eLanguages.ac.ukUniversity of Southampton

Exploring dimensions of fragility in urban design and architecture

Social housing designed by Gaudi

Social dimension

To understand the notion of fragility as applied in architecture and urban places, it is necessary to explore different types of architectural landscape or dimensions to which the term might be applied.

In these activities you will consider fragility from different perspectives in English and Slovene, recognise the characteristics of fragility in different urban settings and compare the degree of fragility that different urban spaces suggest.

Activity 1: Recognising the fragility of different landscapes

Perceptions of fragility may vary from one culture to another. In this activity you are going to match images of different urban landscapes with the perspective they most represent in relation to the theme of fragility, in your opinion.

Instruction

Instruction

Study these images representing perspectives of fragility as applied to architecture in different urban places. Decide which perspective most expresses each image and select the appropriate option from the dropdown list. Think about the reason for your choice. Then read the feedback and listen to the recording.

Architectual Image 1

Architectual Image 2

Architectual Image 3

Architectual Image 4

Activity 2: Investigating perceptions of different landscapes in Slovene

Different landcapes may sometimes suggest different notions of fragility according to the cultural background of the viewer but there may also be a shared perspective in terms of the predominant dimension that a particular image reflects. In this activity you are going to investigate perceptions of different urban landscapes in Slovene.

Instruction

Instruction

Study these images of different urban landscapes and match each of them with the descriptive label in Slovene you think reflects the dominant notion of fragility expressed. Select the appropriate button and then read the feedback.

    1. Landscape 1




    2. Landscape 2




    3. Landscape 3




    4. Landscape 4




Activity 3: What degree of fragility does an urban space represent?

In this activity you are going to explore and compare the degree of fragility that different urban spaces suggest in relation to each other.

Instruction

Instruction

Consider the architectural landscapes in these four images and rank them in order from least fragile to most fragile. Make a note of the order you have chosen in the text area provided (e.g. A, B, C) and then read the feedback.

Architectual Image 1  Architectual Image 2
Architectual Image 3  Architectual Image 4

© Archi21 Project Consortium: Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture Paris-Malaquais, Open University, University of Ljubljana, Aalborg Universitet, University of Southampton and eLanguages, Modern Languages and Linguistics, University of Southampton, 2012. Images courtesy of AntoniusJ, Urashimataro, FlickrLickr, ChrisV, Fuchs1978, Yearofthedragon, Ian Armstrong, thbz, Vassil and Husond (Wikimedia Commons).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND Licence. Creative Commons Licence