Fall 2008 Courses
Welcome to the Urban Affairs and Planning (UAP) program course offering page. Below you will find course descriptions and associated syllabi for UAP courses offered in Virginia Tech's Northern Capital Region. The courses are arranged as full-credit (3-4 credit) or module (1-2 credit).
For the Virginia Tech Time Table of Classes, click here.
For the UAP program course offerings in Blacksburg for Fall 2008, click here.
Full Credit Courses (3-4 credit hours)
UAP 5104/GIA 5104: Urban and Regional Development Theory (CRN 96160)
Meets: Tuesdays, 7:00-9:00 p.m. at the Alexandria Center's Polycom room.
Credit hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Heike Mayer (heikem@vt.edu)
This course explores the literature on urban and regional development theories. We will examine the factors that contribute to the growth or decline of cities and regions. The readings focus on competing explanations of spatial economic patterns and development and draw from a variety of disciplines including economic geography, political science, economic sociology, and urban studies and planning. We will also consider the implications of each theory for the practice of planning as well as urban and regional analysis. Applying each theory to contemporary urban and regional development patterns will be an important objective of the class.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5114: Computer Applications in Planning (CRN 96162)
Meets: Mondays, 4:15pm – 6:45pm at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Kris Wernstedt (krisw@vt.edu)
This course will acquaint students with the basic concepts of a geographic information system (GIS) and its analytic capabilities. In addition to grounding the student in the principles and concepts of GIS technology, the course will include applications of this technology to planning problems and discuss important system implementation issues. Course meetings will include lectures, which will cover material presented in assigned readings, and laboratory sessions for "hands-on" exposure to the ArcGIS software, its extensions, and other ancillary tools.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5114: Computer Applications in Planning – GIS-CE (CRN 96161)
Meets: Tuesdays, 4:15pm – 6:45pm at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Kitty Hancock (hancockk@vt.edu)
This course will acquaint students with the basic concepts of a geographic information system (GIS) and its analytic capabilities. In addition to grounding the student in the principles and concepts of GIS technology, the course will include applications of this technology to planning problems and discuss important system implementation issues. Course meetings will include lectures, which will cover material presented in assigned readings, and laboratory sessions for "hands-on" exposure to the ArcGIS software, its extensions, and other ancillary tools.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5174: Theory & Practice of Planning (CRN 96164)
Meets: Mondays, 7:00pm-9:30pm at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Robert Lang ( rlang@vt.edu )
Theoretical foundations of urban and regional planning. Methods and procedures employed in the professional practice of planning. Examination of the interdependence of planning theory and planning practice.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5224: Quantitative Techniques in Planning (CRN 96165)
Meets: Mondays, 7:00PM – 9:30PM at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Kris Wernstedt (krisw@vt.edu)
This course provides an introduction to methods used in planning activities, including statistics, cash flow discounting and cost-benefit analysis, summary indices, and data organization. It covers different conceptual issues in analysis but emphasizes applications of analytical tools and the interpretation of results. The class features lectures, hands-on exercises, discussion of readings, out-of class short-term problem sets and written assignments, and a research project.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5234: Urban Economy and Public Policy (CRN 96166)
Meets: Thursdays, 7:00pm-9:15pm at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Terry Holzheimer ( holzheim@vt.edu )
This course applies principles of urban economics and microeconomics to the analysis of urban growth and development, including polices related to housing, employment, land use, poverty, and the provision of urban services.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5304: Land Use Planning (CRN 96168)
Meets: Thursdays, 4:15pm-6:45pm at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Shelley Mastran
This course deals with the basic concepts, principles, strategies, and tools of local-level urban land use planning. The focus is on the real-world planning process and implementation. We will consider information requirements for planning, policy considerations, environmental analysis, residential and non-residential land use needs, and a range of planning tools and put them into practice through a series of real-world exercises focused on local sites. The class will include at least two field trips.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5314: Social Analysis of Land Use: Residential Segregation and the Geography of Opportunity (CRN 97322)
Meets: Tuesdays, 7:00pm-9:30pm at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Casey Dawkins ( dawkins@vt.edu )
Households in most major U.S. metropolitan areas reside in neighborhoods that are racially, ethnically, and economically homogeneous. Evidence also points to an increase in household clustering by demographic group, political persuasion, and religious preference. These trends have important implications for the financing and provision of local public facilities and services in addition to shaping the “geography of opportunity” facing low income households.
