Planning

PLAN 201, 202 - (4) (Y)
Planning Design
Study of the principles of design; the architecture of cities and urban design; perception of space and visual analysis; graphic presentation, including mapping techniques; and inventories, information storage, retrieval and use.

PLAN 211 - (3) (Y)
Information Technology in Planning and Architecture
Fundamental skills for using computers in planning and architecture are developed through lectures and workshops. Computing fundamentals, Internet access, spreadsheet computation, image processing, document publication, database management, and introduction to geographic information systems are covered.

PLAN 289 - (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 both the professional and personal level.

PLAN 303 - (3) (Y)
Neighborhoods, Community and Regions
Exploration of theories and concepts of economic, social, and cultural forces which influence urban and regional spatial structure.

PLAN 305 - (3) (Y)
Mapping a Community's Future
Analysis of the theory and application of methods used in quantitative investigations of urban and regional settings for planning purposes. Topics include population forecasting, demographic, and housing, and economic analysis, urban activity models, and program and plan evaluation. The laboratory portion of the course requires computer skills.

PLAN 306 - (3) (Y)
Land, Law and the Environment
Introduces major legal issues surrounding land-use and development planning. Emphasizes developing application skills in terms of zoning, subdivision, and other land-use regulatory powers. (May be taken prior to fourth year.)

PLAN 311 - (3) (Y)
History of Cities and Planning
An overview of the planning profession with emphasis on 19th- and 20th-century American urban history.

PLAC 401 - (3) (Y)
Community Land Use Workshop
Explores the development of land use plans, usually in conjunction with citizens, for an area in a community undergoing change

PLAN 404 - (3) (Y)
Planning in Government: Decisions and Alternatives
Examines the role of planning in government decision-making. Focus is on local government, but intergovernmental aspects of planning that influence local decisions are also stressed. Study of planning processes such as transportation, community development, and social planning.

PLAN 481, 483, 484 - (1-4) (SI)
Special Study
Elective courses of one credit offered at the request of faculty or students to provide an opportunity for internships, fieldwork, and independent study.

Note   Third- and fourth-year undergraduate students may, with permission of the instructor, enroll in selected graduate-level courses. A partial list is included below.

PLAN 503 - (3) (Y)
Basic Graphics
Introduction to basic graphic skills used in communicating and designing in planning situations.

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

PLAN 512 - (3) (Y)
Computers in Planning: GIS
Reviews the use of the computers in urban management and planning, including implications for various planning, engineering, and administrative functions of the public sector are reviewed. Primary attention is given to geographic information systems for collection, analysis, and display of spatial information in urban and environmental contexts.

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

PLAN 524 - (3) (Y)
Consensus Building, Negotiation and Mediation
Examines the processes by which consensus can be developed, 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
Study of the current literature about the identification, evaluation, and treatment of historic places. Develops techniques for surveying, documenting, evaluating, and planning for preservation. Analyzes current political, economic, and legal issues in preservation planning.

PLAN 531 - (3) (IR)
Development and Design
Provides 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 534 - (3) (IR)
Neighborhood Revitalization
Explores the problems and potentials encountered in planning for older established urban neighborhoods. 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) (O)
African-American Community Development
Investigates a process of community development for its application to urban African-American settings. Seeks to achieve community development through developing a model for urban African-American district community development, and discussing 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 543 - (4) (E)
Land Development Workshop
Examines the process of land development 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 services to accommodate new development and public regulation of land development.

PLAN 544 - (3) (Y)
Community Based Housing Workshop
Discusses the role of local and state government in providing housing. Emphasis on formulating and implementing a housing plan. Various other topics such as syndication, public housing, rehabilitation, rent control, tenant landlord legislation, etc. may be discussed.

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

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) (O)
Natural Systems and Environmental Planning
Focuses on integrating a knowledge of natural systems into local planning processes. Emphasis on 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 those impacts.

PLAN 551 - (3) (Y)
Sustainable Communities
Examination of sustainable communities and the environmental, social, economic, political, and design standards which underlie them. Focus on reviewing actual case studies of cities, towns, and development projects which 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; exploring the action approaches to environmental planning including moral suasion, regulation, public investment, and public incentives; and case studies of environmental planning at the federal, state and local levels.

PLAN 554 - (3) (E)
Environmental Values and Ethics
Detailed exploration of the normative debate surrounding environmental issues. Focus on the 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.

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

PLAN 557 - (3) (IR)
Environmental Planning and Community Design
An applied course exploring the processes of community planning and design while incorporating important considerations of the natural environment. The analysis of environmental resources and constraints predicates design of development policies and projects for a specific local community.

PLAN 558 - (3) (O)
Coastal Planning Workshop
The special characteristics of coastal and island settings are explored; their planning significance, natural hazard mitigation, wetlands, and biodiversity are some of the topics addressed.

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) (Y)
Land Use Policy and Planning
Introduction to the theory and practice of land use planning as it has evolved historically, and as it is expressed in contemporary practice. Addresses the need and rationale for land use planning as well as its tools.

PLAN 561 - (3) (Y)
Community Land Use Workshop
Land use plans are developed, usually in conjunction with citizens, for an area in a community undergoing change.

PLAN 562 - (3) (O)
Comprehensive Planning Workshop
Explores the comprehensive planning process by developing a plan for a Virginia jurisdiction which serves as the course's client for the semester.

PLAN 565 - (3) (E)
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. Discusses case studies and the growing body of literature on growth management techniques employed in a number of jurisdictions.

PLAN 568 - (3) (IR)
Strategic Development Planning
Development planning addresses the 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 571 - (3) (IR)
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. Case studies of successful landscape preservation programs are presented and discussed.

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

PLAN 575 - (3) (IR)
Community Facilities Planning
Focuses is 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) (E)
Plan Implementation
Emphasizes the use of zoning, subdivision, and other regulations to implement comprehensive plans. Attention is given to capital facilities programming and building codes.

Continue to: Chapter 8: McIntire School of Commerce
Return to: Chapter 7 Index