CP6452 - Urban Development Policy

Course Description

Over the years the words "urban policy" have become almost synonymous with "poverty policy", "ghetto policy", "race policy", and "inner city policy." This course will explore all these definitions, including the latest federal non-definition of "urban policy." It is also a course in the economic development sequences in both City and Regional Planning and Public Policy. Thus we will spend a good deal of our time exploring economic development paradigms and methods for big cities and inner cities.  

The course is designed as a small student driven seminar. My job is to direct the discussion into more fruitful areas; your job is to come prepared, having read the assigned material and having reflected on it both from your academic and personal backgrounds. All students must come to class having read the required material for that week, and having prepared two pages of notes (maximum) on the readings that capture the most important points along with the ideas that you anticipate wanting to contribute to the seminar that evening.  

Grading

Seventy percent of your grade for the course will be made up of my evaluation of your preparation and contributions to the seminars. In addition, each student will be assigned a leading role in one seminar. For that seminar each student will prepare an annotated bibliography of no more than 10 key articles on the topic, and will choose the two articles all students must read.  This bibliography and seminar leadership will count as 30% of the final grade. 

Texts

Massey, Douglas S. and Nancy A. Denton. American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1994.

Wilson, William Julius. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.

Newman, Katherine S. No Shame in My Game. New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc. 1999.

Orfield, Gary and Carole Ashkinaze. 1991. The Closing Door: Conservative Policy and Black Opportunity.

Belmont, Steve. Cities in Full: Recognizing and Realizing the Great Potential of Urban America. Chicago: The American Planning Association. 2002.

Goetz, Edward G. 2003. Clearing the Way: Deconcentrating the Poor in Urban America. The Urban Institute Press. 

Dreier, Peter, John Mollenkopf, and Todd Swarnstrom. 2001. Place Matters: Metropolis for the Twenty-First Century. University Press of Kansas. 

Lecture Schedule