This course examines the causes, consequences, and policy implications of residential segregation, paying particular attention to the forces contributing to the persistence of Anglo – African American segregation within U.S. cities. The course begins with an overview of the historical context and causes of residential segregation. Next, we examine the impacts of segregation on various economic and social outcomes. The final portion of the course deals with the policy dimensions of segregation, emphasizing relevant federal, state, and local policies that shape segregation patterns.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424: Metro Topics: Urban Transportation Policy and Planning (CRN 97614)
Meets: Wednesdays, 4:15pm-6:45pm at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Ralph Buehler ( ralphbu@vt.edu )
This course provides an overview of planning and policy issues in urban transportation. Initially we will survey the recent history and current state of the U.S. urban transportation system and of spatial development patterns with which it is mutually interdependent. Next we will analyze problems and benefits of the current auto-dominated transport system. Topics include energy use, equity, congestion, air pollution, safety, and urban sprawl. Other modes of transport including public transportation, bicycling, and walking will also be evaluated in the light of the current situation. The relative effectiveness and cost of various proposed solutions will be examined, including congestion pricing and taxation policies, improved technology, increased transit service, more bicycling, more carpooling and vanpooling, consumer regulation, investments in highway and transit infrastructure, and traffic management strategies. Moreover, the political/institutional context of urban transportation, which has changed dramatically in recent years, will be discussed, and the consequences for the future of transport planning will be explored. Most of the course will focus on the United States, but the last week of the semester will be devoted to a comparative analysis of urban transport in North America and Europe. Additionally the class will provide students with essential knowledge about current transportation databases accessible online.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5524: Critical Perspectives on Globalization and Development (CRN 97850)
Meets: Mondays, 6:30pm-9:25pm at the Alexandria Center's. (Cross Listed with GIA 5524)
Credit Hours:
Instructor:
The course explores the contentious concept of economic and political “development”. It focuses on some of the main theoretical avenues in the field as well as on current discussions about the impact of market reforms, public debt, foreign aid, resource (mis)management, and conflict traps in low income countries. The goal is to provide students with tools for critical analysis of developing countries’ persistent and new challenges.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5604: Housing Planning & Policy Topics (CRN 97323)
Meets: Tuesdays, 4:15pm-6:45pm at the Alexandria Center's Polycom room.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Karen Danielsen-Lang ( kadaniel@vt.edu )
An examination of national and local housing markets with emphasis on the impact of various public housing policies on the demand for and supply of housing within these markets. The relationships between public and private delivery systems.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5634: Design Studio: Going Green in Old Town Alexandria (CRN 97518)
Meets: Mondays, 4:15pm-6:45pm at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Morton ( ElizabethMorton@vt.edu )
Urban Design Studio: Going Green in Old Town examines how to promote green practices in historic structures and districts in Alexandria and explores policies of other cities.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5754 Metropolitan Planning Seminar (CRN 96177)
Meets: Select Wednesdays, Aug 27, Sept 24, Oct 29, Nov 19 at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 1
Instructor: Dr. Kris Wernstedt (krisw@vt.edu)
Students can sign up for a one-credit class if they want to attend the “New Metropolis Lecture Series.” Lectures take place once a month and students will be required to attend an additional lecture outside Virginia Tech and write a short discussion paper about topics covered in the class.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5774: Economic Development Studio (CRN 97292)
Meets: Wednesdays, 7:00-9:30 p.m. at the Alexandria Center.
Credit hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Heike Mayer (heikem@vt.edu), Dr. John Provo (jprovo@vt.edu)
The competitiveness of regional economies depends on the ability of firms and research institutions such as universities or R&D laboratories to generate new ideas and to commercialize innovation. Knowledge-based industries have gone through a dramatic transformation process in the ways in which they organize their innovation efforts. Rather than concentrating R&D in-house in centralized laboratories, firms are increasingly interested in an open process of idea generation and innovation. The business scholar Henry Chesbrough calls this the Open Innovation Model. In the open innovation model, firms develop strategic research alliances and they engage in technology transfer and licensing processes with external partners. And, moreover, firms are increasingly looking towards universities for new ideas and innovation. Such university-industry partnerships are central to the so-called open innovation model.
