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ESUA
The
European School of Urbanism and Architecture
A Model Curriculum for an
Age of Globalisation
Audun Engh,
Norwegian Association
for Adult Learning, Norway
The European School of Urbanism and Architecture is a pilot
curriculum for integrated urban and architectural study funded by
the European Union’s Leonardo da Vinci programme in vocational
education and training. Its thirteen partners in seven countries
can use the elements of the curriculum as modular units of their own
existing programmes within a cooperative network, or establish a
quasi-independent full-degree programme. The programme features
integrated study of urbanism with architecture, inter-disciplinary
education, project-based learning, exchange studies across national
boundaries, first-hand studies of local architectural and urban
histories,
1
Introduction
One of the key motivations for the
formation of the European Union was to secure the competitive
advantage of the European states in an increasingly global trade
environment. In that spirit, the Leonardo da Vinci programme was
established to raise European standards for vocational education and
training. As its website says, the programme “aims to establish and
bolster the competitiveness of the European labour market by helping
European citizens to acquire new skills, knowledge and
qualifications and have them recognised across borders.”
A key gap has been the
interdisciplinary education of professionals in the built
environment. Henceforth education has been largely confined to
isolated specialties of building design, landscape design, urban
planning and the like. As a result of this separation of
disciplines, practices developed over years of urban development are
now incompatible with conventional engineering and planning
standards. Terms and standards within various fields are not
consistent, and are further compromised by national variations of
language and practice. As a result, the competitiveness of European
practitioners on a global stage has been compromised.
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The ESUA
Project
The European School of
Architecture and Urbanism is an initiative of thirteen partners in
seven European countries, working to develop a pilot curriculum that
integrates the disciplines of architecture and urban design. The
ESUA project brings together existing initiatives in several
European countries, to develop innovative measures and instruments
to promote a recognised European qualification in urban design and
architecture.
The project rests on the
premise that urbanism and architecture should be taught as an
integrated discipline that brings interdisciplinary technical
expertise to the complex problems encountered in city and town
design. Present European courses in architecture and urban design
are divided into separate disciplines, with European urbanism as a
topic mostly excluded from architecture and taught in specialised
schools. Students and practitioners from the different fields have
little contact with each other's ideas during education and
professional life.
The ESUA project will
reintroduce urban design as a main curriculum topic from first year,
to form the basis for all design and architecture. Course modules
will be developed to address areas that are particularly sought
after by governments and the market. These include but are not
limited to: community involvement in planning by the "Charrette" (or
“Enquiry by Design”) process; spatial analysis using "Space Syntax";
design for walkable neighbourhoods; transport−oriented development;
urban sustainability; building conservation; urban regeneration;
adaptive re−use of abandoned buildings; transport planning; regional
vernacular architectures of Europe; infill development in historic
centres; redevelopment of social housing estates; traditional
building crafts; and architectural design to enhance historic
environments.
The project's university
and lifelong learning partners will design, test and assess a
develop a transnational curriculum of teaching modules for tertiary
students, in a pilot programme by its 13 partners. Institutional
partners can offer this curriculum as modular elements of a full
degree programme through their institutional accreditation. The
project will develop course modules able to be taken as units for
Continuing Professional Development (CPD), as a Bachelor of
Architecture, as components for a part-time Master of Arts (MA) in
Urban Design, or as required precursors for Doctoral study.
The first target group is
new students from the age around 19 who wish to educate themselves
to become urbanists and/or architects. The secondary target group is
in the field of post graduate education for planners, architects and
various professionals related to community development, as well as
for practising skilled artisans wanting to broaden their range of
skills.
The ESUA project aims for
these courses to become available as modular curricula for adoption
by other universities, or as accredited units for students to take
as part of other courses across Europe. To this end, we will
encourage continuous training of teachers as well as practitioners.
Modules will focus on specific issues relevant to each country, and
the aim is to add more modules and more countries to the project in
the future.
