| Fall 2011 Lower- and Upper-Division Courses |
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CY PLAN 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 provides an introduction to the history of urban planning and focuses on a series of key topics, including land use, urban design, economic development, housing, transportation and the process and politics of planning. While the course is largely directed at the experience and practice in the United States, there is a substantial portion of the course that explores these topics internationally. As well, the course explores the variety of planning scales and innovations in regional collaboration. The course aims to provide students with a sense for the hands-on work of city planning while also providing conceptual understanding of the historical, political, legal, social and environmental contexts that surround and affect it. It is designed for undergraduates who may be curious about a career in urban planning and international development or simply want to know how planning works and affects our lives. CY PLAN 113A (3) Three hours of lecture and one hour of discussion per week. Introduction to economic concepts and thinking as used in planning. Micro-economic theory is reviewed and critiqued. Extended Course Description Course Description This is an introductory course in the application of basic principles of economic analysis to problems of urban planning and policy. The course aims to ground students in the fundamentals of microeconomic theory while providing the opportunity to apply them to contemporary issues of urban land use, transportation, housing, design, and economic development planning. The class is not intended as a comprehensive introduction to the field of microeconomics; rather, it is designed to acquaint students with the essential elements of qualitative economics that are most relevant to the practice of city planning. Questions the course will explore include: (1) how economic forces and policies shape the city’s formation, location, size, form, and function; (2) how the basic tools of microeconomic analysis can expand and strengthen the planner’s capacity to address city planning problems and issues; and (3) how to analyze critically the strengths and weaknesses of various economic approaches to, and justifications of, urban policy-making. The study of theory will be augmented by case studies and practical exercises in applying economic analysis to current planning problems in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. 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. Poverty: Challenges and Hopes in the New Millennium Description to come. 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. CY PLAN
190 (1-4) One hour of lecture/discussion per week per unit. Prerequisites: Upper division standing. Course may be repeated for credit. Sections A-L to be graded on a letter-graded basis. Sections M-Z to be graded on a pass/no pass basis. Analysis of selected topics in urban studies. Topics vary by semester. Extended Course Description This course is a research-oriented examination of the future of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. It emphasizes experiential learning, that is, 'research-by-doing,' including consideration of research design and proposal writing, alternative theoretical and methodological approaches, and the production of a high-quality research report. Students will investigate the origins, present and future of the border and develop a thorough understanding of the demographic, social, political and economic bases of an emerging ‘third nation’ along the borderlands. Student research projects will focus on devising solutions for a variety of environmental design problems, but are encouraged (for reasons of time) to choose topics for which a considerable body of research materials already exists. These include: the potential for cross-border infrastructure planning and environmental collaboration; the processes of third nation formation and how they are threatened by the fencing off our Mexican neighbors; mapping the American ‘gulag’ of migrant detention centers, deportation logistics, and other restrictive practices; moving from a north-south to an east-west orientation in cross-border geopolitical relations; border violence – guns go south, drugs go north; and conservation projects to maintain the historic border monuments. As well as analyzing conventional data sources (e.g. demographic statistics, economic trends), students will be encouraged to incorporate less conventional sources (including film, language, music, art, cultural practices, and news media). Some knowledge of Spanish is helpful but is not required. |