Rollins College to teach walkable urbanism

Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, is joining the small number of academic institutions that teach urban planning and design with an emphasis on ideas consistent with New Urbanism. This fall the 125-year-old college will introduce a Master of Planning in Civic Urbanism program — a two-year, 12-course degree that will be offered through Rollins’ evening program, the Hamilton Holt School.

Rollins will present “the essence of great urbanism as a walkable community,” says Bruce Stephenson, an environmental studies professor who, along with politics professor Richard Foglesong, is spearheading the new program. “Its design,” he says, “was inspired by the Renaissance model we want to teach today.” The latest models of urban sustainability will be analyzed along with historical urbanism.

“Courses will show students how to draw communities — a skill that planners have gotten away from when conceptualizing urban design,” Stephenson emphasizes. The program’s students will include urban planners, architects, environmental engineers, and individuals involved in real estate and development, in both the government and the private sector.