Second Semester Core Urban Planning Studio

The second semester core planning studio expands the topics and methodologies studied in the first semester core studio, GSD 1121, aiming to prepare students for the mix of analytical and creative problem-solving needed to be an effective planner. In this studio, students work on a real project in a real place (with a real client) that allows them to interact with the public; define a vision; collect, analyze, and represent data that supports that vision; develop a proposal that reflects public input; and present work in a sophisticated way that is relevant, legible, and useful to those who are not planners. By the end of the studio students will be familiar with a number of dimensions of community engagement, data analysis, plan making, and implementation.

Landscape Architecture II

Second semester core studio explores research and methods in the design of complex urban conditions: sites layered with multiple and uncoordinated interventions that present issues of fragmentation, ecological degradation, and the need for greater diversity of programs. Through several explorations in a public space of significant size and historical importance, this studio will extend the design methodologies of the previous semester (the overlay, the section, the complex edge) to include other concepts and criteria that are fundamental to landscape architecture such as typological continuity and invention, connectivity and accessibility, the relationship between space and social practices, and environmental comfort in the context of climate change. The studio will explore iterative design across scopes and scales, from the physiological body to the metropolitan fabric of the city.

Second Semester Architecture Core: SITUATE

The overarching pedagogical agenda for second semester is to expand upon the design methodologies developed in the first semester such that students acquire an understanding of the interwoven relationship between form, space, structure, and materiality. This semester extends the subject matter to include the fundamental parameters of site and program, considered foundational to the discipline of architecture. Through the design problems, students will also engage in multiple modes of analytical processes that inform and inspire the study of mass, proportion, and tactility.

Prerequisites: GSD 1101

Urban Governance and the Politics of Planning in the Global South

This course starts from the premise that urban politics and governance arrangements shape the character, form, and function of cities as well as the planning strategies used to make them more just, equitable, and sustainable.  Using a focus on cities in the developing world, the course examines an array of governance structures (centralized versus decentralized institutions; local versus national states; participatory budgeting, etc.) and political conditions (democracy versus authoritarianism; neoliberal versus populist versus leftist party politics; social movements) that are relatively common to cities of the global south.

The course is structured around a comparative analysis of theories and cases that give us the basis for documenting the ways that politics affect urban policy and the built environment of the city more generally. The course’s critical approach to case studies and policy prescriptions will also prepare students to formulate relevant planning strategies in the future. Among a range of policy domains, special attention is paid to transportation, housing, mega-project development, land policy, and environmental sutainability, with most examples drawn from Latin America, South and East Asia, and Africa.

 

This course will be taught online through Friday, February 4th.

 

Affordable and Mixed-Income Housing Development, Finance, and Management

Explores issues relating to the development, financing, and management of housing affordable to very low, low, and moderate income households. Examines community-based development corporations, public housing authorities, housing finance agencies, private developers, and financial intermediaries. Identifies, defines, and analyzes seven general public and private subsidy categories: development cost, financing, operating, rental assistance, tax credit, entitlement, and project-generated cross income subsidies. Assesses alternative debt and equity funding sources for both rental and for-sale mixed-income housing and addresses how multiple subsidies are aggregated to create an economically feasible development. Reviews other aspects of the affordable housing development process, including assembling and managing the development team, preparing feasibility studies, negotiating site control, gaining community support, securing subsidies, establishing design objectives, coordinating the design and construction process, selecting residents or homeowners, providing supportive services, and managing the completed asset. All students in this course have participated in the Affordable Housing Development Competition (AHDC) sponsored by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston and others. As part of this competition, teams of multidisciplinary graduate students primarily from Harvard and MIT prepare detailed affordable housing development proposals working with real sponsors on real sites in the Greater Boston area. These AHDC proposals serve as the final project for this course. The course includes lectures, cases, exercises, site visits, guest lectures, and student presentations. No prior real estate development or finance experience is anticipated or required.

Also offered by Harvard Kennedy School as SUP-666

 

This course will be taught online through Friday, February 4th.

 

The Gentrification Debates: Perceptions and Realities of Neighborhood Change

Gentrification and the real and perceived impacts that neighborhood change has on longtime local residents as well as new dwellers, is complicated to unpack and define.  Many believe displacement is an inherent byproduct of gentrification, yet little research exists to quantify or even confirm if and how displacement occurs.  We are left to speculate about whether residents are being priced out of their rents; do owners chose to “cash out” and sell their properties; and/or do people of color choose to leave the neighborhood because the longstanding cultural character and amenities are eroding. Is displacement inevitable, is it voluntary or involuntary; and if so, is it economic or cultural?

