Smart Cities

Bridging Disciplines Programs allow you to earn an interdisciplinary certificate that integrates area requirements, electives, courses for your major, internships, and research experiences.

With the development of information and computer technologies, wearable devices, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and other innovations, cities and communities are getting smarter. We see new technologies deployed in our cities in numerous ways, from the smart grid for energy to autonomous vehicles, among many other applications. So what is a “smart city”? How can these technologies improve how cities deliver services and enhance the quality of life for all residents? And how can we ensure that these technologies are employed in ethical and socially helpful ways? The Smart Cities BDP will help you answer these questions and equip you with skills and applied learning to advance the development of smart city technologies, and prepare you for smart cities-related careers in public, private, and non-profit sectors. At the same time, you will learn about the complex ethical and human dimensions of these changes to our urban environments. The program includes classes from a variety of disciplines, such as urban planning, public policy, computer science, information studies, engineering, liberal arts, communication, and business.

Upon completion of 18 credit hours from the options listed below, you will earn a certificate in Smart Cities.

REQUIRED TECHNOLOGY COURSE: All students in the Smart Cities BDP must, in the process of completing their certificate requirements, take at least one course designated as including a substantial focus on smart cities-relevant technologies (- T).

Note: Course descriptions available here are from a recent offering of the course, and they may not reflect the description for the next offering of the course.

View all courses

Foundation Courses   (6 - 9 credit hours)

Foundation Courses introduce key methodologies and issues related to Smart Cities. Choose one course from each of the following categories. If you choose to complete a second course from the “Skills & Methods” category, you will complete only 3 credit hours of Connecting Experiences and 6 credit hours of Strand Courses.

Smart Cities Foundation Courses
BDP 319 Smart Cities
What is a smart city or a smart community? Being smart is not just about technology; a smart city or smart community enables better service delivery and quality of life for all of its residents. This class will introduce various smart city and community concepts and case studies, and provide hands on experience for interested students.
Skills & Methods

Your Skills & Methods Course should expand your tool set beyond what you are already learning in your major. If you are learning programming skills in your major, for example, you might choose to take a course on design thinking or ethnographic research methods. If you choose to take a second Skills & Methods Course, you could either learn more outside your major or deepen your knowledge of a skill or method you are learning within your major field. Please consult your BDP advisor to ensure that your Skills & Methods Course choice(s) will supplement your major coursework.

AFR 315C Intro to East Austin Ethnography
In this course, students will study ethnographic methods including, fieldwork, observant participation, interviewing, and oral histories. Archival research will also be conducted.   Students will conduct fieldwork at specific sites in Austin with an emphasis on East Austin communities. This course provides students with skills in critical ethnography by foregrounding the racial politics that shape policy-making and community-building.
ANT 323R ANTHROPOLOGY OF INFRASTRUCTURE
Explore how infrastructure creates relationships between resources, energy, built form, information, and people.
ARC 328R GEO INFO SYSTEMS PLANNING
-T
This is an Intro to intermediate-level GIS class. This class covers some of the most common GIS analysistechniques used by planners and designers and focuses on the methods of spatial analysis and theirapplications to urban issues. This course introduces GIS software and applications in the context of dailylife as an urban planning student as well as in the professional urban planning practice. This course aimsto enable planners to fully exploit GIS as analysis, visualization, and presentation tools.This class involves intensive GIS lab exercises. Through these GIS labs, the instructor will introducedifferent GIS analysis functions and demonstrate their applications with real urban projects. The set ofsoftware used in this course includes: ArcMap, ArcCatalog, and ArcToolbox. The overall goals of thisclass are: ? To obtain working knowledge of the GIS software commonly used in planning practice and develop students’ analytical capabilities. ? To learn to communicate spatially using GIS tools with the general public, clients, andprofessionals.
ARC 328R GIS Urban Planning
This is an Intro to intermediate-level GIS class. This class covers some of the most common GIS analysis techniques used by planners and designers and focuses on the methods of spatial analysis and their applications to urban issues. This course introduces GIS software and applications in the context of daily life as an urban planning student as well as in the professional urban planning practice. This course aims to enable planners to fully exploit GIS as analysis, visualization, and presentation tools. This class involves intensive GIS lab exercises. Through these GIS labs, the instructor will introduce different GIS analysis functions and demonstrate their applications with real urban projects. The set of software used in this course includes: ArcMap, ArcCatalog, and ArcToolbox.
ARC 328R Urban GIS
This course consists of two major components-the social dimensions of GIS and the techniques of GIS-which will speak to each other in ways that are not typical in a GIS course. The intent is to teach skills that will make you fluent in the uses of GIS, but also to help you understand the role that GIS, and you, as a GIS specialist, play in society. Social dimensions of GIS: GIS is a powerful technology that is widely used in urban planning, business and environmental management, and for strategic purposes. This means GIS has many important social implications: who controls the technology, what data sets are being used, and why? How can disenfranchised groups access and use these technologies to better their conditions? We will discuss issues such as "empowerment," citizen participation, and organizational, political, and economic constraints, to better understand the role of GIS in society and the influence of the social environment on GIS applications and development. Techniques of GIS: We will introduce the fundamentals of GIS, including data acquisition and entry, spatial analysis techniques, and production and representation of spatial data. We will also introduce remote sensing and the principles and uses of the Global Position System (GPS), and integrated GIS applications with SketchUp, AutoCad, and Google Earth. The techniques component will in part be taught with lectures in the classroom and in part through tutorials in the computer lab.
ARC 328R URBAN GEOGRAPHIC INFO SYS
Advanced topics in various methods of visual communication.
C S 326E ELEMENTS OF NETWORKING
Introduction to the principles and basic concepts of the Internet, networking applications and protocols, and simple client/server applications. Other topics may include network technologies and topologies, packet and circuit switching, LANS and WANS, Internet security, and network management. Three lecture hours a week for one semester. May not be counted toward a degree in computer science.
C S 329E ELEMENTS OF DATA INTEGRATION
This course is designed to give students a practical introduction to databases and data systems. The goals are to learn modern data management and data processing techniques through a mix of best practices, experimentation, and problem solving. The contents of the course are organized into three broad themes: 1) query languages with an emphasis on SQL; 2) data models from relational to document to graph; and 3) data engineering with a focus on data cleansing, data exploration, and data analysis. We will construct multiple databases for operational and analytical purposes throughout the term. The work will be done on Google Cloud Platform using a variety of database technologies and data science tools: MySQL, Postgres, BigQuery, Firestore, MongoDB, Neo4j, Jupyter Notebooks, and Looker Studio.
CRP 386 6-INTRO VISUAL COMM AND GIS
-T

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

With the fast development of computer technology, understanding and being able to work with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and other visualization software programs have become a required skill set for urban planners and designers. This class covers some of the most popular digital visualization programs used by planners and designers and focuses on the methods of digital visualization, communication and their applications to urban issues. Through a series of lab exercises, the instructor will introduce three specific software packages and demonstrate their applications with real urban projects. The set of software used in this course includes: ArcGIS, Photoshop, InDesign, Sketchup and Google Earth. The overall goals of this class are: To obtain working knowledge of the visualization software packages commonly used in the practice world and develop competency, especially in their analytical capabilities. To learn to communicate spatially using digital visualization tools with the general public, clients, and professionals (e.g. urban planners, designers, architects, and engineers). This course is organized into two parts: 1) introduction to GIS; 2) digital visualization. During the first half of the semester, the course will run as a lecture/lab combination and explore many basic geo-spatial analysis techniques using ArcGIS. Over the second half of the semester, the course will go through a number of computer visualization programs and learn how to integrate them together in a real planning project. The computer software packages covered in this course include Photoshop, InDesign, SketchUp and Google Earth. Students are also encouraged to form study groups to discuss and practice digital visualization tools together. Course CONTENT Introduction to GIS During the first half of the semester, the course will run as more of a lecture/lab combination and we will explore many basic geo-spatial analysis techniques together using ArcGIS, including: Data Acquisition, File Organization, Map production GIS/Query & Vector Analysis w/ Map Overlay Raster Analysis w/ Spatial Analyst Presenting Census Data in GIS GeoCoding/Model Builder
CRP 386 5-URBAN GEOGRAPHIC INFO SYS
-T

