Histories and Theories of Urban Planning and Design

Beginning with the mid 19th century city, this course surveys a broad range of urban interventions. These include transportation and infrastructural engineering, settlement houses, landscape design, and real estate development, among others. Urban planning and urban design are situated with them as part of a larger discourse about the problems and possibilities of urban life. American and European examples are used as case studies demonstrating the complex mix of social, cultural, political and economic factors that shape urban processes and the built environment. Topics include the industrial city, utopian towns, the inner city, decentralization and suburbs, the metropolis, housing, urban renewal and edge cities.