So, what definition of gentrification are we to rely on to improve our understanding of neighborhood change.  The gentrification definition that relies on the statistics commonly measured by inflation in housing prices, increases in median household income, and changes in educational attainment, might confirm that neighborhood change through gentrification is real.   Or what about the definition of neighborhood change as presented in the 2014 “Lost in Place” report highlighting that only 100 out of 1,100 urban areas saw reductions in poverty levels between 1970-2010, a change that may be a function of backfilling four decades of neighborhood population decline rather than the upward mobility of long time low-income households.  This report is telling us we are obsessed with the wrong neighborhood change phenomenon– that instead of tracking the smaller percentage of urban areas that are truly “gentrifying”, we should instead be more focused on why the other 1,000 out of 1,100 urban areas and its residents are no better off than they were 40 years ago!

But what about the upside of new investment in historically disinvestment neighborhoods? The addition of new, and often better quality amenities should be a benefit to all residents, incoming and existing.  Long-time homeowners who have not seen increases in the value of their homes should now see increases in their long-term household wealth.  And areas of the city that have been steeped in income and racial divide can become places of mixed income and mixed-race, enabling a more productive social and economic ecosystem of community life.  Does this type of investment always have to be seen as disruptive?

This course will explore the debate about the causes and effects of gentrification and attempt to document the real and perceived impacts of such change on the physical, economic, social and cultural dynamics of community.  The course will use national and city-specific research on gentrification; neighborhood change measurement methodologies; examine the neighborhood change using data research, literature and media articles and guest lectures.  Students will prepare 1) an opinion-editorial essay, offering a definition of gentrification; 2) participate in a team debate arguing either the positive or negative impacts of gentrification; 3) assign indicators and metrics for measuring the presence of gentrification and 4) prepare a case study presentation on  effective strategies for addressing either the negative impacts or advancing positive impacts of gentrification.

 

Up to eight seats will be held for MDes students, with priority given to Publics Domain students.

 

This course will be taught online through Friday, February 4th.

 

The (New) Image of the City

The rest of the 21st century is being drawn right now. More than ever before,  organizations and individuals rely on projective images that indicate their aspirations or goals while simultaneously stimulating an audience's imagination and emotions. At the same time, imagery is leveraged to uncover, celebrate, or critique our latent urban structures. In the wake of COVID-19, the value of a designer's ability to illustrate new ways of life has increased as we collectively imagine future 'new normals'. And yet, designers may also need to prepare to move away from the pre-pandemic aspiration for the 'perfect' or 'resolved' towards more blurriness, openness, or dynamism to relate to a public audience wary of false promises of past projects. Designers with a robust representational repertoire will be those best suited to communicate their ideas and impact change in the coming generation.

This course investigates how society perceives cities, their landscapes and architecture, and the designer's role in mobilizing imagery to digest existing conditions and project new urban possibilities. Part historical dive, part technical workshop, the class moves between investigations into the historical development of cities through image and instruction on the fundamental two and three-dimensional representational techniques involved in visualizing the vast array of inevitably convoluted and undetermined aspects of urbanity. The class will review how the city's evolution has been represented over time in urban design, landscape architecture, architecture, art, politics, and culture while developing new techniques and methods for representing latent urban conditions and uncertain futures.

Structured around participatory lectures, discussions, and exercises, the course necessitates students' ability to consume, interpret, and produce. In addition to readings and discussions, students will work through a series of exercises that visualize a chosen urban condition at a series of scales and correlated perspectives. These exercises break down the process of image conception and execution over several weeks. Each scale builds on top of the previous and forms a composite image of a particular city when assembled. The final assignment will be curating the work produced to form a visual atlas through a whole class exhibition.

Students should take this course because they will learn how to maximize the potency of the images that they create. They will learn to integrate image crafting into the design process. They will learn the fundamentals and basis for harnessing the power of the image to supplement their intellectual and design ambitions. Students will create impactful visual content structured by meaning, beauty, and emotion. They will develop an eye for strong images and understand how individual details such as composition, tone, texture, and light strengthen the larger picture. A student who successfully engages with the course content will emerge with the conceptual and technical capacity to create compelling images that challenge the conventions of representation while also speaking to a broad audience.