The project results are
also transferable to others, such as town planners, politicians, and
people interested in the future development of their cities and
villages. The process will include dissemination of the course
curriculum free to others worldwide.
3
Key Elements
of the Curriculum Structure
The curriculum offers a
number of key innovations:
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Students work on
actual projects, alongside practicing professionals and
stakeholders. There they learn “meta-skills” such as
collaboration, facilitation, leadership and on-the-job
self-education.
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Students learn to
collaborate with others across borders and with varying local
conditions, languages and standards of practice.
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Students learn a range
of subjects in addition to technical specialties, including
urban subjects (sociology, economics, political science, et al).
-
Students travel to
varying locales and study local history and precedent. They
learn to listen to local residents, research local conditions,
and diagnose local needs and assets. They learn to analyze and
compare the evolution of urban and architectural history in
different cultural contexts.
-
Students gain hands-on
experience in the building process, through study of building
trades and crafts, and through hands-on exercises.
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Students learn to
develop and test design hypotheses through collaborative
simulation processes, applying an evidence-based approach.
4
Development
of the Programme
The ESUA curriculum is
being developed through a two-year pilot phase that includes five
test modules in five countries. The modules are workshops that
bring pilot students from several partners together with
professionals on actual projects, and test their ability to learn in
this kind of dynamic on-the-job environment. The workshop programme
is supplemented with lectures and student preparation modules.
In addition, the pilot
phase includes curriculum development workshops which combine
elements of existing partner curricula, research into new curriculum
approaches, and new pilot curriculum concepts. The entire
curriculum will be published and made available to the public on
completion of the pilot phase, and presented in a final conference
in Oslo, Norway on September 13, 2008.
The curriculum will be
further developed and disseminated through a second phase, the
Education and Dissemination in Urbanism, Architecture and Craft (EDUAC).
This
phase will develop detailed curricular materials and additional
programme elements.
The ESUA
curriculum is aimed at European competitiveness in a global
economy. It builds upon a strong foundation of leading
curriculum documents from around the world:
* The 1999 Bologna Declaration, establishing the "Bologna
Process" for unified standards of higher education
* The
1996 "Boyer Report", "Building Community: A New Future for
Architectural Education and Practice."
* The
2004 "Windsor Forum on Design Education: Toward an Ideal
Curriculum to Reform Architectural Education"
* The
2004 "Teaching of Architecture and Urbanism in the Age of
Globalisation: Proceeds of the Viseu Conference"
Thanks to Matthew Hardy
for original ESUA documentation material.
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A new
concept
European planners and architects
and urban designers, and those in the multiple professions that make
up the sector that builds places for people to live, are currently
educated in a system that has inherited a Fordian mind set of
divided responsibilities and jealously guarded disciplines. No
European schools exist that teach urbanism as an integrated
discipline bringing together multiple technical expertise to apply
to the complex problems encountered in city and town design.
The European School of Urbanism
and Architecture program will be innovative, developing new measures
and instruments to present and promote a recognised pan −European
qualification in urban design and architecture. We will develop
programs that are suited to those in formal education and also
address the needs of those in outside education and training
institutions. Our course modules will be able to be taken as units
for Continuing Professional Development (CPD), as a Bachelor of
Architecture, as components for a part−time
Master of Arts (MA) in Urban Design, or as required precursors for
Doctoral study.
The project partners experience
in urbanism has taught us that good city −builders
can be found in many walks of life. Accordingly, we will accept
students from a wide variety of educational backgrounds. Teaching
modules in countries around Europe will allow students to form a
complete picture of the variety of cultures and traditions that
distinguish European cities and buildings from their international
counterparts, and will allow a wide flexibility in program and
timing. Teaching will be both by conventional means and also by
innovative means including distance learning (e−learning).
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5
WORKSHOPS
ITALY
Rome - Bari
May 2007
ROMANIA
Bran
August 2007
NORWAY
Bjørvika, Oslo
January 2008
GERMANY
Berlin
June 2008
NORWAY
Rauland and Ramme
August 2008
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