GATEWAY: PLANNING ACTION Course (Fall 2013)

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1 MIT Department of Urban Studies + Planning GATEWAY: PLANNING ACTION Course (Fall 2013) Website Class Meetings Required Discussion Sections Optional workshops (will be videotaped) Faculty Guest faculty Instructors Fall 2013 on the Stellar system (stellar.mit.edu) Monday/Wednesday 11AM-12:30PM, Room (Class will begin by 11:05PM and end promptly at 12:25PM) We have some flexibility in the section schedule, for example to accommodate students who wish to take Transportation Planning. These times are tentative; we may offer a morning or midday section too: Friday, either 1-2:30 or 2:30-4PM, see your Discussion Group assignment and meeting location on Stellar Professional Speech Workshop: Oral Briefings Thursday, October 10 th, 7:30-9PM (room TBA) Professional Writing Workshop: The Memorandum Monday, December 2 nd, (room TBA) (head) Xavier de Souza, Rm 9-521, , xbriggs@mit.edu. Office hours: Vary weekly, please sign up online (through BOOKIT). Assistant: Harriette Crawford 9-519, , hcrawfor@mit.edu (writing) Cherie Abbanat, Rm 9-367, , abbanat@mit.edu. Office hours by appointment. Eran Ben-Joseph, Judy Layzer, Ceasar McDowell, Brent Ryan, Lawrence Susskind, Terry Szold, others TBA. Our doctoral-student teaching and how to reach them: Lily Baum Pollans, lilyp@mit.edu, ok to call until 9PM, meetings by appointment Alpen Suresh Sheth, alpen@mit.edu, ok to call until 9PM, meetings by appointment Haegi Kwon, haegi@mit.edu, ok to call until 6PM, meetings by appointment Overview. This course introduces incoming students in the Master in City Planning (MCP) program to the theory and history of planning in the public interest. It relies primarily on challenging real-world cases to highlight persistent dilemmas, the power and limits of planning, the roles in which planners find themselves in communities around the globe, the multiple disciplines that define planning and inform planners as they work, and the political, ethical, and practical challenges that planners face as they try to be effective. As such, the course provides an introduction to the major ideas and debates that define what the field labels

2 planning theory, as well as a (necessarily) condensed global history of modern planning. Course builds directly on the How we approach planning summer reading module that incoming MCP students complete online. Courses in planning history, politics, and ethics are required in all accredited graduate programs in planning in the U.S. Gateway: Planning Action combines those contents with a stronger focus on real-world cases than more conventional lecture-based planning theory and history courses. Gateway also adds several opportunities to strengthen hands-on professional competencies, especially in oral and written communication, planning process design, and negotiation. What is planning? Our focus is on planning action or planned change, i.e. intervening in the world to change it, not the history of urban development or urban social theory, though we will explore the ways in which planning ideas and cities have shaped each other as societies evolve. Planning where? And theory why? The course is not an introduction to urban form or limited to the city planning profession in the U.S., though our work includes U.S. cases and readings. The most important of these are planning classics that are widely taught and referenced throughout the field, inside and outside the U.S. The primary objectives of the course are: 1. To introduce students to the field of planning, broadly defined its modern history, promise, and challenges providing, in the process, a language and set of reference points that help define the (narrower) profession of city planning and the many fields it touches; 2. To begin to make 60+ individuals with varied backgrounds, goals, and expectations an effective learning community grounded in mutual respect, informed inquiry, and more; and 3. To strengthen core competencies essential to effective practice, including problem analysis, effective teamwork, and communication skills (written and oral). And additional objectives of the course are: 4. To help students begin to develop a workable theory of practice to guide their professional development and lifelong learning; 5. To introduce incoming students to the Department, including distinct specializations, the domestic and international elements of our work, and bridges across these. Format and Requirements. The course format and requirements emphasize the development of practice competencies and professionalism but in the context of applying big ideas and questions. Like much planning practice, much class time will be interactive, calling on you to be an active learner. 2

