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Unit of study_
PLAN9075: Urban Data and Science of Cities
2025 unit information
The discipline of Science of Cities examines relationships between the physical form of cities and the social, cultural, economic, technological and spatial processes that give rise to this form. As technology evolves and changes, so do the ways in which we make and think about our cities. In this era of unprecedented and fast-accelerating changes, digital technologies are reshaping the ways in which we measure, sense, conceive of, design and plan for our cities. As a result, we collect and store large amounts of data on every aspect of the urban environment, but it is as yet unclear how this data can be used to inform evidence based planning and urban management. In particular, it is unclear how these quantitative methods and data driven frameworks may be best leveraged for planning and designing just, equitable, sustainable, liveable, and affordable cities. This unit of study will introduce the principles of science of cities and the tools, methods, algorithms and techniques on big urban data that enable transformative ways of thinking about, designing and planning for a fast urbanizing world. Fundamentals of programming with big urban data will be introduced through the Python programming language (Jupyter Notebooks) and open source Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software. Emphasis will be placed on developing understanding of urban structure and fast and slow dynamics shaping this structure, and on the use of data to develop performance indicators for cities, in particular targeting the spatial and temporal measurement accessibility, affordability, segregation, displacement, social exclusion, and disadvantage. This transdisciplinary unit of study will be relevant for designers, planners, engineers, geographers, economists, physicists and data scientists interested in modelling urban systems.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Sydney School of Architecture, Design and Planning
| Study level | Postgraduate |
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| Academic unit | Urban and Regional Planning and Policy |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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None |
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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None |
| Assumed knowledge:
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Basic mathematics and statistics; all required programming and mathematics needed for the unit will be taught from the basics |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. Map attributes of data into measurement of different aspects of cities.
- LO2. Identify appropriate ways to represent and process complex and abstract data in order to make inferences on the spatial organization and fast and slow evolution of cities.
- LO3. Understand traditional and new methods of data collection and the various sources of availability of data related to urban systems.
- LO4. Apply standard algorithms and methods of analysis to data in order to understand the development of indicators for planning, design, and policy outcomes.
- LO5. Learn about the diverse theoretical perspectives from geography, economics, network science and physics to model cities and transport networks
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
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Semester 1 2025
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.
