PLA 4208 Planning Techniques: A survey course of the tools of the trade
Fall 2009
Syllabus September 8, 2009
Professor:
David King
304 Buell Hall
Office Hours: Tuesday 9-11 and by appointment
dk2475@columbia.edu
212-851-5685
Lab instructors:
Andrea Rizvi (Monday)
Kate Pedatella (Thursday)
Lab instructor/TA office hours and location: TBA
Course description:
This is an introductory course designed to help prepare students for original data collection and common analysis methods used in planning practice. Common methods of analysis are covered using publicly available data sets and data collected through assignments. Through weekly readings, lectures and lab sessions students will gain a basic understanding of the tools and methods required in planning practice. For more in depth instruction on statistical methods students are encouraged to look into other courses on campus.
The course is loosely divided into two parts. The first part explores qualitative techniques including field observations, interviews and surveys. During these sessions students will focus on collecting information to describe a particular phenomenon (i.e. a neighborhood or a new development project). The assignments in the lab sessions will highlight ways that planners gather and analyze original data.
The second part addresses methods including demography, economic base analysis and transportation planning. These sessions will primarily use existing data sources (i.e. Ipums and the U.S. Census). Regional analysis is highlighted through lab assignments.
Grading and assignments:
The assignments include lab exercises, individual papers, a final group project and class participation. Participation includes attendance of lecture and lab sessions. Lab exercises are evaluated either satisfactory or unsatisfactory and are included in your participation grades.
There are two individual papers. One is a proposal for a qualitative research study using the techniques from the first five weeks of the course. The second is a regional analysis using economic and demographic techniques.
In addition, a final group assignment involves developing and presenting a local area plan for a New York City neighborhood. The deliverables for this project are a presentation and a written report.
Course materials:
Required books available at Book Culture:
Qualitative Analysis for Planning and Policy. 2007. John Gaber and Sharon Gaber. Chicago: APA Planners Press.
*QAPP for weekly readings
Community Analysis and Planning Techniques. Klosterman, Richard E. 1990. Savage: Rowman and Littlefield.
*CAPT for readings
Recommended readings:
Urban Land Use Planning Fifth Edition. 2006. Philip R. Berke, David R. Godschalk, and Edward J. Kaiser, with Daniel A. Rodriguez. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
*ULUP for weekly readings
Other materials will be made available through a course reader available at Village Copier on Broadway.
Course schedule:
Week 1 (September 9) Lecture: Introduction
QAPP Chapter 1
ULUP Chapters 1 and 3
Lab: Math and Statistics Review-Descriptive statistics (exercise)
Week 2 (September 16): Field Research and Methods
QAPP Chapters 2 and 3
Chapters 1&2 in Dandekar, Hemalata C. ed. (2003) The Planner’s Use of Information, 2nd Edition. Chicago: American Planning Association. (in reader)
Lab: Math and Statistics Review-Crosstabs and tables (exercise)
Review chapters 1-3 from Quantitative Data Analysis by Donald Treiman in course reader
Week 3 (September 23): Focus Groups, Interviews and Surveys
QAPP Chapter 4
Chapters 4 & 5 in Dandekar, Hemalata C. ed. (2003) The Planner’s Use of Information, 2nd Edition. Chicago: American Planning Association. (in reader)
The following are required but not in the course reader:
Forester, John. Interviewing (web site section), http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/practicestories/CP_I.htm.
Forester, John. Transcribing (web site section), http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/practicestories/CP_T.htm.
Lab: Practicing interviews (in-class exercise)
Week 4 (September 30): Content Analysis and Mixed-methods
QAPP Chapters 5 and 6
ULUP Chapter 3
Lab: Content analysis (exercise)
Week 5 (October 7): Land Use Inventories
ULUP Chapters 6 and 7
Day, K., Boarnet, M., Alfonzo, M. & Forsyth, A. (2006). The Irvine-Minnesota Inventory to Measure Built Environments: Development. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 30(2), 144-152.
Boarnet, M., Day, K., Alfonzo, M., Forsyth, A., & Oakes, M. (2006). The Irvine-Minnesota Inventory to measure built environments: Reliability tests. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 30(2), 153-159.
Lab: Constructing and using an inventory (exercise)
Week 6 (October 14): Population and Economic Tools
ULUP Chapters 4 and 5
CAPT Part 1
Sevetson, Andrea. (2002). 2000 Census Basics. U.S. Census Bureau.
