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Architecture & Design: ARCH 361/362 History of Cities

Subject Guide and Course Reading Lists

Page dedicated to Architecture History and History of Cities in the following sections:

  • ARCH 362 - History of Cities

ARCH 362 - History of Cities

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2/3/25; 2/11/25 outline

1. Library website, catalog, and databases to gather information and images on your assigned project;

2. Tertiary Information.

3. AI Prompts and Applications

4. Secondary Sources typically found in peer reviewed journals and monographs. Rely on Full Text/Index Databases to retrieve abstracts and or citations,

5. Primary Sources

6. Developing your Outline and Attribute credit to primary and secondary sources. 

The Continuous Monument: St. Moritz Revisited, project Perspective

Tertiary Sources

The place we start and gather background research, Tertiary sources combine information and related topics. Summarize one or more bodies of knowledge on a topic. Point to the commentary and original primary sources.

Examples:

About Pueblo Civilizations:
“First Civilizations: 12,000 Bc-Ad 1500.” 2001. In History of American Architecture: Buildings in Their Cultural & Technological Context, 1–34. University Press of New England.

Orum, Anthony M. 2022. The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies. [Enhanced Credo edition]. Wiley Blackwell. https://search-ebscohost-com.nyit.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=cat04612a&AN=ny.280947&site=eds-live&scope=site., 

TIPs: 

Review background research in specialized encyclopedic works;
Follow the trail of bibliographies/endnotes found in those sources;


Secondary Sources

Written after the fact, in response to, or including analysis of an original writing, artwork, design plan or building.

  • Interpret, Critique, or Explain Primary Sources
  • Found in scholarly and editorial journals. Search across databases such as Academic Search Complete, Avery, and Google Scholar

Example: Dunn, Sarah, and Martin Felsen. 2019. “Behind the Wheel: Charles Darwin and Superstudio Do the Driving.” Architectural Design 89 (4): 94–99. doi:10.1002/ad.2462. (Article includes analysis of Superstudio ideas (secondary source) and explains new plans (primary).


Primary Sources

An original source plan proposal or study, documentation from the original event; original plans and drawings, personal correspondence, works of art, historical newspaper articles,

Finding primary sources, 

Example: Tange, Kenzo. 1987. “A Plan for Tokyo, 1986.” Japan Architect 62 (November): 8–45. 
"The article presents a proposal for the structural reorganization of the Coastal City of Tokyo and Tokyo Bay City in Japan. ...The author states that the proposal was developed in cooperation with commissions from government agencies and from the city of Tokyo. "

Discussion: This is a journal. Why is it a primary source?

Finding Primary Sources on the Web

Library Databases with Images and Media

Newspapers 

Architectural Archives


AI Prompt s and Applications

  1. Keyword Search and Literature Review Prompts
  2. microsoft.copilot.com >> Define Narrower search terms for Example: Tactical Ubanism'
  3. Summarize a pdf article with Explain Paper 
  4. See connections between articles with LitMaps


Browser Plugins for Academic Research

Add this extension to your browser to connect web searches to full text subscriptions behind paywalls.

Summarize articles and find connected papers.

 

Reference:

Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, (Artist), Italian, born 1941, Adolfo Natalini, (Artist), Italian, born 1941, Gian Piero Frassinelli, (Artist), Italian, born 1939, Roberto Magris, (Artist), Italian, born 1935, Superstudio, (Artist), founded 1966-1982, and Alessandro. The Continuous Monument: St. Moritz Revisited, Project Perspective. Drawing date: 1969. Cut-and-pasted printed paper, color pencil, and oil stick on board, 16 7/8 x 19 1/8" (42.9 x 48.6 cm). Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.). https://jstor.org/stable/community.14645193.

See Also

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