Course (Columbia U.): Architecture and Development of New York City

ARCHS4365: Summer session for-credit course at Columbia, but  offered through the School of Professional Studies so open to students and others not currently enrolled at Columbia.

An on-the-ground introduction to the great American metropolis – the physical city – as it has evolved over the past three centuries. Libraries are overflowing with accounts of New York’s history, architecture and neighborhoods, but the city is best learned on the streets. In walks throughout New York we will learn how to read the cityscape, visiting such major monuments as Central Park and Grand Central Terminal, and such disparate neighborhoods as Times Square and SoHo, Flushing and the Lower East Side. We will study skyscrapers and Broadway theaters, tenements and cast-iron-fronted commercial buildings, and examine the various forces that created these places and caused them to evolve over time. We will discuss such topics as the impact of modern monuments, historic preservation, speculative development, and public and private plans and consider their various intended and unintended consequences. The course will be conducted entirely on the city’s streets.

Class meets Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:00 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.  (except for the first week when, because of the July 4th holiday, it meets Wednesday and Friday) from July 6th through August 10th.

For more information click here. PLEASE NOTE: First class (July 6th) does NOT meet at Columbia – check CourseWorks for location.