At the end of the course, students are expected to have:

1. Become familiar with and understand theories and concepts related to the multi-level issue of urban development over time.
2. Study and critically evaluate characteristic examples of urban contexts and architectural projects through contact with scientific texts, primary sources, and field research.
3. Further cultivate critical thinking by encouraging them to form autonomous personal interpretation of space and design approach.

The course focuses on the development of cities over time through the processes of urban planning and large-scale architecture. The theoretical background of these processes is also examined, taking into consideration at the same time their scope and how from their implementation affects different aspects of both the built environment as well as the social whole, the various ethnic or religious groups, collective memory, etc.

The aim of the course is to investigate the above aspects and dynamics arising from the urban history of cities through the presentation and critical analysis of case studies, which have the following common characteristics:

1. Long, continuous occupation up to the present day, starting from antiquity or the Middle Ages.
2. Strong historical background with events that radically changed the composition of the urban fabric or population, with succession of subjects exercising power (e.g. conquest or destruction by invasion, population expulsion-colonization, colonialism, totalitarian regimes, liberation struggles, etc.).
3. Implementation of urban planning and large-scale architectural interventions, whether dating back to antiquity, the Renaissance (15th-17th century) or the dawn of modernity (18th-19th century), alongside with modern urban regeneration programmes.

The selected case studies are not only limited to European cities, but examples from other continents are also reviewed in order to highlight different approaches to urban planning both before and after the colonial era.

Through the presentation of case studies of cities, the audience will be trained to critically address questions such as:

• What conflicts arise from urban interventions carried out in a historical environment?
• What impact does each dominant power have on the built environment by implementation of urban planning policies and with which theories of architecture and urbanism do they go hand in hand?
• When does urban planning attempt to achieve a balance between the present and the remnants of the past and in which cases is it a means of reformulating or concealing the past?
• How is the 'official' architecture of the city shaped in the context of wider urban planning programmes? What factors shape its character and to what extent is it based on existing patterns of 'official' and vernacular architecture?
• How does each authority deal with monuments and, in general, with the management of the remains of the past when making urban planning?
• How does globalised capitalism on the one hand and mass tourism on the other affect cities, degenerating their historic centres into settings for tourist consumption?
• How did colonial powers exercised urban planning policies in occupied cities and what challenges does decolonisation pose to urban planning today?

In order to consolidate and assimilate the theory, each student is expected to write a critical text on a city of his/her own preference or an individual urban area that is in line with the content of the course. The topic is chosen freely or suggested and can be either from Greece or from abroad. The text will be accompanied by appropriate illustrative material (which should preferably include mainly hand-drawn sketches or drawings) and bibliographical documentation. During the course, students will be invited to present intermediate stages of their work in front of their peers, with the aim of dialogue or exchange of views between them, coordinated by the teacher.

The degree of success in the course will be assessed by the mid-term oral presentations of each student's chosen topic and by the final form of the written essay.

Students are provided with general bibliography/helpful material in digital format, which will be posted on the E-Class platform, but also additional articles or books that will help in the development of individual assignments.