Bay State Road, near Kenmore Square in Boston. (Image courtesy of Keith McCluskey, © opifice.com.)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Karl Seidman
Prof. Susan Silberberg
MIT Course Number
11.439
As Taught In
Spring 2003
Level
Graduate
Course Description
Course Features
Course Description
Revitalizing Urban Main Streets focuses on the physical and economic renewal of urban neighborhood Main Streets by combining classroom work with an applied class project. The course content covers three broad areas:
- an overview of the causes for urban business district decline, the challenges faced in revitalization and the type of revitalization strategies employed;
- the physical and economic development planning tools used to understand and assess urban Main Streets from physical design and economic development perspectives; and
- the policies, interventions, and investments used to foster urban commercial revitalization.
The course has dual goals: to explore the integration of economic and physical development interventions in ways that reinforce commercial district revitalization efforts, and to apply this knowledge through the development of a formal neighborhood commercial revitalization plan for a client business district.
Other Versions
Other OCW Versions
OCW has published multiple versions of this subject. 