URBN 0074. Nineteenth-Century Architecture.

Surveys stylistic developments, new building types, and the changing conditions of architectural production through the 19th century. Special emphasis placed on the social context in which buildings were designed and used. Weekly one-hour conference required.

URBN 0210. The City: An Introduction to Urban Studies.

With over half the world’s population now living in cities, understanding the past and present of urbanization is critical to the planet’s collective future. This course introduces students to cities and urban life around the globe. Drawing upon multiple disciplines, it explores questions like: How do histories of urban planning shape present patterns of inequality? How does rampant urban growth impact ecology and health? How do new identities and solidarities arise in cities, and what effects does citizen activism have on urban politics? What urgent challenges face cities today, and how might these be creatively overcome by communities, planners, and governments?

URBN 0214. The U.S. Metropolis: Cities and Suburbs in American History.

This lecture and discussion course will provide students with an introduction to the history, culture, and politics of United States cities and suburbs from the beginnings of the nation to the close of the twentieth century. Readings are drawn from recent work in the cultural, political, and social history of the U.S. as well as primary sources drawn from the period. Topics: urban and suburban development, urban cultural forms, urban social and political movements, and “urbanist” intellectual and policy initiatives that have sought to understand and shape urbanization and suburbanization. Lectures, readings, and discussions will stress the challenge that urbanization has presented for U.S. political culture, the ways urbanism has sought to meet those challenges, and the role of class, gender, and race in shaping urban and suburban culture, politics, and the development of the built environment.

URBN 0215. Urban Life in the Global South.

Cities in the so-called “Global South” – from Jakarta to Johannesburg, Lima to Lahore, Dakar to Delhi – are vibrant, complex, and key to the future of our rapidly urbanizing world. While undoubtedly places of challenge and conflict, these cities are also hotbeds of creativity and activism, where alternative ways of building, governing, and sustaining urban communities take shape. This course first traces the historical forces of colonialism, nationalism, and globalization that have shaped cities across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, before delving into a range of social, political, and environmental issues that local city-dwellers and their leaders grapple with today.

URBN 0230. Urban Life in Providence: An Introduction.

An introduction to Urban Studies and to the city of Providence, this first year seminar explores from an interdisciplinary perspective how cities are broadly conceptualized and studied. Students then focus on urban dwelling, using Providence as a first-hand case study. We comprehensively examine urban life and change, attending to urban history, the diverse configurations of people and place, social and environmental issues, and urban sustainability. In a lively and varied approach to local learning, course activities include lectures, discussion, reading and writing assignments, films and other media, guest speakers, and excursions to local sites. Enrollment limited to 19 first year students.

URBN 0820A. Urban Ecologies: Forms, Flows and Futures.

This seminar explores the potential agency of environmental planning and design to bring about positive change on urban-ecological problems. Students will create a framework to critically investigate the geographies of urban socio-logical processes that are directly relevant to achieving more equitable, sustainable and resilient futures. The course will focus on local geographies and extended regional dynamics through the development of cities, parks, and the role of landscape as both social and environmental infrastructure.

URBN 1000. Fieldwork in the Urban Community.

Each student undertakes a fieldwork project in close collaboration with a government agency, a nonprofit association, or a planning firm, thereby simultaneously engaging with community and learning qualitative research methods skills. In weekly seminar meetings, the class examines a series of urban issues and discusses fieldwork methodology. Students also schedule regular appointments with the instructor.

URBN 1010. Fieldwork in Urban Archaeology and Historical Preservation.

Study of the surface and subsurface features of the urban built environment. An introduction to research methods and fieldwork procedures used by archaeologists and historical preservationists who work on urban sites. Students undertake fieldwork projects that involve archival research, close examination of historic structures, and theoretical analysis of the changing urban landscape. Priority given to Urban Studies concentrators and American Civilization grad students. Other students selected on first day of class.

URBN 1100. Investigating the City: Hands-on Research Methods for Urban Analysis.

This course encourages students to take the study of cities into their own hands. At the start of term, students will pick their own field site within the city of Providence and will examine that field site through the lens of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The class will consist of both hybrid lecture-discussion meetings, where we will examine case studies of urban research to give students a foundational understanding of a variety of methodological approaches, and hands-on workshops, where students will gain a more practical understanding of how to collect and interpret original data and successfully communicate findings. The course will culminate in a final mixed-methods research project synthesizing the data students have collected throughout the semester at (or related to) their chosen field site.

