My colleague Asseem Inam, Associate Professor of Urbanism in Parsons, asked me to share information about some newly opened Parsons Continuing Ed urban history/theory/design classes. As he says, “The classes start next week, but since they were delayed in being put into the online registration system, we will accept students in these courses for the next 2 weeks.”
Design and Urban Practice History Lab: Urban Critical Histories of the City PCSP5020
A: 12 session(s). Tues, 6:00 PM-8:30 PM, beginning September 13, Room D1206
Professor Aseem Inam
In this seminar, students develop a critical, future-oriented understanding of the history of urbanism. The seminar exposes students to multiple perspectives on urban history–including the long-dominant Eurocentric view and postcolonial and subaltern perspectives–and invites them to challenge the assumptions underlying these approaches. Students analyze change in urban environments over time and look at who shapes cities, how cities change,and why those in power want to shape and reshape cities. The seminar is an excellent introduction to the history of urbanism from an international perspective. (3 credits)
Design and Urban Practice Colloquium 1: Modes of Urbanist Practice PCSP5110
A: 12 session(s). Wed, 6:00 PM-8:30 PM [Oops — this one’s not an option!], beginning September 14, Room D1200
Professor Aseem Inam
This colloquium investigates practice-based relationships between design, urbanism, and spatial political economy. It offers students a broad, transdisciplinary overview of design frameworks through alternating lectures and group discussions. Students develop a typomorphological understanding of cities and learn to conceptualize the relationship between physical and social aspects of urban space. Topics covered include shaping ecology and topography, land divisions and property structures, urban precincts and building blocks, and open space and infrastructure networks. The colloquium is structured around a series of guest lectures by alternative and innovative urban practitioners from the larger New York City region as well as other parts of the world (3 credits)
Design and Urban Practice Theory Lab: Radical Principles for Contemporary Urbanism PCSP5010
A: 12 session(s). Mon. 6:00 PM-8:30 PM, beg. September 12.
Professor Miguel Robles-Duran
This is an advanced course that requires general historical knowledge and understanding of urbanization from any disciplinary perspective. Students should be able to discuss the modern city, it¹s different facets and have some knowledge of critical theory. Set against the backdrop of the contemporary urban-financial crisis, this course offers a critical understanding of the socio-spatial contradictions produced by the architectural and urban imaginaries that emerged from the neoliberal project. Departing from a set of operative principles, this course formulates a radical urban theory that responds to the urgent need of disciplinary transformation from the conventional and deterministic morphological views on the city, to the constitution of a mediatory and meta-disciplinary stance. Confronting the urban as a unitary complex, dialectically and dynamically assembled by political-economic processes and spatial imaginaries alike. (3 credits)