UMass Boston

Course Overview

Description

This course covers basic concepts and traditions of urban design, for the purpose of providing students with strong foundations in the field. The course is designed to offer a collaborative and interactive environment for the development of spatial thinking, a place-based understanding of cities, and a preliminary foundation on how to intervene in the physical design of contemporary cities. In class, students will explore fundamental paradigms in urban design with a special emphasis on the primary goals, methods and techniques belonging to various and rival approaches. Students will be expected to critically reflect upon themes and issues characterizing local and international debates, through a systematic comparison of urban design experiences carried out in the United States and overseas. Bridging theory and practice, the main goal of this class is to encourage participating students to understand the relationship between cities' physical development and their political, economic, cultural, environmental, and social dynamics.