Urbanism: development of cities from antiquity to the present day - free course from 4brain, training 30 days, date November 29, 2023.

Dear friends! Here is our new course “Urban Studies”, dedicated to current problems of cities. One way or another, these problems concern each of us, whether we live in the “concrete jungle” of cities or enjoy the peace and quiet of the countryside. They are concerned because any processes in cities and towns affect the life of villages.

Thus, the emerging prospects for a better life cause an outflow of population from rural areas and a shortage of workers in the agricultural sector. The deteriorating economic situation, job losses and lack of funds for rent and food are causing a reverse outflow of residents “closer to the land”, where they can start a subsidiary farm and somehow survive difficult time.

However, we are optimists, and we believe that cities, like all of us, have a better future, otherwise we simply would not have taken on the development of this course. And we will begin, as has already become traditional, with an introductory lesson.

We recommend that you read this lesson carefully so that you can better understand what to expect from each of the subsequent lessons and the course as a whole.

Goals and objectives of the course

The course is aimed at developing basic ideas about urbanism, urban design, architecture, types of residential buildings and urban development, as well as the development of transport and other infrastructure of the city, landscaping, urban design, the formation of a comfortable urban environment.

As part of our course, urban studies are considered in close connection with the processes of historical and socio-economic development, the influence of geographical factors and cultural trends. After studying our course, you will become better aware of all these processes. And perhaps you can decide where it is better for you to live: in the city or outside the city.

What is urbanism?

Urbanism is a science that studies the city in the context of the development of the urban environment and the interaction of various urban systems: urban transport, urban management, urban development, urban infrastructure, urban communications in order to solve pressing problems townspeople

Urbanism studies intra-city processes in close connection with the impact of external factors: socio-economic, economic-geographical, environmental, political, cultural and others. It should be clarified that a comfortable urban environment is both a product and a process of interaction between people living in a city and urban systems.

In turn, an urbanist is a specialist in the field of urban planning. An urban designer can specialize in such aspects as the design of children's and sports grounds, city parks and everything that makes the urban environment comfortable.

Actually, a comfortable urban environment is what urban planning was invented for, what they work for architects, city planners, urbanists, scientists, sociologists and everyone involved in the planning system and urban development. Yes, there is a whole science called “urban sociology,” and we will also talk about this in our course. The best minds of the era have been struggling with the question “how to make the living environment better” for several centuries now.

Why is there still no “magic pill” or “magic project” that would make life in all cities comfortable for everyone? The fact is that it is impossible in principle to do “everything, for everyone, at once” well. People are different, therefore, their interests are also different. Cities are also different, and their main characteristics are also different and attract different people.

Moreover, over the years, ways of sustainable perception of the image of many cities have been formed. Thus, many residents of the Russian outback associate Moscow with a dream city, a city of great, almost limitless opportunities, which is largely true. Ivanovo has long been perceived as a “city of brides,” although men, of course, also live there. When they talk about Paris, they immediately think about beauty and romance; when they talk about Los Angeles, we immediately think about Hollywood.

There are many examples that can be given, but the essence of them all is that it is impossible to create a kind of universal city in which the needs of everyone will be satisfied at once. Or such a city will simply be dimensionless, and certainly uncomfortable in terms of distances between various objects. Imagine that both future stars of world cinema and textile production technologists need to go somewhere other than Hollywood and Ivanovo, respectively, and in some one universal city, ready to employ both those and others. Many, most likely, simply will not make it.

And even in order to make the city comfortable for the common man, many factors need to be taken into account. This is the terrain and soil type, which is important for development and laying roads and communications. This is a “wind rose” so that southern cities are well blown by winds in the heat, and northern cities do not suffer from cold hurricanes in winter.

This is taking into account the cardinal directions when orienting buildings so as to ensure maximum insolation of the premises, but at the same time not spending wild amounts on air conditioning in the heat. There is even evidence that the location of workplaces “facing” one direction or another (south, southeast, north, northwest, etc.) affects labor productivity in various areas [O. Likhacheva, 2014].

There are a lot of nuances with the arrangement of courtyards, entrances, parks, squares, and sidewalks. Ideally, they should be comfortable and accessible to ordinary pedestrians, mothers with strollers for children, pensioners, and the disabled. Therefore, a barrier-free environment is a current trend in creating a comfortable urban environment.

