Richard LeGates

Spring, 2011

Office Wurster 220

Office Hrs M 3:00 4:30 | W 12:30 2:00
dlegates@sfsu.edu
Course GSIs: Pietro Calogero, Jessica
Luk, Hyungkyoo Kim

CP 110 Introduction to City Planning

Course Outline
What is city planning? Planning of city-regions? Who are urban planners and what do
they do? How is planning related to architecture, landscape architecture, and civil
engineering? In what ways can planners relate to citizens, local elected officials, interest
groups, and other stakeholders? How have cities and city-regions evolved over time?
What demographic, economic, social, and political factors gave rise to cities and city
planning? What are urban general plans? How should city plans address land use,
transportation, housing, conservation, infrastructure, parks and open space, safety and
other issues? How can citizens participate effectively in decisions about the future of
cities that affect them? How should planners collaborate with stakeholders and interest
groups in the urban planning process? What role can computers and information
technology play in planning better cities? What can remote sensing, GIS, CAD, and other
technologies contribute? Can we balance the built and natural environments? What
makes a good urban design? What are effective strategies for renewing older
neighborhoods? Building infrastructure? Developing affordable housing? Protecting
endangered species and important habitat? Can we create economically vibrant, efficient,
livable, beautiful, socially just cities for today that will not compromise the prospects of
future generations? Can we build cities that are sustainable? Carbon neutral? Zero
waste? These are some of the questions we will be asking and answering in CP 110
"Introduction to City Planning" this spring

CP 110 is an applied course for students majoring in urban studies, city and
regional planning, architecture, landscape architecture, geography, environmental studies
and other disciplines and fields related to cities and to any student who wants to know
what city planning is and what the practice of urban planning is like today.
Class Format
CP 110 will have two 50-minute lectures and one 50-minute discussion session
each week from January 19 to April 27, with the exception of one university holiday
(February 21) spring break (March 21 and 23).

City and Regional Planning 110

Course Syllabus

LeGates Spring 2011

Required Texts
Richard LeGates and Frederic Stout, The City Reader 4th edition (L&S)
William Fulton, & Paul Schigley, Guide to California Planning 3rd ed (2005) (F&S)
Readings
Students should complete assigned reading before the session in which they are
listed. Lectures will assume that students are familiar with the readings.
Grading
Project_1
Neighborhood
observation exercise

10%

Project 2 Report on urban

general plan and city
planning commission
meeting

15%

Final project

25%

Midterm exam

20%

Final exam
Take-home essay: 15%
In-class quiz:
10%

25%

Participation in sections

5%

Discussion sessions
All students will be enrolled in a discussion section. Discussion sections will
provide an opportunity to review and discuss readings and lectures, discuss
important reading in depth, review for exams, and help with class assignments.
Student Learning Outcome Objectives
Students who complete CP 110 should:

Know where and when the first cities arose and understand the broad
trajectory of world urbanization.

Understand demographic, economic, social, and political factors that have

contributed to the rise of cities and the need for urban planning;

Understand what urban planning is and how it is organized within local

governments;

Be familiar with urban general plans

Understand how regulatory devices such as zoning, subdivision control, and

urban growth management ordinances help implement city plans:

Understand how good urban design can produce better urban environments

Understand the varied meanings of regional planning

Distinguish between roles that citizens, planners, local elected officials, interest
groups and other stakeholders play in the city planning process;

City and Regional Planning 110

Jan

Course Syllabus

LeGates Spring 2011

Be acquainted with classic writings in the history of urban planning by

Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, LeCorbusier, and other writers;

Understand the role of computers and information technology in urban planning;

Be familiar with enduring issues regarding planning land use, transportation,

infrastructure, housing, open space, the environment, historic landmarks and
districts, natural resources, sustainable urban development and other aspects of
cities;

