Enseigner l’urbanisme par les objets. Retour sur une expérience en école d’ingénieurs et à l’université

Abstract

This contribution describes a teaching experience in urbanism based on an approach of the city through its constitutive objects and technical devices. This approach has been developed and asserted itself in a back-and-forth process with our research work. All these courses envisage urban objects and devices as instruments of life in the city, ie. as a way to do as well as to orientate behaviors. Their configuration allows teaching through real-life situation and empirical approach. The simultaneous presence of two teachers with different backgrounds encourages discussion of the concepts presented. The present article focuses on three exercises proposed in these courses: the exploration of possible worlds through “plans”; observation of the social activities and the role of the objects in these activities during outdoor lessons; finally, the identification through an iconographic survey, of current types in contemporary cities.The content and structure of these courses aim at encouraging students to think about the role of urban objects and devices in the actions of inhabitants and in their social activities. Assessment of the objects is pragmatic: it is based on their appropriation to the social activities and to the conditions of action in contemporary societies. Our courses’ approach allows showing to students the object’s role in world transformation and, through this process, the role of urban planners who contribute to design objects in this transformation. The objective is to help future urban planners to think city and urban equipment construction regarding their use and current social practices, i.e. to better articulate this construction to the here-and-now action.

Keywords

• teaching
• urbanism
• object
• empirical approach
• action