Examines the evolving structure of cities, the dynamic processes that shape them, and the significance of a city's history for its future development. Develops the ability to read urban form as an interplay of natural processes and human purposes over time. Field assignments in Boston provide the opportunity to use, develop, and refine these concepts.

This course focuses on the land use-transportation “interaction space” in metropolitan settings. The course aims to develop an understanding of relevant theories and analytical techniques, through the exploration of various cases drawn from different parts of the world. The course begins with an overview of the role of transportation in patterns of urban development and metropolitan growth. It introduces the concept of accessibility and related issues of individual and firm travel demand. Later in the semester, students will explore the influence of the metropolitan built environment on travel behavior and the role of transportation on metropolitan land development. The course will conclude with an examination of the implications of the land use-transportation interaction space for metropolitan futures, and our abilities to forecast them.

Kevin Lynch's landmark volume, The Image of the City (1960), emphasized the perceptual characteristics of the urban environment, stressing the ways that individuals mentally organize their own sensory experience of cities. Increasingly, however, city imaging is supplemented and constructed by exposure to visual media, rather than by direct sense experience of urban realms. City images are not static, but subject to constant revision and manipulation by a variety of media-savvy individuals and institutions. In recent years, urban designers (and others) have used the idea of city image proactively-- seeking innovative ways to alter perceptions of urban, suburban, and regional areas. City imaging, in this sense, is the process of constructing visually-based narratives about the potential of places.

Examines the evolving structure of cities and the way that cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas can be designed and developed. Guest speakers present cases, involving current projects, which illustrate the scope and methods of urban design practice. This is a class about how cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas change. It is an introductory subject for undergraduates that examines both the evolving structure of the American metropolis and the ways that it can be designed and developed. Topics range from grand ideas proposed by single individuals to smaller more incremental processes carried out through collaboration by a variety of contending parties. You will see how cities and suburbs have been changed in the past and how you and others may help change them in the future.

Examines both the structure of cities and ways they can be changed. Includes historical forces that have produced cities, models of urban analysis, contemporary theories of urban design, implementation strategies. Core lectures supplemented by discussion group focusing on student work. Speakers present cases involving current projects illustrating the scope and methods of urban design practice. This course introduces graduate students to ideas about the form of cities and how they are designed and developed. Part 1 explores the forces which act to shape and to change cities. Part 2 surveys models of urban design which have been invented in response to forces acting on cities.

Examines the evolving structure of cities, the dynamic processes that shape them, and the significance of a city's history for its future development. Develops the ability to read urban form as an interplay of natural processes and human purposes over time. Field assignments in Boston provide the opportunity to use, develop, and refine these concepts. What is a city? What shapes it? How does its history influence future development? How do physical form and institutions vary from city to city and how are these differences significant? How are cities changing and what is their future? This course will explore these and other questions, with emphasis upon twentieth-century American cities. A major focus will be on the physical form of cities - from downtown and inner-city to suburb and edge city - and the processes that shape them.

Project Evaluation covers methodologies for evaluating civil engineering projects, which typically are large-scale and long-lived and involve many economic, financial, social and environmental factors. The course places an emphasis on dealing with uncertainty. Students learn basic techniques of engineering economics, including net present value analysis, life-cycle costing, benefit-cost analysis, and other approaches to project evaluation. Examples are drawn from both contemporary and historical projects in various fields, including transportation systems, urban development, energy and environmental projects, water resource management, telecommunications systems, and other elements of the public and private projects and programs.

Workshop explores the integration of economic development and physical planning interventions to revitalize urban commercial districts. Covers: an overview of the causes of urban business district decline, revitalization challenges, and the strategies to address them; the planning tools used to understand and assess urban Main Streets from both physical design and economic development perspectives; and the policies, interventions, and investments used to foster urban commercial revitalization. Students apply the theories, tools and interventions discussed in class to preparing a formal neighborhood commercial revitalization plan for a client business district.

Theories about cities and the form that settlements should take will be discussed. Attempts will be made at a distinction between descriptive and normative theory, by examining examples of various theories of city form over time. The class will concentrate on the origins of the modern city and theories about its emerging form, including the transformation of the nineteenth-century city and its organization. It analyzes current issues of city form in relation to city making, social structure, and physical design. Case studies of several cities will be presented as examples of the theories discussed in the class.