Understand how planning theory contributes to planning practice and be

acquainted with major currents in 20th century urban planning theory

Understand major themes in contemporary urban planning including

Sustainable urban development

Transit-oriented development

The new urbanism

The impact of globalization on cities and urban planning

Carbon-neutral urban planning

19 INTRODUCTION TO THE CLASS. Introduction of the instructor, GSIs,

and students. Enrollment, adding, dropping. Course description. Course
requirements. Adjustment of sections. Handout of course materials.
Handouts: Syllabus
Terms for Midterm
Project # 1 "Neighborhood observation exercise"
Wh-o-o are you form?
21 DISCUSSION SESSION # 1: Organizing Project # 1
-24 LOOKING AT CITIES. DESIGNING THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT.
Scanning the built environment for clues as to how it evolved and is changing.
Observation as an urban planning research methodology. William Whyte and
the street life project.
Readings:

L&S William H. Whyte, The Design of Spaces

26 VIDEO: William Whyte: The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces

Readings:
28

No additional readings

DISCUSSION SESSION # 2: Discussion of Whyte and Social Life of

Small Urban Spaces. Making sure everyone is clear about project # 1.
3

City and Regional Planning 110

Course Syllabus

LeGates Spring 2011

-31

HISTORY OF CITIES AND CITY PLANNING I. 5,000 years of world

urbanization. Kingsley Davis S curve. The first cities. American Indian and
Spanish colonial cities. City planning in Mexico, Central, and South America.
Readings: L&S Kingsley Davis "The Urbanization of the Human
Population"
V. Gordon Childe "The Urban Revolution"
H.D.F. Kitto "The Polis"

Feb

HISTORY OF CITIES AND CITY PLANNING II: North American

east coast colonial cities. The industrial revolution. Nineteenth century
industrial cities. The origins of city planning.
Readings: L&S Friedrich Engels "The Great Towns" From The
Condition of the Working Class in England in 1844
Kenneth T. Jackson "The Drive-in Culture of
Contemporary America"
Robert Fishman "Beyond Suburbia: The Rise of the Technoburb"
F&S Ch 3 The Emergence of Urban Planning"

DISCUSSION SESSION # 3: The evolution of the human population and the

history of cities.
--

City and Regional Planning 110

Course Syllabus

LeGates Spring 2011

WHAT IS CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING? Planning agency staff: who

are city planners? How are they educated? Where do they work? What do they do?
What is regional planning. Planners in state and federal level planning bodies and
private firms. Planning at different scales: site, neighborhood, city, region and
world.
Readings: F&S Ch. 1 How Planning in California Really Works
L&S Peter Calthorpe and William Fulton Designing the Region
and "Designing the Region is Designing the Neighborhood"

PLANNERS AND CITY PLANNING IN THE CONTEXT OF LOCAL

GOVERNMENT. Lecture: Urban planning in the context of local government.
The American federal system. How local government is organized. City councils
and county boards of supervisors. Drawing local government boundaries. How
counties, cities, and special districts are created: incorporation, annexation, and
special district formation. Local Agency Formation Commissisons (LAFCOs) and
city spheres of influence. Planning commissions. Planning departments. City
planning directors.
Reading: F&S Ch 4 The Structure of Planning Decision-Making
Part I - Local Government
Ch. 5 The Structure of Planning Decision-Making
Part II - Other Players in the Process
L&S First-person Accounts of 19th Century Political
Bosses and Machines
James Bryce
George Washington Plunkitt
Jane Addams

11

DISCUSSION SESSION # 4: Urban planning and planners.

--

14

PLANNING THEORY. What is urban planning theory? Significant shifts and

paradigm changes in urban planning theory. Planning as city-scale design. The
city scientific movement. The rational planning model. The systems revolution.
The Marxist ascendancy. Advocacy and equity planning. Communicative action
theory. |
Reading: Hall The City of Theory

City and Regional Planning 110

Course Syllabus

LeGates Spring 2011

16 THE ART AND SCIENCE OF CITY PLANNING. Art and science in urban
planning. Left and right brain thinking. Camillo Sitte and the art of city building.
Burnham and the city beautiful movement. LeCorbusier and modernist functional
planning. George B. Ford and the city scientific movement. Towards a synthesis
Readings: L&S Camillo Sitte Authors Introduction, The Relationship
Between Buildings, Monuments, and Public Squares, and
The Enclosed Character of the Public Square from the
The Art of City Planning

18

DISCUSSION SESSION # 5: Planning theory and the art and science of

urban planning
--

21

UNIVERSITY HOLIDAY. NO CLASS.

