Metropolitan Transportation and Urban Development

URB

341

Metropolitan Transportation and Urban Development

This course focuses on the ways transportation, especially mass transit, has influenced urban development in the New York metropolitan area from the late 19th century to the present, with comparisons between New York and other world cities. Students will examine the operations of mass transit, its characteristic infrastructure, and its impacts on urban development. Themes recurring throughout the course include: the effects of demographic patterns and land use on both transportation demand and transit system development; the ways improved technology has led to expanded development opportunities; comparisons of low density (automobile-oriented) and high density (transit-oriented) development patterns; intersections between politics, transportation and development; evolution in mass transit from private to public sector; ongoing conflict between pro- and anti-transit forces and its effects on urban and metropolitan development. The course is divided into six modules, each incorporating and historicizing a set of related topics.

Offer as needed

Undergraduate

No