Learning to see through the cities

Abstract

Since the academy year 2007/2008 an optative lecture for architecture students named “Saber ver la arquitectura” has been taking place, its general aim is the study of an european city and the production of a “travel guide”. On the other hand, its specific goal is to develop a critical and intentional look towards the city and its buildings, and to acquire analytical tools to emit a critical well-funded judgement. The lecture proposes the study of the cities from a specific point of view: that of the relation between architecture and urban space, specially focusing on the importance of the street as a place that articulate and structures itineraries, tours and rooms. For that an interdisciplinary approach is used incorporating the practice of the walk, the “walkscape”, transforming the quotidian walk with a focused look to “learn to see”, the city and the architecture. It all comes to rescuing the character of the “flaneur”, the observer walker that discovers or rediscovers the architecture in the city watching it from new eyes.