Global Urban Development Program

Aims of the course

The goal of the course is to create a project proposal for a given urban design problem which will respond to different aspects of a real-life project process. Students shall deliver a midterm report as well as a final report via online presentation to the invited businessmen. The course will simulate collaboration with the investor.

Course syllabus

Students work on the project in interdisciplinary teams. They collaborate with students from other universities through online tools in order to create a solution for a given real-life problem. Their research is supervised by several mentors, who cover certain areas of expertise. Through application of theory, students with the help of mentors develop their own methodology to approach a given problem in an analytical way. The results of the analysis serve as a base for students to produce not only creative but also data-supported solutions. The final project is then presented to a group of business men in the role of investors.

The project assignment demands collaboration of the whole team. Each member possesses certain professional knowledge needed for successfull completion of the task. Based on that, students will explore the following themes:

-the influence of capital markets on a property investment evaluation
- measuring the income productivity of a property
- the influence of time on equity perspective and estimated cash flows
- generating an idea and comparing its value and cost
- evolving an idea into the particular project
- basic elements of feasibility study
- creating a strategic marketing process
- analysis of urban environment, evaluation and presentation of recordings
- solving spatial challenges through problem-based research
- evaluation and recognition of urban or rural landscape qualities in the design
-analytical evaluation of architectural composition emphasizing clear architectural expression which creates a dialogue with the existing architectural surroundings

Course director(s)