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Summer I & II (12-week summer class)

STS 6234/UAP 5424 Perspectives on Infrastructure and the Urban Environment (CRN 61784)

Meets: Tuesday, 6:30-9:00 p.m. - 12-week summer class beginning May 20 through August 7 - class meets in Falls Church

Credit hours: 3

Instructor: Shannon A. Brown

In this seminar course, we will examine significant works of scholarship on the technology of urbanization since the early nineteenth century. Scholarly approaches to and interpretations of the study of transportation networks, large technical systems (electricity supply, sewer, and gas distribution), and environmental matters (pollution, population density) will serve as points of review, analysis, and discussion for the class. Readings will be drawn from technology history, environmental history, sociology, and urban studies. The focus of the course will be the works of Lewis Mumford, Thomas Hughes, Martin Melosi, Joel Tarr, David Nye, and other who have contributed to the study of the intersection of technology and urbanization in the modern world.

Course resources: < Syllabus >

Course Modules (1-2 credit hours) - Summer I Session

UAP 5424 Metropolitan Planning Topics: Writing Strategies and Capstone Development (CRN 61841)

Meets: May 21, May 28, June 4, and June 11 on Wednesdays from 4:15pm-6:45pm (note June 11 class will go until 9:00 pm) at the Alexandria Center

Credit hour: 1

Instructor: Elizabeth Morton

This one credit course is recommended for students planning to graduate in Fall 08 or
Spring 09. Among the topics covered will be: How to come up with a researchable question, the logistics of the UAP Capstone process, issues of writing style and formatting, finding and using resources for research (including our library and its online resources), review of previous student projects and Working with human subjects and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process.

Course resources: < Syllabus >

UAP 5624   Urban Design Seminar: Urban Design Guidelines & Review (CRN 61853)

Meets: May 30 from 5:00pm-9:00pm and June 21 from 9:00am-5:00pm at the Alexandria Center

Credit hours: 2

Instructor: Elizabeth Morton

This course will cover the theory and practice of urban design review and is appropriate for planners, architects and landscape architects. Among the topics covered will be: Legal basis for design review, national trends in design review, including form based codes, various types of design review, urban design review, historic preservation and special districts, the design review process, staff review and public meetings, design guidelines, determining character-defining features of buildings and districts and communicating them to the public.

Course resources: < Syllabus >

UAP 5424:  Metro Planning Topics: Urban Regeneration in the US and Europe (CRN 61570)

Meets: June 20, 5:00pm-9:00pm & June 21, 9:00am-5:00pm at the Alexandria Center (2 credits)

Credit hours: 2

Instructor: Johann Jessen

This class will examine successful cases of urban regeneration in the United States and in Europe.The instructor is Dr. Johann Jessen, a renowned urban planning and urban design professor from the University of Stuttgart in Germany. We will examine the context, the objectives, strategies, and outcomes of urban regeneration from a comparative perspective. The main focus will be on a select number of remarkable projects of downtown and inner city redevelopment in the United States and in Europe. Particular attention will be paid on the redevelopment plans, goals, the legal and financial instruments, citizen participation and the role of the public sector. European cities such as Manchester, Zurich, Barcelona, and Stuttgart have undergone a process of tremendous urban regenerations. A similar trend can be observed in the United States where close-in neighborhoods and downtowns in cities as diverse as Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and Portland are undergoing change and are becoming mixed-use, vibrant areas.

Course resources: < Syllabus >

UAP 5424:  Metro Planning Topics: Land Conservation (CRN 61818)

Meets: June 27, 5:00pm-9:00pm and
June 28, 9:00am-5:00pm at the Alexandria Center

Credit hour: 1

Instructor: Jesse Richardson

Given the passage of Measure 37 in Oregon and the introduction of similar bills across the country, land conservation may increasingly rely on non-regulatory approaches in the future. This course will examine the major land conservation tools and explore policy and planning issues involved in land conservation. Various incentives to land conservation, including tax incentives, will be explored.

Course resources: < Syllabus >

Course Modules (1-2 credit hours) - Summer II Session

UAP 5424: Metro Planning Topics: Rural Historic Preservation (CRN 71525)

Meets: July 11, 5:00pm-9:00pm & July 12, 9:00am-5:00pm at the Alexandria Center

Credit hour: 1

Instructor: Shelley Mastran

This class will examine the challenges of preserving rural historic resources and landscapes.  Although the techniques of urban historic preservation—National Register listing, tax credits, easements, etc.—are applicable to rural settings, they are much less frequently applied.  We will study rural historic preservation strategies, focusing on case studies, and will visit several nearby rural historic districts on an all-day field trip.  A final paper is required.

Course resources: < Syllabus >

UAP 5424: Metro Planning Topics: Land Use and Climate Change (CRN 71534)

Meets : Fri, July 18, 5:00pm-9:00pm and Sat,, July 19, 9:00am-5:00pm

Credit Hour: 1

Instructor: Chris Pyke

While national politics dominate the headlines, efforts to address climate change ultimately hit the ground with the actions of local governments and private land use and building projects. Actions by these parties directly or indirectly control at least 60% of greenhouse gas emissions and help determine the consequences of changing climatic conditions. This course will examine circumstances that have lead to early action in California and Massachusetts, including consideration for greenhouse gas emissions during land use planning and entitlement. We will examine the political, legal, and scientific basis for action and consider the implications for other states and jurisdictions. This will include a review of both public and private perspectives on greenhouse gas reduction goals, project review, and project-level reporting. We will also discuss the implications of these trends for local governments trying to add consideration for energy and climate change to core planning processes, such general or comprehensive plans.

Course resources: < Syllabus >

UAP 5424: Gateway Communities: The Interface between Public Land Management and Local Community Planning (CRN 71358)

Meets: Fri, July 25, 5:00pm-9:00pm & Sat., July 26, 9:00am-5:00pm at the Alexandria Center

Credit hour: 1

Instructor: Shelley Mastran

Shelley Mastran will teach a one- or two-credit class on Gateway Communities the weekend of July 25-26th, 2008. Estes Park, Colorado; Jackson Hole, Wyoming; Moab, Utah; Gatlinburg, Tennessee; Bar Harbor, Maine; and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania: these are a few of the communities bordering public lands that are destinations for millions of Americans. The course will focus both on issues facing such communities at the edge of our national parks, national forests, and wildlife refuges and on the pressures facing federal land managers from tourism, recreation demands, and second-home development. We will examine some of the cooperative partnerships between public land managers and local governments that have been developed and the successful strategies that gateway communities have employed to accommodate growth in ways that respect natural and cultural resources.

Course resources: < Syllabus >

UAP 5424 Metro Planning Topics: Transfer of European Urban Environmental Policy to the US (CRN 71519)

Meets: August 1, 5:00pm-9:00pm & August 2, 9:00am-5:00pm at the Alexandria Center (1 credit)

Credit hour: 1

Instructor: Dale Medearis

The purpose of this course is to share the general concepts of environmental planning as practiced in Europe and to explore means by which they are applicable to specific urban regions in the U.S. This class will study issues such as: Climate and renewable energy policies in Germany; The policy contexts in Denmark and Germany that encouraged the blending of climate, energy and land-use policies; The policy and institutional mechanisms that support a rational, search, identification, review and testing of innovative environmental practices from Europe.

Course resources: < Syllabus >