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

Through lecture, labs, exercises, and a final project, this gradaute class will introduce different GIS tools/methdos that are important for urban stuides and analyses. It will leverage the resources and projects in the Urban Information Lab and expose students to the most cutting edge Urban GIS studies. The course gives an overview of GIS, shows how it is currently being used in professional and academic settings, goes through a myriad of applications associated with planning and policy, and looks at methods for critically evaluating data and geographic analysis outcomes. Students will work through exercises covering data acquisition, spatial analysis, representation of spatial information, spatial statistics, 3D modeling, GPS data, and integrating GIS data with other programs. Much of the focus of the course is on a final project, for which students can investigate a particular area of interest as it relates to GIS. Upon completion of the course, students will possess the basic skills needed to begin using GIS in a professional or academic setting, as well as an understanding of the opportunities and constraints of GIS analysis, how to critically evaluate outcomes, and how to exhibit and display geographic findings.
CRP 386 2-APPLIED METHODS
-T

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

Quantitative, model-based projections of future conditions nominally undergird decision making across the spectrum of planning-related activities. Indeed, future projections and their underlying methods and data are absolutely vital to the planning enterprise. Yet we also know that planning is inherently a political activity. Later assessments of past projections often reveal large biases unrelated to the technical methods used. Rather, the assumptions and/or data from which the projections came often prove to have been unreliable. Throughout the semester you will learn to employ state-of-the art methods for projecting future conditions in cities and regions including population, demographics, economic activity, and infrastructure demand. You will also learn to think critically about models, projections, and data and their application to real-world problems. To facilitate these two sets of learning objectives, the course will combine instruction in the quantitative and computer methods in common use today with readings and in-class discussions that encourage you to question convention while imagining how such models and their results can be most useful to decision makers and members of the public. You will become proficient in collecting, manipulating, and analyzing the data needed to solve common planning problems. You will make your findings interpretable through clear and compelling writing. A key emphasis of the course will be on policies and practices that prescribe the use of particular methods and data. Do the methods actually help us achieve our planning goals (e.g. sustainability, livability, etc.) or does an overemphasis on quantitative methods shield us from tackling tough questions around governance, local control, and regulation that need to be addressed simultaneously? The course will cover six major topics including, in order: Data management using databases and spreadsheets Employing public data sources Time series models and projections Economic analysis tools Population projections Infrastructure demand, including transportation and housing
EDP 371 Introduction to Statistics
Measures of central tendency and variability; correlation and regression; probability and statistical inference; analysis of variance; nonparametric statistics.
GRG 310C SPATIAL DATA AND ANALYSIS
-T
The course objective is to gain skills in the basic techniques used in geographical=- spatial analysis, demonstrated through assignments and in and out of class activities. These include spatial data formats and handling, field methods, Geographic Information Science concepts, and the basic quantitative and particularly statistical techniques that are used in geographical-spatial data analysis. Interpreting, writing about, and communicating research findings graphically will be an important part of the course.
GRG 312E DIGITAL EARTH
-T
This course introduces topics and concepts in geospatial technologies-- geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing (RS), global positioning systems (GPS), and cartography/mapmaking-- that are becoming increasingly important tools in research, policy, and everyday life. The topics will cover geospatial data sources (ex., GPS, citizen science, satellite imagery), applications (ex., disaster relief, biodiversity conservation, disease spread), and implications (ex., privacy, ethical, legal issues). Spatial reasoning and problem-solving will be emphasized and analyses will address real-world issues in which geospatial technologies have played an important role. The course is comprised of a weekly lecture (Tuesdays) and a lab/discussion section (Thursdays). Attendance on both days is required. For most of the lab/discussion section meetings, a computer with internet access will be necessary. Access to GIS software will be provided either on campus or made available online.
GRG 324E APPS ETHICS DIGTL SPATIAL TECH
"We will engage with both applications and ethical considerations of remote sensing, GPS, and GIStechnologies and practice. Our primary goal is to learn how to be wise consumers and producers ofdigital spatial technologies / applications available in popular media as well as in the academic literature.Each week a theme will be explored in both its practical and ethical considerations. Weekly topics willcenter on a combination of thematic area (e.g., health, environmental conservation, or urbanmanagement), a technology (e.g., drones, RFID (radio-frequency identification), or Twitter feeds), aclass of application (e.g., real-time monitoring), or an overview of ethical issues across technologies andapplications (e.g., privacy), with topics to be set in the first two class meetings based upon student interests and current events."
GRG 350E GEOPROCESSING
Geoprocessing courses can encompass a variety of topics, ranging from what we would normally simply call ‘GIS’ to remote sensing techniques to computer science. This course will adopt a narrower definition: geoprocessing will be mostly about computer scripting and programming applied to georeferenced (spatial) data. The skills you will hopefully attain in this course are useful in a number of different ways. Scripting & Programming a) automates processes that are repetitive and time consuming, b) allows for the implementation of solutions that are not available as built-in functions, c) allows for easy replication of your work and of methods, among others. 2. Course goals are to learn scripting and programming to batch process file, read & write scientific format files, access built-in functions and write new functions, and solve a few spatial data modeling challenges. In the process, you will learn how programming works in general and about Python in specific, a flexible, open source language (and maybe Matlab). Although we will not be using open source GIS such as QGIS/GDAL, the skills learned in this class will be useful if you decide to move to freeware GIS.
GRG 350E GEOPROCESSING
-T
Geoprocessing courses can encompass a variety of topics, ranging from what we would normally simply call ‘GIS’ to remote sensing techniques to computer science. This course will adopt a narrower definition: geoprocessing will be mostly about computer scripting and programming applied to georeferenced (spatial) data. The skills you will hopefully attain in this course are useful in a number of different ways. Scripting & Programming a) automate processes that are repetitive and time consuming, b) allow for the implementation of solutions that are not available as built-in functions, c) allow for easy replication of your work and of methods, among others.
GRG 460G Envir Geographic Info Systems
-T
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has been used in a multitude of environmental applications because it aids in the collection, storage, analysis, and visualization of spatial information and it helps users to make informed decisions regarding the use, management, and protection of the environment. This course will cover the theory of GIS with hands-on experience in a multitude of environmental applications including: geographical data entry and acquisition, data conversion, database query and site selection, vector and raster modeling, and integration with global positioning system (GPS).
I 304 PROGRAMMING FOR INFORMATICS
This is an introductory computer programming course for those without any prior knowledge or experience in computer programming. Why take this class? - Acquire valuable skills to apply in a job, during or after graduation - Even not programming jobs will increasingly incorporate aspects of it - To better understand how computers (and AI) work, since they are increasingly entwined in our daily lives and crucial to how our modern world functions (AI effect - Wikipedia, e.g., rule-based, expert systems) - To create and be creative. Beyond drawing or writing, to translate anything you imagine into an operational system: Coding is Creative
ITD 301D Introduction to Design Thinking
This class will examine requirements and best practices for teaching a course for the Center for Integrated Design. Design Thinking is a universal process for analyzing problems and offering unique and varied perspectives for resolving the problem. At the core of any design thinking pursuit is the enhanced prospect of uncovering distinctive and creative answers. This course. is an introduction to the tactics and methodology required to prepare the non-design major for analyzing and solving a wide range of problems by adapting and applying the process of design Thinking. By utilizing Design Thinking as the core pedogeological model, students learn to offer innovative breakthrough solutions to everyday problems.
P A 388L MOBILIZ COMMUN & ENGAGING VOLS

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

RHE 314 COMPTR PROGRAMMG HUMANITIES
This course introduces students to the fundamentals of computer programming and provides practice in computation as a rhetorical activity. Working through in-class lectures, readings, discussions, exercises, and course projects, students will gain familiarity with programming concepts and practice in computational processes. Designed for Liberal Arts majors with no programming experience, the course aims to introduce computational processes through exercises in encoding (Markup/Markdown); programming (Python); and physical computing (Arduino and Processing).
RHE 330C When Topic Is Appropriate
SDS 301 Elementary Statistical Methods
In this class you will learn the fundamental procedures for data organization and analysis. You will learn about frequency distributions, graphical presentation, sampling, experimental design, inference, and regression. The purpose of this course is to increase your data literacy, or your ability to inspect, critically analyze, and present data. This course may be used to fulfill the mathematics component of the university core curriculum and addresses the following three core objectives established by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board: communication skills, critical thinking skills, and empirical and quantitative skills. This course carries the Quantitative Reasoning fag. Quantitative Reasoning courses are designed to equip you with skills that are necessary for understanding the types of quantitative arguments you will regularly encounter in your adult and professional life. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from your use of quantitative skills to analyze real-world problems. This course carries the Ethics fag. Ethics courses are designed to equip you with skills that are necessary for making ethical decisions in your adult and professional life. You should therefore expect a substantial portion of your grade to come from assignments involving ethical issues and the process of applying ethical reasoning to real-life situations.
SDS 306 Statistics in Market Analysis
This course is designed to help you learn the introductory descriptive and inferential statistical procedures that are commonly used in research concerning health, behavior, and attitudes. You will learn the assumptions underlying common statistical procedures, the types of hypotheses that can be tested by these procedures, and the inferences that can be drawn from their results. After completing this course, you will have developed a sufficient foundation from which you can begin to conduct your own analyses and critically evaluate the statistical analyses of others.
SDS 322 INTRO SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMING
None
SDS 335 SCIENTIF & TECHNICAL COMPUTING
None
SDS 374E Visualization & Data Analysis for Scientists & Engineers
-T
SOC 317M Intro to Social Research
The logic of scientific research, general methods of data collection and analysis, and computer applications.

