Calendar | Urban Transportation Planning | Civil and Environmental Engineering

Course calendar.
WEEK	TOPICS
1	Course Overview and Introduction Overview of the course The multi-step approach to transportation planning Current issues and trends in urban transportation Pattern breaks The transportation planning method
2	Urban Transportation History and Institutions Thumbnail history of Boston Transportation and land use: chicken and egg Job densities and transit Introduction of first assignment No recitation Assignment 0 "Introduce Yourself" due
3	No Class: MIT Holiday No recitation
4	Boston's Highway Revolt: Anatomy of a Pattern Break? Highway revolt and resurgence of transit in Boston Was the revolt a rebellion or a revolution? Cambridge today Guest Lecture: Dominick Tribone, "Counting Today: Automatically Collected Data Systems" No recitation; Everett/Sullivan/Charlestown walking tour Assignment 1 due
5	Transportation Finance and Legislation: Economic Development and Externalities Transportation and federal legislation Economic Development: job generation, urban agglomeration, industrial policy External and social costs Taxes for transporation Gentrification Employment policies, housing finance, tax code Spending other people's money: what are the rules? Financial evaluation and constraints Role of government, annual appropriations, capital investment The "peanut butter principle", i.e. pork barrel Recitation: Assignment 1 presentations (with special guest Joe Barr, Director of Traffic, Parking and Transportation for the City of Cambridge)
6	The Battle for the Space Between Buildings: Street Design and the Politics of Urban Mobility Guest Lecturer Anson Stewart: Spatial limits and capacity Guest Lecture Jeff Rosenblum: Traffic calming, complete streets, and the politics of street design No recitation
7	Transportation Planning Methods and Measures: The 4-Step Model (and Other Traffic Models) Guest Lecturer Mikel Murga No recitation
8	Congestion and Solutions Congestion and solutions Capacity and accessibility Recitation: Presentation and discussion of Assignment 2 Assignment 2 due
9	Project Evaluation and Environmental Impacts of Transportation Guest Lecturers Laurie Hussey and Tom Rossie of Cambridge Systematics FTA's new starts, evaluation criteria Project selection and prioritization Institutional role in project programming, MPOs and modal agencies MPOs and the institutional role in programming Highway expansion National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Transportation and air quality Large land use developments and MEPA No recitation
10	No class Recitation: Watch Great Projects: The Big Dig* from PBS*
11	The Other Battle for the Space Between Buildings: Parking Congestion: why it happens, and what we can do about it Pricing road space: congestion charging Congestion as an argument for transit The non-linearity of congestions and interpreting congestion numbers World tour of parking management practices and policies Transit and parking policy Legacies and innovations in urban transportation No recitation
12	No class No recitation Assignment 3 due
13	Transportation Planning Methods and Measures: Access to Destinations Accessibility measures Gentrification and accessibility Recitation: Presentation and discussion of Assignment 3
14	Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Transportation Transportation and global warming: might climate change adaptation be the next pattern break? Changing conditions: austerity measures, devolution of responsibilities from the federal government to the states, demographic changes, and energy shifts More transit supply, more transit mode share, more density near stations Course evaluations, parting thoughts and wrap-up Recitation: Feedback on course Assignment 4 due