Students involved with this studio will examine how Virginia Tech, local jurisdictions like Arlington County and those in the Danville region, can implement the open innovation model.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP-5794: Environ Planning Studio Eco-City Alexandria, Phase IV (CRN 97763)
Meets: Tuesdays, 4:15pm – 6:45pm at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructors: Prof. Joe Schilling ( jms33@vt.edu ) / Kathryn McCarty / Dr. Shelley Mastran
Last semester the Eco City Studio worked with the city of Alexandria's Office of Environmental Quality, city officials, and the community to devise the city's and the state's first Eco City Charter ( http://ecocity.ncr.vt.edu ). This year Virginia Tech will work again with the Environmental Policy Commission to devise a two-part Environmental Action Plan to implement the visionary directions set in the Charter. Students will collect and evaluate model sustainability programs ranging from climate change, renewable energy, sustainable development codes, and sustainability education programs, etc. They will also help facilitate EPC strategic planning sessions and a community open house in November. Building on the research work and the planning session, professors and students will work with Alexandria city officials to create a draft this strategic environmental policy plan.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5984: Natural Resources Planning (CRN 96169)
Meets: Wednesdays, 7:00pm-9:30pm at the Alexandria Center.
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Dr. Shelley Mastran
This class focuses on land analysis and management to protect environmental resources and improve land development, as implemented primarily through local and state planning in the U.S. We will touch on natural hazards, soils and slopes, water quality and quantity, wetlands, and biodiversity, among other topics as we consider environmental impact assessment and mitigation, the design and development of environmentally sensitive land, and the protection and restoration of environmental resources. The class will involve one field trip.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
Course Modules (1-2 credit hours)
UAP 5424 Metropolitan Planning Topics: Arlington County: A Best Practice Case in Urban Regeneration (CRN 97678)
Meets: Friday, October 17, 2008 (5:00 pm to 9:00 pm) & Saturday, October 18, 2008 (9:00 am to 5:00 pm) at the Alexandria Center
Credit hour: 1
Instructor:Dr. Heike Mayer (heikem@vt.edu), Dr. Ralph Buehler ( ralphbu@vt.edu )
Arlington County represents a best practice case study in urban regeneration in the Washington D.C. region. The county was one of the first localities to apply innovative planning tools such as transit-oriented development and smart growth. Arlington has created vibrant “urban villages” around its Metro stations and the majority of the county’s economic base is concentrated in the Rosslyn-Ballston transit corridor. This module class will discuss the ways in which Arlington County implemented urban regeneration ideas to generate residential and economic development around the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor and encourage non-automobile transportation. We will pay attention to the following two planning areas: transportation and economic development. In particular, we will discuss the ways in which these areas intersect and relate to each other. Instructors will introduce the topics and embed the Arlington County case study in the broader context of urban development in the United States. Guest speakers and a field trip will allow students to gain a practice-oriented perspective of Arlington as a best practice case. The class will be joined by a group of students from Kaiserslautern, Germany, who will be visiting the DC region to study urban development and suburbanization.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424 Metropolitan Planning Topics: Right Sizing America’s Shrinking Cities—Comparative Planning and Policy Lessons (CRN 97867)
Meets: Fri, October 24 5:00pm-9:00pm and Saturday, October 25 9:00am-5:00 pm at the Alexandria Center
Credit hour: 1
Instructor:Prof. Joe Schilling ( jms33@vt.edu )
Existing planning and redevelopment models do not offer a holistic approach for addressing the problems of blight, poverty, and social and economic distress experienced in America’s shrinking cities—those older industrial communities experiencing significant, sustained population loss. Urban planners and policy makers are challenged by shrinkage because the planning field focuses predominately on communities with population growth and expansive development patterns; thus we have little experience with effective strategies and tools that address the origins of shrinkage and how they influence urban systems. With an abundance of vacant properties, these shrinking cities provide fertile ground for neighborhood-scale and city-wide greening strategies that can revitalize urban environments, empower community residents, and stabilize dysfunctional markets.
This module will explore the multiple dimensions of right sizing to stabilize the most dysfunctional markets and distressed neighborhoods by more closely aligning a city’s built environment with its existing and foreseeable future population. It will focus on planning strategies for replacing vacant and abandoned properties with green infrastructure that would convert surplus, blighted land to create community assets while aligning supply more closely with existing and foreseeable future levels of demand.
