Methods of Urban Planning
GSD 3329, Lecture, Fall

This companion course to the first-term Core Urban Planning Studio introduces students to selected methods used by urban planners in understanding, analyzing, and influencing the built environment. Students learn about the following: spatial analysis through GIS; visual representation techniques; projections and forecasts in plan-making, including how demographic, economic, and market forecasts inform land use and infrastructure needs assessments; how alternative land use scenarios are constructed, including approaches to allocating land use, estimating carrying capacity, and build-out analyses; and evaluation of land use impacts through fiscal, economic, social, environmental, and transportation frameworks.

Analytic Methods of Urban Planning
GSD 5214, Lecture, Spring

This course introduces students to selected quantitative and qualitative methods for thinking about urban planning problems.  The course is divided into four sections.  In the first section, students are introduced to the general principles of research design, including problem definition, hypothesis testing, data collection, and sampling.  In the second section, students learn quantitative methods for urban planning, including descriptive and inferential statistics, measures of association, and multivariate regression techniques.  In the third section, students learn qualitative methods, including survey, interview, observation, case study, and narrative techniques.  In the fourth section, students are exposed to innovations in research using image-based data, including static (drawings, maps, photographs) and dynamic visual data (film).