Urban Design (URBD)

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Courses

Courses primarily for graduate students, open to qualified undergraduates:

Credits: 6.

Analysis and observation of urban morphology, culture, and infrastructure through urban design projects set in Midwestern cities. Students learn, interpret, and propose design interventions to address urban challenges related to changing socio-political, economic, and environmental contexts. Field trips.

Credits: 6. Contact Hours: Lecture 1, Studio 10.

Students develop proposals for urban design interventions in an international context at multiple scales using investigation, analysis, observation, and interaction. Field trips.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Focus on the historical role of planning and urban design in the shaping of North American cities and regions, from the colonial period to the late twentieth century. Examine the legacy of planning and design by exploring the intersection of geographic space, politics, and policy. Investigate the factors and the processes that produce the built environment.

Credits: Required. Contact Hours: Lecture 1.
Repeatable.

Special topics and guest speakers. Offered on a satisfactory-fail basis only.

Credits: 3.

Research expands and integrates discourse and design findings from various Urban Design degree courses. Students develop independently-defined research to produce a comprehensive and conclusive final document that incorporates text, visuals and/or other media.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Introduction to the ways that urban designers think about the city with a focus on how history, theory, and a wide range of contextual factors inform urban design practice. Field trip.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

Study of emerging trends and practices in urban design using a range of current media communication platforms. Course will be conducted in a combination of lecture, seminar formats. Graduate level readings, discussions, research, and development of projective scenarios.

Credits: 3.

An exploration of contemporary urban design methods derived from significant urban projects and (re)development initiatives. Selected case studies to articulate and evaluate methods for implementing urban design goals and objectives in a variety of urbanized contexts. Case studies will build on a combination of analytical research, lectures, student presentations, and field trips.

Credits: 3.

An introduction to visual representation tools and techniques for generating and communicating urban design concepts, processes, and analytics. Project and exercises utilize traditional and contemporary approaches to drawing, modeling, and mapping, as well as desktop publishing tools.

Credits: 3. Contact Hours: Lecture 3.

This course examines how socio-political and economic forces shape the contemporary built environment. The course highlights various methods urban designers use to affect change and, in turn, how these impact stakeholders and communities. Students develop critical awareness of the impact of their decision making on the city.