Technology and the American City

This course will explore how technological innovation has historically shaped and reshaped the American city in order to shed light on how these newest waves of technology are likely to impact our future. We will explore technologies that were profoundly revolutionary at their time, such as the electric light and the automobile, and examine the demands they created for new kinds of infrastructure, like our electric grid and national highway system, and how that infrastructure in turn created new forms of urban development. The course will focus on archetypal U.S. cities whose most significant periods of growth correspond to different inflection points in the development of urban technology: New York City, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. We will conclude the course by considering new technologies, such as autonomous vehicles, and debating how they will mold the future of the American city.