Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: A CITIZEN'S GUIDE TO URBAN PLANNING (BAKER)

Department: College Courses

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 1

Description: "First we shape the cities – then they shape us.” New York. Copenhagen. Dakar. Tokyo. Each of these cities are, for all their faults, successful places – where people flock en masse to find opportunity and the culture of whole nations finds its expression. Architects, developers, shopkeepers, artists, and everyday citizens built these cities from the ground up. So, what is the role of the planner? How should we plan our cities, and should we even be planning them at all? This course will review different perspectives on planning, and the successes and challenges cities present, through short lectures followed by discussions and/or hands-on workshops. These will be split into four sections as follows: • New York: Anatomy of a Lively City • Copenhagen: The Human-Scaled City • Dakar: Planning in Informal Settlements • Tokyo: Architecture and the Urban Form There will be a midterm project in which students will present on the urban design of a city of their choice, and a final project in which they will redesign an existing city or design a completely new one. Afterwards, they will want to go back to their hometowns and understand why things are built the way they are, and most importantly, how to improve them.