Urban Planning Course (URPL-GP)

The course will introduce students to the planning process by reviewing commonly used planning practices and tools. As an intermediate level course, broad overviews of each topic will be provided. The intention is to expose students to the many considerations that go into planning, while introducing them to skills that can be incorporated into their “planner toolkit” which can be further expanded upon through future coursework and work experience. Students will be expected to apply skills and concepts learned in class to a simulated planning project based on a real site in New York City. By the end of the course, students should be able to 1) identify and scope planning problems and issues; 2) determine the information required to address the issues; 3) collect, analyze, and synthesize planning information; and 4) concisely and effectively communicate findings and recommendations. Beyond the “toolkit,” students will be encouraged to identify and establish their own set of values and visions that underlie their work as planners. Through lectures, lab sections, and group project work, students will be expected to think critically about the tools being used by planners today – how are these tools useful (or not) to the planning process? Are these tools still relevant? What is missing from the planning process, as it currently exists? What can you, as future planners, do to improve the planning process?

This course is designed to give you a better understanding of the legal and administrative framework used to regulate land use at various levels of government, and the relationship of the planner to the law. We will cover basic legal procedures as well as statutory and regulatory materials relating to zoning, urban renewal and eminent domain, regulatory takings, inclusionary housing, historic preservation, and environmental law. Politics, economics and social norms play a critical role in the use and development of land, often adapting or even flouting the “law on the books.” Although principally concerned with the official legal rules governing of land uses, this course also will examine the interplay of formal and informal controls in shaping land use patterns.

This course will train students to obtain, clean, manipulate, analyze, map, and visualize spatial and non-spatial data to support their work throughout their urban planning careers. The course emphasizes the critical role of design and communication in effective data storytelling. Students will practice the open-source tools R and QGIS in depth. The course will help students build a strong foundation in working with data that will allow them to learn and master additional programs, languages, and tools toward future goals. This course may require a significant amount of time outside of class periods to work on assignments and the final project, depending on the student’s technical skill level. A personal laptop is required.

The course takes an interpretative look at the spatial conditions of our rapidly urbanizing world. It focuses on comparisons and contrasts between urban development patterns of cities around the globe, such as New York City, Tokyo, Chengdu, Singapore, Accra, Istanbul, and Mumbai. By introducing multiple scales (neighborhood, city, and regional) of urban growth, the course seeks to foster an understanding of the socio-economic processes, physical planning and design practices, cultural influences, and policy interventions that influence urban design and planning. While introducing the basic analytic skills necessary for spatial interpretation, the course addresses the challenges and opportunities of future smart cities in the era of urban big data.

New York City is the nation's largest city, with a strong, active municipal government and an annual municipal budget of approximately $110 billion. The city charter provides the mayor with more power than the mayor of any other large city in the United States. The role of the mayor, the state government and the city council are explored with a focus on economic development policies, public safety, immigration, transportation, planning and climate change. The class will also analyze demographic trends -- more than one-third of the population is foreign born -- and how disasters have shaped the city over the past two centuries.

