Syllabus

Course Location | UP Computer Lab

Course Date/Time | M 6:00pm-8:00pm

Instructors | Clara Chung + Kaz Sakamoto

Course Description

This course teaches how to prototype for a contemporary urban issue, with an emphasis on how to use open data for evidence-based policy making. We will cover how to apply design-thinking and other strategic frameworks to breakdown urban issues, which pose high-levels of complexity, which entails multiple stakeholders into actionable solutions. The first session of the course focuses on strategic thinking, defining the problem, and prototype ideation. In the second session, students will work in groups to build a minimum viable product (MVP) which should demonstrate functioning user interaction and/or analysis workflows. The course will result in a final presentation of a product demo of that prototyped solution alongside a how-to guide.

Course Goals

The objective of this course is to teach students the process of conceiving and executing a prototype or MVP for urban policy and decision making purposes. It will also teach how to leverage technological tools such as R, Tableau and other wireframing tools to build a product. The final outcome for this course will be a demo of a novel product and a product guide. The experience gained from this course will imbue tangible skills for developing thesis alternative projects.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the semester, students should have an understanding of how to:

• Articulate and critique various urban technologies with planning ethics in mind
• Ideate prototypes with a clear hypothesis on personas and use cases
• Justify and present a product strategy with consideration to risks and viability
• Build and execute a prototype with the MVP principle in mind
• Leverage technological tools in analytics and interactive design in building a MVP