The course is a forum for conversations on contemporary urban design practices, theories and strategies. It is concerned with the economic, social, and political factors that shape urban environments and the efforts of individual actors, interventions, conceptual models, and practices to comprehend, gain control over, regulate, and shape those processes and environments. The course is structured around three overlapping discussions re: the foundation of urban design as a cross-disciplinary practice; critiques of different positions; contemporary and emerging conditions of practice across a broad geography and in relation to architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture, historic preservation and other cognate fields of urban study and practice. We will focus on key concepts and modalities of practice that allow us to explore a range of critical frameworks and methodologies for understanding the processes, debates, and projects that shape urban design practices, and connect them to the problems, struggles, and issues of poverty, violence, risk, climate equity, power and privilege constitutive of global urbanization processes. The objective is to develop a critical perspective that comes from a deeper understanding of theory, practice, and speculation.

Presentations and conversations with GSD Urban Design faculty and visitors will contextualize urban design today, its challenges and potentialities. Each class meeting will consist of presentations and discussions. Active participation is required and provides a foundation for further course and studio work at the GSD. There are three written assignments. This course is required for and limited to first semester Urban Design students.