3 Our work on real-world cases will be necessarily selective: That is, our work cannot be mile-wide and inch-deep. So our cases will center on focal themes. The written assignments emphasize fluency with concepts (especially in Part A) and also professional judgment (especially in Parts B and C). The weekly Friday Discussion Sections give you a structured small learning community to complement lecture, discussions, and other types of exchange in the large-class setting, where the entire MCP class has a chance to discuss issues with far-reaching implications for planning and for each of your careers. Structure: The course is in three parts of roughly 4-5 weeks each. Part A introduces the core dilemmas and major modes of planning action as a story of planning s evolution, i.e. following the major stages of modern planning s history (since the rapid rise of industrial cities in the 1800s). Part B uses four contemporary and very multi-dimensional cases, some in the U.S and some abroad, to show what distinct modes of planning do to shed light on problems and generate possible solutions. For each case discussion, faculty from all four DUSP program groups will be with us in the classroom, to help us explore planning as a multi-discipline. And Part C uses cases as well as role-plays and other exercises to introduce the purposes and practices of stakeholder analysis, planning process design, and negotiation and facilitation. It also includes case-based discussion of ethics. Assignments. See details on the course website, Homework section, as well as due dates on the Schedule at a glance below. Assignments include: (1) a nongraded, 500-word writing diagnostic, which builds directly on the summer modules for incoming students; (2) a take-home midterm exam addressing major questions on planning theory and history (Part A of the course); (3) a team briefing (roughly 30 minutes) addressing a case presented in Part B; and (4) a planning observation assignment, in which you attend, systematically observe, and critically summarize in a memorandum prepared to professional standards a public planning event in the Boston area or elsewhere, in Part C. Note: You will submit a draft of the final memo, receive feedback, and have the option to revise before resubmitting. We have scheduled the graded assignments as best we can, within constraints not to conflict with other assignments in the fall core curriculum (economics, GIS, and the program-group intro courses). Evaluation and feedback. We emphasize the latter as much as possible: giving you feedback on your work so as to sharpen your thinking and writing skills. We will identify strengths as well as areas for improvement. The course also includes evaluation (numerical scoring and letter grading), of course. The instructors (teaching ) do much, but not all, of the grading and feedback, with guidance from Xav and frequent teaching team discussions to enhance consistency, strive for a constructively critical tone (which includes candid assessment of shortcomings), and ensure detail in evaluation. These and other details are in the assignment instructions on the course website, Homework section. 3

4 Your grade will be computed as follows: (a) take-home midterm exam (30%); (b) oral briefing (30%); (c) professional memorandum (20%); and (c) effective class participation, including discussion sections (20%). Late submissions. We routinely grant extensions for genuine emergencies (contact Xav by phone and ), but in fairness to your colleagues, unexcused late submissions (exams or other assignments) will be penalized, with points deducted according to how late you submit. Details are on each assignment. Professional communication. Several of the course assignments, along with special skill-building instruction and resource materials, are designed to make you a more competent communicator in a variety of planning contexts. Our work together will include workshops on professional speech and writing, with a focus on informing and persuading decisionmakers, constituents, or clients. Improving your writing. Based on the writing diagnostic, the teaching team will encourage some students to work intensively on writing skills with Prof. Abbanat. She is available, throughout the semester, as a writing coach, and so are staff at the MIT Writing and Communication Center (see its website). Be sure to contact them with adequate notice, i.e. well in advance of assignment due dates. Our instructors can sometimes review drafts too. The classroom: Main class meetings. While faculty members bear a special responsibility given their role in guiding the work, every class member is responsible for contributing to our success. Much of our time will be spent in the group of the whole (entire class) but sometimes, we will use small groups, as few as 2-3 members apiece, to give you room for more focused exchange with one or more classmates. Whatever the format and scale, our discussions should therefore reflect a commitment to a few ground rules and norms: Respect with challenge: promoting mutual respect, being as inclusive as possible, but being willing to disagree thoughtfully where it will support a better discussion or bring important ideas and differences into view; Listening actively: listening to understand, checking assumptions, building on others ideas, not simply awaiting one s turn to talk; Assuming responsibility: in our case, for the work of making the classroom an effective place for learning, which means being more than a spectator; and Considering others: We expect you to attend all classes and to be on time. Please ensure that cell phones are turned off or silent and that portable music players are turned off and put away. Note-taking on a computer is fine, as is audio recording the class session if that helps you. Web surfing, multi-tasking and other diversions are not permitted. Teaching styles: Xav s style for leading discussions is typically Socratic: Posing a question and then a follow-on probe, making an observation, and then posing 4

