Continuing Professional Development Programme
Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment
Urban Design Cases
Objectives
An internationally respected October 2008 United Nations report rated South African cities as the most
inequitable in the world (UN Habitat, ‘State of the World’s Cities 2008/2009’). On the evidence of their
existing structure, form and poor performance, they are not simply unjust: they are also inefficient,
unsustainable and virtually unlivable for many, particularly the poor majority. The need for reform in
settlement-making has been recognized as recently as November 2011 in the South African National
Planning Commission Report “National Plan Vision 2030”, which calls for a paradigm-shift.
A major contributing cause of this situation is that there appears to be no shared agreement amongst
professionals concerned with the built environment about the nature of the urban problem or about a
vision of what it is they should collectively be seeking to achieve. Moreover, the gap between
government and professional rhetoric on the matter of settlement-making, on the one hand, and the
actual practice, on the other, appears to be growing rather than narrowing. Arguably, neither urban
policy nor professional practice in contemporary South Africa is sufficiently grounded on ways of
approaching settlement design in contexts where poverty and inequality are endemic and where there
are significant resource and capacity constraints. Contemporary settlement-making practice continues
to be based largely on the concepts, formulations and general mindset of the ‘Brave New World’ of socalled ‘Modern Town Planning’, now about a century old, with origins in Europe and the United States
of America, not in a developing-country, post-colonial and post-apartheid context.
Yet, people have been making settlements for over 5,000 years in many parts of the world. Rather than
theorising, this short course presents a total of 11 actual international and local urban design cases
which appear to be very relevant in the quest to improve our collective capacity to help promote decent
settlement-making in South Africa at the current time. The course is aimed at all built environment
professionals ─ engineers, urban planners, urban designers, architects, landscape architects and
environmental and heritage practitioners. It is a course that complements two others offered at UCT
this year, respectively entitled ‘Aspects of City Design’ and ‘Placing Design central to Urban Decision
Making’.
Course Content
The course is an inductive exploration into the physical structure and form of cities through the
examination of selected case studies. Its general purpose is to develop awareness and understanding
about the making of cities and about the degree to which they accommodate and celebrate life and
living. Its specific purposes are:

to develop literacy in urban form in two senses;
(i). acquire skills in the reading of urban structure,
(ii). acquire basic knowledge about the art of settlement-making as exemplified in many traditions
worldwide, spanning millenia;
 to expand the sense of possibilities in urban form;
 to develop awareness of the nature of urbanity.
In the process, the role and responsibility of the many urbanists, and the public at large, in the making
of settlement will be explored.
Course Lecturers
The convenor and co-lecturer of the course, Prof. Fabio Todeschini, is an architect, city planner and
urban designer, an academic and a practitioner. Some well known professional urban
designers/planners have been invited to be co-lecturers: Prof. Julian Cooke, Prof. David Dewar, Ms.
Barbara Southworth, Mrs. Claire Donovan and Ms. Ashleigh Brander. The intention, however, is to
make the course as interactive as possible.
CPD Programme, Engineering Faculty, Menzies Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town
Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701
Tel: ++27 (0)21 6505793; Fax: ++27 (0)21 6502669; email: ebe-cpd@uct.ac.za; web: www.cpd.uct.ac.za
Continuing Professional Development Programme
Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment
Course Information
Who should attend?
The course will benefit all who are involved in the built environment. This includes engineers, land
surveyors, architects, landscape architects, urban planners, urban designers, heritage and
environmental practitioners. The course is widely applicable and designed to satisfy the interdisciplinary nature of urban development and urban growth management.
Format
The course will comprise six three-hour sessions and will meet twice a week over three weeks.
Cost
The fee for the total 18-hour course will be R4600.00. Discounts for staff and students of UCT, and
students of other tertiary education institutes are available under certain circumstances.
Certificates
A certificate of attendance will be awarded to all course members who attend a minimum of 5 of the 6
sessions.
CPD Credit Requirements
The course is registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa, the Cape Institute for
Architecture and the Urban Design Institute of South Africa (Western Cape) and is accredited for the
award of CPD points, which are now required for continuing professional registration. The ECSA
course code is UCTUDC12
Applications and cancellations
In order to ensure a place on the course applicants should complete and return a signed application
form (available on the website www.cpd.uct.ac.za) to the course administrators: Heidi Tait or Sandra
Jemaar:
The application form can be found on the website www.cpd.uct.ac.za/applications
Confirmation of acceptance will be sent on receipt of an application form.
Payment is due one week before the start of a course.
Cancellations must be received one week before the start of a course, or the full course fee will
be charged
Venue
Seminar Room, Chemical Engineering Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town.
Date and Time
17h30 – 20h30
Tuesday 30 October
Thursday 1 November
Tuesday 6 November
Thursday 8 November
Tuesday 13 November
Thursday 15 November
Registration
17h00, 30 October 2012, just before the first lecture. Only for confirmed applicants.
Foyer Chemical Engineering Building
Corner Ring Rd and South Lane
Upper Campus
University of Cape Town
CPD Programme, Engineering Faculty, Menzies Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town
Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701
Tel: ++27 (0)21 6505793; Fax: ++27 (0)21 6502669; email: ebe-cpd@uct.ac.za; web: www.cpd.uct.ac.za
Continuing Professional Development Programme
Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment
Lecture Programme and Course Content
Twice weekly from 30 October – 15 November 2012, 5.30 – 8.30pm, as noted below session by
session (6 Sessions over 3 weeks, comprising a total of 18 hours).
Tuesday 30th October
Session 1: Introduction and Urban Design Cases 1 and 2
Double lecture, discussion. Lecturers: Todeschini and Brander
 Brief Introduction: The overall purpose, structure and content of the course, as well as the
identity of the cases chosen to be presented and discussed
 Case 1: Ben U Sen in Diyarbakir, Turkey
 Case 2: Central Ahmedabad, India
 Discussion, Housekeeping, Participants and References relied on in the course
Thursday 1st November
Session 2: Urban Design Cases 3 and 4
Two lectures and a discussion class. Lecturers: Southworth and Gould-Pratt



Case 3: Graaff Reinet, South Africa
Case 4: Barcelona, Spain
Discussion and References
Tuesday 6th November
Session 3: Urban Design Cases 5 and 6
Two lectures and a discussion class. Lecturer: Cooke



Case 5: Venice, Italy
Case 6: Kyoto, Japan
Discussion and References
Thursday 8th November
Session 4: Urban Design Cases 7 and 8
Two lectures and a discussion class. Lecturer: Donovan



Case 7: Lisbon, Portugal
Case 8: Mumbai, India
Discussion and References
Tuesday 13th November
Session 5: Urban Design Cases 9 and 10
Two lectures and a discussion class. Lecturer: Louw and Donovan



Case 9: Bath, UK
Case 10: Boston, USA
Discussion and References
Thursday 15th November
Session 6: Urban Design Case 11
Two lectures and a concluding discussion class. Lecturers: Todeschini, Dewar and Snell


Case 11: Cape Town
Concluding Discussion and course evaluation. Panelists: Southworth, Gould-Pratt, Cooke,
Donovan, Dewar, Brander, Snell and Todeschini
Note: This course is accredited with The Cape Institute for Architecture for 1.8 CPD points.
This course is accredited with the Engineering Council of South Africa for 1.8 CPD points.
CPD Programme, Engineering Faculty, Menzies Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town
Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701
Tel: ++27 (0)21 6505793; Fax: ++27 (0)21 6502669; email: ebe-cpd@uct.ac.za; web: www.cpd.uct.ac.za