Below are currently offered courses for the Spring semester. For course meeting times and locations, see the UC Berkeley Online Schedule of Classes.
Undergraduate Courses
ENVDES 100 (Larice)
The City: Theories and Methods in Urban Studies
Units: 4 (lecture/discussion)
This course is concerned with the study of cities. Focusing on great cities around the world - from Chicago to Los Angeles, from Rio to Shanghai, from Vienna to Cairo it covers of historical and contemporary patterns of urbanization and urbanism. Through these case studies, it introduces the key ideas, debates, and research genres of the interdisciplinary field of urban studies. In other words, this is simultaneously a "great cities" and "great theories" course. Its purpose is to train students in critical analysis of the socio-spatial formations of their lived world.
Extended Course Description: ENVDES 100 is a course intended to both provoke interest and help focus attention on your future careers working in and on cities. Targeted generally at urban studies students and those in the built environment majors here in the College, the course is not a course that forces rote memorization of details and esoterica from a slate of progressive theories. It is not a course in advanced navel gazing and posturing. Rather, it is an opportunity to gauge where we stand as a society in the ongoing historical and practical processes of city making, and more importantly … where you stand with respect to your future career goals. The course is an introduction to living and emergent urbanisms and the methods we use in urban research and taking action in the world. Since perspectives on cities are endlessly relative, the approach to course material will be both pluralistic and comparative, eschewing any single normative notion of appropriateness or rightness. We will examine course topics from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. ED 100 The City will be structured in a thematic and disciplinary manner – integrating urban theories with urban methods concurrently. The City is broad in its scope as a primary upper division survey course. We will only skim the surface in these few months we are together. We hope that the material strikes a chord to propel you to become a conscientious and capable urbanist – whether as a professional or citizen.
ENVDES 131 (Frick)
The Community Design Process
Units: 2 (Fieldwork)
The Community Design Process will give CED undergraduate students the opportunity to effect change in the Bay Area through direct engagement and mentorship of Bay Area teens. Through a unique partnership with FamFirst Family Foundation, undergraduates will support a new generation of innovative thinkers to create solutions for the future of Oakland and the world. This interdisciplinary course will engage undergraduates in activities that range from curriculum development to direct mentorship, teaching, project planning, project management, and direct engagement with FamFirst teens at the West Oakland Youth Center.
4 hours of outside work hours per week, and 2 hours of student-instructor coverage of course materials and course development/skills/practice per week.
Extended Course Description: TBD
CY PLAN C88 (Gonzalez)
Data Science for Smart Cities
Units: 2 (lecture)
Prerequisites: Foundations of Data Science (COMPSCI C8 / INFO C8 / STAT C8)
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.
Extended Course Description: TBD
CY PLAN 114 (Moran)
Introduction to Urban and Regional Transportation
Units: 3 (lecture)
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.
Extended Course Description: Efficient, safe, and sustainable transportation is essential to the social, economic, and environmental well-being of cities and regions. This survey course covers a range of themes related to the planning of such systems. We focus on multi-modal ground transportation—autos/highways, mass transit, paratransit, and non-motorized transport—at multiple geographical scales ranging from local neighborhoods to large urban regions. The course concentrates on contemporary policy issues and problems such as traffic congestion, air pollution, energy consumption, social equity, and transportation finance. The institutional and political environment that governs transportation planning and practice are an important theme as well. As background we also study the historical evolution of transportation systems; how transportation systems have shaped metropolitan areas; variance in travel demand in regions; and how transportation planning is carried out in the US.
There is one required textbook: The Geography of Urban Transportation, 4th edition, edited by Susan Hanson and Genevieve Giuliano (2014, The Guilford Press) available at the Student Store and also from online booksellers. Almost all of the remaining required readings will be in a reader for purchase at a location to be announced later. The readings for the first week will be placed online at the bCourses site (https://bcourses.berkeley.edu/). The optional readings can also be found on the bCourses site. Lecture slides and other course materials will be posted there as well.
CY PLAN 116 (Suczynski-Smith)
Urban Planning Process-The Undergraduate Planning Studio
Units: 4 (seminar/studio)
Prerequisites: Upper division standing; CYPLAN 110 or consent of instructor.
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.
Extended Course Description: City Planning 116 is an intensive studio course that aims to give students a real- world experience with city planning. By focusing on one physical area, the course helps students learn about the entire gamut of city planning issues: physical building and street design issues, social and economic issues, environmental impacts, analysis methods, legal framework, city government, politics, and community dynamics. During the course, students carry out fieldwork and develop proposals in the studio. They undertake a series of incremental assignments that culminate in the preparation of a plan for their designated study area.
City Planning 116 is targeted to undergraduate City Planning majors and Urban Studies majors who have already taken CP 110, but is open to other undergraduate and graduate students as space permits. As a studio, it is a class of 16-20 students that allows for intensive interaction with classmates and the instructor. Different components of the work will be done individually, in small groups, and as an entire class.