URBN 1140. Urban Theory and Practice.

This course will give students the critical tools to explore the socio-spatial dynamics of urbanization, critique normative approaches, and galvanize possible alternative urban futures. Taking a multi-scalar approach on how cities are connected to wider regional dynamics and how urban planning and design can mobilize to address pressing issues of health, climate and social justice.

URBN 1200. The United States Metropolis, 1945-2000.

This lecture and discussion course will provide students with an introduction to the history, politics, and culture of United States cities and suburbs from the end of World War II to the close of the twentieth century. Readings are drawn from recent work in the political, social, and cultural history of U.S. cities as well as primary sources rooted in the period under study.

URBN 1210. Regional Planning.

Urban sprawl, uncoordinated land use policy, environmental decline, shrinking cities, regional inequities in housing, education, and tax capacity are all challenges that transcend city boundaries. Does it take regional planning to address these challenges? What can regional planning provide that urban planning cannot? In this course, students will develop a critical understanding of regional planning approaches to economic, social, environmental, and land use issues in the United States and abroad. Students will learn urban and regional planning methods which will be integrated throughout the course. A weekly studio and practical group projects are planned.

URBN 1220. Planning Sustainable Cities.

What does sustainability mean in the context of urban areas? Can sustainability be achieved in cities? If so, in what contexts and how? In this course, we will explore theoretical elements of sustainable development and their applications to urban planning. We will also explore various practices in important subfields of planning -- land use, transportation, brownfields redevelopment, affordable housing, renewable energy, food systems, economic development, and governance. This is a project-based course and includes lectures, discussions, workshops, case studies, selected guest speakers, a final project and a mandatory field trip. The approach is interdisciplinary and open to non-concentrators.

URBN 1230. Crime and the City.

This course focuses on crime and the making of urban space, as well as how the making of urban space helps to create and categorize criminal subjects and the concept of cultural criminality. In addition to looking at the geography of race, class, and power in a contemporary US setting, this semester we will focus in on gang identity and performance, police tactics and territoriality, graffiti as an act of spatial transgression, homelessness, and notions of socio-spatial justice. As I will show with the course texts and through classroom lectures, studying crime is about studying space, and visa versa.

URBN 1250. The Political Foundations of the City.

This course examines the history of urban and social welfare policy in the United States and abroad. It reviews major theories accounting for the origins and subsequent development of welfare states, explains the "exceptional" nature of American public policy, and employs a combination of historical texts and case studies to analyze the connections between politics and the urban environment.

URBN 1260. Housing in America.

An examination of why housing matters to individuals, communities, and the nation. This course examines the unique qualities of housing and associated American cultural ideals and norms. The changing role of the government in housing is considered, along with other factors shaping the provision of housing, and the success and failure of housing programs. While housing is a necessity, for many in America housing choices are constrained as costs are unaffordable, discriminatory practices remain, and physical features do not align with needs. This course deliberates how well America meets the challenge of providing decent shelter for all residents.

URBN 1270. Urban Politics and Urban Public Policy.

A central theme of the course is that urban politics in the United arises from the interplay of governmental power and private resources. The course describes the emergence of urban America; the modern city and the theories that have evolved to explain urban politics; and the nature of the urban condition with particular emphasis on the challenges faced by residents and government in the post-industrial city.

URBN 1280. Heritage in the Metropolis: Remembering and Preserving the Urban Past.

Urban heritage – from archaeological sites and historic architecture to longstanding cultural practices – is increasingly threatened by the exponential growth of cities around the globe. Most critically, the complex histories and lived experiences of the diverse communities who have inhabited and shaped cities are often in danger of being erased and forgotten today. This course examines how we might remember and preserve this urban past – and the tangible sites and artifacts that attest to it – ­in light of the social and political dynamics of cities in the present.

URBN 1290. Race, Racism, and the Urban Environment.

