Real Estate Related Courses
Fall 2009
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF DESIGNCOURSE LISTINGS BY SCHOOL:
Graduate School of Design
Harvard Business School
Harvard Law School
Kennedy School of Government
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The term begins January 29, 2009. View full GSD course listings.
GSD 3307. Landscape Planning for the 21st Century: Paradigms, Practices & Projects
Pierre Belanger
Fall. F 10:00 - 1:00 (Gund Hall 109)
Responding to contemporary ecological pressures and decaying infrastructures, this course brings together a series of influential thinkers and researchers from the design commons across North America to discuss different methods, models and measures of large scale, long range landscape planning for the 21st century. Organized around a sequence of weekly topics and readings, guest presentations focus on the future of 'the region' that - with the predominance of landscape ecology and the revival of geography worldwide - are challenging the laissez-faire dogma of neo-liberalist economics, Fordist forms of civil engineering, and Euclidean planning prinicples that marked the past century.
From Geddes to Gottmann, Mackaye to Mumford, Olmsted to Odum, the first part of the course re-examines a series of influential plans, projects, and practitioners to trace a cross-section through the history of urbanization in North America and chart the trajectory of an emergent regional paradigm. Foregrounding the nascent reciprocity between ecology, economy and energy, the second part of the course opens a horizon on pressing issues facing cities today to recast the instrumental, operative and geopolitical role of the watershed region as urban infrastructure. Drawing from an array of contemporary planning projects and historic public works, the course concludes with student-led presentations on mapping projects that focus on transboundary watershed regions throughout the world; regions where, according to the United Nations, more than 60% of the world population will be living by the year 2030.
Foreshadowing the preeminence of landscape planning for future cities and infrastructures, the motive of the course is to construct a clear and contemporary discourse on the urban region as it becomes the locus of intellectual, ecological and economic change of significance, globally.
GSD 4105. Studies of the Built North American Environment: 1580 to the Present
John R. Stilgoe
Fall. TuTh 10:00 - 11:30 (Sever 214)
North America as an evolving visual environment is analyzed as a systems concatenation involving such constituent elements as farms, small towns, shopping malls, highways, suburbs, and as depicted in fiction, poetry, cartography, television, cinema, and advertising and cybernetic simulation.
GSD 4329. Urbanization in the East Asian Region
Peter G. Rowe
Fall. M 2:00 - 5:00 (Gund Hall 517)
This course provides an account of urbanization in the East Asian Region by way of a detailed examination of the historical development of selected cities, as well as by way of discussion of consequences of broader urban formations and sustainability, especially in China. More specifically, the aim will be to depict prevalent patterns of urbanization at appropriate levels; to characterize relevant political traditions that bear on forms of planning and urban administration; and to reveal pertinent underlying social, economic, cultural and environmental circumstances at work. The selected cities are Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Taipei, Tokyo and the three mid-sized Chinese cities of Suzhou, Wenzhou and Wuhan. While each is certainly distinctive, they do all share common characteristics. For instance, many have had colonial influences in the past; each has grown recently, or is in the process of expanding and modernizing rapidly, as well as going through "boom and bust" cycles. There are also differences. For example, governmental attitudes towards social and environmental costs have varied from place to place and from time to time, as have external and internal influences on urbanization and urban-architectural expression. Also, developments in some cities under examination have influenced other cities in the region. A broad question being addressed is whether there are distinctive forms to urbanization within East Asia, or whether it is largely a matter of satisfying demands for urban expansion within the ambit of relatively standard models of modernization and internationally available technologies. The class will meet between 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm on Monday afternoons and will follow a lecture format with no limit on class size, although attendance is required. Student assignments will include two essays, each of around ten pages in length.
GSD 5101. Histories and Theories of Urban Interventions
Susan Fainstein
Fall. MW 11:30 - 1:00 (Gund Hall 111)
This course surveys the evolution of city form and the history of urban design around the world. We will compare and analyze urban interventions and morphology in a variety of cultural contexts, and study the development of both vernacular urbanism as well as cities built de novo (or extensively reconfigured) according to a particular schema of societal order or Utopianism. Throughout the course we will evaluate the fitness of cities as physical vessels for human endeavor, as well as probe the deeper ideals and values that have guided and given meaning to urban design through the ages.
