590 Special Topics Seminar

PLAN 590 is a Special Topics course, which means that the topic changes every semester and there may be several sections of PLAN 590 offered in the same semester, each covering a different subject.

 

Fall 2023 Offerings

Title: Gentrification and the Politics of Development

Instructor: Dr. Ashley Hernandez

Description: The class will conceive of gentrification as a complex process that changes makeup of neighborhoods and fuels political and policy conflicts. We will look at multiple aspects of gentrification, including re/development of housing, transit, zoning, and commercial elements that have been used to drive it. We will pair these elements with the politics of such development and advocacy/activism efforts. The aim of this course is to provide students with the tools to understand gentrification processes and conceive of policy to ensure more inclusive and equitable cities.

 

Title: International Transportation

Instructor: Dr. Allie Thomas

Description: This course will look at best practices in international transportation planning, particularly those practices that have made their way to the US (successfully or unsuccessfully). This includes policies as well as brick and mortar projects. Some cases we may look at include street design from the Netherlands, bus rapid transit from South America, and congestion pricing from London. Students will work on a case study highlighting a best practice of their choice and its applicability to the US. In addition, we will have guest speakers from both the private and public sector to learn about the ins and outs of working internationally. We will also take a critical look at what is defined as a best practice through our weekly readings and student-led discussions.

 

Title: Community Engagement

Instructor: Dr. Danielle Spurlock

Description:

Public participation and community engagement exist in many forms and are central to the practice of planning, but they still are contested concepts. They remain contentious, in part, because local knowledge and local expertise are contested concepts. The rational planning model and a communicative approach to planning are often presented as being adversarial to one another, which results in exaggerated comparisons. Where the rational planning model’s emphasizes “objective” information produced used technical or scientific methods, communicative approaches to planning embraces nontechnical information and calls for an open accounting of the value systems that underlie practice. Where the rational model (even in is adapted form) promotes a systematic process with clearly defined steps, the communicative approach endorses a more amorphous process of engagement. Finally, where the planner plays the role of expert technician with substantial influence of the planning process, the communicative approach calls for planners to step back and organize participation to address the distortions in communication (Forester, 1989). The division of these theories into binary comparisons misrepresents both approaches through oversimplification. These comparisons suggest inextricable differences when, in fact, these theoretical elements denote substantial weaknesses only when taken to the extreme. Both communicative approaches to planning and rational planning model place a high value of information and its incorporation into planning practices. Problems arise when either technical information or local interests dominates the planning process at the expense of the other.

This course covers the conceptual foundation of public participation and community engagement, the processes and institutions involved in urban planning and design decision-making, and professional skills necessary to conceptualize and implement high quality community engagement activities. It is a hands-on, skill-building course focused project design; and inclusive presentation. In addition to completing readings selected to build theoretical knowledge, students will engage in 1) in-class exercises to expand their facilitation and engagement skills, 2) regular writing assignments to improve the quality of their professional writing; and 3) semester long projects to develop their critical analysis of real-world cases and the acquisition of crucial management skills.

 

Title: GIS Bootcamp

Description:

This 1.5 credit hour course will be offered at the beginning and the end of the semester in 5-week sections. The course will give a crash-course introduction to GIS.

 

 

Previous Semesters:

Spring 2021

590.001 (1.5 credits)

[Note: This course number will be changed to PLAN 573, but for spring 2021 it is currently being scheduled as PLAN 590.001]

Title: “We’re Everywhere!”: The Social, Political and Economic Life of LGBTQ+ Communities
Instructor: Andrew Whittemore
Description: Since the end of the Second World War, if not before, more and more cities of the United States have come to feature spaces identified by members of LGBTQ communities and their heterosexual, cis-gendered counterparts as gay, lesbian, or queer. These have included intimate networks of homes, public spaces of all sizes, skid rows, commercial districts, residential urban neighborhoods, suburbs, small towns, some rural areas, and perhaps even entire cities. LGBTQ-identified spaces have been key in the development of LGBTQ identity: they provide sites for socializing and socialization, organization, self-affirmation and expression, visibility, and for many even political empowerment and the accumulation of material wealth. They have also provided targets for violence, exploitation, and state suppression, and been exclusive of many LGBTQ-identifying people because of their racial, class, sexual, or gender identity. This class introduces students to the social, political, and economic life of LGBTQ spaces in the United States, and asks students to consider their importance and the merits of planning for their improvement and/or conservation. Meets on Fridays, from January 19th until March 12th. No pre-requisites, open to undergraduate and graduate students. 

