Investigating the Built Environment of a Historic City
Throughout history, the built environment of many cities has emerged, developed and progressed through various civilizations; such as Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Islamic. They were planned and organized based on various ideas and for different purposes. Their built environment had been characterized by distinctive physical features and elements that were a result of complex social, economic, environmental, political and religious factors.
Learning Outcome:
Identify key physical characteristics of historical patterns of formal and spatial development of the built environments, and distinguish these patterns on plans, maps, and in real life.
Recognize that the physical form of cities has evolved over time and describe how the physical condition is a response to economic, social, political and environmental factors within particular geographical contexts.
Classify key physical characteristics of historical patterns of the formal and spatial development of the built environment, and distinguish these patterns on plans, maps, and on the ground.
Synthesize knowledge from the course modules on history, theory, and challenges/solutions by analyzing a specific trend or problem relating to the urban fabric and creating a design solution.
Assignment Description:
You are asked in this assignment to investigate the design of the built environment of a city of one of the following early civilizations: Indus River Valley/ Harappa civilization, Yellow River Civilization, and Maya Civilization. You will develop a PowerPoint presentation of about 10-15 slides including the following items:
A discussion of the early establishment of the city of your choice: when it was developed, where it was, why and how it was planned/designed in that way.
A description of the distinctive physical and urban features of the built environment (design elements such as houses, temples, monuments, etc…) of the city of your choice.
Maps, drawings, and any other supporting graphics of the design/planning of the city.
Description of the religious, cultural, political, or/and economic factors that influenced the development and the design of the city’s built environment.
References and resources
Your submission should be in PDF format. You will be evaluated on meeting the requirements of the above items, and the quality of the writing and illustrations.
