Gateway: Planning Action
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this nine week module for first semester Master in City Planning students, examining the historical roots of persistent problems in urban planning. The course compares planning practice in the United States with approaches in other countries, tracing how issues like housing, land use, and municipal governance have evolved and recurred over time. Materials include readings, case studies, and discussion topics drawn from historical and contemporary planning debates, designed to introduce students to the recurring dilemmas planners face when trying to shape cities. As a Gateway course in MIT's planning curriculum, it emphasizes foundational concepts over technical methods, giving students a grounding in why certain urban problems keep reappearing across different eras and political systems. The course is part of MIT's free OpenCourseWare catalog and includes the syllabus and course materials used in the original graduate class.