It is impossible to understand our past or present urban environments without a critical analysis of race and racism. Likewise, it is impossible to understand the contested meanings of race without accounting for the role of urban practices and environments in shaping racial identities, disparities, and struggles. This course explores the reciprocal relationship between urban studies and critical race studies through three thematic units: city planning, housing justice, and cultural production and the policing of public space.
Throughout, we will examine the ways that cities are remade by social movements, artists, and everyday residents through practices of spatial repurposing and cultural resistance.

URBN 1500. Understanding the City through Data.

Cities are complex systems, but luckily there are lots of data and analysis techniques to make sense of them. In this project-based course, you will learn to conduct a variety of data analysis techniques that are commonly used and essential in urban studies. The case studies will be selected from humanities, social sciences, and real-life urban problems.

URBN 1870A. American Culture and the City.

This course explores American culture and the way it shapes our cities. Topics include the American dream, race, immigration, urban dilemmas, white supremacy, and the seduction of suburbia. We read a book (readings include Alexis de Tocqueville, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison, Tom Wolfe, W.E.B Du Bois, and others. Films include Wall Street and Gangs of New York. Prerequisite: POLS 0220. Priority given to Urban Studies concentrators.

URBN 1870C. The Environment Built: Urban Environmental History and Urban Environmentalism for the 21st Century.

The term "built environment" suggests an intimate relationship between natural and human-made landscapes. For the last twenty years, environmental historians such as William Cronon have contributed to the project of transcending the false dichotomy between a "pristine" natural environment and the (supposedly artificial) social, cultural, and political terrain of humans. Building upon this important scholarly trajectory, this seminar will re-examine these and other important contributions in light of recent environmental and urban disasters, aiming to bring theoretical readings in environmental history down to earth in order to inspire new ways of thinking about the "environment" for the 21st century. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors. Instructor permission required.

URBN 1870D. Downtown Development.

This seminar examines the development and revitalization of the urban core in the United States with a focus on urban planning. Providence is used as a laboratory to explore development from the perspective of the planner, the developer, and city residents. Important concepts are illustrated through field trips, public meetings, and guest speakers.

URBN 1870F. Housing and Homelessness.

What is homelessness and where does it come from? Can affordable housing solve the problem? This seminar examines homelessness, low-income housing policies, segregation, gentrification, privatization of public space, and related processes that make it difficult to house the poor. Open to Urban Studies concentrators and by permission based on demonstration of research skills. Enrollment limited to 20.

URBN 1870G. Ancient Cities: From the Origins Through Late Antiquity.

This seminar explores major cities of the ancient Near East (Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and the Levant), Egypt, Greece, and Italy from the origins through late antiquity. The primary focus will be on the physical appearance and overall plans of the cities, their natural and man-made components, their domestic and private as well as their religious and secular spaces. Objects and artifacts of daily life, including pottery, sculpture, wall paintings, mosaics, and various small finds will be evaluated to establish a more nuanced understanding of the different architectural and urban contexts.

URBN 1870H. Rivers and Cities.

Rivers promote urban development and serve as important resources and cultural amenities for communities. This interdisciplinary seminar looks at the use and abuse of selected rivers which have run by or through American cities from the colonial period to the present.

URBN 1870I. The Changing American City.

This course examines the recent evolution of the American city. We will consider various external forces that act upon the city, principally (a) migration patterns, (b) economic and technological change, and (c) public policy. We will also consider how various groups and political leaders respond to these forces and on what resources they draw. Priority given to Urban Studies and Political Science concentrators.

URBN 1870J. The Politics of Community Organizing.

Introduces key issues concerning community organizing. Focuses on the life, skills, and tactics of Saul Alinsky and the national organization he founded, the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF). Analyzes the work of the IAF in a number of urban settings. Seeks to develop theories and models for studying community mobilization in urban America. Priority given to Political Science and Urban Studies concentrators.

URBN 1870K. Jerusalem Divided: Politics and Cultural Heritage.