CY PLAN 117AC (Corburn)
Urban & Community Health
Units: 3 (lecture/discussion)
Prerequisites: Undergraduate, upper-division standing, unless given Instructor permission.
Examination of how the physical development of cities and urban programs have shaped the lives and social roles of all minority groups and women, and vice-versa. Assessment of past and current alternative future planning polices that are equitable will be explored.
Extended Course Description: 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, particularly African-Americans, Latinos and Asian-Pacific Islanders. We will explore the roles of national and local policy, science and research, and cultural representations to explore the causes of structural inequalities and how racial inequalities get ‘into our bodies’ to influence community health. We will pay special attention to community health in urban areas, since a majority of the world now lives in cities. We will use case studies of community health action from the Bay Area, across the US and globally. 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.
CY PLAN 130 (Garnand)
U.S. Housing, Planning, and Policy
Units: 3 (lecture)
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.
Extended Course Description: TBD
CY PLAN 180B (Lindheim)
Research Seminar on Comparative Urban Studies: Managing Cities for Equity, Equitable Development, and Equitable Government
Units: 3 (seminar)
Prerequisites: 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.
Extended Course Description: TBD
CY PLAN 190 SEC 1 (McKoy)
Planning a Resilient Oakland with Young People & Schools
Co-listed with CYPLAN 268
Units: 4 (lecture)
Prerequisites: Upper division standing.
This studio offers graduate and undergraduate students a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in community engagement. Participants will work directly with city planners and Oakland K-12 public school students on projects focusing on equity and climate/environmental resilience. This course will also cover powerful youth engagement strategies by utilizing the award-winning Y-PLAN (Youth - Plan, Learn, Act, Now) methodology and allow UCB students to serve as mentors to support high school classes to develop policy proposals.
Extended Course Description:
Project Clients & Partners May Include:
- Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)
- City of Oakland, Sustainability Office
- OUSD’s, Central Kitchen, Instructional Farm and Educational Center
- City of Oakland Mayor’s Office
- Oakland Housing Authority
- UC Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Despite being directly affected by city planning decisions, children and youth often have little to no say in the policymaking process. In response, this studio course utilizes the Y-PLAN (Youth - Plan, Learn, Act, Now) community engagement methodology to provide young people (K-12 public school students) with the tools and platform needed to help shape their cities. Studio participants will work with Oakland/Bay Area youth on projects that are relevant to their lives and meaningful to their communities. While focusing on a range of community-based needs, the course will emphasize social justice as the driving force behind its youth engagement projects.
Graduate and undergraduate students will learn about the importance of engaging young people and best practices for doing so. They will use the nationally recognized Y-PLAN methodology to support OUSD (Oakland Unified School District) high school teachers and their students to develop innovative proposals for civic clients, including city agency leaders and city planners. As part of this process, UC Berkeley students will serve as mentors during 6-8 week planning projects, engaging with OUSD classrooms in-person and/or virtually (depending on COVID-19 protocols).
This year, project topics include, but are not limited to, green infrastructure (i.e. rainwater capture and urban agriculture), air quality (i.e. monitoring, ventilation, filtration), and earthquake resilience (i.e. vulnerability of soft-story housing). UC Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering will also contribute to these projects, which offers exciting opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.
As studio mentors, CP268/190 students will engage in a total of 15 hours of fieldwork over the course of the semester (largely in-person/some hybrid). They will support up to three different high schools in Oakland (and possibly an elementary school in San Francisco).
To learn more about Y-PLAN visit: y-plan.berkeley.edu
Graduate Courses
CY PLAN 201B (Caldeira & Parker)
Planning Methods Gateway: Part II
Units: 4 (lecture/laboratory)
Prerequisites: City and Regional Planning 201A; exceptions made with instructor approval.
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.
Extended Course Description: CP 201B is the second part of a 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. The course focuses on supporting integrated problem solving, using a case-based approach to introduce methods in sequenced building-blocks. The course also prepares MCP students for more advanced courses in statistics, GIS, observation, qualitative methods, survey methods, and public participation.
The second semester of the course, CP 201B, continues the overview of methods in planning that began in CP 201A. We focus on qualitative methods and data collection (observation, focus groups, interviews, and surveys), additional GIS tools for creating spatial measures, and methods of statistical inference including regression. CP 201A is generally a prerequisite to CP 201B, with exceptions made by instructor approval.
CY PLAN 204C (Radke)
Introduction to GIS and City Planning
Units: 4 (lecture/laboratory)
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.
Extended Course Description: This course is designed for graduate students in City and Regional Planning or related disciplines. CP204c covers a range of GIS techniques used in planning. It focuses on the development of spatial models, beginning with simple vector based objects representing a sampled real world, through raster orcell based networks(often from remotely sensed imagery), to constrained vector line networks (solving location allocation problems), to more complex (and realistic) 3D surfaces.It reviews the impact that proximity and boundaries exert on spatial interaction and introduces concepts and models to solve spatial problems in both (urban) constrained and (landscape) unconstrained environments.
