Overview
The mission of the Department of City and Regional Planning is to improve equity, the economy and the environment in neighborhoods, communities, cities, and metropolitan regions by creating knowledge and engagement through our teaching, research, and service. We aim to design and create cities, infrastructure, and public services that are sustainable, affordable, enjoyable, and accessible to all.
Wisely and successfully intervening in the public realm, whether locally, nationally, or globally, is a challenge. Our urban future is complex and rapidly changing. Resource scarcity and conflict, technological innovation, retrofitting of existing built environments, and social empowerment will alter the ways in which planning has conventionally been carried out. We believe the planning academy has a special responsibility to always address social justice, equity, and ethics; to teach and research means of public participation, collective decision making, and advocacy; and to focus on reforming institutions, urban governance, policy, and planning practices to make these goals possible.
Our undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as faculty research and community service activities, address social justice, equity, and ethics; innovative means of public participation, collective decision making, and advocacy; and ways to reform institutions, urban governance, policy, and planning practices. Faculty research harnesses the latest methods and data, ranging from ethnography to sophisticated 3-D simulations and visualization. Faculty expertise is diverse and includes sustainable transportation and land use, economic development, urban health and social policy, environmental assessment and sustainability, global urbanization and poverty, and urban design for livable places.
Lecture Series
The Department of City and Regional Planning sponsors lecture series, which offers students the opportunity to hear internationally acclaimed speakers. These speakers often also participate in classes and seminars as part of their visit to campus. For a schedule of speakers and events in this lecture series, see the College of Environmental Design website.
Undergraduate Programs
Urban Studies: BA
City Planning: Minor
Geospatial Information Science and Technology: Minor (offered in conjunction with the College of Natural Resources)
Graduate Programs
City and Regional Planning: Master of City Planning (MC.P.), and Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning
Courses
City and Regional Planning
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024
The Freshman Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small-seminar setting. Freshman Seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics vary from department to department and semester to semester.
Freshman Seminar: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit when topic changes.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1 hour of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered. Final Exam To be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
Cities become more dependent on the data flows that connect infrastructures between themselves, and users to infrastructures. Design and operation of smart, efficient, and resilient cities nowadays require data science skills. This course provides an introduction to working with data generated within transportation systems, power grids, communication networks, as well as collected via crowd-sensing and remote sensing technologies, to build demand- and supply-side urban services based on data analytics.
Data Science for Smart Cities: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: Become familiar with urban big data and sensor data collection techniques.
Develop intuition in various machine learning classification algorithms, as well as regression modelling.
Develop intuition in various machine learning classification algorithms, as well as regression modelling.
Foster critical thinking about real-world actionability from analytics.
Learn how to use data science techniques in urban decision-making and scenario generation.
Student Learning Outcomes: Develop capabilities in a range of data science techniques.
Gain the ability to solve problems in smart city research and practice.
Think critically about how to assess analytics for cities.
Use data analytics in the smart city domain.
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: This course is a Data Science connector course and is meant to be taken concurrent with or after Foundations of Data Science COMPSCI C8/INFO C8/STAT C8. Students may take more than one Data Science connector course if they wish, concurrently or after taking the C8 course
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Instructor: Gonzalez
Formerly known as: Civil and Environmental Engineering 88
Also listed as: CIV ENG C88
Terms offered: Fall 2006, Spring 2006, Spring 2005
Supervised experiences in the study of off-campus organizations relevant to specific aspects of city planning. Regular individual meetings with faculty sponsor and written report required.
Field Studies in City and Regional Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-3 hours of fieldwork per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023
Group studies developed to meet specific needs of students.
Special Group Study: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Credit Restrictions: Enrollment is restricted; see the Introduction to Courses and Curricula section of this catalog.
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-3 hours of directed group study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Summer 2024 8 Week Session, Summer 2023 8 Week Session, Summer 2022 8 Week Session
This course (1) provides a basic intro to census and economic data collection, processing, and analysis; (2) surveys forecasting and modeling techniques in planning; (3) demonstrates the uses of real-time urban data and analytics; and (4) provides a socio-economic-political context for the smart cities movement, focusing on data ethics and governance.
Introduction to Urban Data Analytics: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Student Learning Outcomes: This course will teach students systematic approaches to collecting, analyzing, modeling, and interpreting quantitative data used to inform robust research, and, ultimately, urban planning practice and policymaking. This contributes to the urban studies major's objective of introducing students to "conceptual tools, analytical methods, and theoretical frameworks to understand urban environments, such as economic analysis, social science theory, and visualization technologies," with the objective of training undergraduates for a future career or further graduate study in the field of urban studies and planning.
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division standing
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1.5 hours of laboratory per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 7 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week
8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 1.5 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024 8 Week Session
Survey of city planning as it has evolved in the United States since 1800 in response to physical, social, and economic problems; major concepts and procedures used by city planners and local governments to improve the urban environment.
Introduction to City Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Open to majors in all fields
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 8 hours of lecture and 2 hours of discussion per week
8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 1.5 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2021, Summer 2021 First 6 Week Session
Introduction to economic concepts and thinking as used in planning. Micro-economic theory is reviewed and critiqued.
