The optional courses allow the student to complete his/her own study program and to characterize his/her own training profile choosing, according to his/her own personal interests, the themes of deepening among a wide range of alternatives.

According to the Dublin Descriptors (DdD), passing the exam certifies the acquisition of the following results:

DdD 1 (knowledge and understanding), 3 (autonomy of judgment), 4 (communication skills) and 5 (learning ability)

- ability to acquire, process independently and communicate knowledge not strictly related to the subjects characterizing the Master Program (DdD 1, 3, 4 and 5)

Nowadays, cities are at the centre of debate. There are many fast growing megacities around the world, counting over 20 million people, each megacity playing a different role in the globalized context. Rural areas are increasingly been abandoned in favour of urban life-hood. Rapid urbanization urges advanced studies able to improve new urban models. The course will be analysing some of the growing metropolitan cities of the world, with a deep study of how they have been developed along with their urban models. The aim is to understand the movement of urban planning models through the ages and cultures. The process will enable the students to appreciate the past and present developments of some of the most interesting contemporary metropolises and megalopolises, exploring different types of urban settlements that have been developed as religious destinations, through creativity, expression of political power and predominantly unplanned. In particular, the course will focus on some of the major cities of the world and their cultural and historical context. The study will analyse cultural models of different kinds and the capacity of adaptation that certain urban models have to specific local environment.

Although the course is going to maintain a fixed comparison with well-known cities of the West, such as Greek cities, Roman settlements, London, Paris, Madrid, Chicago and New York, the course will focus beyond the Western world exploring non-western urbanscapes, cities such as Shanghai, Dubai, Delhi, Lagos, Cairo, Mexico City, Lima and Tokyo. Urban History is not only a discipline that involves urban planners, but also includes fields such as, architecture, sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies, which will be taken into consideration. 

The course will be organized through lectures, workshops, and assignments, involving experts in the field, such as Paolo Ceccarelli, Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning.

None

Students will be asked to actively contribute to the course and explore the construction of contemporary megacities. Each student will study a particular city in its major developments/reference models. The students will be asked to write, collect city plans and arrange layers of critical sketches of the city developments and peculiarities. This will be an oral exam consisting of a series of specific questions finalized to evaluate the student’s understanding of the topic, as well as the case study assigned to them.