Urban and Environmental Planning

PLAN 503 - (1) (Y)
Basic Graphics
Introduction to basic graphic skills used in communicating and designing in planning situations.

PLAN 504 - (3) (Y)
Planning Process
The application of planning processes in political, economic, and social contexts are studied. Most settings examined are in local jurisdictions. Land use planning and community development are emphasized.

PLAN 505 - (3) (O)
Design of Cities
The development of coherent physical form of cities as a result of formal models, geographic landscape and intentioned human use is explored focusing on how man uses and experiences the city and the underlying rationale for city design principles.

PLAN 506 - (3) (Y)
Analysis of the Urban System
The application of analytic techniques to urban and regional systems. Spatial analysis, regional accounts, demographic and economic projections, and models for simulation and impact analysis will be covered.

PLAN 511 - (3) (Y)
Information Technology in Planning
The fundamental skills for using computers in planning are developed through lectures and workshops. The programming of spreadsheets employs principles of computation, data storage, file management, macro programming and application development. Presentation and drawing tools are explored using computer assisted graphing and mapping. Other topics such as Geographic Information Systems, Computer Assisted Design, and impact of information technology on society and work places are introduced.

PLAN 512 - (3) (Y)
Computers in Planning: GIS
The use of the computer in urban management and planning, including implications for various planning, engineering, and administrative functions of the public sector are reviewed. Problems in geographic data processing, data base management, statistical analysis, computer graphics, and simulation require some previous computer programming ability.

PLAN 522 - (3) (IR)
Planning, Budgeting, and Finance
Emphasizes evaluating the merit of various criteria and processes of making budget choices. Questions about who should pay, who should benefit, who should participate, and who should decide are examined along with what the consequences are of these choices.

PLAN 524 - (3) (Y)
Negotiating Public Policy Issues
Examines the processes by which policy is and ought to be negotiated, focusing on three principal elements: (1) general negotiation theory and skill development, including the concept of "principled" negotiation; (2) the conflict landscape, including government and non-government organizations and; (3) negotiation resources and opportunities, including organizations, processes, and enabling legislation.

PLAN 529 - (3) (IR)
Special Topics in Policy Planning
The selected topics vary from year to year to fill graduate students' needs in the study of Policy Planning and analyses.

PLAN 530 - (3) (Y)
Preservation Planning
Deals with current literature on the identification, evaluation, and treatment of historic places. Develops techniques for surveying, documenting, evaluating, and planning for preservation. Analyzes current issues in preservation planning. Develops a preservation policy or plan for a small municipality.

PLAN 531 - (3) (IR)
Development and Design
Provides students with a fundamental understanding of the analytical tools, design concepts, and financial and economic principals that can lead to financially and aesthetically optimal and creative development projects. Emphasizes the integration of design and economic principles related to large-scale design and land development.

PLAN 532 - (3) (IR)
Development, Preservation, and Conservation
Techniques for the reconciliation of the tug-of-war between private and public sector missions and goals are stressed. Emphasizes practical strategies for design, as well as economic and legal elements that represent a balanced approach to the distribution of the risks, rewards, benefits, and impacts of alternative development scenarios.

PLAN 534 - (3) (IR)
Neighborhood Revitalization
Problems and potential encountered in planning for older, established urban neighborhoods are explored. These may range from market decline and physical decay to intense private reinvestment and displacement. Major topics include neighborhood change processes, the role of private lending institutions in neighborhood change, techniques for identifying economically sound housing and business opportunities in older neighborhoods, neighborhood commercial and residential revitalization techniques, financing neighborhood improvement programs, and historic and architectural preservation as a component of neighborhood revitalization.

PLAN 536 - (3) (SI)
African-American Community Development
Investigates a process of community development for its application to urban African-American districts. Seeks to achieve the general purpose through fulfillment of the following specific objectives: (1) Develop a model for urban African-American district development; and (2) discuss the various roles of participants in the community development process.

PLAN 540 - (3) (Y)
Introduction to Housing and Community Development
Provides a basic introduction to the housing and community development area of planning practice. Topics include the housing and development industries, housing production and distribution systems, housing demand and supply, housing market dynamics, neighborhood change processes, housing and real estate finance, social aspects of housing and development, and housing and development programs and policy issues.

PLAN 542 - (3) (O)
Problems in Community Development
Specific problems selected vary each semester. Problems which may be explored include urban redevelopment, urban economic development, large-scale land development, site design, and new communities, among others. Planning and research reports may be prepared for real or simulated situations.