This course examines the special mix of tools, tactics, theories and trends that shape and transform cities. It will be grounded in case studies that look at both successful and unsuccessful urban revitalization strategies in places ranging from Times Square (in different decades) to the Bronx River to Singapore to Atlantic City. Seasoned guest speakers, who in the past have included “Broken Windows” author George Kelling, the Director of the Brownsville Partnership, a NYPost columnist, the Director of a Public Art initiative, a former Atlantic City public official, and the former Director of the Port Authority, will discuss their different perspectives and tactics for changing urban areas. Readings will include contemporary media coverage side by side with case studies and more theoretical selections from leading thinkers like Jacobs, Garvin and Glaeser. Throughout the course there will be a special focus on the varied nature and role of public-private partnerships in harnessing the power of the non-profit, private and governmental sectors, especially in transforming public spaces. Students will examine the different perspectives and strengths of each sector, and the special skills needed to make such partnerships powerful tools for change. The central role of public space transformation and placemaking in shaping perceptions and empowering communities will be looked at in depth. Explicit theories and implicit assumptions about the economic life of cities will be illuminated through the numerous real-world examples, some of which will involve the instructor’s hands-on experience with urban park revitalization, the growing international BID movement, and the transformation of Times Square. Through specific examples we will examine how ideas about urban economic development shift across time and place, even as certain deeper truths remain constant. While reviewing the standard tools in the economic development toolbox, we will also look at relevant ideas and practices in corporate branding and competitive strategy, managing public space, nurturing creative industries, and reforming governmental practices and regulations. Short assignments will require students to prepare succinct written or oral analyses of particular case studies. A final paper or presentation will require students to analyze or put forth an urban revitalization strategy for a particular place and discuss the criteria for determining the success of that strategy. Across all classes, assignments and case studies, we will repeatedly ask: What are the things that make cities thrive and grow, and how does one nurture those things? We will answer that in part by keeping our eyes on the fundamental economic forces that drive cities and their land values. But we will also focus in every class and case study on the less quantifiable but no less important political and press skills needed to form partnerships, shape outcomes, and transform cities.

The field of urban economics addresses a wide variety of questions and topics. At the most general level, the field introduces space into economic models and studies the location of economic activity. Urban economics typically addresses four sets of questions, and this course is organized around these four areas. The first set of questions focuses on the development of urban areas. Why do cities exist and why do some grow more rapidly? How can local governments encourage such growth? The second set of questions addresses patterns of development within metropolitan areas. Why do certain parts of metropolitan areas grow more rapidly than others? How do firms and households decide where to locate within given metropolitan areas? What determines the price of land, and how do these prices vary across space? The third set of questions concerns the spatial dimensions of urban problems. In this class, we will focus on poverty, housing, and suburban sprawl. Finally, in the last part of the class, we will briefly study the spatial aspects of local government.

This one-week travel class to Amsterdam offers an immersive journey into the heart of sustainable urbanism. The course offers a unique opportunity for students to delve deep into the city's pioneering approaches to sustainable mobility, climate adaptation, and urban tech. Through a combination of expert-led lectures, site visits, and interactive activities, students will gain invaluable insights into Amsterdam's integrated urban planning strategies, exploring how this historic city has evolved into a global leader in sustainable urban development, and relating lessons learned into our home city of New York.

Understanding geographic relationships between people, land use, and resources is fundamental to planning. Urban planners routinely use spatial analysis to inform decision-making. This course will introduce students to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), a tool to analyze and visualize spatial data. The course will emphasize the core functions of GIS: map making, data management, and spatial analysis. Students will learn cartographic best practices, how to find and create spatial data, spatial analysis methodology, and how to approach problem solving from a geographic perspective. Throughout the course, students will build a portfolio of professional quality maps and data visualizations.

This course examines historic and contemporary patterns of racial and ethnic stratification often found at the center of disputes concerning urban development, the allocation of city resources and unequal distributions of power. Also embedded throughout the course are ongoing analyses of the ways in which structural inequalities often function in class and gender-specific ways. Using New York City as a laboratory, an interdisciplinary approach is implored - within and outside of the classroom - to make explicit the impacts of this complex legacy of racial formation on planning processes, decisions and outcomes for historically disenfranchised people and communities. The racialized experiences of select immigrant populations, which includes patterns of incorporation into American society as well as enduring transnational links to countries of origin, are also explored within this context.

Climate change will profoundly shape our cities. Cities will be transformed by the effects of climate change or the interventions taken to reduce those impacts. As planners, policy-makers, and urbanists, we hold the profound responsibility of helping shape how that change occurs. The future of our cities will be the consequence of our action or inaction. With that weight on our collective shoulders, this class will examine the how and why of climate adaptation planning for a more resilient future. Through presentations, research, and discussions, the course will focus on building the foundation of the topics of climate resilience and climate adaptation planning, including understanding climate change projections, event probabilities, exposure analysis, hazard consequence evaluations, and adaptive capacity analysis. The course will emphasize the importance of turning this technical work into action, with a focus on how to convince skeptical or reluctant audiences.