Economic Analysis for Planning: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 7 hours of lecture per week
8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2020, Fall 2019, Fall 2018
Introduction to political, economic and social issues involved in theory and practice of community economic development. Focus on national economic and social policies, role of local community economic development corporations (CDCs), resolution of conflicts between private-sector profitability and public sector (community) accountability through critical use of the planning process.
Community and Economic Development: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CY PLAN 113B after completing CY PLAN 160.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2024
This course is designed to introduce students to the characteristics of urban transportation systems, the methods through which they are planned and analyzed, and the dimensions of key policy issues confronting decision makers.
Introduction to Urban and Regional Transportation: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 7 hours of lecture per week
8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Chatman
Introduction to Urban and Regional Transportation: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
The course covers issues of development and urbanization from the era of colonialism to the era of contemporary globalization. Themes include modernization, urban informality and poverty, transnational economies, and the role of international institutions and agencies.
Urbanization in Developing Countries: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 1.5 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Balakrishnan
Terms offered: Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2023 First 6 Week Session, Summer 2022 First 6 Week Session
The course covers issues of development and urbanization from the era of colonialism to the era of contemporary globalization. Themes include modernization, urban informality and poverty, transnational economies, and the role of international institutions and agencies.
Urbanization in Developing Countries: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Summer:
6 weeks - 7 hours of lecture per week
8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2022
An intermediate course in the planning process with practicum in using planning techniques. Classes typically work on developing an area or other community plan. Some lectures, extensive field and group work, oral and written presentations of findings.
Urban Planning Process--The Undergraduate Planning Studio: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division standing; 110 or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 4 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Urban Planning Process--The Undergraduate Planning Studio: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
This course will focus on the history, research methods and practices aimed at promoting community and urban health. The course will offer students frameworks for understanding and addressing inequities in community health experienced by racial and ethnic groups in the United States. The course will take a historical and comparative perspective for understanding the multiple contributors to health and disease in communities and how residents, scientists and professionals are working to improve community health.
Urban & Community Health: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Instructor: Corburn
Formerly known as: City and Regional Planning 117
Terms offered: Spring 2025
This course will focus on the history, research methods and practices aimed at promoting community and urban health. The course will offer students frameworks for understanding and addressing inequities in community health experienced by racial and ethnic groups in the United States. The course will take a historical and comparative perspective for understanding the multiple contributors to health and disease in communities and how residents, scientists and professionals are working to improve community health.
Urban and Community Health: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper Division undergraduate standing or consent of instructor
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for PB HLTH C150E after completing PB HLTH 150E, or CY PLAN 117AC. A deficient grade in PB HLTH C150E may be removed by taking PB HLTH 150E, or CY PLAN 117AC.
Requirements this course satisfies: Satisfies the American Cultures requirement
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Instructor: Corburn
Also listed as: PB HLTH C150E
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This course looks at the idea and practice of community in cities and suburbs and at the dynamics of neighborhood and community formation. Topics include urban social geography, ethnicity, and identity, residential choice behavior, the political economy of neighborhoods, planning for neighborhoods, and civic engagement. Instructors emphasize different topics. Class size limit depends on the instructor.
The Urban Community: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture and 2.5 hours of discussion per week
8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 1.5 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Terms offered: Summer 2024 8 Week Session, Fall 2023, Summer 2023 8 Week Session
This course examines how the concept of sustainable development applies to cities and urban regions and gives students insight into a variety of contemporary urban planning issues through the sustainability lens. The course combines lectures, discussions, student projects, and guest appearances by leading practitioners in Bay Area sustainability efforts. Ways to coordinate goals of environment, economy, and equity at different scales of planning are addressed, including the region, the city, the neighborhood, and the site.
Planning for Sustainability: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Student Learning Outcomes: Describe a variety of planning approaches designed to advance and evaluate the interconnected goals related to sustainability, such as environmental preservation, social equity, and economic development.
Identify how different societies around the globe grapple with the ethical, policy, and practical challenges presented by socioeconomic disparity and the goal of creating and maintaining a healthy urban (and suburban and peri-urban) environment.
Know ways in which planners and planning practice have succeeded in dismantling the policies, institutions, and decisions that oppose the needs of the disadvantaged.
Understand the principles, tools, and techniques available for planning and developing sustainable communities at multiple scales.
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Open to majors in all fields
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 7 hours of lecture and 2 hours of discussion per week
8 weeks - 6 hours of lecture and 1.5 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Acey
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2021, Spring 2019
This course reviews what society and local communities can do in terms of policies, programs, and local planning to address the needs of citizens with disabilities. Attention will be given to the economics of disability, to the politics of producing change, and to transportation, housing, public facilities, independent living, employment, and income policies. Options will be assessed from the varying perspectives of those with disabilities and the broader society.
Community Planning and Public Policy for Disability: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Community Planning and Public Policy for Disability: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Not yet offered
This course focuses on sustainable mobility, with an emphasis on the long-term importance of how land development can be leveraged to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of mobility options.
