---
title: New Course Meets at Corner of Architecture and Economics
date: 2021-10-26T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/new-course-meets-at-corner-of-architecture-and-economics"
section: Articles
---
# New Course Meets at Corner of Architecture and Economics

*October 26, 2021* — by [Maggie Haslam](/author/maggie-haslam)


> Students, Cuban Partners to Explore Havana’s Complicated Urban Landscape

*IMG 6642 1920x1080 1 — The cityscape of Havana reflects 500 years of Cuban life and history. A Winter Session course will connect UMD students with architects and others in Cuba to explore the city's built environment, challenges and opportunities.*

There are few places in the world where an ancient baroque cathedral butts up against an art deco movie house, and hotels clad in Moorish tile mingle among ornate, postcard-perfect pastel Spanish facades. One of those places is Havana, Cuba, where global politics—and, more recently, a pandemic—have largely kept U.S. citizens at bay for over 60 years.

Now, a new [Winter Session](https://oes.umd.edu/current-incoming-former-umd-students/winter-session) course will bring Havana to College Park, offering an intimate look at a historic and complicated city, where the architectural clock stopped with the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

Leveraging the perspectives of Cuban architects and urban development and cultural experts, the course positions Havana as a unique case study: how Cuba’s 60-year communist rule, and the reactions of its powerful neighbor to the north, impacted Havana’s built environment and reverberated through its art, culture and society. The course is open to all University of Maryland students through the Urban Studies and Planning Program as part of UMD’s [Global Classrooms](https://globalmaryland.umd.edu/content/welcome-global-classrooms) initiative that virtually links UMD with peer institutions around the world to tackle global issues.

“In Havana, we have a jewel of an urban place that offers this amazing laboratory to experience five centuries of urban development,” said class instructor Reemberto Rodriguez, Sr., a Cuban-born urban planner. “Havana isn’t a museum, but what separates it from other cities is it wasn’t heavily impacted by the last six decades of rapid urbanization that took place most everywhere else in the world.”


*Blue car next to blue building in Havana*



**Sidebar note:**

“Havana’s Art & Culture: The Intersection of Architecture, Planning, Preservation and Economics” is open to all UMD students, as well as nondegree seniors and professionals. Learn more and register [here.](https://app.testudo.umd.edu/soc/search?courseId=&sectionId=&termId=202112&_openSectionsOnly=on&creditCompare=&credits=&courseLevelFilter=ALL&instructor=Knaap&_facetoface=on&_blended=on&_online=on&courseStartCompare=&courseStartHour=&courseStartMin=&courseStartAM=&courseEndHour=&courseEndMin=&courseEndAM=&teachingCenter=ALL&_classDay1=on&_classDay2=on&_classDay3=on&_classDay4=on&_classDay5=on)





**Topics:** [Campus & Community](https://today.umd.edu/tags/campus-community)


**Tags:** [Urban Studies and Planning](https://today.umd.edu/topic/urban-studies-and-planning)


**Units:** [School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation](https://today.umd.edu/topic/school-architecture-planning-and-preservation)