Department of City and Regional Planning
EMIL E. MALIZIA, Chair
Professors
Philip R. Berke, Harvey A. Goldstein, Emil E. Malizia, David H. Moreau, Roberto Quercia, William M. Rohe, Dale Whittington.
Associate Professor
Daniel A. Rodriguez, Meenu Tewari.
Assistant Professors
Todd BenDor, Thomas Campanella, Nichola Lowe, Noreen McDonald, Mai Nguyen, Yan Song.
Research Professor
David J. Brower.
Affiliated Faculty
Richard N. L. Andrews, Richard E. Bilsborrow, Milton S. Heath Jr., David J. Hartzell, Jonathan B. Howes, Judith W. Wegner.
Professors Emeriti
Raymond J. Burby, F. Stuart Chapin Jr., David R. Godschalk, Edward J. Kaiser, Shirley F. Weiss.
Introduction
City and regional planning is an interdisciplinary field whose purpose is to improve the quality of life for people in urban, suburban, and rural areas and in larger regions of the country. To this end, city and regional planners apply humanistic, social science, and specialized technical theory and knowledge to the layout and development of human settlements both here and abroad. Planners, for example, are involved in guiding the type and location of new development, analyzing transportation systems, encouraging economic development, protecting the environment, and revitalizing urban neighborhoods. They are involved in designing solutions to pressing societal problems such as urban sprawl, unemployment, homelessness, air and water pollution, and urban decay.
For undergraduates, the Department of City and Regional Planning offers basic coursework, opportunities for supervised practical experience, and an academic minor. Undergraduate students take courses in the department for several reasons: to prepare for entry-level positions and careers in city and regional planning, to enrich or expand their current fields of interest, or to explore the possibility of a career in planning. Planning courses allow students to see how the humanities and the social sciences can be applied to improving quality of life in cities, towns, and rural areas. In this way they help students deepen their appreciation of their major field of study. Some planning courses fulfill General Education requirements: for example, the Approaches requirements in social and behavioral sciences and in moral and philosophical reasoning.
City and regional planners work for a variety of public and private organizations. In the public sector, local, state, and federal governments all employ city and regional planners. In the private sector, planners work for development companies, consulting firms, and a variety of nonprofit organizations. The minor in urban studies and planning provides students with the coursework, facilities, and access to advisors needed to qualify for entry-level positions in planning and to prepare for post-graduate work. The department’s director of undergraduate studies serves as the primary point of contact for students participating in the minor program. Student advising and approval of equivalent courses are handled through the director’s office.
Program of Study
A minor in urban studies and planning is offered to undergraduates.
Minoring in Urban Studies and Planning
To fulfill the requirements for the minor in urban studies and planning, a student should take five courses. The minor requires all students to take a two-course core in urban studies and planning: PLAN 246 Cities of the Future and PLAN 247 Solving Urban Problems. After taking at least one core course, students can select three additional planning courses numbered 200–699 with permission of the instructor. PLAN 260 Urban Politics and Public Policy and PLAN 267 Ethical Bases of Public Policy are not available to students with an undergraduate major in public policy.
Facilities
Important resources available to the department include the Center for Urban and Regional Studies, located in Hickerson House, which conducts the research and service programs of the department, and the F. Stuart Chapin Planning Library, located in New East Building, which contains one of the nation’s preeminent collections in city planning and urban affairs.
Graduate School and Career Opportunities
Undergraduates interested in a career in city and regional planning can pursue postgraduate work in planning at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Department of City and Regional Planning offers several degree programs at the graduate level. A two-year program preparing for advanced positions in professional practice in city and regional planning leads to the degree of master of city and regional planning. A program leading to the degree of doctor of philosophy prepares for careers in teaching and research. Dual graduate degree programs are offered in collaboration with related professional programs (law, business, public administration, public health, landscape architecture, and environmental sciences and engineering).
Contact Information
Additional information on the Department of City and Regional Planning and the undergraduate minor in urban studies and planning is available on the department’s Web site at www.planning.unc.edu and from the director of undergraduate studies or the department’s student services manager.
PLAN
050 First-Year Seminar: This Land Is Your Land (3). Among the most difficult issues encountered in managing urban communities and environmental quality concerns rights to land ownership. A variety of environmental regulations limit people’s rights to use land as they see fit. This seminar will explore various processes by which rights to land, water, and environmental resources of the United States have been acquired, reserved, distributed, and regulated.
051 First-Year Seminar: Envisioning Community (3). How is “community” understood as a concept used to describe towns, universities, and other forms of social interaction? This seminar will introduce students to basic theories relating to urban planning, higher education, and social capital and will provide students with opportunities to explore and document the views of local leaders concerning the towns’ futures and the University’s anticipated growth.
052 [006E] First-Year Seminar: Race, Sex, and Place in America (WMST 051) (3). This first-year seminar will expose students to the complex dynamics of race, ethnicity, and gender and how these have shaped the American city since 1945.
053 First-Year Seminar: The Changing American Job (3). Explores the changing nature of the American job and the transformative forces—from global trade and outsourcing to corporate restructuring and new skill demands—that have influenced this change.
054 [006E] First-Year Seminar: Bringing Life Back to Downtown: Commercial Redevelopment of North Carolina’s Cities and Towns (3). The seminar seeks to understand the current realities of inner-city communities in the context of their historical evolution and the current proposals for revitalization. Each student selects one city or town for a case study.
055 [006E] First-Year Seminar: Sustainable Cities (3). How can the sustainability of cities and their ability to meet the needs of disadvantaged groups be improved? In this seminar students will look at the evolution of cities throughout history to find out how they have coped with threats to sustainability.