Sustainable Mobility: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Rodriguez
Terms offered: Summer 2024 First 6 Week Session, Spring 2024, Summer 2023 First 6 Week Session
Introduction to housing policy in the United States, including housing affordability, the interaction between demand and supply, housing finance, zoning and land use, gentrification and displacement, and the role that housing plays in promoting household well-being.
U.S. Housing, Planning, and Policy: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Student Learning Outcomes: By the end of the class, students will understand the origins of contemporary debates in U.S. housing policy, gain familiarity with the programs, players, and best practices in the field, and develop their ability to evaluate the trade-offs and challenges inherent in different policy approaches. They will also learn how to construct policy arguments and use evidence to make their arguments stronger.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 6 weeks - 7 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Reid
Terms offered: Fall 2017, Fall 2013
Over half of the world's population is now urban. As urban populations swell, metropolitan areas in both the developed and the developing world struggle to provide basic services and address the negative externalities associated with rapid growth. Sanitation, transportation, pollution, energy services, and public safety typically fall to sub-national governments. Yet local sub-national institutions face difficulties as they tackle these challenges because development tends to spill over political boundaries and resources are limited. Such difficulties are particularly acute in the developing world due to tighter resource constraints, weak institutions, and the comparative severity of the underlying problems. Moreover, democratization and decentralization suggest that urban governance and service delivery may have become more democratic, but present challenges with respect to priority setting, coordination, and corruption.
Urban and Sub-national Politics in Developing Countries: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1-2 hours of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Post
Also listed as: POL SCI C139
Urban and Sub-national Politics in Developing Countries: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
The course is concerned with the multidisciplinary field and practice of urban design. It includes a review of historical approaches to urban design and current movements in the field, as well as discussion of the elements of urban form, theories of good city form, scales of urban design, implementation approaches, and challenges and opportunities for the discipline. Learning from cities via fieldwork is an integral part of the course.
Urban Design: City-Building and Place-Making: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required.
Instructor: Macdonald
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2023, Spring 2021
Community development, broadly defined as efforts to improve the quality of life in low-income communities, has existed in multiple forms for centuries. However, in the 1950s and 1960s, the United States witnessed the development of a professionalized field of community development, encompassing a wide range of institutions, policies, and programs. This course provides students with an overview of the origins of the community development field and the key theories that motivate both practice and policy. Throughout the course, case studies will provide a real-world perspective on community development and how practitioners are working to create healthy and economically vibrant communities for all.
The Origins and Practice of Community Development: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Student Learning Outcomes:
Be exposed to the key debates in community development policy.
Learn about the evolution of the community development field, including the stakeholders, financing, policies and practices that make up community development in the US.
Practice using data and argument to support a policy idea.
Reflect on the tensions between individual and structural causes of poverty, and how the construction of urban poverty has influenced policy.
Rules & Requirements
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CY PLAN 160 after completing CY PLAN 113B.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Final exam required, with common exam group.
Instructor: Reid
The Origins and Practice of Community Development: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024
This course seeks to provide students with a theoretical framework of restorative justice in planning and policy through a variety of critical
scholarship, media, and archives, including narrative, art, music, and film.
Restorative Justice in Urban Planning and Policy: Towards Racial Healing & Justice in Planning: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Instructor: Lin
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
A capstone course for urban studies majors; open to other majors by instructor approval. Topical focus varies by semester. The course involves student production of a high-quality research report from inception to completion. Lectures introduce a range of research skills typical in urban studies, and cover specific domain knowledge necessary for the completion of the research project. Students identify a research topic subject to instructor approval and prepare a formal research proposal, undertaking the analysis specified in the proposal, making public presentations of their findings, and producing a professional-quality research report.
Research Seminar in Urban Studies: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Student Learning Outcomes: Conceptualizing, executing and completing an individual research project, including public presentations of findings, revision based on critical feedback, and the production of a final research report to the highest professional standards.
Devising policy and practical solutions to address borderland planning problems.
The fundamental principles of research project design, scheduling, and execution, as well as exposure to a variety of methodological approaches using visual, cartographic, quantitative and qualitative data sources.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Letter grade. Alternative to final exam.
Instructor: Hosbey
Formerly known as: City and Regional Planning 180
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Analysis of selected topics in urban studies. Topics vary by semester.
Advanced Topics in Urban Studies: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Upper division standing
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-4 hours of lecture per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 2-8 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Summer 2019, Spring 2018, Fall 2017
Supervised experiences in the study of off-campus organizations relevant to specific aspects of city planning. Regular individual meetings with faculty sponsor and a written report are required.
Field Studies: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Credit Restrictions: Enrollment is restricted; see the Introduction to Courses and Curricula section of this catalog.
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3-9 hours of fieldwork per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 6-18 hours of fieldwork per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Spring 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022
Group studies developed to meet specific needs of students.
Special Group Study: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Credit Restrictions: Enrollment is restricted; see the Introduction to Courses and Curricula section of this catalog.