 

 

Spring 2020

590.001 (3 credits)

Title: Roadways for a Safer Future
Instructor: Tab Combs
Description: Ensuring our future transportation system is safe, equitable, and sustainable will require leadership from scholars and professionals with a wide range of expertise. This one-credit course aims to develop such future leaders by fostering discussion, collaboration, and shared understanding across disciplines about critical and emerging challenges in transportation. Using a combination of seminars, workshops, and local field trips, we will explore the role roadway infrastructure plays in shaping day-to-day life and long-term planning decisions from multiple perspectives.  (Learn more)

590.002 (3 credits)

Title: Planning for Historic Preservation
Instructor: Myrick Howard
Description: The purpose of this course is to provide an introduction to historic preservation and its role in the planning and development process. The seminar will highlight current activities in historic preservation. As President of the Historic Preservation Foundation of North Carolina, Inc. (Preservation North Carolina), a private nonprofit statewide preservation organization, I’ve been involved in the development of numerous preservation laws and programs in North Carolina. My background is in planning and law. Preservation North Carolina is best known for its endangered properties program, through which it purchases and resells properties. No pre-requisites, open to undergraduate and graduate students. 

590.003 (3 credits)

Title: Complete, Safe, Equitable Streets
Instructor: Tab Combs
Description: Streets are an essential, if often invisible, part of communities. Streets can be vibrant parts of the urban realm, sites for children playing and neighborhood gatherings, loci of physical activity opportunities, or places of fear that fail to safely accommodate all users. Streets provide mobility – allowing us to travel – and accessibility – allowing us to reach destinations. Streets therefore serve a complicated and often conflicting set of goals and users.
This course will interrogate the role of streets in communities paying particular attention to how streets contribute to mobility, accessibility, economic vibrancy, social cohesion, and safety from crime and traffic danger. In all conversations, we will consider how different people – by income, race, travel mode – are affected by streets and transport policy. As “completing the streets” requires coordinated efforts across planning domains and related fields, this course should be of interest to a wide variety of students, e.g. planning, public health, public administration, environmental studies, environmental science.

590.004 (1.5 credits)

Title: “We’re Everywhere!”: The Social, Political and Economic Life of LGBTQ+ Communities
Instructor: Andrew Whittemore
Description: Since the end of the Second World War, if not before, more and more cities of the United States have come to feature spaces identified by members of LGBTQ communities and their heterosexual, cis-gendered counterparts as gay, lesbian, or queer. These have included intimate networks of homes, public spaces of all sizes, skid rows, commercial districts, residential urban neighborhoods, suburbs, small towns, some rural areas, and perhaps even entire cities. LGBTQ-identified spaces have been key in the development of LGBTQ identity: they provide sites for socializing and socialization, organization, self-affirmation and expression, visibility, and for many even political empowerment and the accumulation of material wealth. They have also provided targets for violence, exploitation, and state suppression, and been exclusive of many LGBTQ-identifying people because of their racial, class, sexual, or gender identity. This class introduces students to the social, political, and economic life of LGBTQ spaces in the United States, and asks students to consider their importance and the merits of planning for their improvement and/or conservation. Meets from January 10th – February 28th only. No pre-requisites, open to undergraduate and graduate students. 