057 First-Year Seminar: What Is a Good City? (3). After a brief focus on the forces that have produced the American urban landscape, this first-year seminar will explore the city from the normative perspectives of a variety of urban historians, planners and architects, social scientists, social critics, and futurists, including Olmsted, Mumford, Jane Jacobs, Anthony Downs, and others. Students will critically assess and evaluate each author’s views of cities, as a way for each student to develop her/his own perspective about what a “good city” might be.
058 [006E] First-Year Seminar: Globalization and the Transformation of Local Economies (3). Using directed readings, participative class exercises, and cases that cut across developed and developing countries, this seminar will focus on how global pressures and economic integration is changing local economies.
246 [046] Cities of the Future (3). Introduction to the evolution of cities in history, to the concept of urban morphology or form, and to the different elements or subsystems of the urban system and how they have changed over time.
247 [047] Solving Urban Problems (3). Introduction to methods used for solving urban problems. Covers methods employed in subfields of planning to develop an ability to critically evaluate different techniques and approaches used within these disciplines.
260 [073] State and Local Politics (PLCY 260) (3). A range of public policy topics at the state and local level.
267 [067] Ethical Bases of Public Policy Decision Making (3). Critical exploration of ethical and theoretical bases for making public policy decisions. Analysis of normative arguments of contemporary public policy issues.
326 Social Ventures (PLCY 326) (3). Examines students’ knowledge and understanding of social entrepreneurship as an innovative approach to addressing complex social needs. Affords students the opportunity to engage in a business planning exercise designed to assist them in establishing and launching a social purpose entrepreneurial venture.
491 [246] Introduction to GIS (GEOG 491) (3). Prerequisite, GEOG 370 or equivalent. Stresses the spatial analysis and modeling capabilities of organizing data within a geographic information system (GISc).
499 [110] Experimental Course Undergraduate (1–21). The functioning of the urban area as a complex system. Analysis of planning and policies aimed at development and change. The course is generally taken for three credits.
526 Principles of Public Finance for Planning and Policy (PLCY 526) (1.5). Provides the foundation of state and local government finance necessary to understand new developments in the provision of infrastructure for economic development.
527 Applied Public Finance for Infrastructure and Economic Development (PLCY 527) (1.5). Explores the role of infrastructure in economic development, including innovations in finance, management, and technology. Covers traditional and knowledge infrastructure. Addresses trade-off between environmental protection and economic growth.
550 Evolution of the American Urban Landscape (3). Examines shaping the urban built environments of the United States from the colonial era to present day. Critically examines forces that shaped our cities, and studies the values, ideals, and motivations underlying efforts to plan and direct physical development of American cities.
574 Political Economy of Poverty and Inequality (3). Introduces students to the political economy of poverty alleviation programs. Uses comparative cases to explore what types of projects, tasks, and environments lead to effective and equitable outcomes, and why.
585 [185] American Environmental Policy (ENST 585, ENVR 585, PLCY 585) (3). Intensive introduction to environmental management and policy, including environmental and health risks, policy institutions, processes, and instruments, policy analysis, and major elements of American environmental policy. Lectures and case studies.
591 Applied Issues in Geographic Information Systems (GEOG 591) (3). Prerequisite, GEOG 370 or 491, or equivalent. Applied issues in the use of geographic information systems in terrain analysis, medical geography, biophysical analysis, and population geography. (GISc)
636 [126] Urban Transportation Planning (3). Fundamental characteristics of the urban transportation system as a component of urban structure. Methodologies for the analysis of transportation problems, planning urban transportation, and the evaluation of plans.
637 [127] Public Transportation (3). Alternative public urban transportation systems including mass transit, innovative transit services, and paratransit, examined from economic, land use, social, technical, and policy perspectives.
641 [141] Ecology and Land Use Planning (3). Integration of the structure, function, and change of ecosystems with a land use planning framework. How land use planning accommodates human use and occupancy within ecological limits to sustain long-term natural system integrity.
651 [751] Urban Form and the Design of Cities (3). Introduction of fundamental urban design theory and practice. Critically looks at built environment and how architecture defines and delimits physical space. Studies local and historical examples of urban design.
662 [142] Gender Issues in Planning and Development (WMST 662) (3). Permission of the instructor required for undergraduates. Examination of the environmental and health risks, policy institutions, processes, instruments, policy analysis, and major elements of American environmental policy. Lectures and case studies.
685 [219] Water and Sanitation Planning and Policy in Developed Countries (ENVR 685) (3). Permission of the instructor. Seminar on policy and planning approaches for providing improved community water and sanitation services in developed countries. Topics include the choice of appropriate technology and level of service, pricing, metering, and connection charges; cost recovery and targeting subsidies to the poor; water venting; community participation in the management and operation of water systems; and rent-seeking behavior in the provision of water supplies.
686 [186] Policy Instruments for Environmental Management (ENST 686, ENVR 686, PLCY 686) (3). Prerequisite, ECON 410 or PLAN 710, or equivalent. Design of public policy instruments as incentives for sustainable management of environmental resources and ecosystems, and comparison of the effects and effectiveness of alternative policies.
691H [099] Honors Seminar in Urban and Regional Studies (3). Permission of the instructor. An overview of the subject matter and methods of investigation for the study of cities and regions. Presentations of original papers prepared by students.
697 [270] International Development and Social Change (3). Permission of the instructor. Course explores effect of the global economy on national and community development, effect of environmental degradation processes on development, and strategies to guide social change.