The parts of the course involve a global survey of urban interventions from antiquity to the present, concluding with analysis of the explosive growth of Chinese cities since the 1980s. In the last third we will examine the intellectual roots of urban design in the West, and survey some of the influential theories related to place making and good city form.
GSD 5304. Transportation Planning and Development
Richard Dimino
Fall. F 9:00 - 12:00 (Gund Hall 510)
Access and mobility are essential elements of an urban plan. Through lectures, discussions, case studies, and exercises, this course examines the issues and analytical framework tools and skills involved in transportation planning. There will be an emphasis on a number of key areas of study: transportation master planning, parking demand and analysis, transportation modeling, highway capacity and level of service, streetscape, and geometrics. Cases and exercises will correlate these areas of transportation research and analysis with their interrelationships with land use and economic activity.
GSD 5472. Material Geographies 1: Large-Scale Infrastructure and Urbanization in the Sonoran Desert
Felipe Correa
Fall. Th 10:00 - 1:00 (Gund Hall 510)
This advanced research workshop aims to explore the role of territorial infrastructural systems in relation to 'fast paced' forms of urbanization within the North American context.
Using the North American Desert City as an 'open laboratory' (Primarily the Phoenix / Tucson mega-corridor), the seminar will explore the relationship between fast-paced forms of urban development and a broad host of environmental resources that enable their existence. Furthermore, through a series of lectures, discussions, and mixed media drawing explorations, the course will serve as a speculative platform to rethink the territory's current infrastructural morphologies as potent organizational devices that can begin to reformat this ground, in order to conceive alternate formal and experiential identities that begin to bridge the abyss between mute patterns of development and the unacknowledged material forces of the region.
The seminar is open to all GSD students, and will demand a high level of initiative and engagement on the part of the students.
This workshop is part of a larger research initiative conducted by Felipe Correa, which explores the most salient forms of urbanism currently emerging in the North American urban scenarios and re-examine them in relation to the infrastructural landscapes that enable their existence
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HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL
The term begins January 13, 2009. View full HBS course listings. Most HBS courses meet on consecutive days of the week. X schedule courses typically meet Mondays, Tuesdays, and every other Wednesday.Y schedule courses meet Thursdays, Fridays, and every other Wednesday. See the HBS cross-registration page for further information.
HBS 1446. Investment Management
Kenneth Froot
Fall.
The course studies financial markets, principally equity markets, from an investment decision-making perspective. The course develops a set of conceptual frameworks and analytical tools, and applies these to particular investments and investment strategies chosen from a fairly broad array of companies, securities, and institutional contexts. The focus is on adding value across the spectrum of decisions ranging from position-taking in particular securities, to portfolio risk management, to the delegation to and oversight of professional investment managers. In conjunction, the course explores the competitive dynamics among investment organizations, products, and markets.
HBS 1470. International Financial Management
Associate Professor C. Fritz Foley, Associate Professor Li Jin
Fall.
The course provides analytical tools for understanding how cross-border financing, valuation, risk management, restructuring and investment decisions are influenced by a variety of factors including exchange rates, legal rules, international tax considerations and country risk. The course explains how firms can create, measure, and sustain value across borders. As such, the course provides students with the opportunity to translate the foundations of finance from their first year coursework to an international setting.
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HARVARD LAW SCHOOL
The term begins January 26, 2009. View full HLS course listings.
LAW 35550A. Environmental Law: Advanced
Richard Lazarus
Fall. ThF 10:00 - 11:30
This course complements the general survey course in environmental law which is not a formal prerequisite to taking this class. The primary contrast between an advanced and survey courses lies in their relative breadth and depth of coverage. The survey course can perhaps be best described as a series of broad, shallow dives into the substance of federal environmental law. The advanced environmental law course is a series, far fewer in number, of much narrower and deeper dives into the same material. The basic objective of the course is to teach students how to navigate and think about an exceedingly complex regime of statutes, regulations, informal agency practices, in the context of addressing a concrete issue. Theory and practice are combined in an as-applied setting. The issues will all relate to issues of contemporary importance. Topics more closely identified with natural resources law rather than federal environmental law may also be covered.