This class is about the infrastructure systems that make up the built environment of cities, and that can make cities more or less sustainable and equitable. As humans face concurrent crises of climate change and inequality, most of the earth’s population lives in cities and relies on environmental infrastructure for basic needs like water, sanitation, housing, and mobility. What makes a system sustainable and resilient to climate change? What makes infrastructure equitable? How infrastructure is designed, built, paid for, and governed all has an impact on the outcomes. In the United States, the federal government is for the first time in generations investing hundreds of billions of dollars in climate and infrastructure, and some states are pursuing innovative policy and investment frameworks. Yet it is at the local and regional level where most land use and infrastructure investment decisions get made. How are cities responding to advance sustainable and resilient infrastructure, and what lessons can be learned from past efforts?

This is an introductory course in urban transportation planning. The course is divided into 3 parts. Part One is a foundational review of theories and research about the complex relationships among transportation, land use and urban form. Part Two examines certain key factors that today’s transportation planners deal with as transportation and land use interact in the context of planning and projects. Part Three involves a review of some of the most notable transportation and land use plans, projects and problems facing the New York City metropolitan region. The final class examines useful international trends and comparisons.

This course introduces graduate students to the field of community wealth-building and the movement for a solidarity economy. Students will examine the role of public policy in shaping racial inequality in the U.S.; ways that community groups have organized against redlining and for access to capital and neighborhood equity; strategies for ensuring community-led economic development and a just transition from an extractive to a regenerative economy; and technical tools needed to advance cooperative economics and locally-controlled development. The course will provide students with a strong historical framework, as well as timely case studies showing how groups in low-income urban neighborhoods and communities of color are working to build a just economy. Guest speakers will share their experiences organizing for community control of land and social housing, community development financial institutions and public banking, worker-owned cooperatives, locally-controlled renewable energy, and more.

The course introduces students to the basic tools of real estate analysis and finance. The development and redevelopment of urban real estate, especially housing, is examined from a public policy perspective. Students will learn the acquisition and development process and master the basics of project-level real estate economics. Emphasis is on the financial structure of real estate projects, including tax implications, and how a variety of public policies can influence private development activity.The course will provide substantial foundation and background for broader study in real estate finance. Through lectures, case studies, financial modeling, and presentations by practitioners, students will receive a practical understanding of housing policy, housing finance, affordable housing finance, and development fundamentals.

This course will offer an introduction to transportation planning, including both theoretical and practical approaches. This course will provide an understanding of the evolution and role of urban public transportation modes, systems and services. Additional topics will be introduced, depending upon speaker availability. Subjects in general will include characteristics of different modes (rail, bus, air), scheduling, budgeting, Federal grants, modeling, route design considerations, transit oriented development, public involvement, and project development. While primarily focused upon transportation issues in North America, international transit systems will be used as comparative study cases.

The consequences of disastrous events are escalating globally in terms of lives lost, injuries, adverse social conditions, economic costs, and environmental destruction. Furthermore, the rapidity of action required when an emergency arises poses unique challenges to traditional planning and the provision of public services. This course introduces students to the discipline of emergency management, particularly regarding natural hazards, in order to better understand urban planning and management approaches necessary in preparing for, responding to, recovering from and mitigating future disaster impacts. The course also investigates root causes of who and what is at risk, along with political economic considerations that induce disasters.

