Mapping Dublin

Mapping Dublin: Final Construction

School of Architecture UBC

Urban Studies Seminar Abroad and Exhibition 

2000

Text is based on an earlier seminar series called History of Urban Form: Investigations through Mapping Subsequently held abroad in Ireland in the summer of 2000
 

…neither cities nor the places in them are unordered, unplanned, the question is only whose order, whose planning, for what purpose, in whose interest. These questions are not easy to answer. But that does not mean they have no answers. The market has an order as much as the state, social relations constitute an order as do economic ones. Different orders often conflict, contradict each other, change their patterns, break their moulds and the criticisms of over simplifying theory and portrayals of a single logical order to the space of cities is well justified.
Peter Marcuse, ‘Not Chaos, but Walls’, from Postmodern Cities and Spaces

 
 


The form of urban settlements vary widely across history and place testifying to the complex and invariably interrelated forces which influence their development. Cultural values, political will and economic forces interact with the physical attributes of land form and climate to generate these variations. In designing any built form one is engaging, consciously or not, with these factors and influencing the further development of the community. Explicit recognition and understanding of the ordering systems which embody these values and reflect geographical circumstances is essential to enable one to elucidate a position in design and formulate strategies which reflect, challenge or mutate the existing condition. This seminar course proposes to study the influences on urban form and encourage the development of analytical skills through an investigation of a variety of cities relative to their social and geographic settings.

Explorations of the complex forces which determine urban form will be facilitated through a succession of mapping exercises on cities chosen to reflect a range of historic periods and cultures. These mappings are intended to act as analytical tools through which found knowledge can be distilled and reinterpreted to clarify the influence of these factors and hence ones understanding of the city, both specifically and generally.

A series of lectures and seminar discussions on the historic development of urban form and related theories will form the background for these investigations. These discussions will be structured on a programme of required readings chosen to cover a range of theoretical work available on urban development and form. Strategies for visualization of this information, on how cities have or could be imaged and hence mapped, will also be explored within the context of the lectures and seminars.

Initial Mapping Studies

Final Mapping Construction

Mapping Dublin Exhibition, Vancouver