MARCH660 AE: Urban Waterscapes

To live with the water, to live from the water, and to be in danger by the water is an economical and physical fate for many cities situated along coastlines and riverfronts. Urban Waterscapes focuses on the latest urban developments in various cities to examine how urban design strategies and architecture are dealing with structural changes that emerge as we move from an industrial/technological age to an era defined by leisure, tourism and media. This seminar will investigate how cities can profit from this change by reconstructing their image, and more significantly, by expanding their public spaces through the occupation of land supported by technical infrastructure that offers new urban programs for the contemporary city of the 21st century. As case studies for architecture and urban development, this course will study urban transformations in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Barcelona, Bilbao, Venice, Lisbon, London, Genoa, Beirut, Alexandria and many other important global waterfront cities.