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-3 hours of directed group study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Summer 2020 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2019 Second 6 Week Session, Summer 2018 Second 6 Week Session
Regular meetings with faculty overseer.
Special Study for Advanced Undergraduates: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Credit Restrictions: Enrollment is restricted; see the Introduction to Courses and Curricula section of this catalog.
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 0 hours of independent study per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 2.5-10 hours of independent study per week
8 weeks - 1.5-7.5 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Undergraduate
Grading/Final exam status: Offered for pass/not pass grade only. Final exam not required.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
A survey of key historical moments in the emergence of modern city planning, framed within the context of social equity and ethics. While the focus is on planning in the United States, the course also pays attention to global connections that exert influence on the theory and practice of planning in the US context.
Planning Histories and Practice: Frameworks, Opportunities and Dilemmas: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: The course introduces students to key paradigms of planning thought. The course is organized around the principle that histories of city planning are also about theories of planning.
In addition to writing instruction, the course provides an opportunity for further professional development through students conducting interviews for their core paper assignment and drafting a resume and professional development plan outlining their academic and career goals. Students also will be exposed to practitioners in planning and related fields through guest speakers in class during the second half of the course on contemporary topics.
The course Introduces students to city and regional planning ideas, history and practices and how they have shaped and responded to urban development. As histories of city planning are rooted in the quest for spatial order, the course seeks to enable students to have a deeper understanding of how space functions in tandem with history, practice and policy implementation.
The course will provide instruction on writing – professional quality deliverables for master’s students and scholarly level text and orientation for doctoral students.
We will discuss the power and limits of planning, planning and social change, the multiple roles in which planners find themselves, and the relationship between planning and built and natural environments. We will consider views of key stakeholders and members of the public from across the political spectrum. We will examine current pressing planning and policy issues in the context of their historical underpinnings.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Frick
Planning Histories and Practice: Frameworks, Opportunities and Dilemmas: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This class introduces first-year students in the Master of City Planning (MCP) program to a suite of data collection, data analysis, problem solving, and presentation methods that are essential for practicing planners. It focuses on supporting integrated problem solving, using a case-based approach to introduce methods in sequenced building-blocks.
Planning Methods Gateway: Part I: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: The course is designed to introduce students to problem identification in the planning realm, and to the data collection and analysis skills relevant to addressing those problems. Students will learn how to define planning problems; identify the information needed to better understand and develop solutions to those problems; collect data and conduct analysis to provide that information; and understand the mechanics, promises and pitfalls of those methods. Practical skills include downloading and using secondary data, conducting statistical tests of difference, observation, making maps from secondary data, interviewing, and conducting financial analyses. Through lectures, case studies, group assignments, and individual assignments, students will achieve the following learning objectives:
Student Learning Outcomes: •
Identify planning problems and questions
•
Design and implement a research project in response to a planning problem or question
•
Become a critical consumer of statistics, methods, and evidence/arguments in the press and in policy, planning and advocacy publications
•
Think critically about research problems and research design, learn what kinds of problems planners address in day-to-day life, and recognize the role of theory in shaping both questions and research design
•
Prepare clear, accurate and compelling text, graphics and maps for use in documents and presentations
•
Build public presentation skills, and have an opportunity to practice and receive feedback on presentations of various lengths
•
Learn how to write for different audiences, and effectively include data/evidence in writing
•
Be introduced to the faculty in DCRP and their research methods and approaches
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1.5 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Reid
Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
Second course in two-semester course sequence that introduces first-year students in the Master of City Planning (MCP) program to a suite of data collection, data analysis, problem solving, and presentation methods that are essential for practicing planners. 201B prepares MCP students for more advanced courses in statistics, GIS, observation, qualitative methods, survey methods, and public participation.
Planning Methods Gateway: Part II: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: The two-semester course is designed to introduce students to problem identification in the planning realm, and to the data collection and analysis skills relevant to addressing those problems. Students will learn how to define planning problems; identify the information needed to better understand and develop solutions to those problems; collect data and conduct analysis to provide that information; and understand the mechanics, promises and pitfalls of those methods. Practical skills include downloading and using secondary data, conducting statistical tests of difference, observation, making maps from secondary data, interviewing, and conducting financial analyses. Through lectures, case studies, group assignments, and individual assignments, students will achieve the following learning objectives:
Student Learning Outcomes: • Identify planning problems and questions
• Design and implement a research project in response to a planning problem or question
• Become a critical consumer of statistics, methods, and evidence/arguments in the press and in policy, planning and advocacy publications
• Think critically about research problems and research design, learn what kinds of problems planners address in day-to-day life, and recognize the role of theory in shaping both questions and research design
• Prepare clear, accurate and compelling text, graphics and maps for use in documents and presentations
• Build public presentation skills, and have an opportunity to practice and receive feedback on presentations of various lengths
• Learn how to write for different audiences, and effectively include data/evidence in writing
• Be introduced to the faculty in DCRP and their research methods and approaches
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: City and Regional Planning 201A; exceptions made with instructor approval
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructors: Chatman, Reid
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2016
The interest in qualitative research and especially in ethnography has been growing in the planning and design professions. This interest has not always been matched by in-
depth and critical examination of qualitative methodology. This course explores common practices of qualitative research in the social sciences. Students are expected to do field research. The class is designed around an experimental research project in which all students will participate and apply various techniques of data collection and analysis. These include observation, interviewing, mapping, coding, and use of images. Classes, readings, and exercises will approach qualitative methods and techniques critically and interrogate their epistemological assumptions.
