M.S. UP Class of 2018 at Commencement
M.S. Urban Planning
Weijian Bi, Faraz Butte, Whigham Covington, Augustus Haney, Angela Li, Melinda Martinus, Lingran Meng, Tola Oniyangi, You Wan, Guanglin Yang, Adede Amenyah, Tonks Chen, Steven Kyle Cook, Yanling Deng, Madeleine Haslam, Abraham Murrell, Edward Palka, Coco Ke
Spring 2017 - Planning StudioRichard Plunz, Nick Klein
Weijian Bi, Faraz Butte, Whigham Covington, Augustus Haney, Angela Li, Melinda Martinus, Lingran Meng, Tola Oniyangi, You Wan, Guanglin Yang, Adede Amenyah, Tonks Chen, Steven Kyle Cook, Yanling Deng, Madeleine Haslam, Abraham Murrell, Edward Palka, Coco Ke
Pauline Claramunt Torche, Sean Nelsen, and Anna Stokes
Spring 2018 Course
Leah Meisterlin
Spring 2018 Course
Leah Meisterlin
The Columbia University Master of Science in Urban Planning is an accredited two-year program of professional education. Actively engaged in practice, our curriculum connects the study of the urban built environment with grounded analysis of socioeconomic and political conditions. We explore the tensions between market forces, civil society, and the goals of planning, paying special attention to the role of urban analytics and the quest for social justice. Students learn to evaluate and shape efforts to develop and enhance cities and their communities in ways that foster healthy and sustainable living.
Located in New York City, our program promotes a global outlook. We look to planning issues locally and internationally for studio projects, classroom case studies, and thesis research. By studying the impact of global linked processes (e.g. immigration and climate change) as well as local conditions on cities and communities, we think creatively about planning and policy approaches to improve processes and outcomes in cities around the world.
Planning education promotes the redistribution of resources and social justice in cities as much as the creation of wealth. Our students connect challenges of urban development, sustainability and equity with the political and socioeconomic conditions that define them. They learn to engage and assess the increasing abundance and availability of data to address urban problems and inform planning efforts. Throughout the curriculum, the emphasis is on real-world problems and how planners can act to improve the lives of urban residents.
Being part of GSAPP, our program connects with design, preservation, and real estate faculty and professionals to add to ideas and techniques developed by planners and social activists. We also offer a range of curriculum and dual-degree options within and beyond GSAPP for students interested in additional content expertise and skills. Our graduates work in critical and leading roles in government, private firms, nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, multilateral institutions, and international NGOs.
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Curriculum
The faculty shares a core pedagogic belief that the best professional education takes place in an environment of learning by doing, reinforced by classroom work and group projects. Planners must have a thorough understanding of the economic, social, political, legal, and physical forces that shape the built environment.
Curriculum offerings equip students with familiarity with the range of analytic and research techniques used by planners, practical skills through a semester-long studio project and other class projects, and competency in both general and specialized knowledge of planning. Students are required to choose at least one concentration area among four options: Built Environment, Community and Economic Development, International Planning and Development, and Urban Analytics. Students take a minimum of four courses and 12 points in a concentration.
Studios
In the Urban Planning studio, there is a real client with a real-world issue that will be analyzed by students working as a team under the direction of faculty. The deliverables that results will reflect critical analysis of socioeconomic, environmental, and political conditions as well as stakeholder engagement, and encourage students to consider “best practices” in planning and innovative thinking. Studio takes place in the spring of the students’ first year, and is thus not a “capstone” project but a way of integrating classroom learning with practical experience early in the students’ education.
