Shaping the Future of the Bay Area

The complex urban problems affecting quality of life in the Bay Area, from housing affordability and transportation congestion to economic vitality and social justice, are already perceived by many to be intractable, and will likely be exacerbated by climate change and other emerging environmental and technological forces. Reforming urban systems to improve the equity, resilience and sustainability of communities will require new collaborative methods of assessment, goal setting, and problem solving across governments, markets, and communities. It will also require academic institutions to develop new models of co-production of knowledge across research, education, and practice. This XYZ course series is designed to immerse students in co-production for social change. The course sequence covers scientific research and ethical reasoning, skillsets in data-driven and qualitative analysis, and practical experience working with local partners on urban challenges that can empower students to drive responsible systems change in their future careers. The Autumn (X) and Winter (Y) courses are focused on basic and advanced skills, respectively, and completion is a prerequisite for participation in the Spring (Z) practicum quarter, which engages teams in real-world projects with Bay Area local governments or community groups. X and Y are composed of four weekly pedagogical components: (A) lectures; (B) writing prompts linked with small group discussion; (C) lab and self-guided tutorials on the R programming language; and (D) R data analysis assignments. Open to undergraduate and graduate students in any major. For more information, visit http://bay.stanford.edu/education. Cardinal Course certified by the Haas Center.