This program, based in a collaboration between the Yale School of Architecture and the Architecture Department at Chalmers University of Technology and other public sector agencies and actors in Gothenburg, Sweden, introduces Yale students to the rigorous study of urban form and space and their social uses in relation to the context of historic and contemporary architecture and urbanism in the north of Europe. The program includes an intensive, four-week residency in Gothenburg, with field trips to other Swedish and northern European cities, during which time Yale students will participate in hands-on research on the representation, analysis and design of urban and architectural form and space.
Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city, busiest port, and principal industrial center, is in the midst of a major transformation centered in the former riverfront port area but extending to social housing estates on the periphery of the city and to undeveloped suburban areas. In 2020 Gothenburg became one of 9 Swedish cities that signed the radical Climate City Contract 2030, promising to become carbon neutral by 2030. The work of this program will be informed by, and in turn inform, city agencies, including the Climate Transition Office, and companies charged with guiding these transformations. Ultimately the goal of the summer program is to contribute to the building of a new “Urban Atlas of North American and Northern European Cities,” which is an ongoing project of the Yale and Chalmers collaboration.
In previous years, this course has explored patterns of urban expansion, districts of knowledge production, and the development of the city around industry, in each case exploring characteristics of specific periods of cultural, economic, and demographic change in Gothenburg. This summer’s course will focus on understanding the evolution of housing and neighborhoods, with emphasis placed on the ways that the history of shifting energy sources, natural resource extraction, and related technological changes in fields like mobility shaped not only the form of individual buildings, blocks, and districts, but also larger patterns of daily life for residents and visitors. Through specific case studies, we will look at typologies and morphologies of urban growth and understand related changes in embodied and operative carbon in these periods. This historical work will inform thinking about and discussion of what new architectures, morphologies, and urban patterns a post-carbon city might embody.
Prior to departing for Gothenburg, we will spend a week in New Haven following the end of spring semester introducing students to methods and techniques of urban analysis, including graphic and modelling approaches to understanding the interface between building form and typology and larger patterns of urban use and movement. This work will continue in Gothenburg, with typical days devoted to both field work and studio work based on the Chalmers campus. This year, we will visit and study rapidly developing cities such as Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam, where innovative contemporary architecture has supported the construction of sustainable, resilient, and vibrant new urban fabric and districts that enhance the continuity, evolution, and identity of those cities. In Stockholm, students may have the opportunity to interact with curators and collections at ArkDes, the Swedish National Center for Architecture and Design.
Throughout the course, an emphasis will be placed on the full range of documentary, representational and analytic approaches, from notebook sketches to computer models, and students will be challenged to invent new and creative ways of describing and projecting the form and use of urban space. The work of the program will be exhibited and published at both Yale and Chalmers, and the expectation is for a high standard of technique and content. The fourth year of the program is designed for up to 18 Yale students who will live, travel, and work together as a research team.