Katrina Practicum
This MIT OCW practicum sends students into New Orleans neighborhoods still rebuilding after Hurricane Katrina to work directly with community organizations shaping redevelopment policy. Coursework is organized around field-based work groups, each partnered with a local institution grappling with questions of what counts as appropriate rebuilding, from housing to land use to public investment. Materials include the syllabus, assignment structure, and readings on post-disaster urban planning and community engagement, reflecting MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning approach to applied fieldwork. The course treats New Orleans as a live case study in contested redevelopment rather than a settled historical event, asking students to produce work that could actually inform decisions on the ground. No certificate is offered, consistent with MIT OpenCourseWare's open publication of course materials for self-study.