Spring, 2003 Tue and Thur: 2-3:15, HUMN 270

Instructor: William Travis, 102C Guggenheim; 2-6312; wtravis@colorado.edu

Off hrs: Tue and Thur 10-12 and by appointment.

Goals: This class will cover the theory, policy and practice of land use analysis and land planning in the United States. We begin with a survey of land tenure and use concepts, history, and legal aspects, federal lands, and public sector planning principles and practices using a text written by a geographer/lawyer (Platt). Then we shift to a comprehensive look at the issue of "sprawl" (Gillham text), as both a way to get at the driving forces and patterns of modern American land development, and to explore the role of government regulation, markets, and personal behavior in land use outcomes. Besides being a newsworthy issue, sprawl encompasses a large range of land use problems and solutions. Finally, you will choose a topic for a term paper, and prepare a class presentation. This term project may be a traditional research paper or might be more akin to a planning report, a plan, or a consultant’s report. The latter allows those heading into planning as a profession to add to their portfolio. We’ll discuss these options in class just before spring break.

Key Concepts: Land as a resource; land use patterns and analysis; the nature of land ownership and use; theories and practice of public sector land planning and use. The structure of urban and suburban development, the debate over "sprawl," how it is defined, just what kind of problem is it; and its causes and solutions.

Texts: Platt, Rutherford H. (1996) Land Use and Society: Geography, Law, and Public Policy. (Washington, DC: Island Press).

Gillham, Oliver (2002) The limitless City: A Primer on the urban Sprawl Debate. (Washington, DC: Island Press)

Readings: A very few additional readings for selected classes; some additional ones may be announced. Available on reserve at Norlin and for personal copying from the professor.

You should also subscribe or check each week: www.planetizen.com, for news items and opinion on land use, development, planning and sprawl. We’ll discuss how to bring these items into class discussions as we go along.

Jan. 14: Introduction, Geographic Analysis of Land Use

Jan 16: Land Resources and Use in the United States (Platt, Chap. 1)

Jan. 21: Interaction of Geography and Law (Chap 2)

Jan 23: Guest lecture (Geography‘s Environment & Society candidate)

Jan 28: Roots of Land Use Planning (Chap 3)

Jan 30: Property and Property Rights (Chap 4; Strong et al., 1996)

Feb 4 Land Use Planning: Zoning (Chap. 7 and 8; Steiner, 2000)

Feb 6: Planning: Other approaches (Chap. 9 and 10)

Feb 11: Federal Legislation and Land Use (Chap. 12)

Feb 13: "Sprawl" What is it? (Gillham Chap 1)

Feb 18: Origins of sprawl (Chap 2)

Feb. 20 The sprawl debate (Chap. 4; Sierra Club)

Feb 25: The debate: Chaps 5, 8 and 9

Feb 27: Cont (Hayward; Fregonese)

Mar 4: The Sprawl Fix: Growth Management (Chap. 10 and 11; O’Toole)

Mar 6: The Sprawl Fix: Development 12, and Transportation 13

Mar 11: Regionalism (Chap. 14)

Mar 13: catch up, review

Mar 18: Mid-term exam

Mar 25 & 27: SPRING BREAK, no classes

Apr 1-10: "Research Tuesdays" and "Issue Thursdays" (e.g., landscape ecology and conservation design; wildfire; open space)

Apr 15-17: draft reports, peer review

Apr 22, 24, 29, May 1: Presentations

Educational Goals/Grading: Your educational goals should be to develop an understanding of the conceptual and practical aspects of land use, its analysis and planning, so that, with just a few more focused classes and your other course-work and experience, you could reasonably offer yourself on the job market as an entry-level land use planner (or go on to more academic study of land resources). Your grasp of the material will be tested in a mid-term, in-class exam (40% of final grade), your participation and contribution to class (10%), and your term project (50%). As part of your class participation, I’d like each student to choose a day in which they will be a "lead discussant" on the material—the person I turn to first for questions and discussion.

O’Toole, Randal (2001) The Vanishing Automobile and Other Urban Myths. (Bandon, OR: the Thoreau Institute). See: http://www.ti.org/vaupdates.html

Fregonese, John, and Lynn Peterson (2001) "Correcting the records: Comparing development policy in Portland, Oregon and Atlanta, Georgia." (San Francisco: Congress for the New Urbanism).

Hayward, Steven (2000) "The Irony of Smart Growth." (San Francisco: Pacific Research Institute).

Sierra Club (2002) "Sprawl: The Dark Side of the American Dream." www.sierraclub.org/sprawl.