590.005 (3 credits)

Title: Planning for Freight
Instructor: Charles Edwards
Description: In this course we will identify the composition of freight flows, the role of freight transportation within supply chains, the impact of new technologies, the role of e-Commerce, and the rate of change of supply chain configurations.  This course will examine the effect of these flows on the design and function of urban and rural infrastructure.  No pre-requisites, open to undergraduate and graduate students.  Mondays 8:30am-11:10am.

 

 

Fall 2019

590.001 Roadways for a safer future (3 credits)

Ensuring our future transportation system is safe, equitable, and sustainable will require leadership from scholars and professionals with a wide range of expertise. This one-credit course aims to develop such future leaders by fostering discussion, collaboration, and shared understanding across disciplines about critical and emerging challenges in transportation. Using a combination of seminars, workshops, and local field trips, we will explore the role roadway infrastructure plays in shaping day-to-day life and long-term planning decisions from multiple perspectives.

Spring 2019

590.001 Planning for Historic Preservation (3 credits)

The purpose of this course is to provide an introduction to historic preservation and its role in the planning and development process. The seminar will highlight current activities in historic preservation. As President of the Historic Preservation Foundation of North Carolina, Inc. (Preservation North Carolina), a private nonprofit statewide preservation organization, I’ve been involved in the development of numerous preservation laws and programs in North Carolina. My background is in planning and law. Preservation North Carolina is best known for its endangered properties program, through which it purchases and resells properties.

590.002 Complete, Safe, Equitable Streets (3 credits)

Streets are an essential, if often invisible, part of communities. Streets can be vibrant parts of the urban realm, sites for children playing and neighborhood gatherings, loci of physical activity opportunities, or places of fear that fail to safely accommodate all users. Streets provide mobility – allowing us to travel – and accessibility – allowing us to reach destinations. Streets therefore serve a complicated and often conflicting set of goals and users.

This course will interrogate the role of streets in communities paying particular attention to how streets contribute to mobility, accessibility, economic vibrancy, social cohesion, and safety from crime and traffic danger. In all conversations, we will consider how different people – by income, race, travel mode – are affected by streets and transport policy. As “completing the streets” requires coordinated efforts across planning domains and related fields, this course should be of interest to a wide variety of students, e.g. planning, public health, public administration, environmental studies, environmental science.

 

Spring 2018

590.001 Professional & Career Development (1.5 credits)

We plan our cities and communities, but can we actually plan our own careers? This special topics seminar provides DCRP students with a unique opportunity to become more active in planning their own career journey. Throughout the semester students will hear from notable planning professionals about their own career experiences, including their response to unanticipated opportunities or challenges. Students will also learn to identify resources and build networks that can help them enhance the quality of their first planning internship or job, better prepare for promotion or sudden career shifts and improve their ability to advocate for further career opportunities and greater professional recognition. Students will complete a series of written and research-intensive assignments, ranging from conducting informational interviews and evaluating prospective employers to customizing cover letters and developing skills assessment frameworks. In addition, the class will leverage existing resources from University Career Services to help with resume writing, interview preparation, and professional profile development. This class meets once a week and is 1.5 credit hours. Priority is given to current MCRP students.

590.002 Complete, Safe, Equitable Streets (3 credits)

Streets are an essential, if often invisible, part of communities. Streets can be vibrant parts of the urban realm, sites for children playing and neighborhood gatherings, loci of physical activity opportunities, or places of fear that fail to safely accommodate all users. Streets provide mobility—allowing us to travel—and accessibility—allowing us to reach destinations. Streets, therefore, serve a complicated and often conflicting set of goals and users. This course will interrogate the role of streets in communities, paying particular attention to how streets contribute to mobility, accessibility, economic vibrancy, social cohesion, and safety from crime and traffic danger. In all conversations, we will consider how different people—different by income, race, gender, dis/ability, and travel mode—are affected by streets and transport policy. We will also discuss ways planners and other professionals can work to develop a systems-thinking approach to building safety, equity, and accessibility into street design and transportation policy.

