VGU Urban Development Planning Overview over Modules and ...

Technical University Darmstadt www.urban-studies.de
International
Co-operation
and Urban
Development
Course description
Year One
1 Course identification
1.1
2 Module
1. Foundations
3 Name of course Contemporary Urban Development in the South
4 Course instructor Dirk Heinrichs, PhD, M.A.
Harry Storch, Dr. habil
5 Contents /syllabus This course provides an introduction to international
urban development studies, focusing on Africa, Asia,
and Latin America. It is based on the premise that, in
general, urban planning and management practices
in the developing countries (to be referred to in this
course as “the South”) require an understanding and
a set of skills that are different from parallel practices
in Europe or other highly industrializing regions (to be
referred to as “the North”). However, certain similar
phenomena may be observed in countries that used
to belong to the Soviet block. Although many urban
planning practices in the South have originated in the
North, the direct transfer of these innovations,
insights, and techniques to the South has been less
than satisfactory. It is now recognized that
developing–country cities need and utilize their own
theories, insights, and ‘appropriate’ technologies in
the management of their cities and regions.
Basic planning issues and problem areas, such as
rapid urbanization, informal and low-Income housing,
land management, land use planning, urban farming,
urban ecology etc. are taken up at individual
sessions, and the very recent professional or
academic discourse in the field is being discussed.
6 Learning outcomes At the end of the course, the student will be
introduced to the current state of the arts in the field
of urban planning issues in the South and be able to
formulate an own standpoint towards technical or
policy proposals that may come up in the professional