Fall Urban Planning Course Descriptions

Cities are run by city governments. These governments are providers of Infrastructure and goods themselves and they also regulate the provision of goods by private firms; they promote health and welfare through land use and environmental regulation; and they are charged with ensuring that political power and economic resources will be distributed equitably. Yet governments operate in societies where resource allocation is governed primarily by markets. Economics provides tools, frequently controversial to guide decisions about when and how government should be involved in providing or subsidizing services and in shaping market activity.

When planners stand up in front of a community group to present a neighborhood up-zoning proposal or architects speak to review boards about design schemes, if they want to see their initiatives realized they need to clearly communicate the merits of their visions. Public presentations provide powerful tools to focus attention and influence the outcome of planning and design processes. Strong presenters can transform even the most doubtful project stakeholder into a planning and design advocate. Conversely, great ideas, if poorly communicated, rarely get materialized. Today an ever-expanding array of tools exists to help planners and designers deliver their messages. Nonetheless, the ability to craft and deliver a strong presentation remains an elusive goal for many. This course approaches presentation as a strategic element of planning and design practice. It engages the presentation process critically as a means of argumentation, an education tool, and a form of public advocacy. By placing emphasis on effective integration of visual and verbal content, the seminar examines challenges associated with conveying complex planning and design ideas to non-professional audiences. Readings, discussion and hands-on presentation opportunities provide participants with concepts, analytic tools and practical techniques necessary for developing strong presentation skill sets.

Sustainable Zoning and Land Use Regulations introduces the basic techniques of land use control as practiced in the United States today with an emphasis on regulations that support green building practices and promote sustainable development patterns. Attention is given to the history, development and incidence of a variety of land use regulations, from the general (or comprehensive) plan to the advanced including growth management and recent sustainable zoning practices. Of interest to the student is a focus on the practical questions of what works, what doesn’t, and why? Guided by readings from a wide range of sources (including adopted and proposed sustainable ordinances), the course will be structured as both a seminar and lecture format incorporating the following: 1) General Land Use Regulations, 2) Sustainable Land Use Regulations, 3) Growth Management, 4) Residential Regulations / Development Fees, and 5) Regulation of Aesthetics.

This course focuses on the physical, social, economic and   policy aspects of natural and human-made disasters. Particular attention will be given to basic issues of land use and development, institutional policies and response, and the political economy of disasters. We will examine the causes and consequences of disasters and analyze the factors affecting recovery and resilience. The course will concentrate on planning in the United States, in the context of the increased urgency presented by climate change and fragmented government and private sector responses. Case studies will be drawn from around the U.S, together with selected comparisons from other countries.    We will examine a variety of issues and tools, including disaster prevention and recovery programs, disaster planning as part of the redevelopment process, risk and vulnerability assessment, hazard mitigation, urban design and preservation, and community and local participation. 

This course provides instruction in GIS techniques for land use analysis using ArcGIS. Students enrolled in the course use real world scenarios to learn the spatial visualization techniques necessary for effective communication in the planning field. The course is held in the School's GIS Laboratory, a computer facility dedicated to the instruction of computer applications.

The purpose of this course is to explore how human and non-human realities are intertwined in the making, re-making, and un-making of cities. The focus is on the materiality of buildings, "natural" forms (e.g., wetlands, rivers), infrastructures (e.g., sewers, streets), plant and animal life, structures (e.g., billboards, cellphone towers), and people. The course's perspective is derived from actor-network theory and writings on assemblages, "vibrant matter," cyborg urbanism, infrastructure and development, and the metabolism of the city. The goal is to provide the student with an historical and holistic understanding of the evolution of cities that privileges assemblages of human things, objects, and nature. Explicitly rejected is that intervention involves autonomous and empowered humans who engage a passive urban materiality.

Sustainable cities require transportation systems that provide environmental, social and economic benefits. In the United States automobiles are used for the majority of personal travel. Many planners argue that auto-centric cities are unsustainable, and promote transit, bicycles and other modes as alternative ways of travel. Goods movement is dominated by trains and trucks, and these modes often compete with personal travel for road space and rail access. Making the overall transportation system more sustainable is complex, difficult and requires many trade-offs. This course explores the environmental, social and economic issues of sustainable transportation. Much of the class focuses on mass transit, which reflects the importance of transit in cities and the funding priorities of federal, state and local governments. Other topics covered include high speed rail, freight and shipping, local planning and the future of the automobile. Students will explore the incentives that shape our current system, new technologies that will influence transportation in the future and unintended consequences of well-meaning policies. Special concern for the equity effects of sustainable transportation is included.

Political economy can be described as the study of institutions and modes of governance. It attempts to capture different models of how society’s politics and economy are intertwined. It is also a discerning look at the language, models and actual history of social change. There are many ‘schools’ within the field of political economy attempting to describe issues such as the role of the state, the optimal path to development, and the most equitable forms of redistribution. These also comprise strong behavioral and institutional assumptions about locality and nationality and how to run urban and other development projects. This course is essential for the international development planning specialization. It provides skills to analyze any development approach, and an understanding of the limitations and opportunities in project planning.

This course introduces students to the specific techniques employed by planners and developers to achieve a livable and healthful urban environment through effective and efficient site design.

The objective of this course is to prepare students to develop strategies for urban revitalization by reviewing theories of neighborhood change and diagnosing neighborhood trends relevant to community development. In addition, this material is addressed in History and Theory of Planning, Planning Law, and Redevelopment Policy among other courses.

Challenges and Opportunities of Post-Earthquake Reconstruction in Talca, Chile: Land Use Strategies
This Planning Studio course will contribute to the efforts that the Municipality of Talca, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development (MHUD), and the Center for Urban Territorial Studies in the Maule Region, Chile (central area) have made to develop reconstruction plans and projects for the Maule region in general and for the city of Talca in particular. This studio project will be conducted in collaboration with these entities and will have as our client the Municipality of Talca. The course will evaluate the plans and projects proposed for the reconstruction of the central area of Talca and propose alternatives for its future. More specifically, the studio project will focus on analyzing the challenges and opportunities of different land use alternatives for the development of an inclusive and affordable mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood in the central urban area of Talca. One new land use strategy we will consider is that of integral land readjustment (consisting of organized landowners acting collectively—in cooperation with a municipality and/or private developer—to pool their land in order to accomplish a redevelopment project). 

Each semester, there is the possibility of registering for “Advanced Research” within the Urban Planning Program. This is what you may know as “Independent Study”. The student plans a course of self-study and inquiry, and seeks an advisor who will review and grade the work. If you wish to register for Advanced Research, students must submit to the UP office a one-page description of the project, including methodology, goals, and final product, as well as the advisor’s name and the number of credits before the end of the add-drop period. Advanced Research may be for 2 or 3 credits, depending on the scope of the work, and this should be determined at the time of application for the Advanced Research. Indicate who the faculty advisor will be – and discuss your interest in working with that faculty member to gain their approval. Although students will do the research on their own, the advisor will review the final work against the description and goals of the proposal and provide a grade to Lance Freeman as the central on-line grader. Faculty do not receive any additional financial compensation for their work as an advisor to an Advanced Research project. Students may not use paid employment within or outside the University as a basis for an Advanced Research project. An e-mail note to the UP Office from the faculty advisor is requested before the end of the add/drop period indicating that the faculty member is advising a student in an Advanced Research project, and approving the proposal submitted by the student. Advanced Research may involve library research, lab work, fieldwork, or other research methods, and the final product could be a paper, or digital design, or map, or something else alternative to a standard paper. - whatever the student and advisor agree is the best format for illuminating the results of the research.