http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ A search of MERLOT materials Copyright 1997-2013 MERLOT. All rights reserved. Tue, 21 May 2013 21:34:52 PDT Tue, 21 May 2013 21:34:52 PDT http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/images/merlot.gif http://www.merlot.org:80/merlot/ 44 34 http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=555969 This course explores how social theories of urban life can be related to the city's architecture and spaces. It is grounded in classic or foundational writings about the city addressing such topics as the public realm and public space, impersonality, crowds and density, surveillance and civility, imprinting time on space, spatial justice, and the segregation of difference. The aim of the course is to generate new ideas about the city by connecting the social and the physical, using Boston as a visual laboratory. Students are required to present a term paper mediating what is read with what has been observed. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=555243 This course focuses on methods of digital visualization and communication and their application to planning issues. Lectures will introduce a variety of methods for describing or representing a place and its residents, for simulating changes, for presenting visions of the future, and for engaging multiple actors in the process of guiding action. Through a series of laboratory exercises, students will apply these methods in the construction of a web-based portfolio. The portfolio is not only the final project for the course, but will serve as a container for other course work throughout the MCP program. This course aims to introduce students to (1) such persistent and recurring themes as place, race, power and the environment that face planners, (2) the role of digital technologies in representing, analyzing, and mobilizing communities, (3) MIT faculty and their work, (4) MIT's computing environment and resources including Athena, Element K, the ESRI virtual campus, Computer Resources Laboratory (CRL), Campus Wide Information Systems Support (CWIS), the GIS Laboratory at Rotch Library and (5) software tools like Adobe® Photoshop® and Illustrator®, ESRI ArcView, Microsoft® Access, and Macromedia® Dreamweaver® that will assist them in creating digital images, working with relational databases, and launching a web-based portfolio. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=555072 This course develops logical, empirically based arguments using statistical techniques and analytic methods. Elementary statistics, probability, and other types of quantitative reasoning useful for description, estimation, comparison, and explanation are covered. Emphasis is on the use and limitations of analytical techniques in planning practice. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=554979 This course investigates social conflict and distributional disputes in the public sector. While theoretical aspects of conflict are considered, the focus of the class is on the practice of dispute resolution. Comparisons between unassisted and assisted negotiation are reviewed along with the techniques of facilitation and mediation. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=554990 This is a seminar about the ways that urban design contributes to the distribution of political power and resources in cities. "Design," in this view, is not some value-neutral aesthetic applied to efforts at urban development but is, instead, an integral part of the motives driving that development. The class investigates the nature of the relations between built form and political purposes through close examination of a wide variety of situations where public and private sector design commissions and planning processes have been clearly motivated by political pressures, as well as situations where the political assumptions have remained more tacit. We will explore cases from both developed and developing countries. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=555058 This course explores the urban environment as a natural phenomenon, human habitat, medium of expression, and forum for action. The course has several major themes: how ideas of nature influence the way cities are perceived, designed, built, and managed; how natural processes and urban form interact and the consequences for human health and welfare; how planners and designers can shape the urban natural environment. Each student researches and presents a case, either historical or an example of contemporary theory and practice. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=554981 This workshop explores the potential of media technology and the Internet to enhance communication and transform city design and community development in inner-city neighborhoods. The class introduces a variety of methods for describing or representing a place and its residents, for simulating actions and changes, for presenting visions of the future, and for engaging multiple actors in the process of envisioning change and guiding action. Students will engage two neighborhoods: the Mill Creek neighborhood of West Philadelphia, PA, and the Brightwood/Northend neighborhood of Springfield, MA. Students will meet real people working on real projects, put theory into practice, and reflect on insights gained in the process. Our hope is that student work will contribute to new initiatives in both communities.The class Web site can be found here: Media Technology and City Design and Development. It is sponsored by the West Philadelphia Landscape Project and the Center for Reflective Community Practice. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=554632 For many years, Cambridge, MA, as host to two major research universities, has been the scene of debates as to how best to meet the competing expectations of different stakeholders. Where there has been success, it has frequently been the result, at least in part, of inventive urban design proposals and the design and implementation of new institutional arrangements to accomplish those proposals. Where there has been failure it has often been explained by the inability - or unwillingness - of one stakeholder to accept and accommodate the expectations of another. The two most recent fall Urban Design Studios have examined these issues at a larger scale. In 2001 we looked at the possible patterns for growth and change in Cambridge, UK, as triggered by the plans of Cambridge University. And in 2002 we looked at these same issues along the length of the MIT 'frontier' in Cambridge, MA as they related to the development of MIT and the biotech research industry. In the fall 2003 Urban Design Studio we propose to focus in on an area adjacent to Cambridgeport and the western end of the MIT campus, roughly centered on Fort Washington. Our goal is to discover the ways in which good urban form, an apt mix of activities, and effective institutional mechanisms might all be brought together in ways that respect shared expectations and reconcile competing expectations - perhaps in unexpected and adroit ways. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=555608 This class explores how public policy and private markets affect housing, economic development, and the local economy. It provides an overview of techniques and specified programs, policies, and strategies that are (and have been) directed at neighborhood development. It gives students an opportunity to reflect on their personal sense of the housing and community development process. And it emphasizes the institutional context within which public and private actions are undertaken. http://www.merlot.org/merlot/viewMaterial.htm?id=555398 This seminar is an introduction to the usage and impacts of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on urban planning, the urban environment and communities. Students will explore how social relationships, our sense of community, the urban infrastructure, and planning practice have been affected by technological change. Literature reviews, guest speakers, and web surfing will provide examples and issues that are debated in class and homework exercises. We will examine metropolitan information infrastructures, urban modeling and visualization, e-government, collaborative planning, and cyber communities. Students will attend a regular Tuesday seminar and occasional seminars of invited speakers during lunchtime on Fridays or Mondays. During the past two decades, ICTs have become so pervasive and disruptive that their impact on urban planning and social relationships has begun to reach far beyond their immediate use as efficient bookkeeping and automation tools. This seminar will examine ICT impacts on our sense of community, urban planning practice, the meaning of 'place', and the nature of metropolitan governance. In each of the four areas, we will utilize readings, class discussion, guest lectures, and homework exercises to identify and critique key trends, relevant theories, and promising directions for research and professional practice.