Connecting Experiences   (3 - 6 credit hours)

Your BDP advisor can help you find internships and research opportunities that connect Smart Cities to your major and interests. We call these opportunities “Connecting Experiences” because they play such an important role in integrating your studies. Each Connecting Experience counts for 3 credit hours. You will need to complete at least one Connecting Experience.

For more information and for examples of past Connecting Experiences, visit the BDP website and consult your BDP advisor. BDP students must propose Connecting Experiences to the BDP office. Current BDP students should view the BDP Advising Canvas site for Connecting Experience resources and proposal instructions.

Strand Courses   (6 - 9 credit hours)

In addition to your Foundation Courses and Connecting Experiences, you must complete 6-9 credit hours of approved Strand Courses, to bring your total credit hours toward the BDP certificate to 18 hours. You should work with your BDP advisor to choose Strand Courses that will focus your BDP on your specific interests, and that will provide you with an interdisciplinary perspective on your BDP topic.

In order to create an interdisciplinary experience, you must choose courses from a variety of disciplines. Only one of your Strand or Skills & Methods Courses may come from your major department(s), or from courses cross-listed with your major department(s).

School of Architecture
ARC 327C Urban Design History/Theory/Crit
A graduate seminar: focusing on the body of history and theory that informs contemporary issues in urban design. The course will examine the state of the contemporary discourse in urbanism, the historical trajectory of contemporary urban design theory, and its impact on design strategies as they pertain to the construction of the urban landscape. 20th Century case studies are introduced to contrast and compare design practice with the theoretical underpinnings of urban design discourse. While exploring the broader contexts of urban processes, the course also explores specific design strategies and devices established to negotiate competing social and spatial forces in the urban landscape. The theoretical positions in architecture and urbanism that have emerged as a result of the expanding metropolitan landscape and the resultant geographical space of the open city have thrown urban design into a crisis. As architecture strives to regain its cultural relevance, the ongoing discourse of the city provides a constructed ground for its participation. Professionals who are engaged in the formation of urban environments are ill equipped to confront the realities of the constantly transforming infrastructure and socio-political change. While acknowledging that there is no longer a singular pervasive theory of the city, the intention of this course is to open up for discussion, possibilities, and to postulate strategies for enabling an urban architecture to operate synthetically within this realm. We will accomplish this through an extensive set of readings that discuss the key issues arising throughout 20th century urban design theory and practice, and by examining the transformation to the present urban situation.
ARC 327R NATURE OF PUBLIC SPACES
The era of old certainties is over. Public Space, its use, and the shaping of it are the future subjects of negotiations. The public is raising new demands regarding the fundamental principles of democracy and the design of Public Space. In cities, Public Space is the network of streets, squares, and parks that constitutes and represents urban communities. Public space is, because we are civic society. The seminar will explore physical public spaces and phenomena of virtual public space: 1. Significant public spaces transformed by socio-cultural/political changes (world cities) 2. Selected substantive Public Space projects of the 20th century: Architecture and Landscape 3. The Impact of Artists in the Public Space 4. Recent Projects: Democracy versus Neo-liberalism and New Political Agendas for Public Space 5. Fight for Rights The Civil Movements and Mass Events 6. Virtual Public Space: Social and political impact
ARC 327R URBAN TRANS POLICY PLANNING
Transportation systems connect us to the people and things we need to lead a fulfilling life: school, work, food, medical care, friends, and family, to name just a few. But these connections do not come without costs—transportation systems produce profound environmental and social impacts. Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation activities constitute a third of the US total, urban air quality continues to be a problem in many areas of the country, and about 30,000 people die each year due in accidents involving motorized vehicles. Many of these impacts are associated with the automobile. Although automotive technology continues to improve, resulting in cleaner, safer cars, relying on them as our primary mode entails public health implications and the threat of crippling urban congestion. This course is an introduction to urban passenger transportation policy and planning in the US with a sustainability focus. The course is structured around three components on which we will spend approximately five weeks each: History, theory, and problem definition The planning process, and Solutions Throughout the semester we will come to understand how our current transportation systems came to be, what a sustainable system would look like, policies and planning approaches that will help is to achieve it, and challenges we’re likely to face. Part of the difficulty arises from the fact that planning is inherently a political as well as technical activity. Determining what the “best” solution is in any given situation is likely to involve the varied needs and desires of elected officials, members of the public, and experts. As engineers and planners (or one who will interact with engineers and planners) you will need to navigate this sometimes fraught landscape to make progress. We will examine the actual transportation planning process at all levels of government, hear from local and regional planners about their work, and learn about the (quantitative and qualitative) methods that planners use to both comply with the law and help inform decision makers. Learning objectives Upon completion of this course, students will have demonstrated mastery of the following concepts through in-class discussion and debate, detailed analysis and thoughtful reflection in assignments, and performance on examinations: The relationship between transportation and land use, including how and why the current transportation system emerged, and why transportation planning is a vitally important endeavor. The multifaceted and evolving nature of sustainability and how it is being applied to real-world transportation planning efforts across the United States. The practice of transportation planning at federal, state, regional, and local levels, including the laws and regulations that planners follow regarding transportation plans, environmental review, air quality conformity, and environmental justice, among others. The analytical methods employed by transportation planners to assess the performance of existing and future transportation systems (e.g. key concepts related to regional travel demand models, traffic impact assessments, level of service analysis, and parking demand analyses). Public participation in planning, specifically how members of the public make their views known, formally and informally, in the transportation planning process and how that (sometimes) affects outcomes. Concrete policies and planning strategies that facilitate sustainable urban transportation systems on both the infrastructure and land use sides. Legal and policy frameworks and initiatives that support the development of such systems.
ARC 327R Design of New Communities
This graduate seminar examines the search to establish new sustainable communities, - environments that are livable, humane, accessible, compact, integrated, resourceful, and with low carbon footprint. As such, designed neighborhoods should also offer delight, be supportive of children, and built to last. The seminar therefore looks at the ideals, theories, and principles that people have held in the belief that a designed community is preferable to random incremental growth, commonly referred to as sprawl. These experiments act as models of “ideal” layout and design. The seminar is structured in three sections, each reviewed against an economic, social, and political context: 1. Early Model Settlements. This section considers the basic ideas towards the formation of designed new communities in non-urban and urban settings from early origins. Early 19th century concepts are explored as a basis to a thorough examination of the garden city and garden suburb movements, and opposing deterministic propositions of architects. This leads to contrasting views of 20th century ideals ranging from planned suburbs to new towns. 2. Late 20th Century Settlements. An examination of more recent theories and designed case studies related to the urban edge condition, and designed urban infill projects, plus ways that cities have approached rapid growth and expansion. An examination and critique of the work of the group broadly referred to as the “New Urbanists” is undertaken. 3. New Housing and New Communities. The twenty first century has seen rapid urbanization combined with a re-examination of the prospects of the inner city, often involving difficult, vulnerable, and brownfield sites. The Urban Land Institute Hines Competition has also focused on inner city communities. Examination of these, and the previous case studies, aims to promote understanding of pedestrian and bike systems, new transit, sustainable housing, and urban ecologies, innovations in energy, water, and waste. By offering a critique of previous attempts at settlement design, theories and principles are devised for possible approaches towards the design of new communities in review city contexts. Recent built case studies are considered, particularly with regard to sustainable design practice. New designed communities in cities such as Stockholm, Malmo, Amsterdam, Freiburg, Vancouver, and London provide insight and principles for ways ahead. A central feature of this part of the seminar will be a design case study undertaken by students for the design of a new community.
ARC 327R MODERN AMERICAN CITY
This course is about the political-economy of contemporary American cities. That is, it is about the interplay between governance and economics in shaping the ongoing development of American cities. We will spend some time at the beginning of the semester looking at the emergence and growth of American cities, especially during the era of industrialization, in order to understand how modern cities came to be shaped and governed the way they were. We will then chart the rise of the post-World-War-II "Keynesian" or "welfare" city and its dismantling, which began in the 1980s with global economic and urban restructuring. This will help explain the advent of the "neoliberal" city of today, which we will explore in depth
ARC 342R RACE AND PLACE
This course introduces students to the ways that historical conceptions of race and place have impacted the shape of our built environment. It examines the critical influence of race science on the civilizational narratives that were used to determine the meaning and content of 19th century American architecture. It also traces the effects of these racial discourses on domestic interpretations of African, Asian, and Latino building traditions. Students will review the tools that American architects have used to represent the social and cultural values of different racial and ethnic groups, from the Victorian houses of New England towns to the campus planning strategies of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Over the course of the semester, students will complete writing assignments that challenge them to interpret the many ways that the racial politics of the past continues to shape the structure and character of today’s built environment. Despite moving beyond the tenets of scientific racism, the social construction of racial identity still exerts a palpable influence on new patterns of residential segregation, voting districts, land-use patterns, and material investment in (or disinvestment from) in the public sphere.
ARC 369J CITY ARCHITECTURE
We as architects, are faced with the incomprehensible challenge to construct a city and that only with its buildings. When we design a building, the city is always a part of it; the city becomes with a building and is negotiated as a building. As a plot, a partition wall, a courtyard, as a window: the city is measured, regulated, and enclosed in particular parts of architecture. This opens up the possibility of articulating the city with the quantity of its parts – through architecture. Rendering a city like a forest by the gaps between its trees turns the perspective from the intentional planning of masses to the gaps that a city opens. An architectural approach does not partition a city by a grid, zoning, or a land-register but partakes in its discontinuities, contradictions, analogies, or voids. Limited by its particularity, each individual work of architecture resists a unitary image of a city that objects it as a whole. Buildings are fragments of a city and can just participate in its configuration part-to-part; in contemporary words: peer-to-peer. By this, architectural assemblages anticipate formal strategies to participate in a city by distributive means. Today, infused by digital technologies, cities are increasingly negotiated peer-to-peer. From distributive manufacturing to the sharing economy: digital-driven participation alters how privacy, ownership, and access are handled. This seminar investigates on the implications of distributive computation on urban forms and architectural neighborhood models, transdisciplinary by bridging traditional architectural knowledge with computational considerations.
ARC 386M FUTURES AND CITIES