Qualitative Research Methods: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Caldeira
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2022
Introduction to the principles and practical uses of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This course is intended for graduate students with exposure to using spreadsheets and database programs for urban and natural resource analysis, and who wish to expand their knowledge to include basic GIS concepts and applications. Prior GIS or desktop mapping experience not required.
Analytic and Research Methods for Planners: Introduction to GIS and City Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 4 hours of lecture per week
Summer:
6 weeks - 10 hours of lecture per week
8 weeks - 7.5 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Hamstead
Analytic and Research Methods for Planners: Introduction to GIS and City Planning: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2016, Spring 2013
Theory and application of advanced multivariate methods in planning. Emphasis on causal modeling of cross-sectional data. Topics include: multiple regression analysis; residual analysis; weighted least squares; non-linear models; path analysis; log-linear models; logit and probit analysis; principal components; factor and cluster analysis. Completion of two computer assignments, using several microcomputer statistical packages, is required.
Multivariate Analysis in Planning: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
An introduction to the American legal process and legal framework within which public policy and planning problems are addressed. The course stresses legal methodology, the basics of legal research, and the common-law decisional method. Statutory analysis, administrative law, and constitutional interpretation are also covered. Case topics focus on the law of planning, property rights, land use regulation, and access to housing.
Introduction to Planning and Environmental Law: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Bigelow
Introduction to Planning and Environmental Law: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2022
Using microeconomics as its platform, course explores the process and pattern of land utilization from a variety of perspectives: the neighborhood, the city, and the metropolis. The approach blends real estate, descriptive urban geography, and urban history with economics.
Land and Housing Market Economics: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 113A or equivalent
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Hamstead
Formerly known as: Educational Administration 261B
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2021
An introductory laboratory experience in urban plan preparation, including the use of graphic communication techniques appropriate to city planning and invoking individual effort and that of collaborative student groups in formulating planning policies and programs for an urban area. Occasional Friday meetings are required.
Plan Preparation Studio: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar and 5 hours of studio per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 4 hours of seminar and 16 hours of studio per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Macdonald
Terms offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2022
This studio provides an intensive experience in urban plan preparation via virtual collaborative methods, including the use of graphic communication techniques appropriate to city planning and urban design, and involves individual effort and collaborative group effort to analyze an urban area and formulate planning policies, spatial designs, and programs for it that are responsive to existing contexts and community needs.
Virtual Collaborative Plan Preparation Studio: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CY PLAN 208A after completing CY PLAN 208.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar and 5 hours of studio per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Macdonald
Virtual Collaborative Plan Preparation Studio: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Examination of the interactions between transportation and land use systems; historical perspectives on transportation; characteristics of travel and demand estimation; evaluation of system performance; location theory; models of transportation and urban structure; empirical evidence of transportation-land use impacts; case study examinations.
Transportation and Land Use Planning: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Chatman
Also listed as: CIV ENG C290U
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
Survey of basic knowledge and technology of physical infrastructure systems: transportation, water supply, wastewater, storm water, solid waste management, community energy facilities, and urban public facilities. Environmental and energy impacts of infrastructure development; centralized vs. decentralized systems; case studies.
Infrastructure Planning and Policy: Climate Change Planning and Urban Systems: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Collier
Infrastructure Planning and Policy: Climate Change Planning and Urban Systems: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
This course is animated by the question: what is global and urban about inequalities? It has two aims. First, it focuses on the historical-geographies of globalization and cities, and unpacks how cities are embedded within wider networks of capitalism. Second, it explores the many meanings and political projects around decolonizing the city, and looks at at unlearning, anti-imperialism, abolition, epistemic justice as concrete actions to combat global urban inequalities.
Global Urban Inequalities: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Balakrishnan
Also listed as: GMS C215
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2022, Fall 2020
Covers pedestrian and bicycle transportation planning including benefits of active transportation, importance of urban design and network connectivity, and facility design. Examines policies and programs to support active transportation and the processes to create, implement, and evaluate bicycle and pedestrian plans.
Active Transportation: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Rodriguez
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Policy issues in urban transportation planning; measuring the performance of transportation systems; the transportation policy formulation process; transportation finance, pricing, and subsidy issues; energy and air quality in transportation; specialized transportation for elderly and disabled people; innovations in transportation policy.
Transportation Policy and Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: CIV ENG 213
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Also listed as: CIV ENG C250N
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Studio on applying skills of urban transportation planning. Topics vary, focusing on specific urban sites and multi-modal issues, including those related to planning for mass transit and other alternatives to the private automobile. Recent emphasis given to planning and designing for transit villages and transit-based housing.
