AG2186 Nordic Studio- Designing Urban Public Places

Three years of studies in urban planning, regional development, architecture, urban sociology, human geography, physical and town planning, urban design or similiar.This course is not open to international exchange students.

An intensive studio introducing students to the Scandinavian-Nordic context and region, focusing on the public realm with attention to the urban form analysis, social life, landscape design and processes of collaborative work in strategic planning and implementation of public space. Students work collaboratively to produce a project that is theoretically rooted in the form of a strategic urban design public space project on the city level. This course is about rethinking the public realm and designing new public spaces - an urban square or an urban park in the urban landacape. The space should have an actuality in the local political discussion as well as the global discussions about climate and ecological issues but also the issues of human scale, enjoyment, aestethics, history and culture. Public space should be complex and contain a variety of functions and programs for all. The question that will be raised is how can we work according to long-term goals when the public’s mood, expectations and desires change so easily? The question of what should be public spaces, and what our public should be like, is highly political, since we all have different opinions of what constitutes a good life. Can we design and maintain public places for good life based on timeless principles of civic design? Can Urban Design, Landscape Architecture and Urban -Town Planning have a common language and understanding when it comes to design of urban, nature and landscape sensitive places - public realms that should be attractive, enjoyable, engaging, inclusive but also lifelong transformative.

The Studio is a part of three studio project series and it is the opening Nordic Design Studio, followed by the Advanced and International Studio. The aim for all three studios is to foresee urban planning and design issues and problems that will be coming into the public focus in the near future.

After completing the studio-course requirements, students should be able to fully comprehend and understand how quality urbanism results from incremental change and how human-people scale public spaces are envisioned, composed, shaped and valued under a long time. Also the students will identify the main elements and principles of liveability of the public realm as well as the embrace the complexity of political, social, cultural, economic, real estate and everyday citizens actions that transform the res publica - "the common room of the city".