Spring 2009 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 Spring 2009, click here.
Full Credit Courses (3-4 credit hours)
UAP 4854: Planning the Urban Infrastructure (CRN 17359)
Meets: Wednesdays, 4:15PM-6:45PM
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Ralph Buehler
We take infrastructure for granted and only take notice of infrastructure failures. The last decade had it all: large scale power outages, collapsed bridges, closed roads, unreliable transit and air planes, and busted levies. America’s infrastructure is crumbling. The American Society of Civil Engineers and other sources estimate that $1.6 trillion are needed just to bring the nation’s infrastructure to acceptable standards. Currently, the U.S. government spends 2.4 percent of its GDP on physical infrastructure. Even though there is considerable variation, public spending on infrastructure can produce positive economic returns—especially in initial phases of investments.
This seminar style class is an introduction to planning of urban infrastructure. We examine the major elements of the physical infrastructure (e.g. transportation, energy, water, sewerage, waste) and address the question of how these elements can be made more sustainable. Case studies are drawn from infrastructure systems around the world and several local field trips are planned.
This course introduces:
- Major elements of physical urban infrastructure; how they are planned; designed; implemented; and interrelate
- Market failure, public goods, natural monopolies
- Cost/benefit analysis
- Government and private sector roles in infrastructure provision
- Efficient infrastructure pricing
- Develop and enhance skills in writing, presenting, and leading discussions in emerging topics and concepts related to infrastructure development
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5034: Democratic Gov of Economy (CRN 16184) (Cross listed with GIA 5034)
Meets: W, 7:00PM-9:45PM, Alexandria Center
Credit hours: 3
Instructor: Giselle Datz
The course focuses on the study of the interconnectedness of global politics and economics – i.e., how political pressure influences economic policy, and how economic forces help determine political outcomes. The process of globalization is explored in detail with emphasis on its political viability, economic premises and social repercussion. Of interest is to explore current events through the theoretical lenses underlining the debate about what role states play in an “era of globalization”, as well as how global integration has challenged democratic practices. This version of the course pays special attention to the credit crisis of 2007-08. An analysis of economic policy history since WWI leads us to a new discussion about this critical juncture in the trajectory of capitalism as a global economic system. Students are expected to develop an understanding of recent trends in the engagement of the local and the global, and of the private and public sectors through booms and burst cycles of economic activity, which present new and/or persistent challenges to policy making worldwide.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5114: Computer Applications in Planning-GIS (CRN 16185)
Meets: Mondays, 7:00PM-9:30PM
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Kris Wernstedt
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 5124: Planning Studio: Tysons Corner (CRN 17360)
Meets: Wednesdays, 7:00PM-9:30PM
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Shelley Mastran
The Planning Studio will focus on aspects of the redevelopment of Tysons Corner. Our client is Tysons Tomorrow, an organization of developers, landowners, and other interested parties whose goal is to implement the report of the Tysons Corner Task Force, Transforming Tysons: Vision and Area-Wide Recommendations. The class will work on several Tysons-related projects, including but not limited to: developing justification for Fairfax County Supervisors to move forward to implement the Tysons Corner Task Force Report based on traffic, fiscal, and economic impact analyses of TOD; developing a detailed scenario for buildings and uses around the Tysons West Metro station; and preparing draft planning language that takes the Tysons Corner Task Force Report toward implementation.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5174: Theory & Practice of Planning (CRN 16186)
Meets: Mondays, 4:15PM-6:45PM (time may be subject to change)
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Karen Danielsen
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. (Catalog Description)
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5194: Urban Growth Management (CRN 16187)
Meets: Thursdays, 4:15PM-6:45PM Polycom- Prince Street
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: TBA
Examines regulatory and financial techniques for controlling and guiding urban development. Evaluates their advantages and disadvantages with respect to development circumstances. Focus is primarily on the practice of local and state governments in the U.S. (Catalog description)
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5224: Quantitative Techniques in Planning (CRN 16188)
Meets: Mondays, 4:15PM-6:45PM
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Kris Wernstedt
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 Policy (CRN 16189)
Meets: Mondays, 4:15PM-6:45PM
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Casey Dawkins
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. (Catalog description)
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5244: Multicultural Cities (CRN 17637)
