This course will provide planning students a foundational understanding of how cities work. By its nature, this course will cut across all major fields within planning and will introduce the major theories, models, and methodological approaches that planners use to explain the function and structure of urban areas. While this course concentrates on positive behavioral theories that explain the actions of residents and forms that determine the spatial dynamics of regions, it also draws on structural and institutional theories of urban change. This course also covers the history of planning interventions to shape the built environment from the late 19th century to today.