Urban Design Proseminar
GSD 3503, Fall 2005, 2007

A seminar required for first year students in the MAUD and MLAUD programs, and open to others only by special permission of the instructor.

The course establishes the foundations of contemporary urban design practice and theories. Students study both the evolution of urban design as a discipline over the proceeding half-century, and explore emerging ideas and innovative practices. The class is structured around discussions that feature prominent themes/categories of urban design practice. These include: constructing a case for urban design as an autonomous discipline, urban design as the architecture of the city, urban design as restorative urbanism, urban design as visionary urbanism, urban design as "smart growth" and growth management, urban design as public policy, landscape urbanism, and urban design as citizen/neighborhood advocacy. Case studies and presentations of exemplary contemporary practice will help illuminate the topics of discussion.

Designing the American City: Civic Aspirations and Urban Form
GSD 3302, Lecture, Spring 2005

This course takes an interpretive look at the American city in terms of changing attitudes toward urban life. City and suburb are experienced as the product of design and planning decisions informed by cultural and economic forces, and in relationship to utopian and pragmatic efforts to reinterpret urban traditions in search of American alternatives. Topics include: persistent ideals such as the single-family home; attitudes toward public and private space; the rise of suburbs and suburban sprawl; cycles of disinvestment and renewed interest in urban centers; and impacts of mobility and technology on settlement patterns. This course is a lecture in the college's core curriculum, with a weekly graduate section with Alex Krieger for GSD and other graduate students that will meet Thursdays immediately after the lecture. Enrollment is limited to 20 graduate students.

Techniques of Physical Planning II
GSD 6121-M2, Lecture, Fall 2004 with Tony Gomez-Ibanez

Introduction to techniques of site planning; to a range of dimensional precedents for different types of buildings, neighborhoods, and districts; and to the rudiments of site programming. Required of MUP students; not normally open to others.

The Regional City: Values and Ethics in Contemporary Urbanism
GSD 5483, Seminar
with James Stockard

Fairness. Efficiency. Equality. Access. Choice. Entrepreneurship. Diversity. Vitality. Competitiveness. Self-sufficiency. Kindness. Democracy. Stewardship. Citizens hold these and many other values in contemporary American communities. Values help civic society form its governance, define goals and aspirations and draw distinctions between urban and suburban, outer and inner. In November 2003 Louisville, Kentucky and the surrounding county of Jefferson dramatically voted to join together to form the Regional City of Louisville. With this radical redefinition of boundaries Louisville became the 16th largest city in the country and simultaneously collapsed the boundaries of many distinct communities into a single political entity. From a design perspective, the governmental consolidation of the region creates opportunities at once obvious, such as creation of a comprehensive park system, and less obvious, such as metropolitan-wide marketing of surplus government properties and brownfields. However, because civic societies typically avoid value terms in their briefs for planning and design programs and projects, interpreting the values of a community and incorporating them in the design process becomes an imprecise and difficult objective for the effective design professional. Using a research seminar format, faculty members work with a team of students and Loeb Fellows to develop a wide-ranging study of specific sites in Louisville, an assessment of community values, and recommendations that capitalize on the new regional structure.

Detroit Research Seminar
GSD 9206, Seminar, Fall 2003

This fall term research seminar uses Detroit as a case study to explore ways to reconceptualize the future of a city which has experienced dramatic population and job loss. Detroit's physical form evolved to accommodate over 2 million people - twice its current population. As the city has lost jobs and population, it has accumulated a large inventory of vacant land, much of which has reverted to public ownership. Located in the midst of a metropolitan area of 4.3 million people, served by streets and utilities, easily accessible by highway, rail, air and water, this land is a resource which could be utilized to benefit the public, perhaps in unexpected ways, if obstacles to such utilization can be overcome.

The research seminar defines the origins and scope of Detroit's shrinkage. Working with Detroit's Planning and Development Department and others, students research the city's recent demographics and current vacant land inventory; evaluate the success of current reinvestment projects; survey the literature on urban shrinkage; identify potential new uses and their physical and locational needs, including food production, warehouse/distribution, open space and other non-traditional uses for urban land; and address obstacles to reuse such as environmental contamination, title clearance, parcel assembly, displacement of existing residents, business and facilities, and building demolition.

Students choose one or more research topics relevant to the seminar topic. The seminar meets as a group once a week for the first several weeks, and as needed thereafter, and takes a trip to Detroit at the beginning of the term. A spring term studio takes advantage of the information synthesized during the first term research effort to plan and design for new uses, re-conceptualizing the city's physical form in the process. Students taking the research seminar are encouraged to apply for the spring term studio.