“The heritage of Jerusalem is indivisible, and each of its communities has a right to the explicit recognition of their history and relationship with the city. To deny, conceal or erase any of the Jewish, Christian, or Muslim traditions, undermines the integrity of the site, and runs counter to the reasons that justified its inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage list.” These are the words of Irina Bokova, former Director-General of UNESCO, spoken in 2016. While the indivisible heritage referred to in this context reflects the reality of Jerusalem’s Old City’s intertwined historical, cultural, and religious legacies, it does not address the geopolitical conflict, in which ideological and territorial claims produce diverging heritage narratives. In this seminar, we will examine how competing heritage narratives have been shaped by Israeli, Palestinian, and international views and interests. We will explore the history of archaeological exploration, discovery, and interpretation in Jerusalem in the contexts of social, political, and religious debates from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, with an emphasis on its urban landscape.

URBN 1870M. Urban Regimes in the American Republic.

A probing of topical issues in both their theoretical antecedents and their contemporary manifestations. Examines the intellectual debates and the scholarly treatments surrounding issues of power in the city, urban redevelopment policy, urban poverty, urban educational policy, and race in the city. Enrollment limited to 20.

URBN 1870N. The Cultural and Social Life of the Built Environment.

This seminar investigates the relationship between people and place. It considers the ways that people create and experience the human-made landscape, how they understand place through various aesthetic forms, and political conflict over space and place. We look mostly at the history and contemporary development of cities and suburbs in the United States. Students will prepare a final project on a specific aspect of the built environment; they will be encouraged to focus their research on Providence or another local community. Enrollment limited to 20. Priority given to Urban Studies concentrators and seniors; instructor permission required otherwise.

URBN 1870P. Representing the Twentieth-Century City.

Will explore the impact of a variety of techniques of representation on the formulation and conceptualization of a variety of "urban problems" in twentieth-century Europe and America. Will employ an active, "hands-on" approach, and therefore centers on a series of projects: in addition to reading classic works in urban planning history and the history of science, participants will choose their own "urban problem" to explore throughout the semester. They will conduct an in-depth interview with a key figure involved in contemporary debates about this problem, write an "ideas piece" or editorial about it, and, finally, submit a research paper. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors.

URBN 1870Q. Cities in Mind: Modern Urban Thought and Theory.

This seminar investigates the place of the city in the history of modern thought and cultural theory, drawing on selected currents in urban thought and theory from Europe and the United States over the last two centuries. Topics include questions of public and private space, citizenship, selfhood, difference and inequality, media and technology, planning, modernism and postmodernism. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors, preference for those concentrating in Urban Studies.

URBN 1870R. Bottom-up Urbanism.

Cities are produced by those who possess political authority, technical expertise, and dominant forms of economic, social, and cultural capital. In this course, however, we will focus on the production of urban space and fight for spatial justice from the bottom up. We will examine everyday creative, illicit, autonomous, anarchic, and agent-based urbanism as practiced by members of subgroups, from graffiti writers and Occupy protestors to place-based communities of color, who re-envision, re-aestheticize, and physically transform their surroundings, develop new forms of symbolic capital, and produce alternative socio-spatial realities in a quest for inclusive urban futures.

URBN 1870S. The City, the River, and the Sea: Social and Environmental Change at the Water's Edge.

This course examines urban social and environmental change at the water’s edge, focusing in particular on urban rivers, coastal areas, and deltas. Beginning with key frameworks for understanding the relationship between people and place, students explore the history and current concerns of urbanization, within the larger and increasingly urgent inquiry on human dwelling and water/waterways. The course is then organized around key topics and case studies from around the world, framed by historical and scientific data but also explored through ethnography, narrative non-fiction, and documentary work to understand how water, urban dwelling, and change are variously experienced, enacted, and presented.

URBN 1870T. Transportation: An Urban Planning Perspective.

This seminar explores how urban planners in the U.S. plan for and around various transportation networks. We will examine how these networks are designed and funded, which modes get priority over others, and ultimately how transportation shapes the built environment. Realworld examples of plans and projects from Providence and Rhode Island are used throughout the course. Important concepts are illustrated through field trips and guest speakers.

URBN 1870U. Critical Urban Theory.

In this seminar students will closely read and apply critical theory to thinking about urban formations and inherent socio-spatial inequalities and forms of everyday representation in a contemporary US context. More broadly, students will become familiar with geographical thought coming out of the social sciences and humanities that advances the decidedly spatial perspective that the majority of social, economic, political, and environmental problems and their potential solutions are urban-based.

