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Prof. Andres Sevtsuk

Associate Professor of Urban Studies and Planning

Primary DLC

Department of Urban Studies and Planning

MIT Room: 10-404
(617) 253-7419
https://dusp.mit.edu/people/andres-sevtsuk

Areas of Interest and Expertise

Architectural Design
Urban Design, Spatial Analysis and Mobility
How to Make Cities More Walkable, Sustainable and Livable
Modeling Pedestrian Activity in Cities

Research Summary

Professor Sevtsuk is the head of the City Design and Development Group in DUSP and director of the City Form Lab. His research focuses on public qualities of cities, and on making urban environments more walkable, sustainable, and equitable, bridging the fields of urban design, spatial analytics, and mobility research. He is the author of the Urban Network Analysis framework and software tools, used by researchers and practitioners around the world to model pedestrian activity in cities and to study coordinated land use and transportation development in ways that reduce transportation carbon emissions.

Recent Work

  • Video

    12.2.20-Mobility-Andres-Sevtsuk

    December 2, 2020Conference Video Duration: 65:49
    Andres Sevtsuk
    Associate Professor of Urban Science and Planning

    10.27.20-New-Retail-Sevtsuk

    October 27, 2020Conference Video Duration: 40:25
    Street commerce has gained prominence in urban areas, where demographic shifts such as increasing numbers of single people and childless "empty nesters," along with technological innovations enabling greater flexibility of work locations and hours, have changed how people shop and dine out. Contemporary city dwellers are demanding smaller-scale stores located in public spaces that are accessible on foot or by public transit. At the same time, the emergence of online retail undermines both the dominance and viability of big-box discount businesses and drives brick and mortar stores to focus as much on the experience of shopping as on the goods and services sold. The COVID19 pandemic has further exacerbated the problems retailers already faced, but also opened up new opportunities. In light of such trends, street commerce will play an important role in twenty-first-century cities, particularly in producing far-reaching benefits for the environment and local communities.

    Although street commerce is deeply intertwined with myriad contemporary urban visions and planning goals—walkability, quality of life, inclusion, equity, and economic resilience—it has rarely been the focus of systematic research and informed practice. Drawing on economic theory, urban design principles, regulatory policies, and merchant organization models, Andres Sevtsuk conceptualizes key problems and offers innovative solutions. Prof. Sevtsuk’s work on street commerce provides a range of examples from around the world to detail how different cities and communities have bolstered and reinvigorated their street commerce. According to Sevtsuk, successful street commerce can only be achieved when the private sector, urban policy makers, planners, and the public are equipped with the relevant knowledge and tools to plan and regulate it.

Related Faculty

Prof. Siqi Zheng

Samuel Tak Lee Professor of Real Estate Development and Entrepreneurship

Karl F Seidman

Research Affiliate

Prof. Robert M Fogelson

Professor of Urban Studies and History, Emeritus