Philosophical approaches to urbanism : A way for urban planning and design education

Abstract

The urban is the context wherein most of our daily life unfolds; it is the practice which we live in. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution and the development of human settlements in close proximity to the centres of production of capital, the city became the focus of study for planners, social theorists and architects. This paper discusses the relevance of philosophy to the study of the city and the contemporary practice of urban pedagogy in design studios. It concludes by outlining an academic course in urban pedagogy aimed to supplement traditional design studios with a multidisciplinary grounding in the theory and practice of urbanism.