Current Faculty
Spring 2019 Courses
| Course | Semester | Title | Student Work | Instructor | Syllabus | Requirements & Sequence | Location & Time | Session & Points | Call No. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pla4010‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Planning For Urban Energy Systems
|
Peter Marcotullio |
408 AVERY
TH 9 AM - 11 AM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
65796 | |||
| Pla4035‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Influencing, Consensus Building, & Negotiating for Community Betterment
|
Lee Miller |
203 FAYERWEATHER
TU 5 PM - 7 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
17202 | |||
| Pla4151‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Economics for Planners
|
Moshe Adler | REQUIRED 1st YR |
114 AVERY HALL, RECITATIONS: 204 FAYERWEATHER
TU 9 AM - 11 AM; RECITATION SESSION 1: M 1 PM - 2 PM, RECITATION SESSION 2: W 10 AM - 11 AM, RECITATION SESSION 3: TH 1 PM - 2 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
70896 | ||
| Pla4209‑2 | Spring 2019 |
Planning Methods Lab
|
UP COMPUTER LAB
M 4 PM - 6 PM
|
0 Points
|
41358 | ||||
| Pla4304‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Introduction to Housing
|
Lance Freeman |
300 BUELL N
M 11 AM - 1 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
72596 | |||
| Pla4320‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Urban Design For Planners
|
Jose Luis Vallejo |
204 FAYERWEATHER
W 11 AM - 1PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
73646 | |||
| Pla4620‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Public Financing of Urban Development
|
Richard Froehlich |
300 BUELL SOUTH
M 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
76796 | |||
| Pla6052‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Planning Law
|
David Karnovsky | REQUIRED 1st YR |
114 AVERY HALL
TH 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
77896 | ||
| Pla6065‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Environmental Impact Assessment
|
Graham Trelstad |
408 AVERY
M 9 AM - 11 AM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
80846 | |||
| PLA6102‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Urban Informatics II
|
Anthony Vanky |
204 FAYERWEATHER
W 7 PM - 9 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
26530 | |||
| PLA6103‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Mobility Workshop
|
Anthony Vanky |
204 FAYERWEATHER
TH 3 PM - 5 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
68247 | |||
| PLA6104‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Sustaining Access and Mobility in Cities
|
Jitendra Bajpai |
409 AVERY
TU 11 AM - 1 PM
|
SES B: ¾ - 5/3
1.5 Points
|
83248 | |||
| PLA6106‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Urban Datascapes
|
Leah Meisterlin |
200 BUELL
TU 3 PM - 5 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
93148 | |||
| Pla6108‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Land Use Planning
|
Jonathan Martin |
300 BUELL SOUTH
F 11 AM - 1 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
89281 | |||
| Pla6113‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Exploring Urban Data with Machine Learning
|
Kaz Sakamoto | CAP 23 |
202 FAYERWEATHER
TU 7 PM - 9 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
83596 | ||
| Pla6121‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Practicum: Residential Planning in Global Cities
|
Kate Dunham | CAP 30 |
204 FAYERWEATHER
TU 7 PM - 9 PM
|
SES A: 1/22-3/1
1.5 Points
|
87146 | ||
| Pla6232‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Advanced Spatial Analysis
|
Leah Meisterlin | CAP 24 |
114 AVERY HALL
W 9 AM - 11 AM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
88446 | ||
| Pla6267‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Infrastructure Planning and Practice in Developing Countries
|
Andrea Rizvi |
409 AVERY
TU 11 AM - 1 PM
|
SES A: 1/22-3/1
1.5 Points
|
91596 | |||
| Pla6269‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Approaches and Tools for Tools for Economic Development
|
Jamie Torres Springer, Andrea Batista Schlesinger |
203 Fayerweather
W 7 PM - 9 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
92396 | |||
| PLA6613‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Social Entrepreneurship and the Urban Built Environment
|
Kairos Shen, Kate Wittels |
204 FAYERWEATHER
TU 3 PM - 5 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
97496 | |||
| Pla6621‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Local Government Politics and Law
|
Moira O'Neill, Howard Slatkin |
200 BUELL
TU 5 PM - 7 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
98396 | |||
| Pla6631‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Global Healthy Cities
|
Malo Hutson |
203 FAYERWEATHER
W 11 AM - 1 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
77279 | |||
| Pla6641‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Global Practices & Policy in Urban Risk, Resilience & Crises
|
Ebru Gencer |
204 FAYERWEATHER
TH 11 AM - 1 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
82529 | |||
| Pla6700‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Re Finance + Development
