Foundations of Urban Theory

Catalog description

How shall we create cities that nourish healthy, safe, prosperous, and just lives for all? This course introduces students to the study of cities, the practices of building them, and the evaluation of those practices, considering especially their benefits and detriments. Focusing on major developments in urban studies and urban design/planning from the 19th-21st century, students consider the evolution of foundational concepts such as “city,” “urban,” “urbanism,” “urbanization,” and “sustainability.” Students explore prominent themes that have emerged in urban studies, including social inequality and segregation, immigration and migration, colonial legacies, rapid urbanization, citizen participation and placemaking, and environmental justice and climate precarity. Students interrogate varying approaches to meeting the needs of city dwellers and structuring the urban environment, exploring a range of urban forms, planning approaches, and design proposals that providing for housing, commerce, civic and recreational space, transportation, and infrastructure. To understand and evaluate urban dynamics and design solutions, students read historical, descriptive, and analytical studies and engage in discussions, individual presentations, group projects, and hands-on activities. In its focus on sustainable urbanism, the course emphasizes perspectives that recognize the interconnectedness of natural and human systems and approaches that foster environmental and social wellbeing.