Handbook

In this course, you will explore the relationships between built environment, culture and society. The course aims to present social and cultural processes and modes of engagement as vital in the shaping of urban space and a sense of place. Building on interpretative techniques and visual methodologies of sociology, cultural studies and/or anthropology, you will develop your own understanding of the interconnections between the built fabric, the individuals and communities for whom cities are created. You will develop skills to interpret relationships between urban spaces and specific cultural practices and patterns of habitation.

Sydney provides the primary site for student projects; its multicultural character offers a rich context for interrogating the relationship between architecture and culture. Through the course you will be introduced to a number of distinct types of spaces, such as migrant and minority groups’ religious and community spaces, for their spatial representation of beliefs and practices. You will study diverse community and public spaces as well as places of consumption for their capacity to engage with popular and daily aspects of culture as well as for their ability to negotiate the representation of dominant and marginal groups.