Meets: Tuesdays, 7:00PM – 9:45PM Polycom – Prince Street
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Karen Till
Over the past thirty years, cities across the globe seem to have become increasingly fragmented, multiple and diverse, despite unprecedented levels of economic interconnectedness at the global scale. How might we understand ‘cities of difference’ in the context of globalization? What challenges and opportunities do multicultural cities present to city-building professionals, residents, and policy makers? How might planning and public policy at all levels of government become more inclusive to reflect the plurality of cities? Can or should residents and visitors feel ‘at home’ in today’s multicultural and multiethnic cities? This course attempts to address these questions in the U.S. and other parts of the world through a combination of seminar discussions, studio work and writing assignments.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5364: NGOs in Development (CRN 16190)
Meets: Mondays, 4:15PM - 6:45PM VTEL – WAAC
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Max Stephenson
Explores theory and cases of non-governmental organizations in international development. Analyzes various roles of NGOs, and their interactions with local communities, government agencies, international organizations, and private businesses. Examines tensions and collaborations between NGOs and other development actors, drawing from cases in environmental, health, and educational policy domains.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424: Metro Planning Topics: Market Analysis (CRN 16198) and other Economic Analysis Methods
Meets: Wednesdays, 7:00PM-9:30PM
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Terry Holzheimer
Students will learn when to use and how to conduct a residential and commercial market analysis, economic impact analysis, fiscal impact analysis, and a variety of special economic studies. The case study method will be used to focus on critical reviews of each technique as applied in practice and will learn how to integrate these into local comprehensive plans.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424: Metro Planning Topic: Planning for Diversity (CRN 17823)
Time: Wednesdays 4:15 PM – 6:45 PM Polycom – Prince Street
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Katrin Anacker
Over the past years many communities have become increasingly diverse. However, there do not seem to be many planning efforts and techniques that address diversity.
Become a trailblazer in the new field “planning for diversity” and learn how to plan for diversity in your community. This class will take a closer look at planning for diversity in terms of gender, age, class/race/ethnicity, language/immigration/culture, disability, and sexual preferences. Case studies in the United Kingdom and in Canada will be utilized to suggest improvements to current planning strategies and public policies in the United States.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424: Metropolitan Topics: Sustainability Seminar (CRN TBA)
(Meets with UAP 5794: Eco-City Studio IV)- NEW Tuesdays 4:15 to 6:45pm
Credit Hours: 3
Instructors: Joe Schilling, Shelley Mastran, and Kathryn McCarty
For the spring semester students will work directly with Alexandria residents, city officials, staff, and member of the city’s Environmental Policy Commission (EPC) in the devising a sustainability strategic plan. This is the fourth and last semester of the Eco City Alexandria project (see http://ecocity.ncr.vt.edu). Student will have the option of taking the class as either a studio or metropolitan seminar on sustainability. Student interested in taking community involvement should take the studio or the seminar as UAP 4184 will not be offered until spring 2010.
For the past 18 months UAP faculty and students have been working as the lead staff to city’s Office of Environmental Quality and Environmental Policy Commission. They have designed a variety of public meetings, open houses, and last year’s Eco City Summit. Studio work has involved an inventory of existing environmental programs/policies, a compendium of model sustainability programs, a matrix of sustainability charters/comprehensive plans, the state’s first Eco City Charter and a Phase I Environmental Action Plan. All of these documents (and much more) are posted on the eco city web site above.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5554: Land Use Law (CRN 16201)
Meets: Thursdays, 7:00PM - 9:30PM
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Jim McElfish
This course uses case law and review of the evolution of planning, zoning, and development law to provide the tools of the trade for those engaged in land development, government, design, landscape architecture, and other disciplines. It includes substantial work with primary materials (reported case decisions), and a research project paper.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5624: Urban Design Seminar: Urban Design Policy (CRN 17366)
Meets: Wednesdays 4:15PM – 6:45 PM
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Elizabeth Morton
This course will explore policies governments use to encourage quality urban design. It will focus on several key topics: the nature, design and regulation of public spaces; the incorporation of public art into the urban environment; the designation of special districts; and the design review process. Students will complete an in-depth case study of a particular city’s urban design policy.