Transportation Planning Studio: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 213 or 217 or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 4 hours of studio per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Frick
Terms offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2023, Fall 2021
Analysis of the urban, metropolitan, and regional economy for planning. Economic base and other macro models; impact analysis and projection of changing labor force and industrial structure; economic-demographic interaction; issues in growth, income distribution, planning controls; interregional growth and population distribution issues.
The Urban and Regional Economy: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2020, Spring 2020
Field problem in major phases of metropolitan or regional planning work. A collaborative student-group effort in formulating policy or plan recommendations within specific governmental framework.
Research Workshop on Metropolitan Regional Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Relevant past coursework and consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 4 hours of studio and 2 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Research Workshop on Metropolitan Regional Planning: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This course engages with housing markets in the context of current and historic local, state, and federal policy and planning practice. Taking into account issues of equity and implications on climate, students will engage with emerging policy and market trends in housing affordability and supply.
U.S. Housing, Planning, and Policy: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Metcalf
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Using case studies, this course acquaints students with the techniques of project feasibility; analysis of project proposals and overall project compatibility assessment. Case studies will be based on a variety of public and private sector developments, in central city and suburb locations.
Affordable Housing Finance and Development: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 207 or equivalent
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Silverberg
Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
Studio experience in analysis, policy advising, and project design or general plan preparation for urban communities undergoing development, with a focus on site development and project planning.
Development--Design Studio: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: City and Regional Planning 235
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 8 hours of studio per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Metcalf
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
Theories and patterns of urban form throughout history are studied with emphasis on the role of planning and design in shaping cities and the relationship between urban form and social, economic, and geographic factors. Using a case study approach, cities are evaluated in terms of various theories and performance dimensions.
Theories of Urban Form and Design: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Also listed as: LD ARCH C250
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
The components, structure, and meaning of the urban environment. Environmental problems, attitudes, and criteria. Environmental survey, analysis, and interview techniques. Methods of addressing environmental quality. Environmental simulation.
Research Methods in Environmental Design: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 2 hours of laboratory per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Lamb
Formerly known as: Interdepartmental Studies 241
Also listed as: LD ARCH C241
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This interdisciplinary studio focuses on the public realm of cities and explores opportunities for creating more humane and delightful public places. Problems will be at multiple scales in both existing urban centers and in areas of new growth. Skills in analyzing, designing, and communicating urban design problems will be developed. Studio work will be supplemented with lectures, discussions, and field trips. Visiting professionals will present case studies and will serve on reviews.
Shaping the Public Realm: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Previous design studio or consent of instrutor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 6 hours of studio per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Brand
Formerly known as: 203
Also listed as: LD ARCH C203
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Advanced problems in urban design and land use, and in environmental planning. Occasional Friday meetings are required.
Advanced Studio: Urban Design/Environmental Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 208 or 240
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar and 6 hours of studio per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Advanced Studio: Urban Design/Environmental Planning: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Spring 2018, Fall 2009, Fall 2007
This seminar will focus on urban design in the planning process, the role of environmental surveys, methods of community involvement, problem identification, goal formulation and alternatives generation, environmental media and presentation, design guidelines and review, environmental evaluation and impact assessment. Case studies.
Urban Design in Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Macdonald
Formerly known as: Interdepartmental Studies 249
Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2021, Spring 2010
This course focuses on the deeply contested and political nature of land-use. It uses the spatial lens to situate land-use planning within wider processes of globalization. A central premise is to link land-use planning to property rights, and to ask: how is land, a spatially fixed resource with unique characteristics in each location, transformed into an asset for private ownership, an instrument of finance, a fungible asset; and what are the distributive conflicts that arise from private property? The course is also committed to an exploration of how planners can move towards more emancipatory land-use practices.
The Spatial Politics of Land: A Transnational Perspective: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Sai Balakrishnan
The Spatial Politics of Land: A Transnational Perspective: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
This course will examine emerging trends in environmental planning and policy and the basic regulatory framework for environmental planning encountered in the U.S. We will also relate the institutional and policy framework of California and the United States to other nations and emerging international institutions. The emphasis of the course will be on regulating "residuals" as they affect three media: air, water, and land.
Environmental Planning and Regulation: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Acey
Also listed as: LD ARCH C231
Terms offered: Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Spring 2017
An advanced course in implementation of land use and environmental controls. The theory, practice and impacts of zoning, growth management, land banking, development systems, and other techniques of land use control. Objective is to acquaint student with a range of regulatory techniques and the legal, administrative-political equity aspects of their implementation.
Land Use Controls: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Fall 2024
This course engages with the historical contexts, governance processes, theories, scientific understandings, and politics of urban climate and environmental justice.
Climate Justice Seminar: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2021
This course examines and explores the concept of sustainable development at the community level. The course has three sections: (1) an introduction to the discourse on sustainable development; (2) an exploration of several leading attempts to incorporate sustainability principles into plans, planning, and urban design; (3) a comparative examination of several attempts to modify urban form and address the multiple goals (social, economic, environmental) of sustainable urbanism.
