Consultation Questionnaires on Course UGOD 5010: Science of Cities

These questionnaires are intended to gather feedback from students who hava previouly taught this course before the next offering of the course. They are designed as consultations rather than satisfaction surveys and focus on four practical questions:

Which course content should be retained, reduced, combined, or added?
How should the three modules be structured and connected?
Which assessment tasks contribute most effectively to learning?
How should the types, workload, and weighting of assessment be improved?

Thank you for helping us improve this course. Drawing on your previous experience and the proposed course contents and assessment structure provided below, please share your views on how the course content and assessment should be refined.

Proposed Course Content

The course consists of three modules and nine sessions:

Module 1: Urban Economics

Why Do Cities Exist? — Agglomeration, Productivity, Sorting, and Urban Costs
Urban Spatial Structure — Land, Housing, and Transport
Externalities, Public Goods, and Urban Policy

Module 2: Urban Governance

Who Governs the City? — Actors and Power Structures
How to Govern the City? — Policy Instruments and Institutions
What Happens on the Ground? — Implementation Conflicts and Coordination

Module 3: Urban Informatics

Why Do We Need Urban Informatics? — From Urban Transformation to Future Cities
Sensing and Interpreting the City: Data, Representations, and Evidence
Addressing Urban Challenges — From Urban Informatics to Intervention and Governance in the Age of AI

The course will combine theories with international and Guangzhou-based cases. Students will also be encouraged to select a familiar city or neighbourhood and use it as a continuing case throughout the semester.

Current Proposed Assessment Scheme

Assessment component and Weight
Weekly assignments or quizzes (15%)
Three module reflections (30%)
Group mid-term project proposal (10%)
Group final presentation (15%)
Group project report or paper (20%)
Participation in lectures, field trips, and roundtable activities (10%)

1. [Select all that apply] Which parts of the course did you remember clearly?

Urban EconomicsUrban GovernanceUrban InformaticsThe group project and final assessmentField trips, roundtable discussions, or other classroom activitiesI do not clearly remember the individual modulesOthers

2.[Select up to three] Which topics helped you most in understanding real urban issues and should therefore be retained?

Why cities exist: agglomeration, productivity, and urban costsUrban growth and spatial patternsLand, housing, transport, and accessibilityExternalities, public goods, and urban policyActors and power structures in urban governancePolicy instruments and institutionsConflict, negotiation, and coordination in policy implementationThe development of urban informatics, future cities, and the Sustainable Development GoalsUrban data, mapping, analysis, and evidenceGeoAI, urban intervention, and governanceOther

3.[Select up to three; optional comment] Which areas felt excessive, repetitive, too difficult, or insufficiently connected to the rest of the course?

Theories and models in urban economicsLand, housing, and transport mechanismsExternalities, public goods, and policy interventionActors, power, and theories of urban governancePolicy instruments and institutional comparisonsPolicy implementation, conflict, and coordinationThe development of urban informatics and discussions of future citiesUrban data and analytical methodsGeoAI and its urban applicationsNo content clearly needs to be reduced or simplifiedOtherPlease briefly explain what would make the selected content easier to understand:

4.[Short answer] What topic, case, or practical skill would you most like the course to add?

5.[Single choice; comment] How would you prefer the three modules to be organised across the nine sessions?

Retain the current structure of three sessions per moduleRetain all three modules but strengthen the connections between themAllocate more time to Urban EconomicsAllocate more time to Urban GovernanceAllocate more time to Urban InformaticsCover fewer topics and explore each core issue in greater depthOtherPlease briefly explain your choice:

6.[Select up to three] Which learning activities would help you most in this course?

Analysis of real urban casesUsing the same city or neighbourhood as a continuing case throughout the semesterCases from Guangzhou, the Greater Bay Area, or other Chinese citiesMapping, data, or visualisation exercisesClassroom discussionsPolicy simulations or role-playField tripsRoundtable discussions with instructors or practitionersGroup work and student presentationsA glossary, sample assignments, or additional introductory materialsOther

7.[Selection and short answer] Please identify one assessment component that contributed most to your learning.

Weekly assignments or quizzes (15%)Three module reflections (30%)Group mid-term project proposal (10%)Group final presentation (15%)Group project report or paper (20%)Participation in lectures, field trips, and roundtable activities (10%)Why you select this assessment?

8.[Selection and short answer] Please identify one assessment component that felt most like an additional burden.

9.[Single choice] Overall, which approach to assessment would you prefer?

Retain the current assessment components and weightingsRetain the current components but reduce the number or length of assignmentsReduce the three module reflections and replace them with one cross-module integrative assignmentRetain the group project but add an individually assessed section, individual reflection, or peer assessmentIncrease the weighting of individual assessment and reduce the weighting of group workIncrease practice-, case-, or project-based assessment and reduce written assignmentsOther

10.[Short answer] If only one aspect of the course could be changed before the next offering, what would you most like to change? Please be as specific as possible.

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