Smart Cities – Management of Smart Urban Infrastructures

Becoming an urban designer

Hi all,

I’m finishing my master in Computer science, but some time ago I realized this is not what I want to do in my life. I have only my master thesis left, so I want to graduate, however, then I want to change my career path to urban design and planning. I think my studies will give me some benefits and tools I can use, like soft skills, problem solving, analytical thinking, etc.

Since a long time I was fascinated in urbanism, how cities work, the way they can change people lifes and how to create more friendly spaces. That’s why I created the list of tasks I should get familiar with. I’m working, so I want to fulfill them in my free time, after work and during the weekends.

1. Practice urban landscape drawing and sketching: https://www.udemy.com/urban-drawing-and-design-101/learn/v4/overview I think this is quite important skill to learn, even in a digital era.
2. Learn GiS: Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Specialization: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/gis
3. Read books based on programme of some studies. Here’s the list of books I created:
4. Happy city by Charles Montgomery(Read already)
5. Cities for people by Jan Gehl(read already)
6. Local Planning: Contemporary Principles and Practice
7. The Image of the City by Kevin Lynch
8. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein
9. The Art of Making Cities by Camillo Sitte

10. Design of Cities by Edmund Bacon

    HERE I”VE FOUND LONG LIST OF BOOKS: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tandfbis/rt-files/Bazinga+Catalog+PDFs/Planning+%26+Urban+Design+Textbooks+US.pdf Which one are worth to read and about which I shouldn’t bother?

11. Do some online courses:

12. Future cities: https://www.edx.org/xseries/future-cities-0#why-this-program
13. Making Architecture: https://www.coursera.org/learn/making-architecture
14. Greening the Economy: Sustainable Cities: https://www.coursera.org/learn/gte-sustainable-cities
15. Cities are back in town : urban sociology for a globalizing urban world: https://www.coursera.org/learn/urban-development
16. Designing Cities: https://www.coursera.org/learn/designing-cities
17. A Global History of Architecture: https://www.edx.org/course/global-history-architecture-mitx-4-605x-0
18. The Architectural Imagination: https://www.edx.org/course/architectural-imagination-harvardx-gsd1x
19. Management of Urban Infrastructures – part 1: https://www.coursera.org/learn/managing-urban-infrastructures-1
20. Smart Cities – Management of Smart Urban Infrastructures: https://www.coursera.org/learn/smart-cities

After getting more familiar with theory and tools used during designing and planning, I think the next step should be to apply for an internship or apply for postgraduate programmes(mostly 1 year long).

What do you guys think about it? Any recommendations, tips? I based my programme partially on Amsterdam’s Urbanism studies.