5 another question. The objective is not to test your knowledge or recall so much as to sharpen your capacity to think critically about the course s key themes, to recognize assumptions behind your arguments, to help you practice making arguments about critical planning issues, and to help you learn how to learn more systematically from cases (from specifics to general principles). This includes pushing you to consider what may be unwelcome implications of your first ideas (responses). It also means ensuring that you grasp the arguments in major planning readings, which is distinct from encouraging you to simply voice your opinion on an issue. An opinion, unlike an argument, requires no evidence or other support. Other faculty teach according to their own styles, some following a much more lecture-driven mode with a straightforward Q&A. Friday discussion sections. Led by our doctoral student instructors, these are designed to complement the main class meetings in several ways: proceeding at a pace that ensures comprehension regardless of how much background preparation, of any particular type, you bring to the MCP program; giving you a chance to ask questions you might not ask in the main class meetings; and giving you a chance to build useful working relationships with a smaller group of classmates as well as your section instructor. All of this is crucial for learning effectively in a course that moves quickly, along a very multi-faceted agenda, with a large group of students who do not share a common reference point for planning s roles or a common educational background pre-dusp. Course materials. For most class sessions, you will read assigned material guided by specific, brief prefatory narrative and study questions, though you are welcome to go beyond them. The questions are linked to our central objectives for the case (or other discussion topic) at hand. Assignments, slides and other material presented in class, occasional handouts, announcements, the syllabus, and key updates, will be on the Stellar course website. We will use excerpts of these key texts, among others: Campbell and Fainstein, editors, READINGS IN PLANNING THEORY, 3 rd Edition (Blackwell, 2011). Forester, PLANNING IN THE FACE OF POWER (University of California, 1989). Friedmann, PLANNING IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN (Princeton, 1987). Sanyal, editor, COMPARATIVE PLANNING CULTURES (Routledge, 2005). Sanyal, Vale and Rosan, editors, PLANNING IDEAS THAT MATTER (MIT, 2012). Scott, SEEING LIKE A STATE: HOW CERTAIN SCHEMES TO IMPROVE THE HUMAN CONDITION HAVE FAILED (Yale, 1998). Smith, THE PLAN OF CHICAGO: DANIEL BURNHAM AND THE REMAKING OF THE AMERICAN CITY (University of Chicago, 2006). 5

6 SCHEDULE-AT-A-GLANCE Showing regular class sessions and discussion sections, assignment due dates, holidays, and other key dates. Class DAY DATE Unit/Themes/Cases Lead 1 W September 4 th Course Introduction: Surveying the field and its evolution. Case: Curitiba. F September 6 th Discussion section Teaching UNIT A: Planning History and Theory: Classic and Contemporary Perspectives 2 M September 9 th Planning and the booming industrial city Case: The Burnham Plan of Chicago *500-word writing diagnostic (essay) due on Stellar, 8PM, Sunday, September 9 th 3 W September 11 th The rise of the expert designer and social reformer, Ben-Joseph F September 13 th Discussion Session Teaching 4 M September 16 th Planning after WWII: Comprehensiveness, modernization, global diffusion. Case: The American neighborhood unit goes to India 5 W September 18 th Planning as policy analysis F September 20 th MIT Student Holiday (No discussion section) 6 M September 23 rd The attack on top-down planning 7 W September 25th Planning as interest-group bargaining F September 27 th Discussion section Teaching Assistants 8 M September 30 th Communicative planning and 6

7 deliberation 9 W October 2 nd Contemporary practice: Planning styles in conflict. Case: Transportation planning in the SF Bay Area F October 4 th Discussion section Teaching 10 M October 7 th Contemporary Practice: Smart Cities. Case? M October 7 th Professional Communication Workshop: Preparing and Delivering an Oral Briefing,, Williams? 11 W October 9 th Planning and Law, Part I Szold F October 11 th Discussion section M October 14 th Columbus Day Holiday (No class) 12 W October 16 th Planning and Law, Part II * Exam due on Stellar, 6PM Ben-Joseph F October 18 th Discussion Section Teaching Assistants UNIT B: Planning as a multi-discipline: Problem framing and problem solving 13 M October 21 st Case I Various 14 W October 23 rd Case discussion continues F October 25 th Discussion section 15 M October 28 th Case II *Teams 1-4 briefing dry run during recitation time *Teams 1-4 final briefing Teaching Various 16 W October 30 th Case discussion continues F November 1 st Discussion section *Teams 5-8 briefing dry run during recitation time Teaching 7

8 17 M November 4 th Case III *Teams 5-8 final briefing, Various 18 W November 6 th Case discussion continues F November 8 th Discussion section *Teams 9-12 briefing dry run during recitation time Teaching M November 12 th Veterans Day Holiday (No class) UNIT C: The Practice of Planning Politics: Governance and Ethics 19 W November 13 th Introduction to process design and decision-making *Teams 9-12 final briefing, F November 15 th Discussion section Teaching 20 M November 18 th Engagement and agenda-setting McDowell 21 W November 20 th (more) McDowell F November 22 nd Discussion section Teaching Assistants 22 M November 25 th (more) McDowell 23 W November 27 th In-class consensus building exercise *Draft planning observation memo due on Stellar, 6PM November 29 rd Thanksgiving Holiday (No discussion section) 24 M December 2 nd Exercise debrief Susskind 25 M December 2 nd Professional Communication Workshop: Memo Writing, W December 4 th Stakeholders, interests, representation, negotiation Susskind 8

9 F December 6 th Discussion Section Teaching Assistants 26 M December 9 th Planning ethics: Fair outcomes, fair process 27 W December 11 th Last Class: Review and look ahead et al. *Final planning observation memo due on Stellar, 6PM Reading assignments: See Stellar course website for each session s reading assignments, tips and study questions, and see Stellar and announcements for updates. Revised 22-August-13 9