city. If not, explain why; If yes, discuss how the principle can be applied to the local context.
· Give your critical view on how the principle could better guide design and planning in the case study city or town.
Topic 4: How to regenerate Liverpool’s Chinatown through urban design?
· Explore Chinatown’s history and how urban design can celebrate its cultural heritage, focusing on landmarks, buildings, businesses, and festivals.
· Discuss its public spaces and how to involve the local community in the design process.
· Examine connectivity and accessibility of Chinatown, enhancing pedestrian, cycling, and public transport links.
· Consider green design strategies to boost environmental sustainability of Chinatown.
· Focus on one or two aspects (or a topic of your choice) and avoid covering everything. You may link your essay to your ARCH252 studio design.
Topic 5: How does technology transform. urban spaces and exert changes on humankind?
Amin and Nigel have explored this question in their book Seeing like a City (2016). However, as geographers, they adopted a more macroscopic view. How can we, as architects and urban designers, unpack this tension at a human scale and in a more visually engaging way?
· You are invited to use a film or fiction to illustrate the exaggerated impact of urbanisation, technology and digitalisation on humankind.
· Suggested films included, but not limited to: Matrix (1999-2003, 2021), Blade Runner (1982, 2017), Ghost in a Shell (1995, 2017), Aeon Flux (2005), Equilibrium (2002), Brazil (1985), Stalker (1979), or classics like Metropolis (1927).
· Choose one or two scenes depicting urban spaces in these films as examples. Analyse these spaces and actions using the suggested text and other literature. Avoid attempting to cover the entire city featured in the films. The Prologue and Chapter 3 in Seeing like a City will be the particularly relevant.
· Consider how the observations allow you to re-evaluate existing cities and urban life. Be speculative but also evidence-based. For example, could Blader Runner (set in a futuristic Los Angeles with its urban grid) be relevant for understanding Beijing, its urban structure, and its vast population today and in the future? You may refer to other lectures to address this part.
Topic 6: What can we learn from the evolution of housing estate landscapes over time?
· Select a post-war housing estate landscape in a city you know well and ideally can visit;
· Research the history and changes to the post-war housing estate landscape. What were the main design elements and consideration?
· Compare the historical ideas to today’s situation: What remains? What has been lost? How has the estate changed over time?
· Compare and discuss the shifts between the original intentions and the current situation. Who were the intended audiences, and who lives there now?
· Discuss critically what we can learn from the original design and subsequent evolution of your chosen landscape.
Topic 7: How can we create inclusive public spaces for underrepresented social groups in our cities?
· Focus on a specific social group in this essay, such as children, the elderly, women, ethic minorities or others.
· Observe their use of public spaces on a daily basis or during events, and discuss how the physical and management features of the space affect their access and experience.
· Choose one or two case studies that you can visit and analyse in detail.
· Address the topic question and draw lessons from your findings.
Topic 8: How can urban planning help mitigate the adverse effects of climate change in your city?
· Focus on a specific aspect of the adverse effects of climate change, such as rising temperatures, urban heat island effect, flooding and sea level rise or others.
· Choose a particular city or district to discuss how planning aims to mitigate these effects. Examine the strategies proposed, the extent of their implementation, and the reasons behind their success or limitations.
· Evaluate how successful these planning strategies are and explain why.
· What lessons can we learn from this case study?
Topic 9: What impact does urban design have on energy consumption in the built environment, regarding climate change?
· Consider the factors that contribute to urban heat islands.
· Reflect on the combined future challenges posed by climate change and urban heat island effect.
· Examine different urban layouts in various climatic regions and explore why they are designed as they are.
· Use one or two case studies, inspired by the lecture but extending beyond the lecture, to demonstrate the effects of greening in city centres.
· What lessons can we learn from the case study?
Naming convention of your submitted file
The essays will be marked anonymously by a group of assessors so please make sure you don’t present your personal information anywhere in the submitted file (you need to include a cover sheet if you have an appropriate marking arrangement in place). Please name your file in the following format ‘Topic x-your own short title’. In the file name, you must indicate which topic your essay addresses and give a short title for it. You need to upload the file in Word or PDF formats to CANVAS.
Writing style. and referencing
The essay should be written in an academic style, using clear language. It should have a clear structure that includes an introduction, background and literature review, analysis or case studies, discussion and conclusion (refer to the Marking Criteria document on CANVAS). All arguments should be well justified, and illustrations used as appropriate. There is no specific requirement for font, text size and figures. The format of the essay should be consistent and legible. Sources or citations from literature should be properly referenced in a consistent manner. Please consult the Code of Practice on assessment Appendix L Academic Integrity Policy for definitions of dishonest academic practice, plagiarism and relevant penalties https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/media/livacuk/tqsd/code-of-practice-on-assessment/appendix_L_cop_assess.pdf .
We suggest The Chicago Style. Author-Date system to be used as your reference style. The following examples illustrate citations using the author-date system. Each example of a reference list entry (the first line) is accompanied by an example of a corresponding parenthetical citation in the text (the following line). These examples are citations from book(s), book chapters, journal articles, and websites. For other types of citations, please refer to http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html .
Book(s)
Ward, Geoffrey C., and Ken Burns. 2007. The War: An Intimate History, 1941–1945. New York: Knopf.
(Ward and Burns 2007, 52)
Books or articles with four or more authors
List all of the authors in the reference list; in the text, list only the first author, followed by et al. (“and others”):
(Barnes et al. 2010)
Chapter or other part of a book
Kelly, John D. 2010. “Seeing Red: Mao Fetishism, Pax Americana, and the Moral Economy of War.” In Anthropology and Global Counterinsurgency, edited by John D. Kelly, Beatrice Jauregui, Sean T. Mitchell, and Jeremy Walton, 67–83. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
(Kelly 2010, 77)
Article in a print journal
In the text, list the specific page numbers consulted, if any. In the reference list entry, list the page range for the whole article.
Weinstein, Joshua I. 2009. “The Market in Plato’s Republic.” Classical Philology 104:439–58.
(Weinstein 2009, 440)
A citation to website
Content can often be limited to a mention in the text (“As of July 19, 2008, the McDonald’s Corporation listed on its website . . .”). If a more formal citation is desired, it may be styled as in the examples below. Because such content is subject to change, include an access date or, if available, a date that the site was last modified. In the absence of a date of publication, use the access date or last-modified date as the basis of the citation.
Google. 2009. “Google Privacy Policy.” Last modified March 11. http://www.google.com/intl/en/privacypolicy.html.
McDonald’s Corporation. 2008. “McDonald’s Happy Meal Toy Safety Facts.” Accessed July 19. http://www.mcdonalds.com/corp/about/factsheets.html.
(Google 2009)
(McDonald’s 2008)