The course is for designers of all types. While we will use the term 'urban' to connote the ecological complexity of our contextual focus, designers from various disciplines are encouraged to bring their expertise to the group. Rendering techniques, both in engine and post-production, will be covered extensively and expertise is either is not a prerequisite. However, a strong foundation in 3D modeling with Rhino is expected, as is a curiosity and determination to test and acquire new skills and perspectives.

 

Up to five seats will be held for MDes students.

This course will be taught online through Friday, February 4th.

 

New Towns and Affordable Housing Development in Africa

This course is a research seminar delving into new town development and affordable housing production in Africa.  The course provides an overview of new town development around the world with a focus on emerging markets and Africa in particular.  A concurrent theme will be case studies of production housing and self-built housing delivered to the lower end of the price spectrum.   This course is a research seminar that will meet once a week.  Students will engage in research throughout the term on topics of their own choosing.  The topics may range from new town investigations in different African countries to production housing techniques, social and economic housing issues or self-built housing that is currently the dominant method of delivery for the great majority of the population.  While particular attention will be given to Tanzania and Kenya as well as Nigeria and South Africa, students may select any country in Africa for their research focus.  Topics including construction techniques, new technologies, house and apartment design, organization of construction and development firms, financing alternatives, regulation, political hurdles, citizen engagement are all encouraged.  While the course will not include any in-person site visits, there will be conversations and interviews with many key players in Africa including government ministers, scholars, developers, investors, contractors, and others who are active in various countries.  Students will submit a final report on their research and will present their conclusions at the end of the term to a jury and their peers.

 

Up to six seats will be held for MDes students.

 

This course will be taught online through Friday, February 4th.

 

Policy Analysis: A Tool for Evidence-Based Decision Making

Policy analysis is problem solving.  It involves making systematic comparisons across a set of alternatives to address a particular policy or planning problem, usually in the face of time and resource constraints.  Typically, policy analysis is done to provide advice to a client, organization, or another decision-maker in the face of a public problem or crisis.  It involves rapid response, quickly orienting yourself to new and changing topics that often are complex and controversial.  How to develop doable solutions that target the core problem at hand? How to weigh the many competing trade-offs among diverse stakeholders?  How to balance innovation with pragmatism?  In this class we will develop strategies to address these, and other, challenges. 

While the course will emphasize the development of a stage-based analytical approach, we will also discuss alternative models of policy analysis and consider critical perspectives from political science, behavioral science and design fields.

Based largely on case discussions, the class will explore the choices facing decision makers in the public and nonprofit sectors in the US and abroad with regard to a wide range of issues, including public health, environmental protection, urban development, transportation and infrastructure.  We will also have a unit on cost benefit analysis and how to incorporate it into this analytical toolbox.  We will approach CBA from a critical perspective and consider its limitations in the face of scarce information and equity concerns. 

This is a methods course: we will use a variety of cases to practice and become nimble in the logic and techniques behind policy analysis, rather than becoming an expert in any one subject area.  Students will develop their own analyses and learn how to communicate them in written memos, oral argument, and visual presentations. The course will culminate in a team project in which students conduct a simulated policy analysis exercise on a current issue.

 

Up to four seats will be held for MDes students. 

This course will be taught online through Friday, February 4th.

 

Public Finance for Planners: Creating Equitable & Sustainable Communities

Infrastructure challenges are significant and rising. To meet these challenges, urban planners will need to acquire foundational knowledge and skills in the public finance discipline and gain a basic awareness of how such tools and levers are used by city leaders to raise money to fund infrastructure, neighborhood redevelopment plans, and other new capital projects. This course will introduce students to the spectrum of public finance strategies and approaches that are available to cities, states and localities and will elevate how each strategy can be considered in the development of urban planning strategies to enhance an urban planners work and position projects to achieve strong equity, sustainability, and other place-based outcomes. The goal of the course will be to educate students on tactical ways that public finance principles can be integrated into the urban planning process. To that end, students will learn how to make choices that position an urban planning project for stronger funding, for stronger economic development outcomes and to achieve growth that is inclusive.  The course will combine various pedagogical methods that include lecture, discussion, and exercises that challenge students to consider their role as advisors to leaders in a city. Throughout the semester, students will learn how to evaluate the impact of alternative resource mobilization and public finance avenues that an urban planner may encounter by examining real projects. No prior course work or experience in public finance or economic development is necessary for students to succeed in the course, as the course will provide students with the necessary foundation to understand core concepts in the domains of public finance and economic development that will be covered.

 

Up to four seats will be held for MDes students. 

This course will be taught online through Friday, February 4th.