Place, Power and Identity

This subject is not offered in 2013.

Entry into the Melbourne School of Design or approval from the subject coordinator.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject will explore and apply a board range of critiques of architecture and urbanism with a focus on the ways in which space meditates practices of power and constructions of identity. A range of philosophical positions will be explored including spatial analysis, phenomenology and assemblage theory. It will engage with a range of specific applications and critiques of contemporary projects.

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

• understand the role of spatial programming and representational narratives of built form in the mediation of power relations;
• apply techniques of spatial and discourse analysis to the critique of contemporary architecture;
• embody an ethical understanding of the role of practices of power in architectural, urban and landscape design.

Written material and class presentations to the equivalent of 5000 words.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• Ability to engage in interdisciplinary work.
• An understanding of ethical responses to issues.
• Use and citation of sources.
• Written, verbal and visual presentation of ideas.
• Ability to analyse social and cultural contexts.
• Critical thinking and analysis.
• Application of generic theories to specific examples.