Teaching Urban Form: Bridging Research & Practice

I had the pleasure of participating in KAEBUP as an online forum for discussing teaching urban morphology. It was an enlightening experience to engage with professors and professionals from different countries and disciplines and exchange ideas about how to enhance students' understanding of cities' form and function. I would like to thank Professors Karl Kropf, Vitor Oliveira, Nadia Charalambous, Ilaria Geddes, Ana Cláudia Monteiro, @fei chen and many more for the interractive session.

The main topics of discussion revolved around the challenges and opportunities of teaching urban morphology, the role of technology and fieldwork in analyzing and representing urban form, and the relevance of urban morphology for addressing contemporary urban issues such as sustainability, resilience, and social justice.

Some of the key takeaways that I got from KAEBUP include:

- There is a need for more systematic and comparative approaches to teaching urban morphology, especially across different cultural and historical contexts.

- Students benefit from a mix of theoretical and practical methods, including site visits, sketching, mapping, and modeling.

- The use of digital tools such as GIS, BIM, and VR can enhance students' spatial analysis skills and visualization abilities, but they should be complemented with critical thinking and creativity.

- Urban morphology can inform and enrich other fields such as architecture, planning, geography, history, and anthropology, but it also needs to engage with broader societal debates and challenges.

- Networking and collaborating with colleagues from different backgrounds and perspectives can expand one's knowledge and resources for teaching urban morphology.

Overall, KAEBUP was a stimulating and enjoyable platform for sharing experiences and insights about teaching urban morphology. I look forward to continuing the conversation and learning more from this community of passionate educators and practitioners who care about making cities more livable, inclusive, and beautiful.