Sustainable Communities: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate standing or consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Acey
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2022
A hands-on data visualization course that trains students to analyze urban data, develop indicators, and create visualizations and maps using programming languages, open source tools, and public data.
Urban Informatics and Visualization: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2021
Exploration of common origins of urban planning and public health, from why and how the fields separated and strategies to reconnect them, to addressing urban health inequities in the 21st century. Inquiry to influences of urban population health, analysis of determinants, and roles that city planning and public health agencies - at local and international level - have in research, and action aimed at improving urban health. Measures, analysis, and design of policy strategies are explored.
Healthy Cities: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Corburn
Formerly known as: City and Regional Planning 256
Also listed as: PB HLTH C233
Terms offered: Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Fall 2020
Techniques for analyzing individual daily activities and travels both at urban and at global scale. The course is designed for graduate students interested in methods to analyze human dynamics, and their interactions with the built and the natural environment. Course covers five units each of which is centered in a seminal research paper. Students learn to reproduce the results of the selected paper in the classroom via computer labs, and through a related data analysis and modeling assignments.
Data Science for Human Mobility and Socio-technical Systems: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: The course reviews basic concepts of data analysis, modeling, and visualization. Methods include principal component analysis to identify the structure inherent in daily behavior, spatial clustering, introduction to fractals, random walks and parsing of spatial trajectories. Ending with models and methods to represent various socio technical systems as networks, such as: daily commuting, air travels, and roads.
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: An undergraduate-level understanding of probability, statistics, algorithms, and linear algebra is required
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of laboratory and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Gonzalez
Data Science for Human Mobility and Socio-technical Systems: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023
Techniques for analyzing individual daily activities and travels both at urban and at global scale. The course is designed for graduate students interested in methods to analyze human dynamics, and their interactions with the built and the natural environment. Course covers five units each of which is centered in a seminal research paper. Students learn to reproduce the results of the selected paper in the classroom via computer labs, and through a related data analysis and modeling assignments.
Human Mobility and Network Science: Read More [+]
Objectives & Outcomes
Course Objectives: The course reviews basic concepts of data analysis, modeling, and visualization. Methods include principal component analysis to identify the structure inherent in daily behavior, spatial clustering, introduction to trip distribution models and parsing of spatial trajectories. Ending with models and methods to represent various socio-technical systems as networks, such as: daily commuting, air travels, and roads.
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: An undergraduate-level understanding of probability, statistics, algorithms, and linear algebra is required
Credit Restrictions: Students will receive no credit for CY PLAN C257H after completing CY PLAN 257.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture and 1 hour of discussion per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Gonzalez
Also listed as: CIV ENG C263H
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2023, Spring 2021
Community development, broadly defined as efforts to improve the quality of life in low-income communities, has existed in multiple forms for centuries. However, in the 1950s and 1960s, the United States witnessed the development of a professionalized field of community development, encompassing a wide range of institutions, policies, and programs. This course provides students with an overview of the origins of the community development field and the key theories that motivate both practice and policy. Throughout the course, case studies will provide a real-world perspective on community development and how practitioners are working to create healthy and economically vibrant communities for all.
The Origins and Practice of Community Development: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Reid
Formerly known as: 268
The Origins and Practice of Community Development: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
This course examines the theories, practices, and ethics of undertaking community engagement and public participation relative to planning processes. Students will learn about traditional forms of engagement and participation, while also testing newer theories and practices in the field.
Community Engagement and Public Participation in Planning Processes: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Formerly known as: Interdepartmental Studies 223
Also listed as: LD ARCH C242
Community Engagement and Public Participation in Planning Processes: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Spring 2024
What can we learn about how places are made and un-made when we focus on the lives and experiences of the Black people who live within them? Using insights from cultural anthropology, Black cultural studies, and geography, this course critically explores “Black geographies'' in an effort to understand the ways that race and space are mutually constituted in our modern world. Exploring both the joys and the pains of Black social and cultural life, living under regimes of gentrification, displacement, environmental degradation, and white supremacy. Throughout the course, students will be given structured opportunities to apply their critical lenses to the intersections of race, space, and place in the Bay Area.
Blackness and the Politics of Space and Place: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of lecture per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Hosbey
Blackness and the Politics of Space and Place: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Studio experience in analysis, policy advising, and implementation in an urban setting. Students will engage in group work for real clients (e.g., community-based organizations or local government agencies), culminating in a final report or proposal.
Community Development Studio/Workshop: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: 208 or 235
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of lecture and 4 hours of studio per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: McKoy
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2022
This course is designed for students working on their dissertation research plan and prospectus. Weekly writing assignments designed to work through each step of writing the prospectus from problem framing and theoretical framework to methodology. At least one oral presentation to the class is required of all students.
Doctoral Seminars: Research Design for the Ph.D: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Ph.D. standing
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Formerly known as: 280
Doctoral Seminars: Research Design for the Ph.D: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023
Post-candidacy research and writing seminar, focused on completion of a dissertation.