Through a combination of lectures, guest speakers, and experiential projects, this course will systematically address these topics and provide extended opportunities for reimagining today’s street environments as safer, more equitable, and more useful spaces for a wider variety of users. The course will draw on examples from the US, as well as northern Europe, Latin America, Oceania, and Asia in order to better understand design and policy solutions that are possible in the US context. As “completing the streets” requires coordinated efforts across planning domains and related fields, this course should be of interest to a wide variety of students, e.g. planning, public health, public administration, environmental studies, environmental science. No prior coursework is required.

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

• discuss the theories and motivations behind, and barriers to, complete streets
• discuss the role of systems thinking in supporting safer, more equitable streets
• explain the competing needs and priorities for road space and discuss tradeoffs among them
• recognize shortcomings in street designs and barriers to the safe, productive use of streets by various types of users
• discuss the fundamentals of geometries and design of complete streets
• collect and perform basic analyses on data on the use of roads by alternative modes
• understand the principles of equity and accessibility analyses
• understand roadway design standards common across the globe and critically assess design standards in use in the US
• evaluate and critique bicycle/pedestrian plans or complete streets plan
• develop and defend a complete streets concept plan

Students are expected to be active participants in this course. Learning will be assessed through a combination of small individual assignments, in-class participation, and a large group project.

Fall 2017

590.001 Personal Finance, Wealth Building, and Public Policy

This course has three primary goals:

1. Help students develop a firm understanding of basic financial principles in the context of managing their own finances wisely. Students will develop an understanding of various aspects of personal finance. They will explore the way personal principles, values, and risk tolerance relate to many aspects of personal finance. They will engage in hands-on exercises related to their own finances and financial planning. Specific topics will include a math/financial primer, budgeting, measuring financial health, managing credit, identifying good and bad consumer and mortgage loans, understanding debt, choosing insurance products (all types), beginning investing, and others.
2. Help students gain sufficient familiarity with financial markets, banking, and investment concepts to make sense of market and financial news and related political and public policy discussions. Students will consider these matters and their implications with respect to their own financial well-being.
3. Help students consider and explore community-based and public policy efforts to help lower-income individuals and families build wealth through better financial decision-making and access to appropriate financial services and asset building opportunities.

590.002 Urban Growth & Inequality in the American Landscape

Cities hold an ambiguous image in the minds of scholars of political and social history. On the one hand cities are considered engines of freedom—as the phrase “city air makes one free” indicates. Through the medieval period, the industrial revolution, and up through today, urban areas continue to draw immigrants and new workers seeking new economic opportunities and the chance to build a better future. Contrasted with the rural opportunities of serfdom, isolation, or boredom, cities, in this light, do indeed seem like places of relative liberty and greater economic opportunity. Moreover, cities are intellectual reservoirs for freedom as key events in the development of modern democracy can be interpreted as “urban social movements” as attested by the Boston Tea Party and Paris Commune.

However, cities are also the spaces where rich and poor stand in starkest contrast. In addition to creating jobs and sharing ideas, cities have also spawned segregated neighborhoods, hyper-violent enclaves, and spaces of deep exploitation. Some scholars argue that the patterns of urban growth development (especially under capitalism) are inextricably linked with inequality.

Today, inequality is back on the political stage. This course will explore inequality through a variety of perspectives by examining causes and debates from their fields of economics, sociology, geography, and urban studies. What makes this course unique is its focus on the linkage between inequality and the process of urban growth and development in both the historical and contemporary contexts.

590 Introduction to Housing & Urban Planning and Policy

This course is an introduction to contemporary housing/urban problems and public planning and policies designed to overcome these problems. It focuses primarily on the United States, with a few sessions devoted to placing US problems in an international context. The central intellectual theme of the course is that effective problem diagnosis and policy prescription depends on an understanding of how the metropolitan housing/urban market operates. By the end of the semester, students will be able to identify the general historical patterns of housing and urban development in the United States, identify major milestones in the history of housing and urban policy, develop a basic understanding of the workings of the housing market, and investigate and critically analyze housing and urban problems and their solutions in the context of a particular place.