Lectures | EiABC – Addis Ababa University
Introduction
Every built form begins as a thought. Before cities are drawn, they are imagined. This lecture is about the ideas behind the forms — the philosophies, ideologies, and values that shape how urban space is conceived.
Theory of Urban Design is not a history lesson. It’s a challenge: to interrogate the assumptions embedded in design decisions, and to recognize that every square, boulevard, and housing block is a manifestation of someone’s worldview.
Delivered at EiABC, this lecture traces the intellectual lineage of urban design — from aesthetic ideals to political agendas, from human-scale utopias to technocratic control.
Why This Lecture Matters
Too often, urban theory is treated as abstract or secondary. This lecture insists it is primary. Students who don’t understand theory often copy precedent without understanding purpose. This course was developed to help them see through the facade of form, into the structure of meaning.
We unpack seminal thinkers like Camillo Sitte, Le Corbusier, and Jane Jacobs — not as icons, but as authors of systems. Students learn how ideas move through time, how ideologies clash on the streets, and how form becomes culture.
What You’ll Learn
- Foundational Thinkers: Sitte, Corbusier, CIAM, Jacobs, and beyond
- Theoretical Frames: Modernism, Postmodernism, Critical Theory
- City as Text: Reading the urban environment as narrative and argument
- Design Ethics: Whose values does a city reflect, exclude, or enforce?
- Applying Theory: How to translate abstract ideas into spatial decisions
Download
→ [Download Theory of Urban Design Slides – PDF, 6MB]
(Taught by Brook Abebe at EiABC, Addis Ababa University)
Suggested Follow-up:
- Land Use & Master Planning – from theory to territory
- Urban Design Graphics – how theory gets visualized
Brook Abebe
Urbanist. Strategist. Educator.
For inquiries or collaboration: [your email/contact link]