** First Class 02/04 ** 

Instructors:

Kent Larson
Luis Alonso

Context 

Cities are evolving faster than the systems designed to govern them. Housing, mobility, energy, work, and community life are being reshaped by new technologies, economic pressures, and shifting social expectations, yet the core instruments of urban governance—zoning codes, land-use maps, and approval processes—remain largely static. These frameworks were built to regulate stable conditions, not to model human behavior, anticipate second-order effects, or adapt as cities change. As a result, cities struggle to align public policy with lived experience, private incentives with public goals, or long-term resilience with short-term decision-making.

This course begins from the premise that cities must be understood and governed as dynamic systems rather than fixed plans. It asks how emerging tools—behavioral simulation, data-driven analysis, new forms of community participation, and experimental approaches to regulation—might enable urban systems to sense change, learn from human behavior, and evolve over time. Through weekly critique and structured debate, students challenge conventional assumptions and develop a personal manifesto: a bold argument for how cities might be governed as adaptive systems rather than fixed plans.

Structure

Each week will focus on one key theme. Typically, each 3-hour session will begin with a 60-minute lecture, followed by Q&A and/or a tutorial.   Students will form new teams each week to critique and expand on the ideas presented, and report their results to the group at the end of each session. Each student will then submit a two-page summary of their personal vision related to that theme by the following Monday.  

Deliverables 

Weekly assignments, mid-term, and final project. 

Weekly assignment:

Each student will synthesize their weekly research and discussions into a 2-page manifesto with text and an image. This document should articulate a bold, persuasive vision for the future that builds on the themes discussed in the first half of the course.

Mid-term project

Each student will compile their weekly manifestos to date into a coherent mid-term document and presentation. This work should synthesize the key ideas, arguments, and themes developed throughout the first half of the semester, demonstrating how individual topics begin to connect into a broader vision for future communities. 

Final project 

Each student will produce a personal, visionary manifesto for Cambridge or a place they are deeply familiar with, informed by the analytical frameworks, models, and debates explored throughout the semester. While narrative in form, the manifesto must be grounded in an explicit understanding of how urban systems - governance, housing, mobility, infrastructure, and community life - interact and evolve over time. The goal is to articulate a credible urban logic: a persuasive account of how cities could operate differently, and why that difference matters. The final deliverable will be a coherent and integrated written document consisting of an introduction, thematic sections based on the topics presented in class (approximately two pages per topic), and clear transitions, for a total length of about 20 pages, and a 1-minute video.

Enrolment

This class seeks highly motivated students. Diverse backgrounds are welcome. 

Contact

maitanei@mit.edu (Maitane), alonsolp@media.mit.edu (Luis), kll@media.mit.edu (Kent)

COURSE SCHEDULE*

02/04, Week 1 | Course Introduction

02/11, Week 2 | New tools for communities to build consensus

02/18, Week 3 | Top-Down Statistical Models 

02/25, Week 4 | Bottom-Up Behavioral Models 

03/04, Week 5 | Mobility And Delivery. 

03/11, Week 6 | Midterm

03/18, Week 7 | (Harvard Spring Break). Zoning And Permitting 

03/25, Week 8 | MIT Spring Break 

04/01 Week 9 | Transformative housing, Design. 

04/08 Week 10 | 3rd Places - Work, Shopping, Healthcare, Learning spaces. 

04/15 Week 11 | Distributed Systems - Energy, Water, and Sanitation. 

04/22 Week 12 | Envisioning the Future 

04/29 Week 13 | ML Members Event (Office hours) 

05/06 Week 14 | Final presentation

*Please note: This schedule is not final and may be subject to changes.