BOSTON   LAWRENCE   NEW ORLEANS   SPRINGFIELD   ADMISSIONS   FINANCIAL AID   STATEMENT OF NONDISCRIMINATION		Although the field of urban and regional planning has changed significantly over the past seventy-five years, at its core it continues to draw inspiration from the normative vision of the "good society" and “good community”. That vision guides the teaching and curriculum of the Housing Community and Economic Development (HCED) program group of the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) at MIT. HCED encompasses a commitment to social progress, a faculty working at the forefront of their fields, and a student body passionately committed to tackling complex and vital urban issues. HCED focuses on the economic and social life of American cities and suburbs and on initiatives to improve the lives of residents, particularly those of low and moderate income living in urban neighborhoods. HCED students are trained for responsible policy making, management, and development positions in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. The multi-disciplinary HCED curriculum addresses the changing character of the issues reshaping communities, cities, and regions in today's world. Urban economies are changing rapidly under the forces of globalization and technological innovation. Immigration is driving economic and social change in many communities. Yet federal aid to cities, adjusted for inflation, has dropped dramatically over the past 25 years, forcing state and local governments to assume a greater responsibility and triggering a wide array of business, nonprofit, and cross-sector initiatives to tackle important issues, from affordable housing to school reform, from workforce development to prisoner re-entry—and much more . Demands on the nonprofit and philanthropic sector are expanding particularly rapidly as public resources contract. In this environment, the education of a planning professional must provide multiple skills: An ability to analyze a city's economic, social, and political structures, and how international and regional forces will shape its future; Experience in the design and financial analysis of economic development and housing initiatives; Knowledge of how to cultivate and employ social capital—social networks, norms, and other social resources—to strengthen local communities and help them adapt to change; An understanding of the institutional factors that impact the quality of life in neighborhoods; Skills to engage the employment and training system to generate employment for low-income or low-skill residents in the mainstream economy; An ability to formulate and evaluate housing policy and development projects that leverage resources from public, private and nonprofit organizations; and The use of information technology to improve decision-making and strengthen civic engagement by people of all backgrounds. Mastery of these skills prepares HCED students for vibrant careers in urban planning -- a vocation that requires professionals to be problem solvers in many roles—policy analyst or policy maker, advocate, mediator, program designer, developer and manager.
	HCED is a program within DUSP 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 9-519, Cambridge, MA 02139 617.253.7736 | hced-program@mit.edu © Copyright 2003. All rights reserved. Site Credits.