Courses

The following directory draws from the official course catalog for the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. New and one-time courses offered since the last publication of the catalog may not be included here. Visit Testudo for a list of current course offerings. 

• Urban Studies & Planning

• URSP (TBD) Advanced Analytical Methods (3)

  Students will take this advanced methods course in a department outside of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. This course will prepare students for their dissertation research. The precise course will be worked out in conjunction with the advice and approval of the faculty mentor and the relevant department.
  

• URSP 804 Advanced Planning Theory (3)

  This course will examine selected, major themes and issues in planning theory. The reading, contemplation and discussion of key concepts and debates in planning theory are intended to expand students' capacities to: a) critically examine planning practice; b) make scholarly contributions to the planning theory literature; and c) teach at the graduate level. Since the Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland encompasses planning and design, design theory will also be included. While the instructor has selected the readings for the first 11 weeks of the course, students will have the opportunity to suggest alternative readings for sessions 12 and 13 based on their research interests.
  Syllabus

• URSP 805 Research Design (3)

  This course explores the logic of designing research for the analysis of planning, urban design, and historic preservation questions and the formulation of public policies. This course will cover the elements of research design, case study, survey research, quasi-experimental designs, and social experiments.  Students will focus on formulating researchable questions and produce a product that should lead to a Ph.D. proposal.

  
  Syllabus

• URSP 810 Contemporary Metropolitan Issues (3)

  This seminar addresses the current debates and issues in metropolitan planning, urban design, and historic preservation. A current course would cover controversies over urban sprawl, edge cities, the new urbanism, the impact of technological change on urban form, the role of immigration on shaping the social and economic form of American cities and suburbs, and the role of historic preservation in economic development. The emphasis will be on identifying hypothesis and evaluating methods of analysis.

  
  Syllabus