URBN 1870V. City Senses: Urbanism Beyond Visual Spectacle.

Architecture and urbanism provide synesthetic experiences of space that don't necessarily privilege visual perception. This project seminar explores alternative approaches to design and an understanding of the city through explorations of all the senses. We will read philosophical ideologies and the physical experiences of the sounds of bells, traffic, and water; the smells of foods, plants, and sewers; and the feelings of light and shade. Through the identification of unconventional sensory markers, sound recordings, scent distillations, or films of different corporeal means of navigating the city, we will create a digital exhibition that consists of interactive maps of Providence.

URBN 1870W. World Cities.

Populations the world over are urbanizing, creating mega-cities with mega-prospects and mega-problems. This course considers urbanization and urban life in the world;s largest and most prominent cites. Examines the economic, political, social, cultural, and other forces that push and pull migrants to global cities and the ways those cities respond to growth--and sometimes decline. Students confront urban challenges--inadequate infrastructure, transportation, and housing environmental degradation, architectural and heritage preservation, social diversity and conflict, crime and informal employment. Students also learn what makes places distinctive by comparing global cities from regions around the world.

URBN 1870X. The Political Economy of Cities: American and Comparative Perspectives.

Why do cities grow, prosper, or decay? How are cities managed and organized? How can we make our cities better? This course is an introduction to the political economy of the cities, and the challenges and opportunities that we face today to build safe, inclusive, and sustainable cities. We will examine how economic and political factors shape cities, urban life, and urbanization processes using theories and methods from different social science disciplines (political science, economics, sociology, geography, etc.). Particular attention will be given to comparing urban processes across time and place, including cities from the U.S. and from all around the world, and critically evaluating the efforts of different actors to shape and reshape the city.

URBN 1870Z. Housing Justice.

Housing is fundamental to overall well-being, yet in RI many cannot find affordable, decent housing aligned with their needs. This community-based research course engages with local housing justice organizations working for change. Course participants, organizational staff, and community members will gather and analyze data to inform interventions and/or modify policies. After some foundational studies, the semester will be spent immersed in a team research project. Topics may include evictions, studentification and gentrification, rental inspections, property ownership, and healthy housing. The course will advance skills in research, communication, and collaboration, and expand understanding of the housing system.

URBN 1871A. Heritage in the Metropolis: Remembering and Preserving the Urban Past.

Urban heritage – from archaeological sites and historic architecture to longstanding cultural practices – is increasingly threatened by the exponential growth of cities around the globe. Most critically, the complex histories and lived experiences of the diverse communities who have inhabited and shaped cities are often in danger of being erased and forgotten today. This course examines how we might remember and preserve this urban past – and the tangible sites and artifacts that attest to it – ¬in light of the social and political dynamics of cities in the present.

URBN 1871B. Berlin: Global Metropolis (1945-2020).

This seminar explores the physical and human landscapes of post-war Berlin: its steadily expanding urban fabric and how it engages with the rapidly changing population make-up. The focus will be on the tension between past and present histories, new German identities, the recent massive migrations, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and how these social and geopolitical phenomena interact with the city’s urban spaces and monuments. As case studies, we will explore the relationship among Germans and three other significant communities: Turks, Israelis, and Palestinians.

URBN 1871D. Transportation Theory and Praxis: Creative Methods and Decolonial Options.

This course theorizes transportation through a more-than-modern lens. We review diverse epistemologies enabling us to theorize motivations, infrastructures, and practices of transportation—including everyday urban mobilities in Providence. We cover: why people move; transportation infrastructures and practices; and powers and diversities of transportation. We examine colonial aspects of modern transportation, and directional decolonial and anti-colonial options. We approach all of this through a multi-method, multi-media, multi-framework context. You will learn non-essay-centric modes of scholarly output through workshops, experimentation, and observation. You will incorporate these diverse methods of research, discourse and praxis in your projects throughout the semester.

URBN 1871E. Urban Development and Governance in the Global South.

More than half of the world’s population now lives in urban areas, and this proportion will continue to increase mostly due to urban growth and urbanization in the Global South. This course will focus on some of the most salient governance issues that enable and constrain development in Global South cities: poverty and inequality, housing and informal settlements, political protests and social movements, crime and violence, the informal economy, climate change and pollution, etc. Special attention will be given to comparing and critically evaluating how urban governance in developing countries today resembles or departs from contemporary and historical urban processes in the United States and Western Europe.

