Practitioners of community development grapple with the fundamental paradox of urbanization: it generates exceptional levels of prosperity while also creating and reinforcing high levels of social and economic inequality. This masters-level course introduces the history, theory, and practice of community development. It examines the social science of spatial inequality and explores the ways planners attempt to address those inequalities, utilizing case studies from the United States and across the world.

This undergraduate urban geography course examines cities and the urbanization process through social, economic, political and environmental lenses. It focuses on core foundational theories and concepts but interrogates them by asking: How are the dynamics shaping 21st-century cities and urbanization processes different from (and similar to) those of the past? To foresee the “cities of tomorrow,” we must understand how fundamental urban processes are evolving as they interact with new historical and geographical forces. 

Because planning shapes the physical, social and economic fabric of the places where people live, the field is committed to incorporating community voice. But this commitment comes with thorny questions: How do we understand a community’s needs and aspirations? How can planners promote deep democracy rather than proceduralism? How can planners work with communities to build movements to positively transform cities and regions? This masters-level course introduces and interrogates principles and practices of community engagement in planning.