23

CITY PLANNING VISIONS. Ebenezer Howard (garden cities), Frank Lloyd

Wright (Broadacre city), LeCorbusier (the radiant city; modernism), Alberto Soria
y Matta (the linear city), Clarence Perry (the neighborhood unit), Andres Duany
and Peter Calthorpe (the new urbanism).
Readings: L&S Ebenezer Howard, Authors Introduction and
The Town-Country Magnet from Garden Cities of
Tomorrow
Frank Lloyd Wright "Broadacre City
Le Corbusier, A Contemporary City"

25

DISCUSSION SESSION # 6: Project # 1 presentations and discussion.

Due:

Project # 1

Handout:

Project # 2. Critique of an Urban General Plan and

observation of a city planning commission
meeting.

City and Regional Planning 110

28

Course Syllabus

LeGates Spring 2011

PHYSICAL PLANNING. URBAN GENERAL PLANS. Bassetts vision of the

"master plan" and Kents vision of the "urban general plan". Haars depiction of the
general plan as an impermanent constitution. The evolution of general plans in
California. California Office of Planning and Research (OPR) General Plan
Guidelines. What is a contemporary California general plan? Plan elements. The
"shoe fits" doctrine. Goals, objectives, policies, standards, and implementation
devices. Time horizons. Plan preparation and amendment. The consistency
requirement. Three kinds of consistency. Plan making.
Readings: F&S Ch 6 The Basic Tools, Part I: The General Plan
L&S Edward J. Kaiser and David Godschalk TwentiethCentury Land Use Planning

March 2 PLAN IMPLEMENTATION. The relationship between land use plans, capital
improvements, land use regulations, and the courts. Plan implementation devices:
Capital improvement programs (CIPs). Zoning. Subdivision control. Specific plans.
Development agreements. Exactions and property rights. The 5th amendment
takings clause.
Readings: F&S Ch 7 Zoning Ordinances and Development Codes
Ch 8 The Subdivision Map Act
Ch 12 Doing the Big Deals: Specific Plans and
Development Agreements
Ch 25 Making Planning Work in California"
4

DISCUSSION SESSION # 7: Review for the midterm

CONFLICT AND COLLABORATION IN URBAN PLANNING.

Social exclusion and space. Contested cities. The right to the city. Stakeholders.
Competing interests in planning outcomes. How citizens and interest groups assert
their interests. How planners respond to conflict.
Arnsteins ladder of citizen participation. Advocacy planning.
Video: Holding Ground: The rebirth of Dudley Street.
Reading L&S

Ali Madanipour "Social Exclusion and Space"

Mike Davis "Fortress L.A."
John Forester, Planning in the Face of Conflict
Sherri Arnstein A Ladder of Citizen Participation
Paul Davidoff Advocacy and Pluralism in Planning

City and Regional Planning 110

Course Syllabus

LeGates Spring 2011

MIDTERM EXAM.

11

DISCUSSION SECTION # 8: GSI lectures. Each GSI will lecture on a

topic related to their interest. Mandatory attendance.
Handout of project 3
--

14

URBAN DESIGN. Site, neighborhood, and city-scale design. Who are

urban designers. Great designers: Camillo Sitte, Kevin Lynch, William
Whyte, Allan Jacobs, Jan Gehl.
Readings L&S Kevin Lynch The City Image and Its Elements
Allan Jacobs & Donald Appleyard Toward an Urban
Design Manifesto
F&S Ch 18 "Urban and Environmental Design"

16 URBAN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANNING. Urban economic theory:

public and merit goods. Planning to improve local economies.
Reading: L&S Wilbur Thompson "The City as Distorted Price System"
Michael Porter "The Competitive Advantage of the Inner City"
Myron Orfield "Fiscal Equity"
F&S F&S Ch 14 Economic Development
Ch 15 Redevelopment
18 NO DISCUSSION SESSION
-21 - 25 SPRING BREAK NO LECTURES OR SECTIONS
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City and Regional Planning 110

April

Course Syllabus

LeGates Spring 2011

28

TRANSPORTATION PLANNING I: What is transportation planning? What do

transportation planners do? Technology and transportation: foot, horse,
steamboat, railroad, cable car, streetcar, auto, airplane, bullet trains.