URBN 1871F. Urban Ecologies: Forms, Flows and Futures.

This seminar explores the potential agency of environmental planning and design to bring about positive change on urban-ecological problems. Students will create a framework to critically investigate the geographies of urban socio-logical processes that are directly relevant to achieving more equitable, sustainable and resilient futures. The course will focus on local geographies and extended regional dynamics through the development of cities, parks, and the role of landscape as both social and environmental infrastructure.

URBN 1871G. Urban Asia: Beyond Tradition, Modernity, and Crisis.

In popular portrayals, the diverse cities of Asia are often caricatured as icons of eternal tradition, dazzling modernity, or intractable crisis. This seminar goes beyond these simplistic narratives to explore change and continuity in some of the world’s oldest and largest urban centers, delving into both the rich history of Asian urbanisms and the complexities of city life in the region today. Films, poetry, short stories, and artwork are paired with scholarly research to examine how urban Asia has been experienced, imagined, and represented over the centuries.

URBN 1872. The Right to the City: Focus on Indonesia.

Cities today face profound challenges, from deepening inequalities to deteriorating environments. While the scale of these issues can demand top-down interventions, some of the most creative and effective efforts to address such challenges come from activists, researchers, and residents working locally to make their urban communities more just and sustainable. This course explores the diverse ways in which communities claim their “right to the city” in urban Indonesia, focusing on citizen-led efforts to foster environmental resilience, housing justice, accessible transportation, and inclusive public spaces. This is a GELT course and will be taught at Brown and in Indonesia.

URBN 1900. Land Use Planning: The Future of the I-195 Parcels.

This studio examines how one represents, analyzes, constructs and projects the future design of an urban site. One approach examines the city as a series of distinct physical spaces and operates by establishing typological standards and constructs significant and iconic public spaces. The second approach is concerned with the city as a technical object that organizes time – the operational aspects of the city - as well as space. In this studio, we ask you to consider how intervening in a specific location in downtown Providence can initiate a larger plan and longer-term vision through urban and an architectural scale propositions. Enrollment limited to 10 seniors concentrating in Urban Studies and History of Art and Architecture.

URBN 1910. Drawing and Creating in 2D, 3D and CAD for Architecture and Urban Design.

This class equips students with an array of techniques for developing and recording ideas in architecture and urban design. Geometric techniques, such as orthogonal plans, section cuts, elevations, axonometric projections and simple perspective systems, are introduced along with procedures for exploring qualitative and time-based factors. Practical assignments cover the use of sketch and formal (projection) techniques in both analog and digital media (including CAD applications). Brief readings and class discussions provide a critical understanding of the various techniques, their history, their particular strengths and their appropriate contexts of use.

URBN 1920. Introduction to Urban Design and Planning: The City as System.

Urban design and planning are the tools that shape the physical and social fabrics of the city: Urbs and Civitas. The distinction between urban and civic -the built city and the city of human relationships- has shifted in light of the current process of global urbanization. This seminar will examine the role of urban design and planning in shaping the systemic city of the 21st century. Our conversations about current theories and practices of urban design, planning and urban systems will be accompanied by a hands-on design exercise to experience how the future of cities is planned in the present.

URBN 1921. Theory of Architecture and Urbanism.

The course introduces the theory of architecture and urbanism. It focuses on the notion that theory is closely related to the crisis of architecture and urbanism as experienced with the rise of the modern metropolis in the mid-19th century. The formation of mass society, the deployment of new materials such as steel, glass and concrete, and the replacement of manual labour by machine production scrutinized the classical concepts of space, architecture and city. The course will follow the changing concept of theory from the advent of the modern metropolis through high modernism, postmodernity, deconstruction and the age of digital production.

URBN 1930. Brown in Providence.

This course will explore the long interrelationship between Brown University and the city it calls home. Through guided readings, independent research and spirited conversation, we will trace the many ways in which Brown’s urban setting has defined the university over its 250 years. We will consider Rhode Island’s unique history as a refuge for the persecuted, the transformations of the Industrial Revolution and the ways in which immense political and demographic changes of the 19th and 20th centuries left their mark on Brown.