In addition, streets, courtyards and squares must be safe. Parents must be sure that their child will not be hit by a car in the yard, or bitten by a dog in the park. It should be convenient for people to cross the street, and the permitting traffic light should be on long enough to allow the elderly and disabled people who find it difficult to move quickly to cross the road.

Streets, courtyards and entrances should be illuminated throughout the dark time of the day, because it is not for nothing that they say that “one working street lamp replaces two police officers.” And urban space should be diverse so that people can stay on the streets for as long as possible. Therefore, it is important that people have something to do in their leisure time: go to the theater, cinema, concerts and restaurants, play sports on sports grounds and fitness centers, shop, communicate, and just breathe fresh air.

In any case, the streets should not be empty after the evening rush hour. As they say, “a holy place is never empty,” and if the streets become unattractive for ordinary citizens, antisocial individuals and criminals will come out into the streets after dark (or even earlier!). Such a dominance of homeless people, hooligans and robbers can make any city uncomfortable. A completely residential area, completely devoid of entertainment and any recreational infrastructure, is also a target for criminals.

A classic example is Detroit, once the “automotive capital of the world”, and after the removal of automobile production to other countries, it became a ghost town with one of the highest crime rates. Attempts are being made to correct the situation, but even inveterate optimists understand that this is not a matter of one year [Vlast, 2020]. One of the objectives of the course is to understand not only how to develop a city in order to make it comfortable, but also understand what absolutely cannot be done, so as not to “kill” the city and its infrastructure.

Nevertheless, today there are many interesting developments on how to create a comfortable urban environment. You can even improve the ecology of the city in a targeted manner by “raising” the yard to a height of 10 meters and improving air cleanliness by 5% [Yu. Borisov, 2017]. How? For this, so-called “stilobates” are used, and we will also talk about this in the course lessons.

Let us remind you once again that urban studies is a science that studies the city in the context of the development of the urban environment and the interaction of various urban systems: urban transport, urban economy, urban development, urban infrastructure, urban communications in order to solve pressing problems townspeople The interests of citizens and a comfortable urban environment are the cornerstones of urbanism, and it is on this basis that we built our course.

Who is the course intended for?

By and large, the course “Urban Studies” will be useful to every modern person living in a city or wanting to move to a city. After completing it, you will have a more adequate idea of ​​what a comfortable urban environment with from a scientific point of view, and understand how realistic it is to improve the environment in which you are now you are. And, of course, there are categories of citizens who will benefit from our Urban Studies course in the first place.

Who will benefit from the course:

• High school students who are considering such fields as “Urban Studies”, “Urban Planning”, “Urban Design”, “Public and Municipal Administration” as a possible future specialty.
• Students who are considering the possibility of transferring to the above-mentioned specialties and would like to get an initial idea about them.
• Civil servants who have recently started their career in municipal authorities and do not have a specialized education.
• Heads of housing and communal services, local public associations, homeowners' associations and condominiums who do not have specialized education in the field of urbanism, town planning, city and municipal management.
• Journalists working in the editorial offices of news services and involved in covering the work of municipal authorities, housing and communal services and other services responsible for creating a comfortable urban environment.
• Bloggers who want to specialize in criticism of city government and city services.
• Anyone who wants to broaden their horizons and skillfully support any discussion on the topic of city life, landscaping, transport, etc.
• Anyone who wants to understand the “psychology of the city” and catch its rhythm.

In our course, quite complex things are presented in simple language, which facilitates initial understanding and can serve as a basis for further acquisition of knowledge - independently or in a specialized educational establishment. Please note that our course is not a replacement for specialized education and specialized courses taught in higher education institutions.

How to take the course?

Because we have developed a course structure that reflects the basic elements of urbanism and allows consider them as complexity increases, we recommend studying the lessons sequentially from the first to the last one.

If any topic seems familiar or not very important to you, still review the text to make sure that you didn’t miss anything when forming your idea of ​​this or that aspect urban studies.

We remind you that our course “Urban Studies” is not a replacement for specialized education and gives only a general idea of ​​such a complex and multifaceted field of knowledge as urban studies.