Doctoral Research and Writing Seminar: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Ph.D. students in post-candidacy in city planning or related field
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024
Presentation and discussion of research by Ph.D. students and faculty.
Doctoral Seminars: Doctoral Colloquium: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Ph.D. standing
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2022
Overview of planning theory that reviews the evolution of ideas about planning as a form of specialized knowledge, placed in historical context. Compares a range of different views of planning knowledge (positivist, interpretive, design, critical theory) with an emphasis on the relationship between planning and democratic politics.
Planning Theory: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Ph.D. level course
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Collier
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023
The investigation of modern cities has presented great challenges for social theory. For over a century, scholars have debated about how to read and explain the modern industrial city. This course traces the main ways in which these debates have unfolded since the middle of the nineteenth century to the present. To follow these debates is to understand how scholars have struggled to make cities legible, to fix them as objects of analysis, and simultaneously to capture their processes of transformation.
Urban Theory: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 3 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Instructor: Caldeira
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2023
Analysis of selected topics in city and metropolitan planning with emphasis on implications for planning practice and urban policy formation. In some semesters, optional five-week, 1-unit modules may be offered, taking advantage of guest visitors. Check department for modules at start of semester.
Topics in City and Metropolitan Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 0-4 hours of seminar per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 1-5 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
Studio on special projects in planning. Topics vary by semester.
Special Projects Studio in Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate standing
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2-3 hours of lecture and 6-9 hours of studio per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Fall 2024
This workshop is designed for Masters students in the Department of City & Regional Planning who are working on their professional report, client report, or thesis.
Capstone Writing Workshop: Read More [+]
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2 hours of seminar per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2008
Supervised experience on a research project in urban or regional planning. Any combination of 295, 297 courses may be taken for a total of 6 units maximum towards the M.C.P. degree.
Supervised Research in City and Regional Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate standing in department and consent of adviser and sponsor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 0 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Supervised Research in City and Regional Planning: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2015, Fall 2007, Spring 2007
Supervised experience relative to specific aspects of practice in city or regional planning. Any combination of 295, 297 courses may be taken for a total of 6 units maximum toward the M.C.P. degree. A maximum of 3 units of 297 can be used for degree requirements.
Supervised Field Study in City and Regional Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate standing in department and consent of adviser and sponsor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 0 hours of fieldwork per week
Summer: 8 weeks - 1.5-3.5 hours of fieldwork per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Supervised Field Study in City and Regional Planning: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2022
Topics to be announced at beginning of each semester. No more than 3 units may be taken in one section.
Group Studies: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-3 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: The grading option will be decided by the instructor when the class is offered.
Terms offered: Fall 2019, Fall 2015, Spring 2015
Individual study or research program; must be worked out with instructor in advance of signing up for credits. Maximum number of individual study units (295, 297, 299) counted toward the M.C.P. degree credits is 9.
Individual Study or Research: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor and graduate standing
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 0 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Summer 2015 10 Week Session, Summer 2009 10 Week Session, Summer 2007 10 Week Session
Individual study or research program; must be worked out with instructor in advance of signing up for credits. Maximum number of individual study credits counted toward the MCP degree is 9.
Individual Study or Research: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Consent of instructor and graduate standing
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Summer: 8 weeks - 1-6 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate
Grading: Letter grade.
Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2021, Fall 2019
Supervised teaching experience in courses related to planning. Course may not be applied toward the M.C.P. degree.
Supervised Teaching in City and Regional Planning: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Graduate standing in department and appointment as a graduate student instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 1-2 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Professional course for teachers or prospective teachers
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Formerly known as: City and Regional Planning 300
Supervised Teaching in City and Regional Planning: Read Less [-]
Terms offered: Fall 2024
Professional courses for prospective teachers
Supervised Teaching: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Appointment as graduate student instructor
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 2-4 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Professional course for teachers or prospective teachers
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Terms offered: Fall 2023, Fall 2019, Fall 2015
Individual study in consultation with the major field adviser, intended to provide an opportunity for qualified students to prepare themselves for the various examinations required of candidates for the Ph.D. May not be used for unit or residence requirements for the doctoral degree. Students may earn 1-8 units of 602 per semester or 1-4 units per summer session. No student may accumulate more than a total of 16 units of 602.
Individual Study for Doctoral Students: Read More [+]
Rules & Requirements
Prerequisites: Ph.D. students only
Repeat rules: Course may be repeated for credit without restriction.
Hours & Format
Fall and/or spring: 15 weeks - 0 hours of independent study per week
Additional Details
Subject/Course Level: City and Regional Planning/Graduate examination preparation
Grading: Offered for satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade only.
Contact Information
Department of City and Regional Planning
228 Bauer Wurster Hall
Phone: 510-642-3256
Department Chair, Perloff Family Chair in City & Regional Planning
Daniel Chatman
PhD Head Graduate Advisor, Professor, Carmel P. Friesen Chair in Urban Studies
Teresa Caldeira
CED Undergraduate Advising
Undergraduate Student Advisors
250 Bauer Wurster Hall