URBN 1932. The Just City: Installment I, Comparative Perspectives on Juvenile Justice Reform.

The first installment in a series on “the just city,” this course focuses on juvenile justice reform. Beginning with a broad view of the just city, the course then examines: 1) urban childhoods and constructions of race, inequality, and delinquency and 2) juvenile justice reform from a comparative perspective that includes local, U.S., and international contexts. An engaged scholars course, students participate in reflexive practices to draw connections between course content, their own experiences, and specific community-based contexts. At the end of the semester, students write and share reports in a public forum conceptualized and organized by the class.

URBN 1940. Planning, Designing, Building in West Africa: Informality from Urban Scale to Material Choices.

This project seminar introduces students to the urban character and architecture of economic informality in developing countries. The focus will be on West Africa and more specifically on Niger to explore what the phenomenon is, how it expresses itself and how it impacts the urban fabric. Students will be exposed to images and writings that explore urban infrastructure in West Africa, its networks and actors. The course will explore and encourage students to think of ways in which the informal economy and its architecture can become a part of the urban design logic of cities in many parts of Africa.

URBN 1941. How to Shape a City: An Introduction to Real Estate Development.

Have you ever wondered why cities take the form they do, with tall offices in some districts and low-density housing in others? Or how run-down parts of an older city evolve overnight into “hot,” happening places? This course will introduce the fundamentals of real estate development, examining a variety of development forms from multiple perspectives - including those of the city, the developer and the local citizen. Using examples from Providence and elsewhere, it will provide students with both insight into the forces determining the shape of modern American cities and hands-on tools to begin shaping the urban environment themselves.

URBN 1942. Designing the 21st Century City in West Africa: Informality and New Urban Planning Languages.

Nowhere in the world is urbanization happening at the rate it is in developing countries, which are experiencing unprecedented pressures on their urban economies. This seminar-studio introduces students to the urban character and architecture of economic informality in those countries. The focus will be on West Africa and more specifically on Niger to explore the phenomenon and how it inserts itself in the urban fabric. The studio phase of the course will encourage students to propose ways in which the informal economy and its architecture can become a part of the urban design logic of many African cities.

URBN 1943. The Real Estate Development Process: An Entrepreneurial Lens.

Real estate development is the ongoing configuration of the built environment for society’s needs. The improved spaces in which we live, work, and play all started as ideas initiated and brought to fruition. Every real estate project, whether it’s making use of unused land or redeveloping existing properties, is in essence a separate business undertaking employing the three factors of production - land, labor, and capital - to create a new or changed product. These factors are coordinated by entrepreneurial management and delivered by teams.

URBN 1970. Independent Reading and Research.

A specific program of intensive reading and research arranged in terms of the special needs and interests of the student. Open primarily to concentrators, but others may be admitted by written permission. Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course.

URBN 1971. Senior Honors Thesis I in Urban Studies.

A program of intensive reading, research, and writing under the direction of a faculty member. Permission should be obtained from the Thesis Advisor in Urban Studies. Mandatory attendance at periodic meetings during the semester is required. Open to Senior Urban Studies concentrators pursuing Honors in Urban Studies. Instructor permission required.

URBN 1972. Senior Honors Thesis II in Urban Studies.

A program of intensive reading, research, and writing under the direction of a faculty member. Permission should be obtained from the Thesis Advisor in Urban Studies. Mandatory attendance at periodic meetings during the semester is required. Open to Senior Urban Studies concentrators pursuing Honors in Urban Studies. Instructor permission required.

URBN 1981. Honors Thesis Workshop.

This seminar introduces students to independent research and writing skills necessary for successful and timely completion of the honors thesis. Course work includes presentation of one's own thesis drafts and peer review of classmates' work. All students who submit an approved honors thesis proposal shall enroll in URBN 1981 for the spring semester of their thesis research and writing. Concentrators may also enroll in the course during semesters 6 or 7 in preparation for the honors thesis, but must present a written proposal in place of chapters. Enrollment limited to 20 juniors and seniors in Urban Studies. S/NC

URBN XLIST. Courses of Interest to Concentrators in Urban Studies.