This course is about the process of scoping and planning public sector investment projects and the basic knowledge and skills required for their financial and economic appraisal (‘ex-ante’ evaluation). The focus is on urban infrastructure projects identified, prioritized, and appraised through local/municipal planning processes. Case studies include water supply and sewerage, urban transport, solid waste management and green infrastructure. While offered as part of the Wagner’s Master of Urban Planning (MUP) International Planning Specialization and aligned with current practices of international development banks, the UN and other Aid Agencies, the course is intended for policy analysts, urban planners, and engineers working in both developed and developing countries, as most of its technical content is relevant to both contexts. By taking this course, students should be able to: - Understand how urban infrastructure projects are identified, prioritized, and appraised within the broader public sector investment programming and capital budgeting processes. - Appreciate the need for well prepared “business cases” for urban infrastructure projects. - Become familiar with the basic finance and welfare economics concepts underpinning the analysis of public sector investments and learn the basics of the Multi-criteria Analysis (MCA) and Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) techniques. - Understand how to assess the financial feasibility and bankability of development projects. - Understand how to identify, quantify, and value the economic, social, and environmental externalities associated with development projects. - Practice the integrated (technical, financial, institutional, economic, social, and environmental) appraisal of selected urban infrastructure projects of moderate scale and complexity and carry out a relevant risk analysis. The course combines lectures and computer lab sessions for financial modeling of projects (in Excel) and the application of industry-standard software for probabilistic risk analysis (Oracle’s Crystal Ball).

This course examines key ideas in the history and theory of planning. We start with some challenges of 21st-century urbanism to activate our conversations about the history and theory of planning. Does the historical and theoretical apparatus of planning equip us to deal with 21st-century urban formations and problems? Are the forms of contemporary urbanism categorically different from those of the past? Are the techniques and methods of planning bound to the American context, or are they also suitable for other social and political contexts? The syllabus is organized in part as a great books course. We will read a series of classic books in the history and theory of planning by major thinkers whose ideas have had a significant impact on urban form, theory, and planning. They include: Daniel Burnham on the metropolitan idea; Le Corbusier on the modernist city; Jane Jacobs on pedestrian-centered urbanism; and Ian McHarg on environmental planning, among others. Another set of readings and class sessions will focus on the techniques of planning on which planners have grounded their claims of professional expertise. Our goal is to understand the history, use and abuse of the planner’s toolkit. Our topics include: data surveys and the framing of planning as a social science; advocacy planning; building codes; and zoning.

The last three decades have witnessed a global proliferation of public sector restructuring, decentralization, and democratization in developing countries. Traditional development planning has adapted (unevenly) to these trends as they have unfolded. This course presents an overview of the evolution of the theory and practice of planning in developing countries with a particular focus on subnational governments. A central theme is that there are certain universal norms and processes in development planning, but the structure and performance of a planning system depend heavily on the economic, political, institutional and cultural context of a particular country. The course outlines and assesses planning models and systems, reviews approaches used by developing countries and international development agencies to support decentralization and local planning, and introduces a range of practices and tools used by local planners in developing countries. The overall focus is on how local planning systems, techniques and processes can be strategically designed and implemented to work effectively in different contexts. Detailed case studies and exercises based on them are an integral part of the course.

In the coming decades, water will be the central issue in global economic development and health. With one in six people around the world currently lacking access to safe drinking water (1.2 billion people), and more than two out of six lacking adequate sanitation (2.6 billion people), water is already a critical factor affecting the social and economic well being of a sizable proportion of the world’s population. However, with the world’s population projected to double over the next fifty years, and with rapidly dwindling water supplies becoming both more scarce and more volatile as a result of global warming, we are likely to face a water crisis so severe it will reshape everything from our governance structures to our modes of economic and agricultural production to our patterns of social interaction. Water will be the axis around which all public policy revolves. In light of the centrality of water as a current and future public policy issue, this course explores innovative and sustainable solutions for water harvesting and distribution to address the challenges presented by anthropogenic climate change. The field of water harvesting and delivery has generally considered water supplies to be fairly stable, available to be sourced in the same places. As a result, water infrastructure management has traditionally been concerned with efficient methods of water sourcing, delivery, and purification, and with effective methods of cost-recovery for those services. In this course, we will step out of this conventional framework and look at water provision from a new vantage point: instead of taking water supplies as a constant, we will look at how water sources are changing as a function of global warming and increased population pressures, and then will ask what implications these shifts are likely to have for water sourcing and water distribution.

