This course is an in-depth investigation of the typology of housing in urban areas, focusing onaspects of form, regulations, culture, socio-economics, and politics that shape the array of housingtypes within the city fabric. The course aims, through cross-disciplinary investigations in the fieldsof architecture and planning, to consider how these various forces come into play in shaping thephysical form of housing and its relation to the urban fabric; and the influence of built form on the surrounding neighborhood and development of sense of community. Historical and contemporaryAmerican and international housing typologies will be examined, with several fieldtrip visits to local housing developments. As a research component of the newly formed Center for Innovation inAffordable Housing Design at Penn’s School of Design, the course will also examine more closelythe Philadelphia urban fabric and opportunities for innovative housing and neighborhood designs.Topics and material covered in the course will serve as resource information for the Center’shousing demonstration project to be developed in the Mantua-West Powelton area of West Philadelphia.