Hinata Yamahara was 10 years old, on a family trip to Osaka, Japan, when he started riding the train alone. Those train rides sparked an interest in something he didn't have words for at the time — how cities are built, and how people navigate them.
Now at 17 and applying to colleges, Yamahara has made the connection that investigating cities and how they work is a foundation for urban planning. MIT OpenCourseWare, part of MIT Open Learning, helped him develop knowledge and deepen his passion for walkable, community-oriented urban spaces.
At the time of his first, fateful Osaka train ride, Yamahara lived in Atlanta, after having spent most of his elementary school years in rural Tennessee. Before that, he and his family had lived in Los Angeles. In all those places, he says, it was difficult for kids to get around. In fact, getting around without a car could be a challenge for anyone.
Whenever he visited family in Japan, he was in awe of the efficiency of the train system and the ease of learning how to navigate it, in addition to the mixed-use buildings that combined commercial and residential spaces. As a 10-year-old, he simply thought they “were really cool” and quite different from what he saw at home. Now, he reflects on the efficient use of space in a country that is much smaller than the expansive United States.
Back at home, Yamahara continued to reimagine the spaces around him, often printing out satellite imagery and drawing new possibilities over what existed.
“Maybe instead of a giant parking lot, I’d draw a subway station and connect it to another part of the map,” he says. “But it was all imaginary. I didn’t know what was possible in terms of regulations or looking at past examples. So, I started to do research and kept coming across OpenCourseWare.”
He remembers a moment of confusion, followed by one of excitement: “What is OpenCourseWare?” and, “Wait, everything is free!?”
OpenCourseWare, an open publication of course materials from across the MIT curriculum, allows users to browse content at their own pace. Learners can watch video lectures, read course notes, and hear from faculty experts, with no enrollment fees or start dates.
Yamahara dove into the content, starting with 11.001J (Introduction to Urban Design and Development). He has since accessed a variety of courses and counts 11.948 (Power of Place: Media Technology, Youth, and City Design and Development) and 11.304J (Site and Infrastructure Systems Planning) among the most memorable.
Exploring OpenCourseWare resources gave him a strong foundation to take his interest in urban planning and redesign into the real world. In summer 2025, Yamahara completed an internship with an Atlanta-area real estate firm working on a redesign project with a city agency.
“Right now, this city has a downtown area with a lot of parking lots and empty retail spaces. I’m getting to learn firsthand how to develop it into something else,” he explains. “I’m part of meetings where we brainstorm how to create a community feeling, how to make a space creative and walkable, and how to make it somewhere people really want to be.”
According to Yamahara, the experience draws on his appreciation for Japanese efficiency, as well as American inclusivity and his deep knowledge of zoning regulations, community-centered design, and transit equity — all gained through OpenCourseWare materials and resources.
As Yamahara looks toward college and his future, he says he sees two paths influenced by MIT’s free educational resources. On one path, he studies urban planning, as OpenCourseWare materials have only reaffirmed his passion for the field and given him knowledge and confidence. On another path, he imagines using his time as an undergraduate to explore other interests, including aviation and real estate. On that path, OpenCourseWare would allow him to continue his urban planning education independently.
He’s grateful that he could take advantage of OpenCourseWare resources without submitting an application and considering tuition and financial aid. All he needed was an interest and a determination to learn, and he had both.
“OpenCourseWare has helped me grow from a kid with questions into a student designing solutions,” Yamahara says. “I still ride the train in the U.S. and Japan, but now, I bring a vision with me, too.”
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