This interdisciplinary seminar brings together law, urban planning and public policy students to analyze historic and current trends in affordable housing, community development, land use, and housing finance. We use New York City as a laboratory that is both unique from, and similar to, other American cities. The course focuses on housing/community development policy, real estate and mortgage financing, subsidies, community participation, environmental impact, and neighborhood change such as gentrification and displacement, with particular emphasis on how issues of race, poverty, and the economic climate affect federal, state, local and community responses. We will discuss the causes and consequences of government intervention in housing and neighborhoods, developing tools for students to determine the need for public intervention, the optimal design and financing of housing and community development programs, and how to evaluate success. The most important course responsibility is completion of a group project among two to four students with a mix of Law and Wagner students on each paper. Each student must contribute to the group to create a fully-integrated and collaborative final project. Students will work on a cutting-edge issue in New York City land use, housing or community development requiring research, interviews with key stakeholders and thoughtful policy and legal recommendations. The grade will be based upon class participation, a financial exercise, the group project paper and a group presentation. A field trip to local neighborhoods is planned. This course requires an application. Registration directions can be found at the following link - http://wagner.nyu.edu/portal/students/academics/courses/highlights. The course is taught at the School of Law.

This course, “Urban Design— Visualization Tools & Neighborhood Challenges,” will introduce students to visualization techniques in a series of linked exercises during the first half of the semester; in the second half of the semester, students will further develop these visualization and design tools as they address challenges and opportunities in a rapidly-changing New York City neighborhood. Instructor Joanna Simon will teach the first half of the course while Professor Louise Harpman will teach the second half. The shared goal of this course is to equip students with tools, techniques, and conceptual frameworks to evaluate as well as create effective urban design proposals. Visualization Tools During the first half of the semester, students will complete seven (7) tutorials. These tutorials will focus on industry standard tools and visualization practices, encouraging students to develop effective ways to communicate design intentions. Each week will focus on a new design concept in order to work through the foundations of a strong design portfolio and a visually cohesive presentation.  Neighborhood Challenges During the second half of the semester, students will learn about the changing priorities within the discipline of urban design, while also engaging persistent and emerging urban design challenges in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the South Bronx. Over many decades, people living in the area have experienced economic insecurity, lack of affordable housing, high crime rates, and poor health outcomes. Yet Hunts Point is also home to the country’s largest food distribution center, new housing developments, new parks and open spaces, arts organizations, workforce development initiatives, waterfront greenways, and a wide-ranging proposal for new electric vehicle infrastructure. Each of these nodes of activity carries with it vital urban design opportunities that students may engage. At the end of the semester, students will develop design presentations that would be appropriate to share with community organizations or city agencies.

Over the last few decades, disparities in income, wealth, and mobility have widened in the United States, but the U.S. fares worse in wealth inequality than income inequality. Wealth, in particular, is crucial to many functions across the life course and between generations, including but not limited to: spending on healthcare and education, acquiring and retaining investments for profit, weathering unexpected expenses or shocks, ascribing social status, and transferring assets to children and/or other family members. The single-family suburban home is the cornerstone of average household wealth and a symbol of the American Dream, but who has wealth in the U.S. is heavily impacted by historical and systematic inequality. This seminar brings a sociological and policy lens to the discourse on wealth inequality. The course begins with the following questions: What is wealth? What kind of assets make up one’s wealth? Why does wealth matter? We delve into the history and wealth trends in the United States before focusing on the intersection of the following themes and wealth: home ownership, migration, entrepreneurship, and banking.

In the US, Health is a privilege, not a right. Approaches to health in this country have focused on treatment and cures, rather than prevention and care. Studies have shown that your zip code, where you live, matters more to your health than your genetic code. Concurrently, data continues to emerge that trauma, and the effects of trauma, can be passed through our genes, from generation to generation, suggesting that enslavement, forced displacement, and poverty of our ancestors are felt in our bones, today. Over 7 weeks, students will review the history of public health in the United States, explore how it plays out in cities, regions, and neighborhoods, and understand how it helps certain populations and hurts other populations, all in the name of building healthy communities. Students will spend time looking at seemingly non-public health decisions and follow it down to clear and tangible spaces, places, and populations, and understand the health implications of those decisions. Students will participate in weekly discussions and contribute reading reflections, module projects, and a final analysis project.