The approach for each topic will include:
- Academic/theoretical literature providing a sense of contemporary debates and issues
- Practice-oriented reports and studies
- Student presentations on their own case studies
- Visit to an outside speaker who is a leader in the field (during the regular class time)
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5634: Urban Design Studio: Tinner Hill Park and Heritage Studio (CRN 17755)
Meets: Thursdays 4:15 PM– 6:45 PM
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Elizabeth Morton
Our client for this studio is the nonprofit Tinner Hill Heritage Foundation, which has stewardship over two resources intimately tied to the history of the City of Falls Church and to the struggles of African Americans in this country (the E.B. Henderson House and Tinner Hill commemorative site). The studio will explore ways to preserve and interpret these resources and acknowledge their significance by making them central to the City’s redevelopment efforts.
Over the last decade, the City of Falls Church has debated alternative ways to manage growth and define its identity. The recently approved City Center plan will add one million square feet of pedestrian-oriented mixed-use development in a 9 acre area in close proximity to both sites.
Among the studio goals are:
- Creating a design solution that will enable the Foundation to present and interpret both properties (now separated by a busy street) as a unified and important historic, outdoor site.
- Making use of media and technologies that will help audiences engage with the place and become connected with the historical figures and events.
- Exploring ways that these African American sites can serve as a catalyst for a proposed “arts and cultural” district in Falls Church and as an integral part of an economic development strategy.
- Proposing ways that new development can appropriately commemorate or reveal the vernacular heritage of the neighborhood without overwhelming it.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5644: Transportation Systems Planning (CRN 17367)
Meets: Thursdays, 4:15PM-6:45PM Polycom – King Street
Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Ralph Buehler
This course in urban transportation planning will focus on concepts, methods and applications, and is designed to complement other transportation offerings in the department. Generally all modes of urban transportation are considered, but the latter part of the course will focus on public transportation, bicycling, and traffic calming. The following topics will be covered:
- decision making in urban transportation
- the urban transportation planning process
- data sources for transportation planning
- introduction to planning for public transportation
- planning for bicycling
- context sensitive design and traffic calming
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5754: Metro Planning Seminar (CRN 16205)
Meets: Select Wednesdays 7:00PM-9:30PM Dates: Jan 28, Feb 25, March 25, April 29
Credit Hours: 1
Instructor: Kris Wernstedt
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: < New Metro page >
UAP 5784: Local Economic Development Planning (CRN 16206)
Meets Mondays, 7:00 PM to 9.30 PM Polycom-Prince Street
Credit Hours: 3
Instructors: Joseph Firschein and Jonathan Kivell
This course will explore community and economic development from a practitioner's perspective and all course sessions will be taught by two adjunct professors, a senior staff member in the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board and a member of the Community Development Finance group of United Bank in DC. Among the topics covered will be: the extent to which the credit crisis has impacted community and economic development, important tools and government programs (at the federal, state, and local levels) utilized by community and economic development professionals, and issues related to tax incentives for business development. The course will describe some of the technical aspects of community and economic development, including an analysis of project finance for charter schools, affordable housing, and facilities for non-profit organizations. This course is a terrific opportunity to learn about the risks and challenges facing community and economic development professionals around the country and to explore various solutions.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5794: Environmental Planning Studio: Eco-City IV- Alexandria (CRN 16207)
Meets: Tuesdays, 4:15PM – 6:45PM
Credit Hours: 3
Instructors: Joe Schilling, Kathryn McCarty, and Shelley Mastran
For the spring semester students will work directly with Alexandria residents, city officials, staff, and member of the city’s Environmental Policy Commission (EPC) in the devising a sustainability strategic plan. This is the fourth and last semester of the Eco City Alexandria project (see http://ecocity.ncr.vt.edu). Student will have the option of taking the class as either a studio or metropolitan seminar on sustainability. Student interested in taking community involvement should take the studio or the seminar as UAP 4184 will not be offered until spring 2010.
For the past 18 months UAP faculty and students have been working as the lead staff to city’s Office of Environmental Quality and Environmental Policy Commission. They have designed a variety of public meetings, open houses, and last year’s Eco City Summit. Studio work has involved an inventory of existing environmental programs/policies, a compendium of model sustainability programs, a matrix of sustainability charters/comprehensive plans, the state’s first Eco City Charter and a Phase I Environmental Action Plan. All of these documents (and much more) are posted on the eco city web site above.