Lab: Math and Statistics Review-Linear regression
Review chapters 5 &6 from Quantitative Data Analysis by Donald Treiman in course reader
Week 7 (October 21): Population Projections
CAPT Part 2
Lab: Population projection (exercise)
Week 8 (October 28): Economic Base Analysis (Location Quotients)
CAPT Part 3
No lab this week (election holiday)
Week 9 (November 4): Economic Base Analysis (Shift-share)
CAPT Part 3
Lab: Economic base analysis (exercise)
Week 10 (November 11): Benefit-cost analysis
Small, K.(1999) Project Evaluation, in Essays in Transportation Economics and Policy, Gomez-Ibanez, Tye and Winston eds. Brookings: Washington, D.C.
Boarnet, M.G., Greenwald, M. and T. E. McMillan (2008) “Walking, Urban Design, and Health: Toward a Cost-Benefit Analysis Framework,” Journal of Planning Education and Research; 27; 341-360.
Lab: Calculating BCA (in-class exercise)
Week 11 (November 18): Transportation Forecasting
ULUP Chapter 8
Flyvbjerg, Bent, Holm, Mette K. Skamris and Buhl, Søren L.(2005) “How (In)accurate Are Demand Forecasts in Public Works Projects?: The Case of Transportation,” Journal of the American Planning Association,71(2),131-146.
Shoup, Donald (1999). “The Trouble with Minimum Parking Requirements,” Transportation Research Part A, 33A, (7-8), 549-574.
Shoup, Donald (2003). “Truth in Transportation Planning,” Journal of Transportation and Statistics, 6 (1), 1-16.
Lab: Work on final project
Week 12 (November 25): The plan making process
Chapter 6 in Dandekar, Hemalata C. ed. (2003) The Planner’s Use of Information, 2nd Edition. Chicago: American Planning Association. (in reader)
ULUP Chapters 10-15
No lab this week (Thanksgiving)
Week 13 (December 2): Presenting Information
Chapters 8,9,10 in Dandekar, Hemalata C. ed. (2003) The Planner’s Use of Information, 2nd Edition. Chicago: American Planning Association. (in reader)
PLA 4208 Planning Techniques: A survey course of the tools of the trade
Fall 2009
Syllabus September 8, 2009
Professor:
David King
304 Buell Hall
Office Hours: Tuesday 9-11 and by appointment
dk2475@columbia.edu
212-851-5685
Lab instructors:
Andrea Rizvi (Monday)
Kate Pedatella (Thursday)
Lab instructor/TA office hours and location: TBA
Course description:
This is an introductory course designed to help prepare students for original data collection and common analysis methods used in planning practice. Common methods of analysis are covered using publicly available data sets and data collected through assignments. Through weekly readings, lectures and lab sessions students will gain a basic understanding of the tools and methods required in planning practice. For more in depth instruction on statistical methods students are encouraged to look into other courses on campus.
The course is loosely divided into two parts. The first part explores qualitative techniques including field observations, interviews and surveys. During these sessions students will focus on collecting information to describe a particular phenomenon (i.e. a neighborhood or a new development project). The assignments in the lab sessions will highlight ways that planners gather and analyze original data.
The second part addresses methods including demography, economic base analysis and transportation planning. These sessions will primarily use existing data sources (i.e. Ipums and the U.S. Census). Regional analysis is highlighted through lab assignments.
Grading and assignments:
The assignments include lab exercises, individual papers, a final group project and class participation. Participation includes attendance of lecture and lab sessions. Lab exercises are evaluated either satisfactory or unsatisfactory and are included in your participation grades.
There are two individual papers. One is a proposal for a qualitative research study using the techniques from the first five weeks of the course. The second is a regional analysis using economic and demographic techniques.
In addition, a final group assignment involves developing and presenting a local area plan for a New York City neighborhood. The deliverables for this project are a presentation and a written report.
Course materials:
Required books available at Book Culture:
Qualitative Analysis for Planning and Policy. 2007. John Gaber and Sharon Gaber. Chicago: APA Planners Press.
*QAPP for weekly readings
Community Analysis and Planning Techniques. Klosterman, Richard E. 1990. Savage: Rowman and Littlefield.
*CAPT for readings
Recommended readings:
Urban Land Use Planning Fifth Edition. 2006. Philip R. Berke, David R. Godschalk, and Edward J. Kaiser, with Daniel A. Rodriguez. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
*ULUP for weekly readings
Other materials will be made available through a course reader available at Village Copier on Broadway.