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

This seminar aims to understand the dynamics of urbanization that will shape cities over the next 50 years. It is motivated by the fact that since 2007 more human beings live in urban areas than in rural areas and by the anticipation that at the end of the 21st century up to 80% of the world's 9–11 billion people will be city dwellers. The growth in population and the concentration of settlement is expected to be uneven, with most occurring along coastal areas and in developing countries within Africa and Asia that currently have limited capacities to provide basic services. Moreover, this growth will create new megacities of over 10 million inhabitants and mega-regions that combine once distinct metropolitan areas. The current situation and future possibilities raise questions about how might unprecedented quantitative changes in population lead to qualitative changes in the ways cities function as sites of social interaction, the ways cities support and are supported by nation states, and the ways cities relate to one another within the geopolitical landscape. Cities will be considered as a complex, self-organizing, and emergent systems that are, themselves, elements within a larger global system. Core readings will draw from the literatures of futures studies and urban planning & design. Topics will include governance, security, economics, society, infrastructure, and information systems. A multi-part class exercise will examine a scenario that was developed for NATO and recently used as the basis for discussions about how different kinds of acute stress may undermine safety and security in urban areas. Individual term projects will ask each student to develop a case study that explores critical uncertainties related to a specific city in the context of its region, its nation state, and the world system. Each case will follow a standard structure so that it can be compared with others in the set. Students will contribute to the introduction of readings and active participation in all class meetings is expected. There are no prerequisites.
CRP 384 PLANNING FOR MEGAREGIONS

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

Megaregions (also termed “super-city regions” or “city cluster regions” in the European and Asian context) refer to large geographies consisting of two or more metropolitan areas and their hinterlands. Studies have showed that future population and economic increases in the United States will concentrate in its eleven megaregions, of which the Texas Triangle is among those with fastest growth. One major challenge facing the megaregions and the rest of the country is the widening economic and social gaps between fast growing, large metropolitan areas and smaller cities and rural counties. The proposed seminar/studio will investigate megaregion spatial inequality, focusing on the Texas Triangle, and explore transportation planning and investment strategies to address the challenge. The course will cover three topics: megaregion concepts, growth trends, and planning initiatives in the United States, Europe, and Asia; measures of spatial inequality and applications to megaregion study; and how strategic investments in transportation systems (for instance, High-Speed Rail) can help sustain the economy of cities and regions and reduce spatial inequality. The course offers opportunities to learn from collaborating. The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) and The University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) will collaborate on the joint teaching-research effort supported by the University Transportation Center: Cooperative Mobility for Competitive Megaregions (http://sites.utexas.edu/cm2). Furthermore, the two university teams will collaborate with the UK 2070 Independent Commission, led by Lord Kerslake. This commission is developing economic and infrastructure strategies to close the United Kingdom’s growing spatial inequality. The participants from UT Austin and UPenn will travel to London in mid-February, 2019 for a weeklong charrette with Kerslake Commission staff and advisors from the Universities of Manchester and Sheffield. We will also conduct field visits to successful urban regeneration and transportation projects in the North of England and meet with officials leading these efforts.
CRP 384 6-METRO TRANS STUDIES WITH GIS

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

This is a skill-building course. Its primary goal is to equip students with the state-of-the-practice computing technology in transportation planning. Most lectures and exercises involve working with TransCAD, a GIS package developed primarily for transportation planning and modeling purposes. The specific learning objectives of this course are to: Obtain skills in GIS routine operations and spatial analysis in the TransCAD environment; Develop strong capabilities to perform analyses using GIS on land use/urban form and travel; Gain experience in applying TransCAD to the four-step travel demand forecasting and modeling (trip generation, trip distribution, mode choice, and traffic assignment); and Explore applications of TransCAD GIS to metropolitan transportation studies, for example, evaluation of travel demand management policies, analysis of transportation performance outcome of TOD and other land use initiatives, and issues in the environmental, economic and social dimension of transportation. Course participants will learn by doing through the case of Austin, TX region. The course requires a large amount of independent work and places a significant emphasis on hands-on experience. Upon completion of the course, the student is expected to become an experienced TransCAD user for applications in transportation planning and modeling and in policy analyses of metropolitan transportation issues. Increasingly MPOs (Metropolitan Planning Organizations) in Texas and throughout the country are applying TransCAD GIS to develop and update their regional transportation plans. Students with TransCAD skills are found very competitive in the job market.
CRP 384 TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ANLYS

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

Geographic information systems (GIS) are indispensable for transportation-related analyses. Whether forecasting future conditions under alternative transportation investment scenarios, taking an inventory of a city’s pedestrian and cycling assets, or assessing pavement conditions throughout a state, transportation systems are inherently spatial and their management requires the collection of spatial data and the use of spatial analytical techniques. In addition to these applied and practice-oriented considerations, the academic literature on GIS and transportation (GIS-T) is exploding. Transport geography is a well-established sub-discipline and new data and methods are opening up exciting new research questions and analytical possibilities. In this course, we will learn both traditional and contemporary GIS-T methods by working with real methods and data that speak both the mundane (e.g., the preparation of regional transportation plans) and innovative (e.g., API queries) aspects of transportation planning. Owing to the focus on transportation planning, we will often be assessing data and measures that reflect actual or modeled travel behavior including observed origins and destinations, travel times and costs, and mode and route choices, among others. Because of the wealth of existing data in this realm, we will generally not be covering the data collection methods that would be required to, for example, assess infrastructure conditions (e.g. sidewalk quality, bridge age and remaining life). The course will operate as an applied research seminar, blending traditional lectures, hands-on labs, and in-class discussion components. Its overarching goal is for students to become fluent in a number of different GIS-T and related software tools and data sources and to apply them to answer questions of practical relevance. Two major focus areas—accessibility and equity—will shape the questions we will address. You will find that, in the field, there is often a best practice or typical approach that is employed to address a particular problem. In Transportation Accessibility and Equity Analysis you will learn about many different ways (some better and some worse) that they can be approached. It is my hope that, when working as a transportation planner or GIS professional, you will question traditional approaches and seek to bring the advanced data and methods that you will learn about in this class to bear on your work. Note: you should have completed introductory training in GIS before enrolling in this class. I will take your familiarity with basic GIS concepts and approaches for granted. Please see me before enrolling if you are uncertain about your qualifications.
CRP 384 4-LAND USE AND TRANSPORT PLAN