Advanced Environmental Law might alternatively be described as "Applied Environmental Law." Students who would like to participate in the optional clinical must enroll through clinical registration. Clinical placements are with the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic. Environmental Law, Administrative Law, or Legislation and Regulation are co- or pre-requisites for this clinical. Please refer to the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs (www.law.harvard.edu/academics/clinical) for clinical course registration dates and early add/drop deadlines.
LAW 38105A. Housing Law Clinical Workshop A
Rafael Mares, Maureen McDonagh
Fall. Th 5:00 - 7:00 PM
The Housing Law Clinical Workshop provides students, who are enrolled in the Legal Services Center's Housing and Litigation Clinic, with the practical skills and substantive knowledge necessary to effectively advocate for tenants in and out of the courtroom. Objectives of the course include: understanding the statutes, cases and rules applicable in housing law cases; enhancing student understanding of the professional roles, values and ethics involved in the practice of law; developing practical lawyering skills (such as interviewing clients, negotiating settlements, arguing motions, and introducing evidence); and analyzing and proposing advocacy approaches to contemporary housing law issues (such as post-foreclosure evictions).
A large part of the workshop is hands-on and group-oriented; students engage in small and large-group exercises and discussions. Throughout the course, we work on a hypothetical case from the initial client interview through the final disposition of the case. In addition, students will prepare a memorandum and conduct a presentation on one of their ongoing active cases at the Legal Services Center and will lead class discussion on the case. There is no final examination or paper for this course. Students will be evaluated based on their preparation for and participation in class exercises and discussions.
A clinical practice component is required of all students. Clinical placements will be at the Housing clinic of the WilmerHale Legal Services Center. Enrollment will occur during clinical registration. Please refer to the Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs (www.law.harvard.edu/academics/clinical) for clinical course registration dates and early add/drop deadlines.
LAW 41160A. Law and Development
David Kennedy
Fall. W 5:00 - 7:00 PM
This course will deal with past and present debates over the role of the legal order in economic development. After preliminary discussions of economists' theories of growth and legal theorists' views of law in society, we will focus on such issues as Third World nationalist regimes' attempts at regulation and planning, the role of the international trade regime, and the legal structures put in place during and after transitions to a market economy through privatization. Limited enrollment. Permission is not required for LLM students. JD students may enroll only with the instructor's permission. Those wishing to enroll should email a brief statement of their background and intellectual interest in the course to the instructor at dkennedy@law.harvard.edu or david_kennedy@brown.edu.
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KENNEDY SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT
The term begins January 28, 2009. View full KSG course listings.
KSG API-148. Advanced Risk Management and Infrastructure Finance
Akash Deep
Fall. TuTh 8:40-10:00 (L130), F 8:40-10:00 (Land)
The course presents an advanced treatment of the theory of financial risk management and its application to infrastructure finance. The theory presented in the course covers the topics of economic and financial rate of return, measurement of risk exposure and value-at-risk, fixed income portfolio management, cost of funds, capital structure, valuation methods, dynamic hedging using futures and swaps, and credit risk models and derivatives. Applications, discussed mostly in the form of infrastructure cases, will examine issues related to project finance, public/private partnerships, project selection, risk allocation, debt management, commodity and currency risk hedging, structured finance, regulations and privatization.
KSG BGP-236. Public Private Partnerships
Alan Trager
Fall. TuTh 10:10 – 11:30 (RG-20)
What makes a complex public policy problem eligible for a multi-stakeholder solution? An increasing number of solutions throughout the world consist of public-private partnerships. Reasons for partnership include financial motivations but also skills-based and capacity-based motivations. This course examines the conditions and skills that are favorable to the creation and management of public-private partnerships, with an emphasis on the private sector’s role in the partnership’s structure and mission. It makes use of case studies and readings to illustrate the variety of situations and challenges facing public officials and their private sector colleagues. Focus questions include: How do public officials make strategic decisions to partner with the private sector? What motivates the private sector to participate as a partner? How are public-private partnerships negotiated? What are the issues associated with creating cross-border structures and managing partners with a global perspective? What are the choices public officials must make to successfully run a partnership?