Under the guidance of Professors Schilling, Mastran, and McCarty, students in the spring 2009 the studio will research, design, and draft a series of long range sustainability policies and programs (Phase II). Students will provide background reports to the EPC on such cutting edge topics as renewable energy, green buildings, sustainability financing, climate change, business and civic sustainability, and green zoning codes. They will also have the chance to implement a community engagement strategy and facilitate table top discussions at a March Eco City Café and May Open House.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
Course Modules (1-2 credit hours)
UAP 5424: Metro Planning Topics: Value of Urban Design (CRN 17363)
Meets: Friday, January 30, 5:00PM-9:00PM and Sat, January 31, 9:00am-5:00PM
Credit Hours: 1
Instructor: Mariela Alfonzo
Good urban design has been increasingly recognized as a valuable public good. As the art of making places, urban design can contribute highly to the imageability of cities and to the quality of life of its residents. This class will explore the "value" (both social and economic) that can be added by good urban design and in particular, focus on the role of urban design within commercial and mixed-use centers. Overall, we will focus on understanding how urban design principles, planning frameworks, and implementation strategies may help to create dynamic and thriving places. This course will address several questions related to these topics: What principles are inherent to good urban design? What is the role of urban design in boosting the economic well-being of cities? How can design and retail act as catalysts for revitalization? How can urban design be used as a branding strategy to attract business and investment?
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424: Metro Plan Topics: Public Health - Food Systems Planning and Policy (CRN 16191)
Meets: Friday, Feb 20, 5:00PM-9:00PM and Sat, Feb 21, 9:00am-5:00PM
Credit Hours: 1
Instructors: Joe Schilling and Kimberley Hodgson
This course explores the policy and planning challenges in the design and development of healthy communities. We’ll examine the public health roots of planning along with the interplay of food policy, nutrition, and active living.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424: Metro Plan Topics: Shrinking Cities-Reclaiming America’s Shrinking Cities with Green Infrastructure and Urban Ag (CRN 17364)
Meets: Fri, Feb 27, 5:00PM-9:00PM and Saturday, Feb 28, 9:00am-5:00 PM
Credit Hours: 1
Instructors: Joe Schilling
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 Tpcs: The Housing Foreclosure Crisis--Community Impacts, Policy Responses and Planning Strategies (CRN 17756)
Meets: Fri, March 20, 5:00PM-9:00PM and Saturday March 21, 9:00am-5:00 PM
Credit Hours: 1
Instructor: Joe Schilling
Our nation 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 development communities. This module will first examine the causes for the crisis (e.g., subprime lending, weak regulator 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 Community Stabilization Trust. The module will also debate the long term policy implications for planning future communities and retrofitting current residential development patterns.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5424 Metro Planning Topics: Shopping Centers: Old, New, and Restyled (17824)
Meets: Friday March 27, 5:00PM-9:00PM and Sat, March 28 9:00am-5:00PM
Credit Hour: 1
Instructor: Shelley Mastran
This module will study the history of shopping center development, particularly since World War II, with an emphasis on the trends of the last 10-15 years, and will examine contemporary and future shopping center planning. We will look at strip centers, Main Streets, regional malls, power centers, outlet malls, “town centers,” and other retail configurations to evaluate successful models, factors contributing to success, and trends. A one-day field trip will be required.
Course resources: < Syllabus >
UAP 5624: Urban Design Seminar: European Cities and Planning (CRN 16203)
Meets: Friday, April 17, 5:00PM-9:00PM and Saturday, April 18, 9:00AM-5:00PM
Credit Hour: 1
Instructor: Sonia Hirt
This graduate seminar provides students with the opportunity to explore some fundamental spatial characteristics of contemporary European cities and discuss how planning policies have shaped them. Although the course focuses on Europe, it does so within a quasi-comparative framework. Scrutinizing the distinctive spatial characteristics of European cities (and the planning systems within which they develop) makes sense insofar as we compare them to what we are most familiar with—American cities and their planning. Thus, the instructor’s primary intent is to encourage discussion which juxtaposes the European and the American urban planning traditions.
At the end of the course, students will be able to compare and contrast the main planning schools of Europe, and identify the primary planning trends common to all European countries. They will also be able to construct a critical juxtaposition between planning in Europe and planning in North America.
Course resources: < Syllabus >