Creating a city is complicated. Everything, from the biggest skyscraper to the smallest city park, must be planned, designed, built, and integrated with the rest of the city. Professionals from a variety of disciplines, such as urban planning and architecture, must come together to make the city and its public spaces work. To best serve students exploring this overlap of disciplines, PSU offers the Graduate Certificate in Urban Design (GCUD).
A joint effort between the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning and the School of Architecture, the Urban Design Certificate allows students to build skill sets that differ from the focus of their degrees or jobs. Combining the strengths of the planning and architecture programs, the GCUD encourages students to think more broadly about the design of spaces to foster usable, desirable, and livable places.
“The classes were chosen as slices of different things that could influence one’s approach to urban design,” said Dr. Anna Goodman, Associate Professor of Architecture and the GCUD Coordinator. Dr. Goodman also teaches History and Theory of Urban Design (ARCH 532).
“The classes were chosen as slices of different things that could influence one’s approach to urban design,” said Dr. Anna Goodman, Associate Professor of Architecture and the GCUD Coordinator. Dr. Goodman also teaches History and Theory of Urban Design (ARCH 532).
Five courses, amounting to twenty credits in total, are required for the certificate.
Urban Design Workshop draws students from the urban studies and architecture programs as well as engineering and real estate. Instructor Tim Smith, AIA, FAICP - longtime Principal at SERA Architects and founder of Civic Ecology Design Works - said there was even an artist in class one term. He emphasized that the course can benefit anyone seeking to practice the urban design process.
During the first half of the ten-week course, students study urban design texts and cultivate design skills. Smith shows students around Portland, visiting significant locations in the city and practicing sketches. After establishing a strong foundation of knowledge, the students select a location in Portland that they determine could be improved in terms of urban design. They then spend the second half of the course fixing it. For their final projects, students create, print, and present large digital drawings that illustrate the problem and solution in the area of Portland they have chosen. In fall 2024, chosen areas included Downtown Hollywood, West Burnside near Old Town, and Hawthorne near 30th.
“It’s a real opportunity to do almost everything you would ever encounter in Urban Design, and it all happens in ten weeks.…” Smith said. “Everybody’s welcome!”
Another class, Public Space, pulls the ideas of concept frameworks and practice together in a different way. Unlike the Workshop class, which effectively serves as a capstone for urban design ideas, the Public Space class, taught by Dr. Matthew Gebhardt, Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning, serves as a sort of capstone for intervention strategies and tactical urbanism. The goal of the class is to work closely with a university partner like the Planning and Sustainability Office to actively make positive changes within the community.
The GCUD is geared toward two groups of students. One group are those seeking to supplement their graduate planning or architecture degrees, like the Masters of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) and the Masters of Architecture (MArch). Students enrolled in the MURP program focus more on the policy side of urban planning, and MArch students focus more on the building-design side. The certificate also serves working professionals who are planners, architects, designers, etc. looking to build upon their current repertoire of skills. The GCUD affords students the opportunity to explore and experience the skill sets associated with the other discipline, introducing them to the alternative language and ways of thinking about solving problems and attunes them to the needs of communities for livable places.
“You could get a planning degree, learn all about transportation, and never learn about public spaces like where someone sits down when they get off the train….” said Goodman. “We have such a richness of public spaces in Portland that become really powerful learning tools.”
If the Urban Design Certificate sounds like the perfect supplement to your career goals in planning, design, or architecture, you can find more information here or contact Anna Goodman at good7@pdx.edu.
Photo by Ian Sane.