KSG HLE-201. Poverty and Social Policy
Kathryn Edin
Fall. MW 10:10 – 11:30 AM (Starr)
Examines the causes and consequences of poverty and explores strategies for addressing it. Begins with the major theoretical explanations scholars have advanced to explain the persistence of poverty including family structure, urban labor markets, residential segregation, welfare policy, and cultural factors. The focus then shifts to the consequences of poverty, especially for children. Next, students are introduced to historic policy approaches to alleviating poverty. Concludes with a discussion of current antipoverty policy in the United States including EITC, TANF, Medicaid/CHIP, child care, child support, work and training, housing, and the Healthy Marriage Initiative.
KSG ITF-100. International Capital Markets
Alfred Schipke
Fall. F 1:10 – 4:00 (L230), Review Tu 4-10 – 5:30 (L332)
This course will look at financial markets and how they are related to macroeconomic policymaking. The course covers the relevant macroeconomic and financial market frameworks, the functioning of key markets (money, foreign exchange, global bond, equity, and derivatives), and financial market instruments. The course introduces students to practical applications, such as the analysis of financial-sector vulnerabilities and debt and current account sustainability. Topics include currency and banking crises, monetary unions, and the international financial architecture. Overall, the course will show how global political and economic developments are related to financial markets and that an understanding of these markets is important for policymakers and investors alike.
This introductory international finance course is intended primarily for students who have limited exposure to economics and those who have a background in international finance or macroeconomics but would like to apply these concepts to practical policy questions. This course may be used to satisfy the requirement for an introductory course in the ITF area.
KSG MLD-221 (A/B). Introduction to Negotiation Analysis
Brian Mandell
Fall. MW 1:10-11:30 (L230), Tu 4:00-6:00
Introduces students to the theory and practice of negotiation. The ability to successfully negotiate rests on a combination of analytical and interpersonal skills. Analysis is important because negotiators cannot develop promising strategies without a deep understanding of the context of the situation, the interests of the other parties, and the range of possible moves and countermoves. Interpersonal skills are important because negotiation is essentially a process of communication, trust building (or breaking), and mutual persuasion. This course will develop a set of conceptual frameworks that should help students analyze future negotiation situations and prepare more effectively. Through participation in negotiation simulations, students will have the opportunity to exercise powers of communication and persuasion and to experiment with a variety of negotiation tactics and strategies.
KSG PED-153. Technological Innovation and Development Policy
Calestous Juma
Fall. TuTh 2:40 – 4:00 (L382)
Examines the role of technological change and institutional innovation in economic transformation, with particular emphasis on developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. It focuses on the role of public policy in creating the necessary conditions for the effective use of science and technology in development. It uses the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a reference point as well as evolutionary approaches to analyze the role of technological innovation and institutional change in economic growth. Case studies are used to understand the role of adaptive technological innovations and the associated institutional adjustments. The course reviews the key economic challenges facing developing countries; assesses the available technological opportunities; and outlines the policy and institutional options available to these countries. Students will be graded on a combination of class participation, a policy brief or opinion, and a policy analysis paper.
KSG PED-210. Public Finance in Theory and Practice
Jay Rosengard
Fall. TuTh 1:10 – 2:30 (L280), Review F 8:40 – 10:00 (l230)
Examines policy options, with their strategic trade-offs and operational implications, for the design and implementation of public finance in both high-income countries and developing/transitional economies. Covers the role and size of the public sector, including the rationale for public sector interventions such as market failure and distributional concerns; public resource mobilization via direct and indirect taxation (including the economics of taxation, taxation of income, wealth, consumption and trade, tax incentives, tax compliance and enforcement, and tax reform, as well as domestic user charges); public expenditure policy, including assessment of government social protection programs and public sector efficiency and effectiveness; fiscal balance and deficit financing; and fiscal decentralization and intergovernmental fiscal relations. Emphasizes utilization of theoretical and applied techniques in a comparative context for evaluation of the impact of alternative resource mobilization and expenditure policies on allocative efficiency, social equity, and macroeconomic stability. Heavy use of case studies. No economics course prerequisites.
