URSP in St. Petersburg, Russia 

Every three years, the Urban Studies and 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 summer program is held jointly with the St. Petersburg State University, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPSUACE).  The focus of the course is on urban design, planning, historic preservation, and project implementation.  The next schedule trip is 2009.

The purpose of the summer program is to introduce students to an architecturally beautiful planned city, to give students familiarity with the principals that make a successful urban design, 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 from a planned to a market economy.  The topics covered include the local history of architectural styles and urban development, the structure of St. Petersburg and the Soviet city, features of successful urban design, and the structure of the local urban planning and real estate development process.  In addition to classroom lectures, the courses will include a team project that examines the redevelopment of an area in the historical part of the city.  We also include field trips to the palaces outside of St. Petersburg and the historic city of Novgorod.  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 the evaluations is their ability to work collaboratively.

Professors Marie Howland and David Falk lead the program from the North American side. We have the full-time participation of Vladimir Linov from the St. Petersburg State University, School of Architecture and Civil Engineering (SPSUACE.

The curriculum is designed for graduate students in City Planning, Architecture, and Historic Preservation.   American students work in conjunction with graduate students from the SPSUACE.  The course is open to graduate students from other campuses outside of College Park.