All Housing Courses
Economic Thinking for Planners: Economics of the Environment
This course provides an introduction to environmental economics by exploring the economic effects of national and local environmental policies. By the end of the course, you'll understand market failure, externalities, and private and social costs, applying these concepts to issues like recycling, species preservation, and climate change.
Economic Thinking for Planners: Supply and Demand
"Supply and demand" is one of the most fundamental concepts of economic thinking. The familiar supply and demand curves are seemingly simple, but in reality, the relationship between supply in demand is complex.
Economic Thinking for Planners: Gains from Trade, Labor, and Immigration
This course focuses on the example of the Prisoner's Dilemma to illustrate the fact that gains from trade opportunities are lost if transactions and/or communications costs are high, property rights and contracting rules are not enforced, and levels of trust are low.
Parking Reform Made Easy
Reforming minimum parking requirements is one of the most effective ways to support Smart Growth. This course explains the many problems created by the parking regulation status quo before presenting a process for reform, providing examples of parking management tools, and discussing strategies for dealing with political and stakeholder issues.
Economic Thinking for Planners: Overview
This course shows how "Economic Thinking" can inform our thinking on big questions like why some countries are rich while some are poor and how so many us have become so much better off than our ancestors.
Tactical Urbanism: How It's Done
From unsanctioned crosswalks to city-led "Pavement-to-Plaza" programs, instructor Mike Lydon describes the success of short-term, temporary projects in influencing long-term physical and policy changes in cities across the United States and Canada.
Bicycle-Friendly Streets: Design Standards
"Bike Friendly Streets: Design Standards" presents examples of cities across the United States and globally redesigning their streets to accommodate and encourage bicycling. From road diets that make room for bike lanes to complete redesigns of streets, cities are stepping up to the challenge of providing a variety of options for the bicyclists in their communities.
Introductory Population Analysis with Excel
Whether you're new to population analysis or just need a refresher, this course offers a comprehensive overview of the steps necessary to conduct analysis and develop projections using publicly available data. The course reviews Census data and builds skills, such as population projection, cohort survival, and concentration calculations that are essential for every professional in the planning and design community.
Introductory Urban Economics Analysis with Excel
Economic data is all around us. When we buy coffee or go to the movies, each of those actions involve an economic exchange or a trade of resources. This course teaches Microsoft Excel in applying the concepts of economics to the work of planners. By discussing data analysis techniques, such as sector analysis and economic base calculation with location quotient, you will gain the skills to work with economic data and become a more informed participant in the economic marketplace.
Tactical Urbanism: An Introduction
Developed in conjunction with other movements, the Tactical Urbanism approach allows a host of local actors to test new concepts before making substantial political and financial commitments. Sometimes sanctioned, sometimes not, Tactical Urbanism features the following five characteristics: phased instigation, meeting local planning challenges, realistic and short term, low risk-high gain, and stakeholder capacity building.
Regional Scenario Planning: An Overview
This first of two courses offers a brief history of regional scenario planning in the late 20th century and beyond, with examples from Portland, Oregon's Vision 2040, Salt Lake City's Envision Utah, and the Chicago Metropolis Plan. Principles of regional planning relating to land use, urban design, and transportation are discussed. Finally, more advanced regional planning topics are touched on, including jobs/housing balance, and the relationship between demographics and regional housing market demand.