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

Transportation and land use together play a central role in the development of urban regions, shaping patterns of access to people, goods and services, economic opportunities, and information across space. Urban planning has long focused on urban form for its promise as a lever to direct travel behavior and transportation choices, as well as for more aesthetic concerns. Can land use effectively shift individuals’ trips from the automobile to more environmentally sustainable travel modes, while also yielding more livable communities? Conversely, the potential for purposive transportation investment to shape urban land development and resulting patterns of residential and employment location has also been a key concern. Increasingly, the transportation?land use relationship, managed well, is viewed as a lever that can ameliorate the wicked economic, social, and environmental problems faced by 21st century urban regions; managed poorly, it will exacerbate them. This graduate seminar examines key questions about the transportation?land use relationship from several angles. First, the course considers normative and explanatory theoretical propositions articulating how transportation and land use should and do relate, and reflects on contemporary shifts in urban spatial development and travel patterns away from conventional city?suburb distinctions. Second, the class critically reviews the historical and empirical evidence describing and quantifying co?dependencies between transportation and land use. What does this evidence suggest about the potential for transportation investment in roads or transit to shape urban development and for urban form to influence travel behavior? Finally, it appraises the options for planning policy and practice to intervene in the transportation?land use relationship. Sustainability?oriented options may be exercised through different governmental and informal mechanisms, with different implications for institutions and politics.
CRP 386 SMART CITIES
-T

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

With the development of computer technology, wearable devices, Internet of Things (IoT) etc, understanding smart community concepts and being able to analyze smart community/city cases is important for urban planners, managers and policymakers. What is a smart city? What is a smart community? Being smart is not just about technology; a city and a smart community enables better service delivery and quality of life for all of its residents. This seminar class will provide hands on experience for interested students in public policy, planning, administration, and others. This seminar class first will introduce the smart community concept and analyze different smart community cases in the US and globally. Each student will write one short memo on a smart city concept, and each student will write one longer memo/paper analyzing a specific city. Then, students will be split into teams. Each team will do a real world smart community project with an Austin entity. Data will be provided by the entity and/or the instructors. The overall goals of this seminar class are: To obtain basic knowledge of smart communities To learn how to analyze and compare existing smart community projects. To learn how to analyze smart community data using GIS and other related software. This seminar course is organized into two parts: 1) introduction to smart communities; 2) real world smart community team projects. During the first half of the semester, the course will provide a detailed introduction to smart communities and the current status and development. The instructors will invite planners, engineers, business leaders, government officials, and others, as guest speakers for specific topics. Students will compare and contrast different smart community cases across the world. In the second phase, students will learn how to analyze smart community data in team projects with Austin entities
School of Business
MAN 337 Tech Transfer/Entrepreneurship
COURSE PURPOSE: Wealth Creation and job creation starts with the application of science to the world of business. Automobiles, computers, software, airplanes, telephones, cell phones, materials for clothing and all other products starts with science. Our job is to understand how technology transfer, or science from laboratories, enters the business world to create entrepreneurial start-up firms or help to re-image existing firms. This course wraps technology transfer around the start-up or new venture development; it covers the mechanisms of the star-up process and the importance of understanding our capitalist system. We use theories of organizational science to understand how to create effective teams that will take a product to market which has been created in scientific laboratories. Entrepreneurship and innovation are the principal source of jobs and wealth in market economies. Thus this course is concerned with entrepreneurship based on new new science or technologies. Technology transfer is at the very center of business enterprise and entrepreneurship. It is the process of taking innovations out of laboratories and finding commercial applications for those technologies. The course is also concern with explaining “how” entrepreneurship takes place as well as “why” it takes place. The “how” of new venture development is related to the entrepreneurial process (innovation, technology transfer assessment, business plans, fund raising, launching of the enterprise, and the harvest or selling of the enterprise)? Research in this area is rich, comes out of the discipline of Management and, tends to concentrate on case studies and best practices. Related to this is the importance of the Eco-System; Austin, Silicon Valley and Boston are great eco-systems. It is difficult to engage in technology transfer without a great ecosystem. The “why” of entrepreneurship is concerned with why people and groups of people engage in the entrepreneurial process? Research in the area is found in the disciplines of History, Sociology, Psychology and Economics, and is less concerned with case studies but instead concentrates on statistical analysis of measured variables of individuals and groups of individuals. The course concentrates on the entrepreneurial process and theoretical aspects of new venture developments. Readings range from the development of high tech firms (remember that high tech is everything from the discovery of fire, automobiles and airplanes) to the entrepreneurial lessons of American immigrants. The course also utilizes “live” case studies; these are individuals who have created wealth and will share their knowledge with the class. The overall aim of the course is to create within you the idea that someone has to concentrate on wealth creation and job creation within the context of market economies. You will be guided by tools of the process, The “Quicklook” and the Business Model Generator. These tools are designed to analyze the market potential of new technologies. You will have an opportunity to create your “BIG IDEA” with your classmates as team members. The final project is for the teams to present their “BIG IDEA” to the class, which is a presentation on technology transfer.
MIS 373 17-PRED ANALYTIC & DATA MINING
-T
This course offers an introduction to data mining problems and tools to enhance managerial decision making at all levels of the organization and across business units. We discuss scenarios from a variety of business disciplines, including the use of data mining to support customer relationship management (CRM) decisions, decisions in the entertainment industry, finance, and professional sports teams. The three main goals of the course are to enable students to: 1. Approach business problems data-analytically by identifying opportunities to derive business value from data mining. 2. Interact competently on the topic of data-driven business intelligence. Know the basics of data mining techniques and how they can be applied to interact effectively with CTOs, expert data miners, and business analysts. This competence will also allow you to envision data-mining opportunities. 3. Acquire some hands-on experience so as to follow up on ideas or opportunities that present themselves.
College of Communication
ADV 323 PUBLIC COMM OF SCI TECH-WB
Science has always played an essential role in the development of the human condition. Presently, however, the growth of technological and scientific innovation is increasing at what feels like an exponential rate. Emerging fields like genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and nanotechnology are poised to alter the very definition of what it means to be “human.” Concurrently, issues like climate change are changing the condition of our planet and how our species relates to it. Media have traditionally provided the information link between the public and the experts working on the cutting edge of science and technology. But scientists themselves are key communication sources for information about their research, and their efforts to communicate shape how non-scientists (for example, average citizens, policy makers, business leaders, etc.) think about and behave relative to science and its role in society. This course will introduce students to the complicated intersection of science, media, and society. Our exploration will be driven by three overarching questions and the interplay among them: (1) How do individuals come to understand and perceive science? (2) How do media and communication tools influence the spread of information about science? and (3) How do scientists themselves contribute to the process of communicating science? We will consider the foundations of the field of “science communication” and how communication and media influence debates and science and technology. We will also spend time grappling with the scientist communicators themselves; reflecting on how they communicate and what drives them to do so. Along the way we’ll consider some examples of science in popular culture (including television, films, podcasts, etc.) as well as some specific scientist celebrities. We’ll also explore a handful of case studies to connect our work to current scientific issues.
ADV 324 Communicating Sustainability
Despite environmentally friendly attitudes, there remains a profound attitude-behavior gap, often called the green gap, between what Americans say they value and how they actually behave. Mass communication, both informative and persuasive, can play a vital role in closing this gap. This course will look closely at the ways mass media can foster, challenge and change attitudes and behaviors as they relate to sustainability. A central premise of the course is that without effective communication campaigns, even the most promising sustainable initiatives will not succeed. In the course of the semester, students will gain the theoretical and practical foundation necessary to understand, evaluate and craft successful media messages to communicate issues of sustainability.
CMS 332D Digital Ethics
Explores the ethical issues inherent in the use of digital and online media. Discusses a range of current issues and subjects through the application of important moral theories, attending to how new technologies often challenge knowledge of morality, virtue, and the goodlife. Analyze case studies to encourage reflection and discussion over contemporary issues in digital ethics. Subjects include the ethics of hacking, Anonymous operations, online privacy, blogging ethics, online shaming and activism, revenge pornography, online free speech, social media and virtue, as well as other contemporary topics.
CMS 350C Crowds, Clouds and Community
Explores the use of social network theory and analysis to understand theconnectivity and complexity of teams, families, organizations, and communities. Consider examples of network analytic approaches to theorize, visualize, analyze, and understand, for example, criminal networks, professional service firms, government contracting, social media platforms, virtual worlds, interorganizational dynamics, post disaster recovery, and ad hoc organizational forms.
J 308D Data, Privacy, And You
Explores approaches to understanding what some have termed 'datafication'. Covers literacy of these types of data as well as the ways in which these data are transmitted, stored, compiled, aggregated, analyzed, and used in predictive analytics. Examines privacy aspects in terms of the increased blurring between the private and public in spacessuch as social media and explores the implication of this on news production and consumption.
J 355F Living In Information Age
Contemporary professional skills and techniques in the practices of journalism. An examination of communication and information technologies with particular emphasis on the Internet and how it is used by the Millennial Generation; how communication and information technologies evolve, and the cultural, economic, political, and social implications of such technologies for society; and how individuals, media organizations, and corporations employ the Internet for their benefit.
School of Engineering
ARE 371 ENERGY SIMULATN IN BLDG DESIGN
-T
Fundamentals of building energy simulations including basic analytical models for heat & mass transfer in building elements and general numerical methods for solving system of equations. Use of energy simulations tools for building design analyses including parametric studies of various design solutions for different operational and environmental parameters. Course Objectives: 1. Identify basic building elements which affect building energy consumption and analyze the performance of these elements using energy and mass conservation models. 2. Understand the physics behind various numerical tools used for solving different heat and moisture transfer problems in building elements. 3. Use basic numerical methods for solving systems of linear and nonlinear equations. 4. Conduct building energy and mass transfer analyses using comprehensive computer simulation tools. 5. Evaluate the performance of building envelope and environmental systems considering energy consumption in buildings. 6. Perform parametric analyses to evaluate the effects of design choices and operational strategies of building systems on building energy use. 7. Use energy simulations in life-cycle cost analyses for selection of building components.
C E 321 TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

