| Fall 2008 Lower- and Upper-Division Courses |
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110 (4) Three hours of lecture/discussion per week, plus additional fieldwork. Open to majors in all fields. Survey of city planning as it has evolved in the United States since 1800 in response to physical, social, and economic problems; major concepts and procedures used by city planners and local governments to improve the urban environment. Extended Course Description This course is designed to provide a foundation about the planning of communities. The emphasis of the course is on local land use planning. However, regional and state planning approaches and the relationship between land use trends and social, economic and environmental issues will also be examined. Contemporary priorities such as congestion management, redevelopment and revitalization of urban areas, open space preservation, and ways of addressing housing supply and affordability needs will be covered. The first half of the course starts by dealing with the history of U.S. urbanization and planning, as well as emerging trends and issues affecting central cities, suburbs, and metropolitan areas. The focus then shifts to the role of city and county planning within the scope of local government, and the legal framework governing land use regulation. Contemporary challenges, such as the provision of needed housing and transportation choices, as well as specific planning and regulatory tools and techniques will be described and discussed. Private property rights and the effect of the taxing structure on local planning decisions will also be areas of attention. The last half of the course focuses on a variety of specific topics addressed in local planning and development review. Strategies such as open space preservation, green cities, and smart growth will be examined. Regional and state approaches for resolving critical development and conservation challenges, both existing and proposed, will be described and assessed. The course will be conducted in a lecture format that will include visual presentations, videos and guest speakers. Weekly discussion sessions led by Graduate Student Instructors will supplement lectures, and all students are required to attend. CY PLAN
112A (3) Three hours of lecture/discussion per week. Open to all majors in all fields. Planning is often called for in response to societal crises; thus, nature and criticisms of the planning idea, appropriateness of planning, sources of legitimacy for and justification of planning, and future directions of the planning idea are examined. Extended Course Description Central to our approach to understanding planning is the relationship of institutions and policy to markets. This approach will be applied to planning experiences at the national scale and at the scale of very large metropolitan regions. We will examine recent shifts from planned systems, both centrally planned and market context planned, to more market driven systems: China is a key example, and in a way, so is Japan. Topics include:
CY PLAN
113B (3) Three hours of lecture/discussion per week. Prerequisites: 113A or equivalent; open to all majors in all fields. Introduction to political, economic and social issues involved in theory and practice of community economic development. Focus on national economic and social policies, role of local community economic development corporations (CDCs), resolution of conflicts between private-sector profitability and public sector (community) accountability through critical use of the planning process. Extended Course Description This seminar is an introduction to the political, social and economic issues involved in the theory and practice of community and economic development. It is about people in diverse cultural and ethnic communities and neighborhoods, and how they mobilize to play a role in the planning and development of their communities. Particular focus is on: national policies and programs (social, economic and political); the unique role of community-based economic development corporations (CDCs); the critical importance of the policy and planning process in balancing the conflict between private-sector profitability and the public interest/community accountability; and a critique of the politics of "trickle down" vs. "bottoms up" social and economic strategies. Focus will be given to how national policies impact our real-life communities and neighborhoods with particular focus on social, economic, political, and environmental justice. A comprehensive approach to community and economic development includes policies affecting jobs, housing, business, the environment and health care, with particular emphasis on the role of community and the meaning of democratic values in a multi-cultural society. It will also examine the Bush Administration's community development policy. Course Format Prerequisites Course Requirements Who It Is For CY PLAN
C114 (3) This course is designed to introduce students to the characteristics of urban transportation systems, the methods through which they are planned and analyzed, and the dimensions of key policy issues confronting decision makers. Also listed as Civil and Environmental Engineering C154. Extended Course Description Transportation systems connect people, goods, places, and ideas. Transportation networks shape cities and regions and constitute a very large proportion of our built environments. A good transportation system aids our ability to get to work, school, recreation and health care. Efficient, safe, and sustainable transportation systems are essential to the social, economic, and environmental well-being of cities and regions. This course introduces concepts, policy issues, and study findings on a range of themes related to urban and regional transportation planning. The focus is on multi-modal ground transportation (autos/highways, mass transit, paratransit, and non-motorized transport) at multiple geographical scales (neighborhoods, corridors, cities, and regions). The course concentrates on contemporary policy issues and problems (e.g., traffic congestion, air pollution, sustainability), and methods for addressing current problems. The course includes attention to the institutional and political environment that governs transportation planning and practice. We will also discuss the ways in which transportation systems shape and change metropolitan areas and their physical form. We will examine the evolution of transportation in the United States, look at attributes of travel demand in regions, review the formal transportation planning process, and address core policy issues: congestion, the environment, energy consumption, social equity, and transportation finance. Each student will participate in a team exercise that is intended to familiarize you with the transportation system in the environment in which it functions. This exercise will require you to2work with other students in the course and to go into the field to observe the transportation system. CY PLAN
