Defragmenting urban landscapes

Public urban space is becoming scarcer and the way it is being used is a subject of constant debate worldwide. Urban uses and normative restrictions that keep adding up, lead through time to a fragmentation of space, allowing little space for public life, human interaction or ecological revaluation.

This seminar aims to help the students enhance their perception on the cohesion of public space, understand the spatial connection of spaces that generate public life and explore the potential of underutilized spaces for the benefit of a social and climatic urban transformation. Spaces could be fragmented through dominant uses of prevailing user-groups (i.e. cars vs. bikes vs. pedestrians), through temporary change in the pattern of uses, through historical incidents that are inscribed in urban space, or through (the lack of) spaces that attract public life, through rational division of space usually for mobility purposes and others. These acts have an impact on the social, ecological and spatial continuities of urban situations which are often broken. Also, underutilized spaces (rest spaces) often contribute significantly to this fragmentation, posing at the same time an important potential when it comes to the defragmentation solutions of urban space.  

The seminar will identify and document situations of fragmented urban areas, explore the untapped potential these spaces through research of case studies and the suggestion of radical urban strategies, in terms of program, ownership, intermediate uses, social add-ons, mobilities, aiming at the unification of these spaces. It will examine how to connect these spaces that support green corridors, biodiversity and ecosystem functions, for healthier and more resilient urban spaces.

Schedule: selected Thursdays from 15:00 to 18:00

Oct 19^th   16:45   Kick-off & Task 1 Room: 2345

Nov 9^th    15:00     Identification of fragmented areas // 3 areas for discussion

Nov 30^th  15:00     Mapping fragmentations and evaluating the aspects of fragmentation

Dec 14^th 15:00     Research on defragmentation (case studies, maps, texts, images, )

Jan 11^th   15:00   Defragmentation design strategies

Jan 25^th 15:00   Delivery & final presentation

Feb 15^th            Delivery Research paper (optional for extra 3 ECTS)

Languages: English / German

Module: Special Topics – Spezialfragen

Open to: Advanced Bachelor - Master Students AR & Urbanistik

Credits: 3 ECTS (standard delivery) + 3 ECTS (optional - upon delivery of a small research paper)

Teaching team: Tasos Roidis – tasos.roidis@tum.com, Prof. Mark Michaeli