*Instructor Approval Required

This course presents an introduction to the basic concepts, principles, components, and procedures that are vital to the successful engineering and management of transportation systems. More specifically, the course covers the fundamental issues related to the following areas of Transportation Systems: ? Traffic operation ? Transportation planning ? Design and management of transportation infrastructure ? Emerging new technologies related to transportation systems
C E 367T TRAFFIC ENGINEERING

*Instructor Approval Required

The goal for CE 367T is to be able to characterize traffic flow on arterial streets as well as freeways, including the roles of traffic control devices for interrupted as well as non-interrupted flow regimes. This goal includes being able to identify reasons for flow restrictions (bottlenecks) and design cost effective bottleneck solutions.
M E 360 VEHICLE SYS DYNAMS & CONTROLS
-T
This course reviews and introduces concepts in dynamics, systems, and control as applied to ground vehicles, including models for handling, performance, and ride modes, in order to build familiarity with principles and methods useful in design and development of manned and unmanned vehicle systems.
M E 363M Energy, Technology & Policy
Technology and policy related to energy supply and demand, oil and gas production, coal utilization, hydrogen production, fuel cells, transportation, nuclear power, solar and wind energy, biomass utilization, energy conservation, and climate change. Only one of the following may be counted: Chemical Engineering 359, 379 (Topic: Energy Technology and Policy), 384 (Topic: Energy Technology and Policy). Prerequisite: Upper-division standing, and admission to an appropriate major sequence in engineering or consent of the department.
College of Fine Arts
DES 322 Design and the Social Environment
Nothing happens in a vacuum. This course approaches design as a political and socio-cultural practice - as a toolkit for activism by publicly questioning, critiquing, and generating new ways of thinking about the most pressing issues of our day. Through a series of research-driven projects, students will explore the possibilities and the limitations of art and design in addressing complex political and socio-cultural realities. Themes may include but are not limited to race, decolonization, labor laws, surveillance and data-driven systems, incarceration, immigration, climate, conspiracy, health, equality, human rights, socioeconomic equity, education, gender, and other topics of interest to students in this class. The course will introduce students to different possibilities of socially engaged practices, such as making invisible systems legible, translating complex issues to new audiences, and putting theory and critique into practice.
School of Information
I 301 Intro to Informatics
This course will introduce students to informatics. Students will explore the foundations of the field, the core values and the concentration areas offered by the UT iSchool Informatics program. Overview of the information field as it relates to the technology-based world culture. Topics may include the idea of information, information in relation to technology and culture, information technology in education, information literacy and the "digital divide," information and communication technology, information and gender, public information policy, and information organization and preservation.
I 320 Information in Cyberspace-WB
An overview of the history and social impact of Internet, Web, and other network technologies. Students will learn methods and tools of media creation with an emphasis on technological self-sufficiency.
I 320 BLCKCHAIN WEB3 INTRNT CMPTR-WB
Built on the back of a blockchain computing stack, this course will focus on topics and research key to the transition to a decentralized economy. We will cover the dynamics of emerging technologies, highlight new ideas from leading entrepreneurs and researchers shaping this future, and provide students with an opportunity to build their research into a product or startup. Students will use lean methodologies and anchor their approach in content covered through the course. The course will meet each week for 3 hours over the semester, and sessions will consist of online webinars (both synchronous and asynchronous). Sessions will include a mix of lecture-based content and discussion on selected topics, expert guest lectures, and product/startup building. At the end of the semester students will be graded on their ability to pitch and present their startup idea, the relevant empirical research supporting their ideas, and a succinct business plan for taking their idea to market.
College of Liberal Arts
AFR 302M Numbering Race
In this course, you will learn about quantitative methodology and statistics through the lens of race. You will have the opportunity to examine, analyze, and critique real-world data, quantitative research, and public discourse concerning race in America. Some empirical and quantitative skills you will learn this semester include (1) conceptualization and operationalization in quantitative measurement, (2) the calculation and interpretation of descriptive statistics and statistical relationships, (3) the application of statistical techniques to understand social phenomenon, and (4) techniques for presenting results from quantitative analysis. As we cover various statistical techniques, you will also learn about the origins of the concept race, including the actors (many of whom were scientists and statisticians) and actions that brought race into being and continue to justify racial thinking. We will also discuss how these efforts have impacted our current collective and individual understandings of race, especially as they relate to the quantitative study of race and various social problems. This course satisfies the core math requirement and carries the quantitative reasoning flag.
AFR 317D Community Policing in US
This course will delve into the history of policing in the United States by examining the beginning of American policing including a focus on community policing. Students will have the opportunity to meet area police officers, judges and laypersons representing community policing. The course will incorporate the use of lectures, readings/articles, video, research and extensive class discussions to assist in exploring the impact of community policing in the United States.
AFR 322D Race and the Digital
Is the Internet a trashfire (like Logan Paul’s Suicide Forest video?). Is it one big click-bait to get us to part with our biometric data (think Google Arts & Culture Face Match app or Snapchat)? A site of abuse and trolling? Or does it offer us a means of political organizing by way of various “digital counterpublics”? This seminar takes up these questions and more through an examination of race and digital technologies. Attention will be placed on forms of popular culture, social media, black cultural production and political action. Students will become more skilled in written communication and expression, reading, critical thinking, oral expression, and visual expression.
AFR 351 THE GLOBAL CITY-NY
This course reveals how America’s largest metropolis has been transnational since its very inception: from the conquest of indigenous land, to the city’s involvement in the US slave trade and plantation economy, to its central role in the industrial revolution, to its status as a destination point for migrants from around the world and, finally, to its emergence as the preeminent center of world finance. This course literally traces New York City’s history through first-hand visits to major landmarks and historic neighborhoods. Students will also have an opportunity to visit several of the city’s major museums and collections, to meet with representatives of community-based organizations and to attend a range of cultural events (music, film and theater). Through it all, the course will meet for class lectures on the history and politics of New York City. Course readings will draw from history, sociology, anthropology, geography, literature and film
AFR 360D Race, Gender, and Surveillance
Race, Gender and Surveillance will provide an overview of theories in the emerging field of Surveillance Studies, with a focus on race and gender. We will examine transformations in social control and the distributions of power in U.S. and global contexts, with a focus on populations within the Black diaspora. As such, this is a Black Studies course. Course topics include: the Trans-Atlantic slave trade; prisons and punishment; reality television; social media; anti-surveillance fashion; airports; biometrics and drones. Students will be encouraged to develop critical reading, writing and analytical skills. Through the use of films, podcasts, videos, and other visual media students will be challenged to better understand how surveillance practices inform modern life.
AFR 372F Urban Unrest
How and when do cities burn? The modern US city has seen its share of urban unrest, typified by street protests (both organized and spontaneous), the destruction of private property, looting and fires. Interpretations of urban unrest are varied: some describe it as aimless rioting, others as political insurrection. Most agree that the matter has something to do with the deepening of racism, poverty and violence in U.S. cities. This course takes a closer look at the roots of urban unrest, exploring a range of origins: joblessness, state violence, white flight, the backlash against civil rights gains, new immigration and interracial strife. Urban unrest is often cast as an intractable struggle between black and white, yet this course examines the ways in which multiple racial groups have entered the fray. Beyond race and class, the course will also explore unrest as a mode of pushing the normative boundaries of gender and sexuality in public space. Course material will draw from film, literature, history, geography and anthropology.
AMS 370 TECH OF DISPLACEMENT RESIST
This upper-level undergraduate seminar focuses on technologies of displacement, as well as tactics, digital media work, mapping projects, and activism that communities engage with to resist dispossession. From infrastructure projects such as pipelines and dams that have incited Native land back movements, to "smart city" tools of gentrification leading to new forms of tenant organizing, we will explore contexts locally and globally. We will begin by grounding ourselves in American studies, cultural geography, and urban studies approaches to technology, space, and resistance. We will also investigate histories of forced dislocation, relocation, refugeeism, and segregation. In doing so, we will pay close attention to imperial histories and their afterlives, particularly regarding how they inform housing, environmental, Siliconized, and smart city landscapes of today. Some our explorations will be grounded right here in Austin. We will also look to digital projects and speculative work being crafted by housing justice, abolitionist, decolonial, and feminist collectives for more emancipatory technological futures. To this end, I will teach open source digital counter-mapping techniques, which students will then incorporate into their final projects. Students will also get to experiment with ethnographic fieldnote methods, honing their observation and writing skills.
ANT 324L ANTHROPOLOGY OF INFRASTRUCTURE
Infrastructure enables movement, whether of water or people; it distributes electricity and goods; and it affords connectivity between people over time and space. As such, infrastructure creates relationships between resources, energy, built form, information, and people. Often unnoticed until it breaks down, infrastructure provides the underpinning for much of life as we know it. This course will address what infrastructure is and what it does. Topics will include: what happens when infrastructure fails, how infrastructure supports or challenges social inequalities, the work required for the creation and maintenance of infrastructure, and the relationship between senses, emotion, and infrastructure. Finally, it asks: what is the promise of infrastructure, and can new forms of infrastructure can be imagined? The class is organized around infrastructural forms, drawing on texts that introduce key conceptual concerns in the anthropology of infrastructure. Using Austin as a site for investigation, we will take field trips to infrastructure sites as a class. Students will learn ethnographic research methods and develop a research project over the course of the semester.
ANT 324L SENSING: ELEMENTAL MEDIA
“Sensing: Elemental media as an anthropology for change” will use the cities of Austin and Manchester as sites for sensory ethnographic investigations of urban ecology. The course is organized around air, water, earth, and fire as themes for engaging with the city through media and the senses. These elemental themes will also be addressed in terms of how various forms of media provide means of moving through and sensing the city. In this way, the course foregrounds an ecological, ethical approach that both acts on the city and reflects on its tools and methods of engagement. Students will learn methods of field recording, sound walking, sound mapping, documentary photography, photo-elicitation, interviews, and acoustic archaeology. As a Global Virtual Exchange course, students in Austin and Manchester will exchange material and collaborate on a project, thus gaining knowledge and understanding of global urban processes and ecological concerns.
ECO 334K URBAN ECONOMICS
This course is focused o the internal workings of cities and the role of cities in the larger economy. Using micro economic theory, the class will be examining questions like: Why do so many students live in the Riverside area, 4 miles from campus? Why do high income individuals live in central Paris, but low income individuals live in central Detroit? Is Segregation 'good' or 'bad'? What affect has the automobile and public transportation had on our urban economy? Why might developed economy systems of cities look different than those of less developed economies?
GOV 370U URBAN POLITICS
This course introduces and explores the development of the urban landscape in America. Cities did not simply spring into existence. Their geographical and physical constraints combined with social, ethnic, and political pressures shaped and continue to shape their development. This course is designed to mostly introduce you to some ideas of urban politics in America. The first part of the semester concentrates on the development of the cities. This part of the class will focus primarily on the rural to urban shift in America. The second part of the semester will explore the move from urban to suburban living. This part of the class will look at more modern issues and topics in the cities (i.e. problems created by people moving out, financial attempts to solve these problems, new urbanism, gated communities, social/racial strife).
GRG 320J ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
This course offers an introduction to environmental justice, the premise that all people have a right to an environment free from hazardous contamination as well as access to resources that sustain health and livelihood. Throughout the semester, we will examine the meaning of environmental justice as a spatial and land-based—that is, a geographical—project. We will also examine the definition and significance of its inverse: environmental racism, meaning unequal access to life-sustaining environment resources along racial lines. We will engage in an ethnic studies approach to together explore the geographies of indigeneity, race, and environmental justice. We will also highlight the relationship between environmental racism to capitalism and ongoing processes of colonialism and exploitation. Last, and importantly, this course highlights the role and importance of local and global movements for environmental justice.
