Urban Scale is a term that describes the sense of height, bulk, and architectural articulation of a

place or individual building, often in relation to the size of a human body. The use of the term
“urban” also suggests the importance of the overall context of an area, and the role neighboring
buildings play in establishing a sense of scale. Groups of buildings and the spaces between them
establish a high, medium, or low urban scale.

Downtown skyscraper district

Credit: FTB

The images at right illustrate the way in which buildings are grouped in various places to create a
distinct urban scale. A downtown skyscraper district of a major city is clearly of a great or high
urban scale. The buildings are tall, and often have substantial mass or girth.

In addition to a building’s general dimensions, the articulation of the mass and facade play a
critical role in defining urban scale. Buildings that lack traditional scale cues such as individual
window openings and sills, visible stories, intermediate cornices, entryway features, or a building
base may seem overwhelming and can be confusing with respect to scale.

Urban scale is the term used to describe some of the most important characteristics of streets,
including the perceived scale of the street vertically, the sense of enclosure within a “street
room” and the degree of definition of the street and its addresses as a place. The term is
defined as the height of the street wall relative to the width of the street, from street wall to
street wall (building face to building face). Thus, urban scale is measured using the “height to
width ratio” laterally across the street.The urban scale of a “street room” has a major effect on
how the street is perceived by motorists and pedestrians. Streets with high ratios of height to
width feel urban and enclosed. There is a strong sense of spatial definition and enclosure that
can be supportive to placemaking.

Large scale architecture investigates the relationship between building and the city. This
includes design of complex buildings and urban strategies.

Projects at this scale will involve many actors, and have a public presence that requires a high
level of precision in argumentation and excecution.

Through critical readings of a political, cultural, social, economic, historic and physical context,
the objective is to acquire consciousness and knowledge about the role of architecture in
society.
The courses aim to develop new architectonic tools for cities in evolution. New programs and
typologies form parts of a larger architectural discussion on the relevance of the projects in the
city.

This field offers courses and research at bachelor- and masterlevel

The world is continuing to urbanise, and by 2030 sixty per cent of the world’s population is
projected to be urban (UNDESA 2016). City-regions1 have become the preferred targets for
attacks against collective security, driving city authorities to be increasingly involved in the
management and enforcement of security policies (Tebaldi 2016). To face the challenges of these
highly populated territories, city-regions are increasingly relying on new technologies. Smart
cities are based on the idea of achieving sustainable development and a high quality of life
thanks to the ‘smart’ use of human and social capital and technologies