Course schedule:
Week 1 (September 9) Lecture: Introduction
QAPP Chapter 1
ULUP Chapters 1 and 3
Lab: Math and Statistics Review-Descriptive statistics (exercise)
Week 2 (September 16): Field Research and Methods
QAPP Chapters 2 and 3
Chapters 1&2 in Dandekar, Hemalata C. ed. (2003) The Planner’s Use of Information, 2nd Edition. Chicago: American Planning Association. (in reader)
Lab: Math and Statistics Review-Crosstabs and tables (exercise)
Review chapters 1-3 from Quantitative Data Analysis by Donald Treiman in course reader
Week 3 (September 23): Focus Groups, Interviews and Surveys
QAPP Chapter 4
Chapters 4 & 5 in Dandekar, Hemalata C. ed. (2003) The Planner’s Use of Information, 2nd Edition. Chicago: American Planning Association. (in reader)
The following are required but not in the course reader:
Forester, John. Interviewing (web site section), http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/practicestories/CP_I.htm.
Forester, John. Transcribing (web site section), http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/practicestories/CP_T.htm.
Lab: Practicing interviews (in-class exercise)
Week 4 (September 30): Content Analysis and Mixed-methods
QAPP Chapters 5 and 6
ULUP Chapter 3
Lab: Content analysis (exercise)
Week 5 (October 7): Land Use Inventories
ULUP Chapters 6 and 7
Day, K., Boarnet, M., Alfonzo, M. & Forsyth, A. (2006). The Irvine-Minnesota Inventory to Measure Built Environments: Development. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 30(2), 144-152.
Boarnet, M., Day, K., Alfonzo, M., Forsyth, A., & Oakes, M. (2006). The Irvine-Minnesota Inventory to measure built environments: Reliability tests. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 30(2), 153-159.
Lab: Constructing and using an inventory (exercise)
Week 6 (October 14): Population and Economic Tools
ULUP Chapters 4 and 5
CAPT Part 1
Sevetson, Andrea. (2002). 2000 Census Basics. U.S. Census Bureau.
Lab: Math and Statistics Review-Linear regression
Review chapters 5 &6 from Quantitative Data Analysis by Donald Treiman in course reader
Week 7 (October 21): Population Projections
CAPT Part 2
Lab: Population projection (exercise)
Week 8 (October 28): Economic Base Analysis (Location Quotients)
CAPT Part 3
No lab this week (election holiday)
Week 9 (November 4): Economic Base Analysis (Shift-share)
CAPT Part 3
Lab: Economic base analysis (exercise)
Week 10 (November 11): Benefit-cost analysis
Small, K.(1999) Project Evaluation, in Essays in Transportation Economics and Policy, Gomez-Ibanez, Tye and Winston eds. Brookings: Washington, D.C.
Boarnet, M.G., Greenwald, M. and T. E. McMillan (2008) “Walking, Urban Design, and Health: Toward a Cost-Benefit Analysis Framework,” Journal of Planning Education and Research; 27; 341-360.
Lab: Calculating BCA (in-class exercise)
Week 11 (November 18): Transportation Forecasting
ULUP Chapter 8
Flyvbjerg, Bent, Holm, Mette K. Skamris and Buhl, Søren L.(2005) “How (In)accurate Are Demand Forecasts in Public Works Projects?: The Case of Transportation,” Journal of the American Planning Association,71(2),131-146.
Shoup, Donald (1999). “The Trouble with Minimum Parking Requirements,” Transportation Research Part A, 33A, (7-8), 549-574.
Shoup, Donald (2003). “Truth in Transportation Planning,” Journal of Transportation and Statistics, 6 (1), 1-16.
Lab: Work on final project
Week 12 (November 25): The plan making process
Chapter 6 in Dandekar, Hemalata C. ed. (2003) The Planner’s Use of Information, 2nd Edition. Chicago: American Planning Association. (in reader)
ULUP Chapters 10-15
No lab this week (Thanksgiving)
Week 13 (December 2): Presenting Information
Chapters 8,9,10 in Dandekar, Hemalata C. ed. (2003) The Planner’s Use of Information, 2nd Edition. Chicago: American Planning Association. (in reader)
Lab: Work on final project
Week 14 (December 9): Final project presentations