Course info

This course, "Introduction to the Methodology of Urban Analysis and Projection," equips architecture students with essential interpretative tools for understanding the city as a relational system.

The curriculum emphasizes the challenges of contemporary urban planning, particularly the profound transformations wrought by mega-projects and the destructive "tabula rasa" logic of modern urbanism, which fragmented the urban fabric. A central theme examines the consequences of the parcel's disappearance—the traditional fundamental unit that ensured human scale and diversity.

To inform relevant interventions, the course underscores the necessity of rigorous preliminary diagnosis through two primary methodological frameworks:

1. Stratified urban analysis : This approach deconstructs the city's structure into four interdependent elements: the structure of permanence, the conformation structure, the collective public space structure (or collective structure), and the functional structure.

2. Morphological analysis of urban fabrics: This method examines interactions among four constitutive systems: the parcel system, the street system (or road network), the built system (or built environment), and the open spaces system.

To address the shortcomings of modern planning, the course proposes the *macrolot* (or macro-block) as a solution. This concept introduces a new intermediate scale of urban intervention, reconciling large-scale planning with local needs. The macrolot advances key contemporary objectives—functional and social mixity, resource pooling, and enhanced permeability—while ensuring harmonious integration into the existing urban context and preserving human scale.