GRG 322D Human Health & the Environment
Each year, hundreds of chemicals are found in Americans of all ages, including lead, mercury, dioxins and PCBs. Studies have detected antibacterial agents from liquid soaps in infants' cord blood, breast milk, and children’s urine. PBDEs, or flame retardants, which can have negative impacts on learning and memory, show up in fabrics, upholstery, mattresses, and electronics, and leach out into household air and dust. News magazines call autism an ‘epidemic.’ Pollution is an affliction of the industrial age, and remains one of the most vexing unintended consequences of economic growth. This course discusses these contemporary, and often controversial, issues in environmental health, focusing on how today's environmental issues directly affect our health. Of particular interest in environmental morbidity is the unequal distribution of exposures among people of different socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. Poor people are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards, in the home, in school and workplace, and outdoors. Toxic environmental exposures typically cannot be easily controlled individually, and therefore are heavily determined by our larger community and political decisions. Accordingly, this course focuses on the decision-making process and the larger concept of environmental ethics. Because toxic exposures from manufactured chemicals could potentially be avoided by not using the chemicals in the first place, many ethical questions, dilemmas, and controversies arise in this course. For example, fossil fuels and human health – how should the short-term gains of using fossil fuels be weighed against the longer-term health consequences of respiratory and cardiopulmonary disease? Or obesity, under-nutrition, and starvation - the simultaneous existence of these conditions, particularly in one country, reveals a problem in environmental justice. Accordingly, we examine the relationship between humans and nature, and discuss the concepts of sustainability and resilience, and global health.
GRG 325E THE HEALTHY, LIVABLE CITY
Issues concerning the built environment and urban infrastructure, environmental sustainability, and the public policy framework designed to manage the challenges presented by these issues.
GRG 356 When Topic Is Appropriate
None
GRG 356T Urban Publics
The concept of the public in the city and how it has shifted over time along the lines of gender, ethnicity, race, and class. Examines contemporary struggles over defining the urban public and how those struggles are linked to social, cultural, political, and economic forces. Subjects include uses of public space, the public sphere, eminent domain, urban politics, civic engagement, and political participation.
HIS 317L 14-BUILDING AMERICA
Why does the built environment matter? What does it tell us about the way society works or the choices people of past generations made (or failed to make?) What kinds of decisions to planners, leaders, and people make related to the built environment and how have those decisions influenced society? This course will look at roughly 100 years of building in American society from the late 1860s through approximately 1980. It will focus on the ways in which politicians, architects, engineers, urban planners, construction workers, naturalists, environmentalists, and others approached the relationship between large-scale infrastructure projects and social development. It will place such building projects in larger historical perspective by evaluating key locations and sets of social relationships (between local, regional and national groups) before and after such projects were built or expanded. Such projects made the United States into one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world, promoted higher education, and were even used as models for other nations around the world. The class will cover, among other things, the belief systems of the specific engineers who designed such projects, the entities that commissioned such projects, and the historical context of such beliefs. It will also explore the responses of those who objected to such projects based on religious, political, or economic ideologies.
RHE 309J RHETORIC OF CITY STREETS
None
RHE 309J When Topic is Appropriate
For topics courses labeled as “When Topic is Appropriate” on a BDP curriculum sheet, please note that all topics for this course number are not automatically approved to count toward your BDP. In advance of registration for a particular semester (and as part of the BDP seat request process), the BDP office will inform current BDP students of the topics for the course number that are approved for their BDP.
RHE 330C When Topic Is Appropriate
RHE 330C ACCESS DESIGNED
-T
This course will examine, explore, and exercise techniques for designing accessibility in digital writing and with physical computing devices. To accomplish these tasks, students will examine texts that foreground communication media as mediating bodies and technologies, which will include topics such as accessibility, universal design, disability studies, and media theory. We will explore these meditations by locating accessibility in how online communication circulates with and against bodies (digital documents and online sites) as well as how digital devices (i.e. arduino-based sensor projects) can assist how bodies circulate in space. In addition to course readings, case studies, and class discussions, the class will exercise accessible concepts by working together to design, develop, and deploy accessibility devices with accompanying documentation (e.g. user guides and project websites) that rhetorically respond to a site of contested access.
RHE 330C MOBILE ENVIRONMENTS
-T
Mobile computing devices have become ubiquitous in our communities. From cooking to navigation, their presence has improved the quality of our daily lives. According to the Pew Research Center, 64% of adults own a smartphone, and that number increases to about 80% when we consider 18-35 year olds. At a rate of 69% per year, we’re spending more time on our phones that ever before. Such a trend emphasizes the need to consider how we design mobile environments, especially as they interface with physical environments. This course focuses on principles of user experience (UX) design. Specifically, it focuses on the creation of low-fidelity mobile application solutions, which are designed to help users explore and create meaningful and personally relevant experiences within their environments. While this is not a graphic design, programming, or human-computer interaction course, we will cover techniques from those disciplines to guide our work. Our goal will be to engage with design as a rhetorical form that can transform how users understand and communicate in their environments. No prior design experience is required. This will be a project-based workshop that emphasizes project management and collaboration.
RHE 330C RHET AND DATA VISUALIZATION
Decisions on public policy, business deals, and problems in your personal and social life all depend on numerical evidence. In today's political climate, quantitative data claims from experts are under fire and sometimes even rejected out of hand. Such challenges are not new. As Mark Twain said, "there are lies, damned lies, and statistics." Of course all forms of evidence are open for interpretation and challenge. But quantitative data may be the most persuasive evidence due to methods that are are open for inspection, correction, and debate every step of the way. The first part of this class will build up the concepts and rhetorical strategies that underlie quantitative data. You will learn to interpret and evaluate the way data is presented across media, including words; static images, graphs and tables; and dynamic online presentations including interactive and animated displays. In the biggest part of the class, you will practice producing and presenting data in valid and persuasive ways. In a series of assignments across the term, you will collect, code, analyze, interpret, and present data. The data-collection projects will involve your own attitudes and activities concerning writing in college, such as finding and reading sources, writing papers, and consulting with peers in the University Writing Center. You will work in a small group on one set of data to apply analytic techniques such as descriptive and inferential statistics and to design graphic representations of the data. The cap for the semester will be giving a presentation of your findings that includes graphics and visuals. By taking this course, you will improve your ability to judge the data you see in other courses and in public and social media and to use data responsibly and effectively in your own work.
SOC 307Q Envrnmntl Inequality/Health
This course examines the social roots and impacts of environmental contamination and natural disasters. It will emphasize how environmental health inequalities are linked to social inequalities (race, class, gender, and nation) and how people respond to environmental risks. Drawing from academic texts, documentary films, and photo essays, we will explore how urban planning and economic development policies create environmental inequalities, both in the United States and globally, and how social movements define and address environmental health hazards. We will analyze case studies to illustrate key theoretical concepts in the environmental health field, including: hazardous materials siting in the U.S., the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, nuclear testing in the Western U.S., pesticide use in industrial agriculture, the Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine, the Bhopal chemical disaster in India, mining and oil exploitation, and the global toxic waste trade.
SOC 323S Building the Sustainable City
Building the Sustainable City is an interdisciplinary course that examines why we have to create more sustainable living environments, what we are presently doing to rebuild American cities in more sustainable ways, and where we need to go in the future. The course adopts the strong definition of sustainability to include the connections between economy, equity, and environment. 80% of the population lives in urban areas today, the vast majority of economic activity occurs in them, and most environmental problems are related to urbanization and industrialization. Understanding how to build a sustainable city, then, is the key to building a sustainable society. This course will focus on energy use, transportation policy, housing, and food production/distribution in the city. Social equity issues will be integrated into all four themes, as all four are both cause and effect of social inequalities. The course links our academic understanding of sustainability with “real world”, on-the-ground people doing sustainability today. It will feature several people working in city government, the non-profit sector, and academic positions as guest speakers. These speakers will discuss their organizations as examples of how to build a sustainable city, and show students how they are building a more sustainable future here in Austin.
URB 301 Introduction to Urban Studies
A multidisciplinary study of cities and complex urban environments; historical and contemporary issues from both national and international perspectives.
URB 352 THE DIGITAL CITY
This introductory course will cover the analysis of data at the scale of the town, city, neighborhood, and/or metropolitan area. Topics of analysis include data pertaining to population, traffic, transit, health, housing, and economics. Students will acquire the ability to recognize and avoid potential pitfalls in the analysis of spatial data at the urban scale, and will learn how to navigate key sources of data such as the United States Census. We will also explore cities from different parts of the world as case studies to examine how they are managed by analyzing data from different digital sources with various qualitative and quantitative methods.
College of Natural Sciences
C S 303E Elements of Computers and Programming
Problem solving and fundamental algorithms for various applications in science, business, and on the World Wide Web, and introductory programming in a modern object-oriented programming language.
C S 363M Principles Of Machine Learning
-T
This course provides a basic introduction to data mining and statistical machine learning. Topics include basic methods for supervised and unsupervised machine learning, statistical inference and prediction. A wide variety of supervised and unsupervised algorithms will be introduced, including linear regression, logistic regression, K-nearest neighbors, naive Bayes, support vector machines, neural networks, decision trees, ensemble methods, clustering methods, dimensionality reduction. The course will also discuss various modern applications of machine learning and data mining.
C S 378 BEHAVIORAL ETHICS: DIGITAL AGE
This course will examine why seemingly good people sometimes make unethical choices. We will explore real-life ethical dilemmas, challenge our decision-making processes, and seek to describe our ideal behavior for the future. Since this is an Academic Service Learning course, we will also collaborate with the City of Austin, local non-profits and social enterprises to engage in service projects, giving students the opportunity to use real-life problems and tasks to increase learning breadth, depth, and retention. Upon completion of this subject, students should be able to -Identify ethical issues that arise in everyday business and social situations -Demonstrate knowledge and application of ethical principles -Apply ethical reasoning and critical analysis to real-world scenarios -Formulate reasonable solutions to ethical dilemmas -Develop self-education skills to support your continued growth and development -Develop teamwork, interpersonal, and written/oral communication skills relevant to success in today’s business environment
C S 378 CYBERPHYSICAL SYSTEMS
Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are “engineered systems that are built from and depend upon the synergy of computational and physical components. Emerging CPS will be coordinated, distributed, and connected, and must be robust and responsive. The CPS of tomorrow will need to far exceed the systems of today in capability, adaptability, resiliency, safety, security, and usability. Examples of the many CPS application areas include the smart electric grid, smart transportation, smart buildings, smart medical technologies, next-generation air traffic management, and advanced manufacturing. CPS will transform the way people interact with engineered systems, just as the Internet transformed the way people interact with information. However, these goals cannot be achieved without rigorous systems engineering” [National Science Foundation]. This course covers some basic topics in the design and implementation of cyber-physical systems. The course is project-oriented and uses the F1/10 model race car as the project platform.
C S 378 INTRO TO HUMAN COMP INTERACT
"CS 378 (Introduction to Human-Computer Interaction) is the introductory course to the field of Human Computer Interaction (HCI). In this class,students will learn to design, prototype and evaluate user interfaces.Unlike most classes, CS 378 (Introduction to Human-ComputerInteraction) will not focus on any particular set of algorithmic techniques, instead students will learn techniques for user-centered interface design (e.g., prototyping, contextual inquiry, heuristic evaluation etc). This summer, we will use front-end web development technologies (HTML, CSS and JavaScript) and a backend for prototyping."
School of Public Affairs
P A 383C POLICYMAKING IN CITIES