|
Brendan McLaughlin, Leon Hovsepian |
200 BUELL
M 7 PM - 9 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
88529 | |||
| Pla6911‑5 | Spring 2019 |
Joint Arch/UP Studio
|
Richard Plunz, Douglas Woodward | UP First Years Only, Via Studio Lottery |
203 FAYERWEATHER
M + TH 2 PM - 6 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
9 Points
|
11396 | ||
| Pla6911‑3 | Spring 2019 |
Future of Pier 76: Expanding and Sustaining Hudson River Park
|
Maxine Griffith, Anthony Borelli | UP First Years Only, Via Studio Lottery |
300 AVERY
W 3 PM - 7 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
6 Points
|
11779 | ||
| Pla6911‑2 | Spring 2019 |
Disaster Mgmt and Recovery in Post-Disaster Chile
|
Malo Hutson, Maria Garces | UP First Years Only, Via Studio Lottery |
203 FAYERWEATHER
W 3 PM - 7 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
6 Points
|
13441 | ||
| Pla6911‑4 | Spring 2019 |
Neighborhood Impacts of Supertall Development
|
Ethel Sheffer, Sybil Wa | UP First Years Only, Via Studio Lottery |
204 FAYERWEATHER
F 1 PM - 5 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
6 Points
|
14529 | ||
| Pla6911‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Madrid Future City Lab: Exploring Urban Commons
|
Jose Luis Vallejo, Megan Marini | UP First Years Only, Via Studio Lottery |
204 FAYERWEATHER
W 3 PM - 7 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
6 Points
|
94691 | ||
| Pla6919‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Urban Planning Thesis II
|
Lance Freeman | REQUIRED 2nd YR |
BY APPOINTMENT
N/A
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
16196 | ||
| Pla6926‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Advanced Research II
|
Weiping Wu |
BY APPOINTMENT
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
17446 | |||
| A4890‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Conflict Urbanism: Puerto Rico Now
|
Laura Kurgan, Frances Negron-Muntaner | All GSAPP interdisciplinary, GSAS |
HAMILTON 420
F 1 PM - 3 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
79032 | ||
| A4045‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Questions in Urbanism
|
Vishaan Chakrabarti | All GSAPP Interdisciplinary Workshop |
115 Avery
F 10 AM - 1 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
17196 | ||
| A4064‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Informal Urbanisms: Incrementalism and Citizen Participation in the Built Environment
|
Cassim Shepard | All GSAPP Interdisciplinary |
408 AVERY
F 11 AM - 1 PM
|
Full Semester
3 Points
|
22596 | ||
| A4892‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Data Visualization for Architecture, Urbanism and the Humanities
|
Jia Zhang | All GSAPP interdisciplinary , GSAS |
WARE
F 9 AM - 11 AM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
88396 | ||
| A4063‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Points Unknown: Cartographic Narratives
|
Grga Basic, Michael Krisch | All GSAPP Interdisciplinary |
504 AVERY
F 11 AM -1 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
86396 | ||
| A4552‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Dark Space: Architecture Representation & Black Identity
|
Mario Gooden | All GSAPP Interdisciplinary |
300 AVERY Hall
TU 11 AM-1 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
27496 | ||
| A4896‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Who Let Them Build That? An Interdisciplinary Investigation of Six Places in New York
|
Justin Davidson | ALL GSAPP_ INTERDISCP |
409 AVERY
F 11 AM - 1 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
84284 | ||
| A4898‑1 | Spring 2019 |
(Re)Programming - Museums
|
David van der Leer | ALL GSAPP_ INTERDISCP |
505 AVERY
F 11 AM - 1 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
76047 | ||
| A6787‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Third Landscape: Urbanization in the Amazon
|
Anna Dietzsch | All GSAPP Interdisciplinary |
412 AVERY
F 11 AM- 1 PM
|
FULL SEMSTER
3 Points
|
91046 | ||
| A4839‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Aesthetics of Decay
|
412 AVERY
TU 4 PM - 6 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
16646 | ||||
| P4050‑1 | Spring 2019 |
UP Elective Internship
|
Margaret Wiryaman |
N/A
BY APPT
|
FULL SEMESTER
1.5 Points
|
66846 | |||
| Pla4518‑1 | Spring 2019 |
Urbanisms & Algorithms I
|
Luc Wilson |
114 AVERY HALL
TU 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
|
FULL SEMESTER
3 Points
|
77194 |
Introduction to Columbia’s Urban Planning Program
Video produced by Urban Planning students as part of the course “Hong Kong as a Palimpsest: Transit-Induced Redevelopment in To Kwa Wan” led by Weiping Wu and Jose Luis Vallejo.
RIO: DESIGN THINKING FOR HEALTH URBAN ENVIRONMENT
Video produced by Urban Planning students of the Spring 2017 course “Rio: Design Thinking for Health Urban Environment”, taught by Belinda Tato and Jose Luis Vallejo.
Recent News
Apr 25
Assistant Professor Leah Meisterlin is honored with a 2019 Presidential Teaching Award by Columbia University
Dec 11, 2018
Columbia GSAPP launches Post-Conflict Cities Lab
Urban Planning Semester in Review
Dual Degree Programs