PLG202

036561

This course introduces students to urban planning and the role of cities through the systems that compose the built environment and support urban societies. Students will explore how cities are organized through physical and social infrastructures such as water, energy, waste, transportation, jobs, and housing, among others. Through case studies of these urban systems from a range of international and US cities, students will learn about different approaches to meeting the material and social needs of collective life and situate them within their sociocultural contexts. Students will build connections among these systems to the urban experiences they structure by reading and interpreting a range of cultural texts that provide commentary on urban life, which include art, film, literature, and performance. The course will show how the organization of cities shapes social life even as shared cultures shape the priorities and possibilities for urban planning. Students will consider the movement of urban planning ideas and apply their learning to imagine local changes to planning in their own built environment that promote sustainable, future-oriented cities in an interconnected world.

GRD - Regular Grades A, B, C, D, E

Undergraduate

GE - T2-INDV (Tier 2 Individuals & Societies), GEED - BC (Gen Ed: Building Connections)