At its core, urban design is the process of deciding how a city will be organized. More than just the physical layout of roads, buildings, open space, and transportation networks, urban design includes decisions about land use, urban form, and neighborhood scale that affect citizens’ access to urban amenities and healthy living environments near amenities and transportation.
All Urban Design Courses
The American City, Part 3: Learning from the Grid
Instructor: Mark David Major
This course demonstrates the well-defined formal composition and spatial processes of how American cities evolve over time.
The American City, Part 2: The Invention of a New Scale
Instructor: Mark David Major
Understand how the physical characteristics of block size and street length distinguish American cities from earlier models of urbanism, and the implications of these physical characteristics for sustainability in the 21st century.
The American City, Part 1: A Brief History of the Regular Grid
Instructor: Mark David Major
Learn why the regular grid has been a standard part of the town planning vocabulary around the world for nearly five millennia.
Economic Thinking for Planners: Cities, Externalities, and Governance
Instructor: Peter Gordon
Through history, people have become better off as they urbanized. This course investigates how and why the quality of life has improved in cities.