Study Abroad

Urban Studies & Planning offers several summer studios overseas. A summer studio satisfies the Planning Studio requirement. In recent years, studios have been offered in St. Petersburg and Cape Town. Students spend about one month in a foreign city, working on a project and learning about the country and about issues associated with urbanization. They spend the remainder of the summer in College Park, completing a final report. To enroll in an overseas studio, students must have completed at least 18 credits of coursework, including URSP 600, 601, 604 and 605. Students in an overseas studio register for two courses in the same summer: URSP 705 (4 credits) in the first summer session and URSP 706 (2 credits) in the second summer session.

URSP in St. Petersburg, Russia

Every three years, the Urban Studies & Planning program holds a four-week, four-credit summer program in St. Petersburg, Russia for graduate students in Urban Studies and Planning and Architecture. This program is held jointly with the St. Petersburg State University, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPSUACE). The focus of the course is urban design, planning, historic preservation and project implementation. The next scheduled trip is this year, June 2012.

The 2012 faculty include: Marie Howland, PhD.: David Falk.; Roger Lewis, FAIA

Click here to view program flyer

Click here to download the tentative course schedule

Click here to see photos from the St. Petersburg program summer 2012

The purpose of the St. Petersburg summer program is to introduce students to a beautiful planned city, to give students familiarity with the principles that make a successful urban design, to explore the challenges in historic preservation for a city desperately in need of both preservation and modernization, and to expose students to the historic changes that are occurring in a city moving to a free-market economy.

In addition to classroom lectures, coursework includes a team project that examines the redevelopment of an area in the historic part of the city. Field trips to the palaces outside of St. Petersburg and the historic city of Novgorod add historical perspective and context. Students are evaluated on their application of planning principles, including their socio-economic analysis, efforts to promote citizen involvement, and their financial analysis of the redevelopment proposals at the study site. An aspect of evaluations is students' ability to work collaboratively.

Professors Marie Howland and David Falk lead the program. In addition, Vladimir Linov from the St. Petersburg State University participates full-time while the group is in Russia.

The curriculum is designed for graduate students in Planning, Architecture, Historic Preservation, and Real Estate Development. American students work in conjunction with graduate students from SPSUACE.