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.

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.

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.

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.

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.