By Michael Winston, News Correspondent

The School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs is hosting its fourth OpenClassroom this semester, discussing ‘The 21st Century City:’ Opportunities and Challenges Facing Urban Communities.’ The series is comprised of 13 two-hour classes Thursday evenings in West Village F, room 20.’
From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., instructors Paul Grogan, president of The Boston Foundation, and Barry Bluestone, dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, bring in guest lecturers for students enrolled in the course and those auditing it.
The course provides a multidisciplinary approach to the challenges of urban life and focuses on the economic, social and political dynamics of central cities and suburbs, according to the course decription. Bluestone co-authored a textbook, ‘The Urban Experience’ published last year to accompany the curriculum and the school added an online discussion board to the website.’
The discussion board was created in a response to a lack of interaction among participants, said John Sarvey, executive director of the School of Public Policy & Urban Affairs. The textbook is only required for students taking the course as part of their graduate degree, but the discussion board is available to any participants interested in a less structured form of interaction.
Rosina Lucibello, a 2000 Northeastern graduate, said she attends the course weekly.
‘Now that I am in the working world, it’s nice to reeducate yourself. I miss the intellectual stimulation of classes,’ she said.
The second course of the semester, held Thursday, was titled ‘The Rise of Urban America’ and featured Grogan, Bluestone and guest lecturers Russell Williams of Wheaton College and Mary Huff Stevenson of University of Massachusetts – Boston. The first half of the evening highlighted a few cities and the reasons they grew in population.
‘Houston with air conditioning is a lot different than Houston without,’ said Stevenson, explaining the influence technology had on population shifts in the 20th century.
Stevenson was not the only one getting laughs. Williams joked that not everyone is fluent in ‘graphish, the language of graphs,’ and that graphs are similar to pets because only pet owners understand how pets act, much like most people do not understand graphs until they have made one. He went on to explain the humorous analogy for a few minutes to a room full of chuckling.
Zora Zsido of Newton said she found the course on the university website and chose to attend because of her interest in how climate change is going to effect urban issues. The topic will be highlighted Oct. 8.
Attendee Mihkerlange Jean-Louis said she was glad the graduate-level seminar is available to the Northeastern community and residents of Boston. Jean-Louis said she has audited the free evening courses since last fall. While in attendance she gained, ‘a well rounded knowledge of policies,’ and was always impressed that something free was so well-organized.
With its growing popularity and a commercial filmed for WGBH yet to air, Sarvey jested that if the room filled up completely, ‘It would be a good problem to have.’ This OpenClassroom course will run until Dec. 10.