Notable characteristics of cities are correlated with their historical and current transportation features. Central areas of most European cities created during the pre-modern transportation era are more walkable, dense, and diverse. Auto-oriented North American suburbs sprawled during the massive increase in car ownership. This course introduces students to theoretical basis and empirical evidence to explore the changes in the built environment expected from transportation investments, and how they can be used to promote sustainable and equitable cities. Along the way, we will reflect on the urban transformation autonomous vehicles will bring and how shared mobility services are affecting travel behavior, and its implications from an urban planning perspective. Lectures will be interspersed with guest speakers and one field trip.
This 3 units P/NR course proposal was designed to meet the requirement for a First-Year Discovery (FYD) subject. Its main purpose is to introduce students to an urban studies approach to analyze transportation phenomena, putting first-year undergrad students in contact with DUSP faculty and the kind of data, methods and questions mobilized on their research. Students will also be exposed to a real transportation project and its local urban impacts. Transportation serves as one of the cross-cutting research/education areas in DUSP and there is no FYD subject to help undergrad students explore this topic in the department and from an urban planning approach.