This is the first course in a two-course sequence in housing policy, with an emphasis on major federal policies and the connection between housing, place and opportunity. This first course explores the historic, economic and social context of current housing policy and debates in the U.S., including how housing and community conditions and policies are intertwined. It provides an overview of housing policies, and how they play out on the ground. A key goal of the course is for students to develop knowledge of the field as well as insights for assessing the relative merits of various policies and interventions-what problem are we trying to solve? How might this approach address that problem, or not? What other related outcomes should we worry about? How have housing issues or challenges changed, and what might that mean for needed housing innovations? The role of race and space is considered throughout the course.

This second course in the Housing and Community Development sequence expands upon the foundational understanding of housing and community development policy by focusing on how key policy drivers, the current political and social moment, and core stakeholders are likely to create and/or limit opportunities moving forward. The course will examine the ways that particularly housing policy does and does not change, and what influences such changes. While including historical shifts in housing policy as a frame of reference, it will primarily develop these themes by focusing on dynamics related to the intersection of health, mental health, and homelessness as well as efforts to address racial inequality. A key goal for the course is to further students’ policy development understanding and skills through examination of the key political factors that influence the development of housing and community development policy and the leverage points and forms of intervention that public and private sector actors use.

In this course, students will be introduced to methodological and practical issues involved in carrying out spatial analyses when planning for (and emerging from) an emergency or disaster. The course is, therefore, composed of lectures, discussions, and technical exercises pertaining to data collection, analysis, and interpretation for disaster management. Along with demonstrating the analytical capability of GIS for planning, risk, and vulnerability assessment, this course introduces students to different tools required in hazard mitigation, risk analysis, and mapping. Rather than employ a simple hazard-by-hazard approach, the course will integrate perspectives from the physical and social sciences to identify and describe risk, vulnerability, and disaster resilience with spatial analytical techniques, empirical data, and real-world examples. The course also assumes that students have some experience with GIS and basic statistics, along with an interest in disaster management.

Students will learn the fundamentals of web development with HTML, CSS, and Javascript, and github. Using Free and Open Source Spatial Data tools, students will learn to bring their maps to life on the web as interactive experiences. Use tools like QGIS, CartoDB and PostGIS. Final project will be an interactive web map around an Urban topic of your choosing. This course will involve programming, some experience is preferred but not required. Contact the instructor for introductory coding resources to review before class. Personal Laptops are required.

The last three decades have witnessed a global proliferation of public sector restructuring, decentralization, and democratization in developing countries. Traditional development planning has adapted (unevenly) to these trends as they have unfolded. This course presents an overview of the evolution of the theory and practice of planning in developing countries with a particular focus on subnational governments. A central theme is that there are certain universal norms and processes in development planning, but the structure and performance of a planning system depend heavily on the economic, political, institutional and cultural context of a particular country. The course outlines and assesses planning models and systems, reviews approaches used by developing countries and international development agencies to support decentralization and local planning, and introduces a range of practices and tools used by local planners in developing countries. The overall focus is on how local planning systems, techniques and processes can be strategically designed and implemented to work effectively in different contexts. Case studies of country experiences are an integral part of the course.

In a world that feels defined by crisis, it’s never been more urgent, or even more daunting, to lead. Laura Kavanagh, the FDNY’s first woman and youngest Commissioner, led 17,000 people through unthinkable emergencies and systemic change. Her path from a shy small-town kid to leading one of the world’s most complex public institutions in the largest city in the country shows that leadership isn’t innate, it’s built. In this class, she shares what it really takes to lead when the heat is on, and how to keep your humanity, and with it your courage and clarity. Through practical frameworks, case studies and conversations, students will leave with a clearer sense of their own leadership voice and the tools to be a leader no matter who they are and where they come from.