Summer 2021: Joint Interdisciplinary China Planning Studio
Course Title: Urban Planning and Design Issues in China
Course Number: URP 6905 for graduate credits and URP 4905 for undergraduate credits
Course credits: 6 credits from University of Florida:
Course one: Urban Planning Issues in China (3 credits)
Course two: Urban Design Issues in China (3 credits)
Instructor: 
Prof. Zhong-Ren Peng
(Office: ARCH 462 Tel.: 352-294-1491, Email: zpeng@ufl.edu)
 
Course Description:
This faculty-lead study abroad program will introduce students to planning and design issues and challenges facing the rapidly growing cities in China. It will allow the students to participate in actual planning/design case studies in a Chinese city. The course will combine lecture, observation and case study approach in a workshop and studio format. The students will have an opportunity to work with planning students and faculty in Huazhong University of Science & Technology.
Travel and study will take place in Shanghai, a truly global city well known as being the “Paris of the East” which reveals its ambition of becoming the world mega-city of the future, and Wuhan, a beautiful industrial city located at the middle of Yangtze River that is transforming itself into the “Silicon Valley” of China with a focus on fiber optics. The main planning issues to be examined include:
 How do the rapid population growth and economic development affect China’s urban expansion and sprawl?
 How does rapid urbanization affect the demand for housing, transportation and other urban infrastructure?
 How do rapid motorization, income growth and city expansion affect transportation planning, traffic management, and environmental planning?
 How to preserve city history while designing the future?
 How to conduct planning in a rapidly changing environment?
A design studio will be conducted at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and a field planning case study will be conducted at either the Wuhan University of Technology or the Suzhou University of Technology. The studio and the planning case study will focus on addressing real planning issues and come up with suggested solutions. The students will work collaboratively with students and faculties at Chinese universities.
 
Learning Outcomes:
The students are expected to learning the following knowledge and skills:
 Basic understanding of the impacts of urbanization in China’s urban transportation and environment problems and how the Chinese governments at different levels are dealing with these problems.
 Basic understanding of urban planning and design issues in China under rapid urbanization process.
 Basic understanding of how rapid urbanization affects the demand for housing, transportation, and other urban infrastructure.
 A completed urban planning and design case study collaborating with students from Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
The assessment of these outcomes is by oral presentation and examining the final case study designs and plans.
 
Course Requirements and Grading:
The course grade is consisting of the following components:
1. Satisfactory performance during the field trip in China. There will be site visits, collaborative work with and presentations to Chinese colleagues (30 percent);
2. A written project report (individual work), (40 percent);
3. A final course presentation (15 percent);
4. Overall contributions to the class (e.g., participation in all class-related events, creative work or ideas that enhance group learning.) (15 percent).
 
About Colleges:
University of Florida


 
Huazhong University of Science & Techonology