115 (4) Three hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week. The course covers issues of development and urbanization from the era of colonialism to the era of contemporary globalization. Themes include modernization, urban informality and poverty, transnational economies, and the role of international institutions and agencies. Extended Course Description This course is open to all undergraduate and graduate students at UC Berkeley. There are no prerequisites for the class although students should be prepared to tackle advanced social science readings and analysis. The Global Poverty class has the following pedagogical goals. It seeks to train students to become participants in the global debates about poverty, development, and inequality. In doing so, it teaches students about different models and paradigms of poverty-alleviation and different methodologies for evaluating these. It also highlights the most current and important cases in different sectors of poverty-alleviation. The key element of the Global Poverty class is that all such issues are situated in the broader context of development theories and practices. In other words, the class links the millennial imagination for ending poverty with the long and contentious history of 20th century development. While the emphasis is on the project of development with its distinctive apparatus of knowledge and policy, the class is also concerned with the role of civil society actors, social movements, corporations, private foundations, and global campaigns in seeking to tackle poverty. Similarly, while the emphasis of the class is on the experiences of the global South, it is also concerned with poverty and inequality everywhere, including deprivation in the global North. CY PLAN
118AC (4) Three hours of lecture/seminar and one hour of discussion per week. This course looks at the idea and practice of community in cities and suburbs and at the dynamics of neighborhood and community formation. Topics include urban social geography, ethnicity, and identity, residential choice behavior, the political economy of neighborhoods, planning for neighborhoods and civic engagement. Extended Course Description This course will explore the urban theories, policies, and politics that have shaped contemporary urban communities within the United States. It will examine the macro-level structural factors that have shaped the economic, political, and social environments of urban communities. More importantly, this course will provide an understanding of how these factors have shaped the lives, culture, opportunities, and values of various ethnic and racial groups residing in urban communities. The course will also examine how the physical and spatial landscape of urban communities impacts urban residents’ access to resources and opportunities. In the first part of the course we will take a historical and theoretical look at what an urban community is, how an urban community is formed, and it evolves over time. We will discuss the major urban theories related to metropolitan development, and migration patterns of ethnic and racial groups. Specifically, we will discuss the rise of suburbanization after World War II, examine economic and political forces, and analyze the impact of segregation and urban policies on communities of color with respect to education, economic opportunities, housing, and health status. In the second part of the course we will examine contemporary metropolitan America through an analysis of case studies of urban communities across the country. We will discuss the myriad of challenges and opportunities facing urban residents. We will analyze readings that discuss important topics such as immigration, gentrification, planning and zoning, housing development, health disparities, race and ethnicity, and local policies and politics. Where possible, we will also discuss the role of institutions and organizations in the community development process. Finally in the last part of the course we will discuss the future of urban life in the U.S. We will discuss issues related to regionalism, globalization, demographic change, and urban sustainability. We will attempt to understand how these factors may impact the future development patterns and way of life of urban populations. CY PLAN
140 (3) Three hours of lecture/discussion per week. The course is concerned with the multidisciplinary field and practice of urban design. It includes a review of historical approaches to urban design and current movements in the field, as well as discussion of the elements of urban form, theories of good city form, scales of urban design, implementation approaches, and challenges and opportunities for the discipline. Learning from cities via fieldwork is an integral part of the course. Extended Course Description This course will introduce students to the field and practice of urban design. The objective is to provide a foundation for understanding the various dimensions of urban design, how urban design is practiced, the role of urban design within the development process, and key issues and challenges facing urban designers today. Learning about cities via fieldwork is an integral part of the course. The concerns of urban design are diverse and multidisciplinary, encompassing perspectives, skills, and theories from the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and city planning. Urban designers work at a range of scales—region, city, neighborhood, and lot—and are concerned with the interrelationships between scales. They deal with large-scale citywide design issues, such as city pattern and street and block layouts, but also with smaller scale local issues such as designs for streets and public open spaces. Urban designers may work to shape the form of specific places within cities, such as downtowns, shopping areas, cultural precincts, or they may design citywide systems such as streets, greenways, and public open space systems. The may design small infill projects for existing cities and neighborhoods, or they may design large-scale master plans or framework plans to control development at the metropolitan edge or on large parcels within existing cities being redeveloped for different uses. The discipline of urban design is concerned with notions of the “good city.” It is concerned with how urban environments work for people and support human needs, how physical designs may facilitate or hinder human behavior, how cities look, and what cities mean. It is concerned foremost with environmental quality, measured in many ways but particularly in terms of access, connectivity, comfort, legibility, and sense of place. |