“The Philadelphia Center faculty and staff provided me with the steady support I needed to function in a drastically new environment, while simultaneously pushing me to see the world through a wider lens. The confidence I gained through my experiences in Philadelphia allowed me to overcome my fear of the unknown—opening wide the doors of the world.”
Abigail Stonerook, Kalamazoo College
Fall 2004
Women Organized Against Rape, Crisis Intervention Intern
Electives
The Architecture of Cities
Warren E. Huff
At its most prosaic we are all participants in and consumers of the built environment (our houses often being our most important investment and our places of work being where we spend our most time). An understanding of the concepts of architecture, urban design and planning informs and enhances our choices regarding the built environment.
The Architecture of Cities examines the origins, esthetics and functions of the built environment. The course is a synthesis of the underlying design concepts of urban form, from agricultural villages to industrial cities and smart growth sustainable towns.
The course is presented in three parts, the first being a history of emergent urban and architectural forms. This portion of the course develops a vocabulary and understanding of type and style as informed by culture and technology.
The second part of the course deals with urban planning especially since World War II. Of interest are the implications of legislation and social institutions on the form of the city and environment.
The final part of the course is an opportunity to learn, in an empirical approach, town planning and urban design, as the relationship between where one works and where one lives is redefined from today to beyond year 2020.