Tendencies in architectural and urban research
Tendenser i arkitektur och urbanforskning

AAA030F, 7.5 credits

Valid from: Spring 2020
Decided by: fek-ger Gudbjörg Erlingsdóttir
Date of establishment: 2019-12-01

General Information

Division: Architecture
Course type: Third-cycle course
Teaching language: English

Aim

The course Tendencies in Architectural Research provides opportunities for doctoral students to achieve an overview of current approaches and practices in contemporary architectural research. The course also provides a basic introduction to architectural theory, methodology and academic publication.

Goals

Knowledge and Understanding

For a passing grade the doctoral student must

• - Show an understanding of architectural theory and its use in architectural research.
• - Show an insight into the broad field of architectural research, and how methods and publication relate to the field.
• - Show insight into how visual and narrative documentation can be pursued, analysed and presented.

Competences and Skills

For a passing grade the doctoral student must

• - be able to apply architectural theory and include relevant references in the personal PhD project.
• - be able to take part in a critical discussion with other researchers on research/theory within the field.

Judgement and Approach

For a passing grade the doctoral student must

• - be able to evaluate what is relevant theory for the personal project, as well as for the research field of architecture.
• - be able to reflect on advantages as well as constraints, including ethical considerations, regarding different approaches to documentation and analysis of the built environment
• - achieve a reasonable capacity to evaluate the methods, especially regarding observation and documentation, in architecture research, and how they can be used in practice.

Course Contents

The course brings views about how architecture and urban design are essential for these settings and formations of life, and how ethnographical, observational, archival, art-based and practice-based methods can be used in this field.In short, the course takes up themes, theories and methods of contemporary research and attempts to link these to relevant and urgent issues of society and lived space.

Course Literature

• Crysler, G., C., Cairns, S. & Heynen: The SAGE handbook of architectural theory.. Sage, 2012.
• Awan, N., Schneider, T. & Till, J.: Spatial agency: other ways of doing architecture. Routledge, 2013.
• Wang, D. & Groat, Linda N.: Architectural Research Methods. John Wiley & Sons, 2013. ISBN 9780470908556.
• Lury, C. & Wakeford, N.: Inventive Methods: The Happening of the Social. Routledge, 2012. ISBN 9780415574815.
• Yaneva, A.: Mapping Controversies in Architecture. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2012. ISBN 9781409426684.
• Sheringham, M.: Everyday life: Theories and practices from surrealism to the present. Oxford University Press, 2006.
• Katz, C.: Playing with Fieldwork, Social and Cultural Geography 14, 7, 762-772. 2013.

Instruction Details

Types of instruction: Lectures, seminars. The course comprises two or three sessions, each ranging from one to three days of seminars. Location: School of Architecture, LTH, Lund University. Course responsibility: Gunnar Sandin and Mattias Kärrholm. The running of the course can be handed over to other course leaders.

Examination Details

Examination formats: Written report, written assignments, seminars given by participants. Additional requirements: Minimum of 75 % course attendance
Grading scale: Failed, pass
Examiner:

Admission Details

Admission requirements: Knowledge from areas relevant for architecture, planning, design, geography , environment studies, or other relevant knowledge in social science or aesthetics.
Assumed prior knowledge: Master level, or background experience of equal importance, from the above stated areas.

Further Information

Apply by sending a statement of interest to resarc@arkitektur.lth.se. Deadline and dates are announced via email and via the homepage Resarc.

Course Occasion Information

Contact and Other Information

Course coordinators:
Web page: www.resarc.se