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This course is a requirement for completion of the Urban Design Certificate Program. It investigates the complex nature of 'successful' urban design and attempts to identify and evaluate examples of urban design that are at the leading edge of practice, anticipating the future. The seminar will deal with two parallel questions: what are the key trends that will shape the future form and function of cities, and how will these changes affect the role of the urban designer? The first part of the seminar focuses on the present, and the second part of the semester will consider the future. After the course surveys the landscape of contemporary urban design practice, the challenge it will pose to students will be to identify the trajectory of cities and city design from both physical and social perspectives.

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Revitalizing Urban Main Streets focuses on the physical and economic renewal of urban neighborhood Main Streets by combining classroom work with an applied class project. The course content covers three broad areas: 1. an overview of the causes for urban business district decline, the challenges faced in revitalization and the type of revitalization strategies employed; 2. the physical and economic development planning tools used to understand and assess urban Main Streets from physical design and economic development perspectives; and 3. the policies, interventions, and investments used to foster urban commercial revitalization. The course has dual goals: to explore the integration of economic and physical development interventions in ways that reinforce commercial district revitalization efforts, and to apply this knowledge through the development of a formal neighborhood commercial revitalization plan for a client business district.

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This course focuses on the physical and economic renewal of urban neighborhood Main Streets by combining classroom work with an applied class project. The course content covers four broad areas: 1. An overview of the causes for urban business district decline, the challenges faced in revitalization and the type of revitalization strategies employed; 2. The physical and economic development planning tools used to understand and assess urban Main Streets from physical design and economic development perspectives; 3. The policies, interventions, and investments used to foster urban commercial revitalization; and The formulation of a revitalization plan for an urban commercial district.

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This three-week module, centered on a focal case, represents the second part of the Department's introduction to the challenges of reflection and action in professional planning practice. As such, it builds on the concepts and tools in 11.201 and 11.202 in the fall semester. Working in teams, students will deliver a 20-minute oral briefing, with an additional 10 minutes for questions and comments, in the last week of the class (as detailed on the assignment and posted course schedule). The teams will brief invited guests ("briefees") taking the roles of decision makers. DUSP faculty and fellow students may also be in attendance.

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The Springfield Studio is a practicum design course that focuses on the physical, programmatic, and social renewal of an urban community in Springfield, Massachusetts by combining classroom work with an applied class project. The course content covers the areas of physical design/urban design and the related analysis and planning tools used to understand and assess urban conditions from a design and development perspective. Urban design issues are investigated in the context of social and economic challenges within the community. Thus, the course has dual goals: 1. analyze physical conditions in the community, assess community need, propose physical design interventions; and 2. assess community capacity and programmatic needs. The ultimate goal is to explore the integration of social, programmatic and physical development interventions in ways that reinforce community revitalization efforts, and to apply this knowledge through the development of a formal neighborhood revitalization plan that addresses community needs.