Introduction to Urban, Rural, and Regional Planning

This course integrates professional planning approaches and tools with foundational and theoretical practices of recognizing and reading landscapes and working with diverse communities. Weekly modules introduce disciplines within the Urban and Regional Planning field, such as community engagement and governance, health, housing, transportation, design, resource management, and disaster resilience. While designed for undergraduates, class incorporates some graduate-level activities and encourages critical thinking. Students reflect on the places that shaped them, develop a clear-eyed understanding of how planning processes have caused both current and historic social and environmental harms, and explore methods to repair these impacts while testing the limits of the planning field.