Urban Systems — This course introduces students to:
1. the function of cities: the systems of infrastructure (including roads, transit, water and sewer, and IT), land use, and natural environment that together define the physical reality of cities; and
2. the tools of analysis traditionally employed by the urban planner to make sense of these systems, including demography, GIS, statistics, design, and policy analysis.
The course provides a practical introduction to how cities work and how planners understand that work. It is NOT a methods course. It introduces a handful of analytic tools just enough to give students an appreciation for how those tools can help us understand urban life. Work in the course is project based, including problem sets and student presentations.
