2nd Year

This class is the foundation course designed to introduce second year Community Development and Urban Planning students to the field of urban planning. Students from other master programs might also be interested in this introductory class. It offers a broad overview of the structure and process of contemporary planning practice throughout the world. It will briefly review the evolution of cities and current trends in urbanization, with a focus on the rise of megacities in the developing world. It will highlight both the theoretical debates and practical challenges that planners are likely to encounter within different substantive subfields of planning practice; and discuss problem-solving techniques and strategies used by practicing planners working in different institutional contexts. The course is organized into three major areas: I) Evolution of cities and urbanization trends throughout the world; II) Evolution of urban planning and its functions; III) Fields and topics in urban planning (i.e. urban design, historic preservation, downtown redevelopment).

Research Design, Research Methodology, Data Collection, Analysis and Interpretation

The “Projects management in public institutions and NGOs” course focuses on training the student’s skills in order to increase their capacity to understand and develop a project for a public institution or NGO. Project management theory, project phases and components, examples of project proposals and budgets, nonrefundable programs, basic regarding feasibility studies etc. are presented. The course will support students to understand and use the basic concepts and instruments used in the projects developed and implemented by public institutions and NGOs.

a. Course description:

This course examines the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability in cities. Thus, it explores different definitions to the concept of sustainability and it explores how the concept applies to cities and urban local communities.  Policies and programs that try to address the challenges of sustainability from both developed and developing countries are studied and compared. The focus is on discussing smart growth strategies and tools as a means for addressing the challenges of unsustainable development.  Some of the major themes explored in the context of the sustainability of cities are indicators of sustainability, demographic trends and migration, income distribution, crime and security, green building, urban sprawl, air and water quality, global climate change, and sustainable energy and transportation policies.

b. Course objectives:

To familiarize students with the concepts of sustainability and sustainable cities and to develop their ability to recognize and critically asses policies and strategies implemented by local urban governments from the perspective of sustainability.  

c. Skills acquired by students:

- To be able to identify and to discuss various definitions and approaches to sustainability and how they apply to cities (urban ecosystems);

- To develop a framework for assessing the sustainability of a city or community they are familiar with.

- To draft a redevelopment plan for a community based on the notion of sustainability.