30

TRANSPORTATION PLANNING II: Video: Taken for a Ride

DISCUSSION SECTION # 9 Discussion of Project # 2.

Project # 2 due
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ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING I: NEPA, CEQA and environmental

protection. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and other little NEPAs. Environmental
impact analysis. Protecting endangered species. Federal and state Endangered
Species Acts. Habitat conservation planning. Open space preservation. Protecting
agricultural lands wetlands, and other environ-mentally sensitive areas. Park and
open space planning.
Reading: F&S Ch 9 The California Environmental Quality Act
Ch 22 The Structure of Natural Resources Protection
Ch 23 Endangered Species: Natural Resource Protection

ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING II: Global climate change and

planning carbon neutral cities.
Handout: Stephen Wheeler, Urban Planning and Global Climate
Change

DISCUSSION SECTION # 10: Environmental planning. Planning

carbon-neutral cities.
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City and Regional Planning 110

Course Syllabus

LeGates Spring 2011

11 HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT PLANNNING. General plan

housing elements. Regional housing planning. Federal, state and local housing
subsidy program. Low rent Public housing. Below market interest rate programs.
Section 8 certificates. Low income housing tax credits. Local Housing development
corporations. The secondary mortgage market and affordable housing. Monetary
policy and housing.
Reading: No assigned reading
13 URBANIZATION, SPRAWL, REGIONAL PLANNING AND URBAN
GROWTH MANAGEMENT. What is a region? Councils of Government (COGs)
and Areawide planning organizations (APOs). Regional air and water quality
planning. State-level mandated regional planning: Florida, Maryland, New Jersey,
Oregon, Washington. Portland Metro. Regional Land Information Systems (RLIS)
and spatial planning. Spatial equity. The Ramapo Plan. Residential tempo control.
The Petaluma Plan. Point systems and "beauty contests" for awarding development
permits. Is growth management exclusionary?
Readings: F&S: Ch 11 Traditional Growth Management
Ch 17 The Emergence of 'Smart Growth' and
Infill Development in California
L&S: Anthony Downs "The Need for a New Vision for the
Development of Large U.S. Metropolitan Areas"
15

DISCUSSION SECTION # 11: Regional planning and planning in

developing countries.
--

18

GLOBALIZATION AND THE WORLD CITY NETWORK. City systems.

The world city system. Polycentric urban networks. Information technology and
the changing world city system. Globalization and city-regions. Urban
competitiveness. The global economic crisis and cities.
Readings: Saskia Sassen "The Impact of New Technologies and
Globalization on Cities"
Manuel Castells European Cities, the Informational Age, and
the Global Economy

10

City and Regional Planning 110

20

Course Syllabus

LeGates Spring 2011

THE FUTURE OF CITIES. Does space matter? Have we entered the post-city
age? Changes in the worlds urban demography. The growth of megacities,
megacity regions, and polycentric city systems. Resource management in an age
of constraints. Mobility in cities of the future. Social and spatial equity. How the
changing world economy will change relations among world cities.
Readings: Melvin Webber The Post-City Age
William J. Mitchell The Teleserviced City
Joel Kotkin "The Urban Future"
Project 3 due. Please turn in hardcopy of your paper and a printout of
the PPT presentation (6 slides to the page). Late
papers and papers missing the PPT attachment will be marked down.
22
DISCUSSION SECTION # 12: PAPER PRESENTATIONS. Be
prepared to make a 6 to10 minute presentation on your project.
Reading: No required reading. Students will make individual presentations,
accompanied by PowerPoint, to the entire class.
--

25

PAPER PRESENTATIONS. Students will make 10-minute PowerPoint

presentations in class.

27

PAPER PRESENTATIONS

28

DISCUSSION SECTION # 13: Review for final exam

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NO CLASSES THE WEEK OF MAY 2

FINAL EXAM Tuesday May 10

11