Introduction

The first-semester Foundation Studio for FP PG programs is called ‘Understanding the City’ Studio. The studio aims to develop intimate understanding of a city and prepare students towards becoming professional urbanists through fundamental skills, concepts and methods of working in cities.

The studio focuses on an evidence-based approach for framing and analyzing complex urban situations and problems. The students are introduced to different topics via weekly focused exercises and they employ mapping, observing, representational and analytical abilities to carefully understand the needs of people, conflicting interests, financial or administrative constraints with the overarching goals of liveability, sustainability and equity in a city.

Pedagogy

For this studio, Urban India ; cities, towns, settlements in transition from rural to urban were our sites of exploration. The studio explored 82 cities in Urban India and students selected 1 sq km area each in their home - city, which became their site of study. They produced weekly outputs based on pre-designed exercises focusing on different aspects of the city. Students also explored and demonstrated their analytical abilities and presented these in the form of a persuasive narrative presentation.

The studio operates in ten parallel units with a studio tutor and a teaching associate guides a group of fifteen students. Occasionally, the students are swapped between the groups for various exercises such as the mid-term and final synthesis exercises.

1. Map and measure the complexities of the built environment.
2. Learn to quantify, visualise and analyse urban data.
3. Engage ethically with the city dwellers through primary surveys and individual interviews.
4. Write descriptive and analytical texts while being familiarised with key texts in urban planning history and theory.

Foundation Program Exercises