Power of Place: Media Technology, Youth, and City Design and Development
MIT's urban studies workshop pairs environmental design with grassroots community planning in West Philadelphia. Students study the environmental and social history of a real neighborhood, then design uses for vacant land near a local middle school, working directly with residents and considering the surrounding watershed. The course frames its work around the tension between comprehensive, top-down city planning and bottom-up, community-driven design, and asks how internet and media technology can support public education and civic participation in under-resourced neighborhoods. Materials include readings on planning theory and community history, project assignments tied to the Philadelphia site, and structured reflection on what happens when classroom design ideas meet an actual community with its own priorities. It is offered through MIT OpenCourseWare, free to access, with no certificate attached.