PLAN 543 - (4) (E)
Land Development Workshop
Process of land development is examined from the point of view of the private land developer interacting with local governments. Includes development potential analysis, site analysis, traffic analysis, land planning, development programming, public and private service to accommodate new development and public regulation of land development.

PLAN 544 - (3) (Y)
State and Local Housing Policies
The role of local and state government in providing housing is discussed. This includes how to formulate and implement a housing plan. Various other topics such as syndication, public housing, rehabilitation, rent control, tenant-landlord legislation and other topics may be covered.

PLAN 547 - (3) (SI)
Development Dynamics
The process of land development is explored. The roles of developers, investors, designers, planners, and others are examined identifying the objectives each have in the development decision process. The interplay and communications of what constitutes sound economics and good design are discussed.

PLAN 548 - (3) (IR)
Impacts of Land Development
Techniques for assessing the environmental, economic, fiscal, public service, and social impacts of large-scale land development projects are presented and applied in actual case studies. Public policy issues in impact evaluation and the role of impact assessment in technical and political decision-making are also explored.

PLAN 549 - (3) (IR)
Special Topics in Housing and Community Development
The selected material varies from year to year to meet the needs of graduate students in the study of housing and community development.

PLAN 550 - (3) (Y)
Natural Systems and Environmental Planning
Integrating knowledge of natural systems into local planning processes is the focus of this course. A basic understanding of how natural systems function, the impacts that urban and land development have on their integrity, and community-wide approaches to planning for and managing urban development to reduce or mitigate these impacts are topics that each receive equal treatment.

PLAN 551 - (3) (Y)
Sustainable Communities
Examination of what sustainable communities are, and the environmental, social, economic, political and design standards that underlie them. Attention devoted to reviewing actual case studies of cities, towns and development projects that reflect principles of sustainability.

PLAN 553 - (3) (Y)
Environmental Policy and Planning
Examines contemporary environmental policy and practice including exploration of the normative-philosophical debate surrounding environmental issues. Attention to understanding the political and institutional framework for establishing policy and programs and exploring the action approaches to environmental planning, including moral suasion, regulation, public investment, and public incentives. Case studies of environmental planning at the federal, state, and local levels.

PLAN 554 - (3) (Y)
Environmental Values and Ethics
A detailed exploration of the normative debate surrounding environmental issues. Foundations of environmental economics, questions about the value of endangered species, concerns of future generations, appropriateness of a sustainable society, notions of stewardship and obligations toward equity receive attention.

PLAN 555 - (3) (SI)
Environmental Impact Assessment
Explores environmental impact assessment processes and methods from both a theoretical and applied perspective. The philosophy and statutory base of the assessment process are reviewed. The integration of the assessment process with the broader planning processes for a jurisdiction are emphasized.

PLAN 556 - (3) (IR)
Third World Environmental Planning and Management
Examines the major ecological and environmental planning principles governing the maintenance of biological diversity, role of agriculture, conservation efforts, socio-economic considerations, wildlife management, and urbanization in Third World countries.

PLAN 557 - (3) (IR)
Environmental Planning and Community Design
Processes of community planning and design incorporating important considerations of the natural environment are the subjects of this applied course. Analysis of environmental resources and constraints predicates design of development policies and projects for a specific local community.

PLAN 558 - (3) (IR)
Planning for Biodiversity
This seminar focuses on the threats to species and biological diversity worldwide and examines the planning strategies available to protect and preserve these resources.

PLAN 559 - (3) (IR)
Special Topics in Environmental Planning
The selected material varies from year to year to meet the needs of graduate students studying environmental planning.

PLAN 560 - (3) (IR)
Land and Community
Explores the role of land as a resource, commodity, property right, community asset, as an environmental medium intimately connected with water and air, and as a source of ideological and political and even military conflict. The aim is to provide a fuller understanding of the current context of public policy and public policy dialogue on land allocation processes.

PLAN 561 - (3) (IR)
Land Use Planning and Design
Explores land use design issues involved with site-specific development plans of different scales.

PLAN 562 - (3) (Y)
Comprehensive Planning Problems
Explores the comprehensive planning process by employing it in an actual study of a Virginia jurisdiction.

PLAN 565 - (3) (IR)
Growth Management
Examines issues related to recent attempts to regulate the rate and location of development activity. Land use, fiscal, economic, social, environmental, political, and legal considerations in growth management strategies are compared to the alternative of non-managed growth. Efforts at economic development are treated as one type of growth management. Case studies and the growing body of literature on growth management techniques employed in a number of jurisdictions are discussed.

