Course Outlines 2012-2013 1 Plan 425: Introduction to Community and Regional Planning 2012W Term 1 Credit Hours: (3) Wednesday 09:00 - 12:00 Location: WMAX 150 Instructor: Tom Hutton ([email protected]) Co-instructors: Leonard Machler ([email protected]) Rohit Mujumdar ([email protected]) Office Hours: Leonard – Wednesday (1:00PM – 3:00PM, in WMA 215, or by appointment) Rohit - Wednesday (1:00PM – 3:00PM, in WMA 137, or by appointment) Note: September 5th class will be held in WMAX 240 Course Description What is planning? Well, planning is a profession, not unlike medicine or law or engineering, with its own codes and tools of practice. In planning’s case, these tools are applied to shape the way different groups of people use and operate in space. But understanding what planning is should involve more than just knowing the duties and job descriptions of professional planners. At its heart, planning is an action- oriented and problem-oriented discipline. To plan, you are forced to act, and people begin to plan when they feel that they have encountered a problem involving how space is and ought to be used. In this course, you will be introduced to the tools of planning practice and we will acquaint you with the contemporary issues that planners deal with. More importantly, however, this course will ask you to think critically about planning problems and to gain a deep understanding of the relationship between spatial arrangements and social relations. Our understanding of the changes taking place in urban areas across the world today are shaped as much by our cognition of space – of ‘the here’ versus ‘the there’ - as by our cognition of time – of ‘the now’ versus ‘the then.’ Many of the reading selections we provide will be comparative in nature – showing similar planning problems and case studies, how they affect people and how they are framed in various contexts, both locally and abroad. We choose a comparative approach not only because changes taking place in once part of the world increasingly affect what happens in other places, but also because our normative understanding of what localities / cities / regions are affects the way in which we think about planning for them and, therefore, about what they ought to be. This is crucial to the field of planning which, in the contemporary world, is seeing increasingly seeing transfers of ideas, policies and best practices across the globe. This course intends to provide a basis to think critically about such practices. Some of the deeper questions posed in this class will include: What role does planning play (or ought to play) when we consider it in relation to the forces that shape urban and regional change today. 2 What transformations, conflicts, and claims shape contemporary social and spatial change in "the North / West" against those in "the South / East"? What does it mean to think critically about planning in the face of practices where ideas about cities or policies are continuously transgressing the social and political boundaries in which they were produced? Whose values are represented when we make plans? Who is a planner? Course Description Introduction to Community and Regional Planning offers an introduction to the complexities of contemporary planning. We focus this course around key topics that encompass urban and rural planning today: social justice and equity, urban form and urban design, sustainability and resilience, and community development. The course content will draw from international and Canadian readings that we will orient to planning practice through lectures, group-led reading discussions a field trip, guest speakers, and assignments. Course Aims The course will provide participants with a foundation in the dynamic and multifaceted themes of contemporary planning. It will engage participants in the various research and teaching concentrations at UBC’s School of Community and Regional Planning. The aim is to present, share and develop instructive and stimulating experiences that will help students to gain an initial understanding of contemporary urban and rural planning. At the same time, this course will aim to develop your critical thinking skills and expose you to diverse cultural perspectives and positions around planning problems. Please note that this is an introductory course only; the core elements of planning will be covered, to give you a taste of the breadth and complexity of the field. If you find you are particularly interested in one or two of these key elements, we encourage you to learn more about that area through additional coursework and/or field experience. Learning Objectives Through lectures, discussions, reading and assessment, it is expected that by the end of the course you will be able to: Think critically about the various perspectives of contemporary planning introduced through the course, and examine and re-assess your own values and beliefs about contemporary planning. Learn to work within small teams, collaborating with other students to produce a unified product. Refine your analytical and evaluation skills of the planning of urban and rural areas through questioning, active listening, debate, writing, and presentation. Connect themes in contemporary planning with local and international case studies. Generate planning policy recommendations through course readings and discussions and your own observations of your case study neighbourhood. Ultimately, generate your own opinion of the roles and responsibilities of contemporary planning, and be able to reflect upon planning’s past, current, and future roles. 3 Course Organization See Learning Objectives Course Requirements and Grading: Assessment and Evaluation Methods Your final mark in PLAN 425 will be broken down as follows: Participation and Attendance – 20% It is expected that you will attend every class and participate in class and group discussions on a timely basis. The following two projects will be group-based, and we will assign you to groups of 4 or 5. Leading a Discussion in Class on a Reading – 10% (Weekly, sign up at the beginning of term) Each week, a different group will lead a 30-45 minute in-class discussion on one of that week’s assigned readings. Please email your instructors with up to 5 discussion questions 24 hours before your group’s turn to present. A schedule will be provided during the first week for you to sign up. Neighbourhood Project Presentation - 35% (Due October 24th) The purpose of this assignment is to gain an appreciation for planning issues in our region. With your group, choose a neighbourhood in Greater Vancouver (we will give you a selection of neighbourhoods to choose from) and describe some of the central planning issues that this community faces. To investigate this, you will be asked to either attend a planning-related meeting that affects the community (such as a zoning application, local area plan meeting or even a protest) or speak with three informed local stakeholders (this includes planners, developers, local citizens, employees and organizations and advocacy groups, etc.). You will also need to provide a brief history of development in the neighbourhood, relying on archives or history books. Your deliverable will be a 15-20 minute presentation, presented in class on October 24th with your group. You are free to format the presentation however you wish, but you are encouraged to structure your presentation in the form of a narrative – or story – describing how the history of the community and the identities of the residents who have settled there is connected to the contemporary planning issues it faces today. 4 Final Paper – 35% (Due December 12) The final paper is meant to test your critical thinking skills and to gain an appreciation of the complexity of planning problems. Your task will be to choose a specific problem or case study anywhere in the world and to successfully frame it as a planning problem. To do so, you will have to identify the groups of people who have a stake in the problem (including the planners!), describe how rules – both the formal rules of practice and the informal rules of values (that may determine formal rules) - shape their perception of the issue, and what tools and resources they use (or cannot use) to achieve their desired objectives. Explain how a conflict may arise between the groups and apply the material we learned in class to describe how planning may address these conflicting objectives. Details TBD, but the final paper is expected to be 5-10 pages double-spaced with proper references. Assignment Deadlines Unless a valid excuse is provided and emailed to both instructors, for every 24 hours past an assignment deadline, we will subtract 10% off your final assignment mark. For example, if you received a mark of 86% on your final paper but submitted it two days late, you will receive a final mark of 66%. If you exceed 3 days without providing us with notice of a valid reason, we will be forced to give you a mark of zero for that assignment. Referencing and Plagiarism References and bibliography must follow the model of the American Psychological Association (APA). Poor and/or inconsistent referencing will be reflected in your marks, therefore, please pay very careful attention to these guidelines: http://www.library.ubc.ca/pubs/apastyle.pdf. Students must cite ALL references and are alerted to UBC’s plagiarism warning and guidelines: http://www.library.ubc.ca/home/plagiarism/. Grading Guidelines We will use the following grading system to assess your work in all assignments. A level - Good to Excellent Work A+ (90-100%) A very high level of quality throughout every aspect of the work. It shows the individual (or group) has gone well beyond what has been provided and has extended the usual ways of thinking and/or performing.