KSG PED-309. Development Policy Strategy
Ricardo Hausmann
Fall. MW 11:40 – 1:00 (L130), Review F 2:40 – 4:00 (L140)
This course will integrate the analysis of macroeconomic, structural, social, institutional, and political dimensions of development in the design of an overall development strategy. The course reviews determinants of growth, macroeconomic stability, and income distribution. It will analyze the effects of institutional arrangements surrounding fiscal, monetary, financial, trade, investment, and labor policy. It will also analyze the relationship between political institutions and policy problems. Students will learn to use all available information to generate a diagnostic of the development challenges and opportunities that countries face and will be required to design an overall development strategy for a country of their choice.
This course is intended for second-year MPA/ID students. Open to non-HKS students by permission of instructor only.
FACULTY OF ARTS & SCIENCES
The term begins January 28, 2009. View full Harvard College and Graduate Studies course listings.
FAS ECON 1341. The Historical Origins of Middle Eastern Development
Eric Chaney
Fall. TuTh 2:30 – 4:00 (Sever Hall 207)
Middle Eastern countries enjoyed world economic leadership during the Middle Ages, and continue to play an important role in the world economy. This course will explore the historical development of Middle Eastern economies. Topics include the effects of colonialism, natural resource endowments and religion on economic growth. The course will emphasize how these and other historical factors continue to influence development prospects in the region today.
FAS ECON 1341. The Historical Origins of Middle Eastern Development
Eric Chaney
Fall. TuTh 2:30 – 4:00 (Sever Hall 207)
Middle Eastern countries enjoyed world economic leadership during the Middle Ages, and continue to play an important role in the world economy. This course will explore the historical development of Middle Eastern economies. Topics include the effects of colonialism, natural resource endowments and religion on economic growth. The course will emphasize how these and other historical factors continue to influence development prospects in the region today.
FAS ECON 2085. Economics of Inequality and Poverty
Amartya Sen and Anthony B. Atkinson
Fall. Tu 1:00-3:00 (Emerson Hall 305)
A general course on the evaluation and axiomatic measurement of inequality and poverty, and on the analysis of contemporary economic problems in that light.
FAS ECON 2390b. Development Economics I: Microeconomic Issues
Sendhil Mullainathan and Richard A. Hornbeck
Fall. F 9:00 – 12:00 (Littauer Center M-15)
Topics include agricultural issues such as peasant behavior, land tenancy, interlinked markets; credit and insurance market problems and institutions; health, nutrition, and productivity; gender bias; education; and technology adoption.
FAS ECON 2690f. Environmental Economics and Policy Seminar
Robert N. Stavins and Martin L. Weitzman
Full Year 2009-2010 (79 JFK Street, Room L-382)
Selected topics in environmental and resource economics. Emphasizes theoretical models, quantitative empirical analysis, and public policy applications. Includes invited outside speakers.
Note:Primarily for graduate students in economics or related fields with environmental interests. Offered jointly with the Kennedy School as API-905Y.
Prerequisite:Graduate-level course in microeconomic theory.
FAS ESPP 90a. Energy, Technology, and the Environment
Michael B. McElroy
Fall. M 1:00 – 4:00 (University Museum Geological Museum 300)
The seminar will provide an account of the technologies that shape our world with a perspective on how they evolved, the benefits that ensued and the environmental challenges that arose as a consequence. Topics include prospects for renewable energy and options to minimize damage from conventional sources of energy. Specific attention is directed to challenges faced by large developing economies emphasizing the need for a cooperative approach to ensure an equable, environmentally sustainable, global future.
FAS ESPP 90j. Environmental Crises and Population Flight
Jennifer Leaning
Fall. Tu 2:00 – 4:00 (Geological Museum 310, 24 Oxford Street)
War, disaster, drought, or famine force people to flee their land. The humanitarian consequences of this loss of place and livelihood are filled with complexity, relating to the extent and permanence of environmental destruction wrought by these crises, people's attachment to their homes and ecosystems, the circumstances of departure, the destinations of refuge, and the possibilities for return. These issues will be examined through case studies and review of literature on forced migration and calamity.
