Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 1 lecture / week, 3 hours / lecture

Prerequisites

Permission from the instructor (for MIT students on campus).

Course Description

The first half of the course will explore the mutual influences of ideas of nature, theories of city design and planning, and practices of urban design, construction, and management. We will investigate how natural processes shape urban landscapes (from the scale of street corner to region) and how to intervene strategically in those processes in order to achieve certain goals. We will examine cases of cities that adapted successfully to natural processes and those that did not. Readings are drawn from diverse literatures, including environmental history, science, engineering, planning, and professional planning documents.

The second half of the course will provide students with the opportunity to research a case of their choice and to present their findings for discussion. The subject may be historical or an example of contemporary theory and practice; it may relate closely to a student's thesis. The choice of case and topic will be made and developed in consultation with the instructor. A paper, posted on a website, is required. Students will also keep a weekly journal of reflections on readings and class discussions, which will be posted as a blog.

Grading

Student work will be evaluated in four ways: class attendance and contribution to discussions; the weekly journal / blog; an abstract, presentation, and final paper, posted on website.