Graduate 

 

This course examines the long history of modern architecture and urbanism. Modernity is not a recent phenomenon. It can be traced back to the advent of industrialization, social revolutions, the rise of cities, and the emergence of the bourgeois in the late eighteenth century, romanticism, colonialism, post colonialism, and postwar expansion. To trace this history, it will be crucial for the class to move away from nation-state constructions and historiographic categories for a more global perspective. We will cover drawings, exhibitions, schools of thought, historical and theoretical writings, and texts, which cover a wide range of practices, polemics and institutions. Each week is organized around an idea, determinant, or narrative that helps us unravel the many Histories of Architecture and Urbanism. The aim of the course is to provide a solid historical framework through readings, writings and discussions of the debates and practices that shaped that made architecture modern, while engaging in a critical discussion of the role of architecture in the production of the built environment and the forces that shape it.