Print Syllabus

Syllabus

PLS0058 Criticality in, on and for design - towards an understanding of criticism in landscape architecture, urbanism and design, 4.0 Credits

Subjects

Landscape Planning

Education cycle

Postgraduate level

Grading scale

Prior knowledge

The course is open for PhD students in the landscape field, for those of the design disciplines, and for

those interested in the field of design.

Objectives

In the field of landscape architecture, architecture, urbanism and other design disciplines, critique can help elucidate generative qualities of, and issues raised by, a design that otherwise may be difficult to recognize. Yet, despite its potential to enrich understanding, the practice of critique has historically been accorded little value. The aim of this course is to strengthen criticism in landscape architecture. While criticism is a cross-disciplinary activity, not restricted to landscape architects, we focus on landscape architectural design to guarantee a shared area for our work, and to learn to recognize how products of a specific disciplined design practice present specific challenges for the equally disciplined practice of crafting critique. The course takes a landscape architectural perspective on urban landscapes, but is very well suited for researchers from other design disciplines, or those interested in the field of design. The course offers students the following learning outcomes: to build understanding of how criticism operates by analyzing sample written critique; to situate critique as an reflective operation within a broader theoretical, discursive and historical research context; and to provide participants an opportunity to use this understanding to hone their own critique skills. Participants learn to recognize the components of critique, and how it contributes to strengthening academic design disciplines and professional design practices.

Content

The transdisciplinary course ’Criticality in, on, and for design’ aims to explore the phenomenon of critique and its importance for the evaluation of design practice and the practical design of andscapes and the built environment, and offers the opportunity to exercise the writing of a critique. The course takes a landscape architectural perspective on urban landscapes, but is very well suited for researchers from other design disciplines, or those interested in the field of design. The seminar invites students to reflect on the place of criticism in your field, their position towards that phenomenon in their own work, and to elaborate a critique based on a pre-established set of guidelines. Students will engage with three types of literature – sample critiques, practical guidelines for producing critiques, and theoretical texts on the practice and place of criticism in academic and professional contexts. The seminar session will include two lectures: Andrea Kahn (SLU professor and founder of designCONTENT, a strategic consultancy for designers) will address the place of critique and critical thinking in research; Lisa Diedrich (critique author, co-editor of a theme issue on critique in the design research journal SPOOL and editor of the professional book series Landscape Architecture Europe) will discuss the critique more specifically within the context of landscape architecture as academic discipline and professional practice. Both teachers engage in research across multiple design and planning arenas.

Additional information

Preseminar coursework: Before participating in the seminar, students undertake 3 types of

preparatory work over a period of 2 weeks prior to the 2-day group meeting:

- read required literature (literature list will be provided)

- analyze 3 sample critiques (selected from course literature list)

- choose a design work, and write a preliminary critique text of that work (list of design works

will be provided)