PLAN 566 - (3) (IR)
State Land Use Planning
This seminar examines the planning process behind state land management programs. The history of state-level planning is discussed along with detailed examination of a number of specific states. Also covered is the impact of federal legislation on state land management.

PLAN 568 - (3) (IR)
Strategic Development Planning
Development planning addresses relationships among land uses and the local government's role in achieving public, including social, purposes in physical terms. Strategic planning usually involves determining a jurisdiction's highest priorities and designing policies and programs to achieve them within the context of political conflict and competition among local jurisdictions.

PLAN 569 - (3) (IR)
Special Topics in Land Use Planning
Selected topics vary from year to year to fill graduate students' needs in the study of Land Use Planning.

PLAN 570 - (3) (IR)
Introduction to Transportation Planning
A general overview of the transportation planning process will be presented with special emphasis on comprehensive transportation plans, public transportation, and special problem areas in the transportation field.

PLAN 571 - (3) (SI)
Landscape Preservation
Examines the legal and practical issues involved in the conservation of rural landscapes including the settings of historic structures. Reviews the justification for landscape preservation, and the various planning strategies which could be employed to preserve landscapes, including land use regulations, tax incentives, and conservation easements, among others. Case studies of successful landscape preservation programs are presented and discussed.

PLAN 572 - (3) (IR)
Transportation and Land Use
Reviews basic relationships between land use and transportation is explored. Consideration given to the decision process, planning principles, impact measures, and a methodological framework for identifying and evaluating courses in action at regional, local, and neighborhood scale. Projects and scale change from year to year.

PLAN 575 - (3) (IR)
Community Facilities Planning
Focuses on the detailed development of plans for functions provided by local government jurisdictions including schools, public safety, water, and sewer. The detailed plans including fiscal implications are then considered as a unit to develop a comprehensive capital improvement program for the locale.

PLAN 577 - (3) (IR)
Plan Implementation
Use of zoning and subdivision regulations to implement comprehensive plans is emphasized. Some attention is paid to capital facilities programming and building codes.

PLAN 589 - (3) (Y)
Environmental Choices
A survey of current environmental concerns, considering traditional and modern views of man's physical and spiritual place in nature. Explores the challenging ethical problems which now confront planners, landscape architects, architects, historians and others at the professional level as well as at the personal level.

PLAN 592 - (3) (S)
Professional Practice Practicum
Provides credit for designed and supervised work experience combined with either a report or appropriate accompanying paper.

PLAN 593 - (3) (S)
Independent Study in Planning
Individual study directed by a faculty member on material approved by the faculty. Prior approval by the planning faculty is required.

PLAN 601 - (4) (Y)
Planning Information and Analysis
A practicum/problem course focusing on the use of information in the planning process. Basic objectives are to develop familiarity with types and sources of data, and the relevance of data for various types of problem situations. Provides experience in producing quality professional analysis. Secondary objectives are aimed at developing team skills and graphic presentation processes.

PLAN 604 - (3) (Y)
Legal Aspects of Planning
Gives the student a familiarity with the background and contemporary issues in the law as it affects planning practice. Includes substantial work in traditional areas of land use law, but it also deals with the law as an instrument for change. Substantial effort is directed to developing legal research skills and to performing legal analysis.

PLAN 605 - (4) (Y)
Quantitative Planning Analysis
Provides an introduction to the application of quantitative skills to the planning process. Modeling of decision situations in planning and policy analysis and developing precise languages for structuring or communicating their quantitative dimensions receive emphasis in lecture, case studies and formal review of statistical methods. Survey research methods, urban data analysis, program and plan evaluation, and computer modeling are component topics.

PLAN 607 - (3) (Y)
Urban Theory and Public Policy
Concentrates on normative and empirical urban theory that is important in understanding the effects and design of public policies. The theories and applications considered span a number of academic disciplines. Application of theoretical perspectives to federal, state, and local policy choices is stressed.

PLAN 609 - (3) (Y)
Planning Theory and Practice
Provides a sense of the intellectual and professional roots of contemporary planning theory and practice. Equal effort is directed towards analyzing these roots with an eye to stimulating new perspectives and concepts for an emerging growth management orientation.

PLAN 897 - (3) (S)
Master's Thesis Research
May be used by students who have received faculty approval to undertake a master's thesis in planning. Requires prior approval of the planning faculty.

PLAN 898 - (6) (S)
Master's Thesis
Master's thesis is not required for the Master of Planning Degree, but may be undertaken by a qualified graduate student with a subject of merit where the planning faculty feels this is in the best interests of the student in pursuing a specialized course of study.

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