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

P A 388K SMART CITIES
-T

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

With the development of computer technology, wearable devices, Internet of Things (IoT) etc, understanding smart community concepts and being able to analyze smart community/city cases is important for urban planners, managers and policymakers. What is a smart city? What is a smart community? Being smart is not just about technology; a city and a smart community enables better service delivery and quality of life for all of its residents. This seminar class will provide hands on experience for interested students in public policy, planning, administration, and others. This seminar class first will introduce the smart community concept and analyze different smart community cases in the US and globally. Each student will write one short memo on a smart city concept, and each student will write one longer memo/paper analyzing a specific city. Then, students will be split into teams. Each team will do a real world smart community project with an Austin entity. Data will be provided by the entity and/or the instructors. The overall goals of this seminar class are: -To obtain basic knowledge of smart communities -To learn how to analyze and compare existing smart community projects. -To learn how to analyze smart community data using GIS and other related software.
P A 388L LDRSHP: CATALYST COMMUN CHANGE

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

P A 393L URBAN ECONOMICS AND POLICY

*Instructor Approval Required

*Graduate-level course.

Integration Essay

A 3-4 page essay in which you reflect on what you learned and accomplished through your BDP experience.

Important Notes on Fulfilling Your BDP Requirements


For more information on courses, please consult your BDP advisor (bdp@austin.utexas.edu) or the course schedule.