Building on Professor Schilling extensive technical assistance work in Buffalo, Cleveland, and Youngstown, this module will examine emerging efforts in American cities and compare them with innovative planning and design approaches spawned by the international shrinking cities network. For Saturday students will also participate in a mini-policy charrette using the hypothetical community of Smallville as the context for creating their own planning and design solutions to right size America’s shrinking cities.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424: Metro Plan Topics: Creating Safe Places/Spaces (CRN 97619)
Meets: Fri, November 14, 5:00pm-9:00pm and Saturday, November 15, 9:00am-5:00 pm in Blacksburg, VA.
Credit Hours: 1
Instructor: Dr. Diane Zahm ( dzahm@vt.edu )
Safe and Productive Places and Spaces: An Introduction to Crime Prevention through Environmental Design: A topics course focusing on the methods and techniques of evaluating physical development needs of metropolitan areas their sub-areas. Emphasis on elements of land use, physical development needs, representation, and the role of comprehensive plans and implementing regulatory ordinances (zoning, land subdivision regulations, building codes, environmental regulations). Course will be taught in BLACKSBURG.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424: Metro Plan Topics: History of Urban Planning and Design (CRN 96175)
Meets: Fri, November 7 5:00pm-9:00pm and Sat, November 8 9:00am-5:00pm at the Alexandria Center's Polycom room.
Credit Hours: 1
Instructor: Dr. Sonia Hirt ( shirt@vt.edu )
This graduate seminar introduces students to the most prominent urban design and planning movements in the ‘Western’ world since the 1850s. The course begins with the origins of modern planning and design as a response to the urban crisis of the mid-19th century. It then discusses how planners and designers attempted to alleviate the urban crisis by either radically restructuring the city and eradicating its history (e.g., the Modernist City), or by abandoning the city and replacing it with new settlements (e.g., the Garden City). The course compares and contrasts these proposals and poses the question of why so many of them have at least partially failed. It also critically examines the traditional planning idea of following some grand, master-minded vision of good urban form—form which often ends up disadvantaging many urban citizens (e.g., women and minorities). Finally, the course discusses how history shapes contemporary influential ideas in urban planning and design, such as New Urbanism and Smart Growth.
At the end of the course, students will be able to compare and contrast the philosophical assumptions and the strategies employed by the main historic planning movements. They will also be able to evaluate the impact of history on contemporary planning thought.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424 Metropolitan Planning Topics: Municipal Broadband & Telecom (CRN 97712)
Meets: Fri, October 24 5:00pm-9:00pm and Saturday, October 25 9:00am-5:00 pm in Blacksburg, VA
Credit hour: 1
Instructor: Dr. Andrew M. Cohill
More and more communities are treating telecom as essential public infrastructure, and this short course provides a concise presentation of the broadband planning process for local gov'ts and regional planning organizations. Key topics: types of telecom infrastructure, policy, and comprehensive plan changes needed, wireless versus fiber issues, financing of telecom investments, and organizational issues related to management of community-owned telecom infrastructure. Dr. Cohill has worked with more than 150 communities on broadband planning, and has an international reputation for his work.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424 Metropolitan Planning Topics: he Housing Foreclosure Crisis--Community Impacts, Policy Responses and Planning Strategies (CRN 97868)
Meets: Fri, November 7 5:00pm-9:00pm and Saturday, November 8 9:00am-5:00 pm at the Alexandria Center
Credit hour: 1
Instructor:Prof. Joe Schilling ( jms33@vt.edu )
Our nation’s is in the middle of its worst housing crisis since the Great Depression. With the burst of the housing market, the plague of subprime lending, and shrinking government revenues, communities across the country are struggling with how to address the impacts of foreclosures, vacant properties, and REO inventories. Suburban vacancy and blight is now presenting new opportunities for rethinking how we plan and develop communities. This module will first examine the causes for the crisis (e.g., subprime lending, weak regulatory structures, and home ownership housing policy) as well as the impacts. It will then explore the community/local government responses, such as vacant property registration ordinances, land banking, and REO acquisitions by nonprofits through a proposed national Neighborhood Stabilization Trust. The module will also debate the long term policy implications for planning future communities and retrofitting current residential development patterns.