City to City: Comparing, Researching and Writing about Cities: New Orleans
This MIT OpenCourseWare studio course sends students into the planning and identity struggles of post-disaster New Orleans. Coursework centers on how a city rebuilds its sense of self for residents, businesses, and visitors, and on the choices planners make about who lives where and why. Students research the city's history and culture, then work directly with alumni clients on real reconstruction and planning projects, traveling from Cambridge to New Orleans over spring break to meet with them in person. Materials include project briefs, readings on urban identity and post-disaster planning, and studio critiques rather than exams. The course treats planning as an argument about representation as much as infrastructure, asking how physical rebuilding can honor a city's culture instead of erasing it. Offered through MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, free to audit through MIT OpenCourseWare.