FAS US-WORLD 24. Reinventing Boston: The Changing American City
Christopher Winship
Fall. TuTh 1:00 - 2:30 (Harvard Hall 104)
American cities have changed in extraordinary ways. Once projected to be doomed to a future of blight and decay, Boston has become a model of urban renaissance. Using Boston as a case, this course considers issues of: technology booms, economic change and inequality, political governance, elite relations, cultural institutions, race and ethnic relations, immigration, gentrification and suburbanization. Weekly guest speakers. Requirements: 3 short group papers and individual term paper.
Note:May be counted for introductory concentration requirement, if letter-graded. This course, when taken for a letter grade, meets the Core area requirement for Social Analysis.
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MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
All MIT courses begin on Tuesday, February 3, 2009. View full Urban Studies and Planning course listings or information on MIT Real Estate Development Core Courses. Also, view full Sloan School of Management course listings.
MIT 11.014J . American Urban History II
R. M. Fogelson
Fall. W3:00-5:00 (Building 10, Room 401)
Seminar on the history of selected features of the physical environment of urban America. Among the features considered are parks, cemeteries, tenements, suburbs, zoos, skyscrapers, department stores, supermarkets, and amusement parks. Focuses on readings and discussions.
MIT 11.328J . Urban Design Skills: Observing, Interpreting and Representing the City
Victor Eskinazi
Fall. W 6:00-9:00, Lab F 9:00-12:00 (Building 10, Room 485)
Introduction to the methods of recording, evaluating, communicating and designing about the urban environment. Through visual observation, field analysis, measurements, interviews, and other means, students learn to draw on their senses and develop their ability to deduce, conclude, question, and test how the environment is used and valued. Through the use of representational tools such as drawing, photographing, computer modeling and desktop publishing, students communicate what is observed as well as their impressions and design ideas. Intended as a foundation for future studio work in urban design.
MIT 11.360. Community Growth and Land Use Planning
Terry Szold,Eran Ben-Joseph
Fall. TuTh 2:30 – 4:00 (Building 10, Room 401), Studio (Building 3)
Seminar and fieldwork on strategies of planning and control for growth and land use, chiefly at the municipal level. Growth and its local consequences; land use planning approaches; implementation tools including innovative zoning and regulatory techniques, physical design, and natural systems integration. Projects arranged with small teams serving municipal clients.
MIT 11.401. Introduction to Housing and Community Development
J. Phillip Thompson
Fall. TuTh 10:30 – 12:00 (Building 10, Room 401)
Explores how public policy and private markets affect housing, economic development, and the local economy; provides an overview of techniques and specified programs policies and strategies that are (and have been) directed at neighborhood development; gives students an opportunity to reflect on their personal sense of the housing and community development process; emphasizes the institutional context within which public and private actions are undertaken.
MIT 11.435. Mixed Income Housing Development
Peter Roth
Fall. MW 8:30 – 10:00 (Building 10, Room 485)
Provides an overview of affordable and mixed-income housing development for students who wish to understand the fundamental issues and requirements of affordable housing, the process of planning and developing such housing. Students gain practical experience assembling an affordable or mixed-income housing development proposal.
MIT 11.483 . Housing & Land Use in Rapidly Urbanizing Areas
Annette Kim
Fall. W 4:00 – 6:00 (Building 9, Room 450A)
Examines why the market regularly fails to deliver affordable housing. Overviews theories of urban land markets, informality, and tools for modeling housing demand. Utilizes comparative case studies to identify the underlying factors that contribute to the success or failure of different affordable housing strategies. Posits that an understanding of property rights issues is key to developing successful policies and explores how that knowledge can be utilized to innovate new solutions, particularly in fast-growing cities.
MIT 11.701. Introduction to International Development
Balakrishnan Rajagopal
Fall. TuTh 10:30 – 12:00 (Building 9, Room 450)
The planning process in developing countries. Interaction between planners and institutions at both national and local levels. Overview of theories of state, organizational arrangements, implementation mechanisms, and planning styles. Case studies of planning: decentralization, provision of low-cost housing, and new-town development. Analyzes various roles planners play in different institutional contexts. Professional ethics and values amidst conflicting demands. Restricted to first-year MCP and SPURS students.
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