This course emphasizes the interplay of theory and application, with a dozen computer-based homework assignments (all involving analyses using ArcGIS 10.8). Theory is introduced through lectures and assigned readings, while application is emphasized during in class exercises, homework assignments, and a final project. A software license to load this on your personal computer will be issued in the first lab session.
The primary goal of this course is to provide students with the spatial theory, knowledge and applied skills to define, design and develop their own models to solve spatial problems in city and regional planning. Thestudent will develop skills in spatial analysis that include: data discovery (Web Based),database design and construction, spatial data integration, data rectification and projection, image processing and integration(at a basic level), spatial data model conversion, data management, modeling and data presentation (commonly referred to as mapping).
CY PLAN 205 (Bigelow)
Introduction to Planning and Environmental Law
Units: 3 (lecture)
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.
Extended Course Description: This course will introduce you to land use and environmental law regulating the development of land, such as nuisance law, zoning, eminent domain, subdivisions, building codes, environmental protection statutes and regulations, and fair housing requirements. We will also review the constitutional constraints found primarily in the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments on the use of these laws. Because politics, economics, and social norms also shape the use and development of land, we will also examine the relationship between formal and informal controls that govern land use patterns.
CY PLAN 207 (Hamstead)
Land and Housing Market Economics
Units: 3 (lecture)
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.
Extended Course Description: TBD
CY PLAN 208A (Macdonald)
Virtual Collaborative Plan Preparation Studio
The virtual format is currently under the Academic Senate review.
Units: 5 (seminar/studio)
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.
Extended Course Description: This course is open to students in the Master of City Planning (MCP) program. If space allows, students in other CED professional master’s degree programs may petition for admission. There are no pre-requisites.
This studio course explores city building and place-making from a planning perspective within the context of preparing a neighborhood plan for a not-to-large urban area via virtual collaborative methods using digital platforms including Zoom and In-Vision. Virtual collaborative working processes are becoming more and more the norm for professional urban plan making processes, with their use having recently expanded exponentially, and this course is designed to immerse students in this new way of working through its online format.
The first half of the studio will be spent looking at and trying to understand qualities of the existing physical environment, natural and man-made, and the social and economic contexts in which it is situated. Working individually and in teams, students will engage in empirical observations and other forms of data collection. Following analysis of the gathered data, students will prepare graphics that communicate the findings, identify the opportunities and constraints that derive from them, and speak to implications. Students will prepare oral presentations to go with the graphics, and will present the analysis at an online forum that invites discussion and suggestions for plan-making.
The second half of the studio will be spent preparing a neighborhood plan for the study area. The plan will deal primarily with physical issues including land use and urban form, housing, streets and open spaces, and transportation, but there will be an opportunity to also address economic development and community development issues through their relation to physical elements and structures.
Following brief individual exercises to investigate relevant design and precedents and explore possible design approaches suggested by the existing conditions finding, students will assemble into teams that will prepare coordinated plan proposals. Students will also undertake individual work within the context of the team’s overall plan. This individual work will consist of either design proposals for specific development sites and public spaces that have been identified as central to the plan, or socio-economic proposals that are associated with specific physical sites. The plan will be prepared in graphic form and students will present it orally at a final review held in an online forum.
Along with virtual collaboration methods, another major emphasis of the course is on the graphic communication of planning and design analysis and proposals. Time will be devoted to learning drawing and sketching techniques appropriate for plan preparation, including an introduction to the use of computer applications for presentation graphics.
Study Area this Semester: San Francisco’s Central SoMa Freeway Corridor
Course Format: Instruction will be online and synchronous during class meeting times. Students are expected to attend all classes synchronously except for medically necessary absences. Class sessions will be conducted via Zoom, and most will include seminar style discussions at which work approaches and research findings will be collaboratively discussed by the whole class, and also group or individual studio work assisted by instructor desk crits, which will take place in Zoom rooms. Several class sessions will consist of graphics workshops and a handful will be devoted to class presentations. Outside of class time, students are expected to collaborate with their team members primarily via digital means, although in-person collaboration can occur as students choose.
CYPLAN 214 (Collier)
Infrastructure Planning and Policy: Climate Planning and Urban Systems
Units: 3 (lecture)
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.
Extended Course Description: This course examines the links between climate adaptation and mitigation planning and urban systems such as infrastructures (water supply, stormwater management, electricity, transportation and land use) and mechanisms of finance (such as insurance, municipal bonds, and disaster relief). It will explore the ways that urban systems are shaping planning for climate change in cities, as well as the way that urban systems are themselves being reworked, reformed, and re-engineered to pursue climate adaptation and mitigation goals. Particular focus will be placed on the links between urban systems and broader national and state level policy frameworks, and on the connections between urban climate planning and questions of social equity and justice. The primary focus will be on California and the United States, but selective international cases will also be considered. Readings will include primary planning texts, policy research documents, and interpretive social science. The course will combine lectures, seminar-style discussion, and student-led discussion of case studies.
CYPLAN C217 (Barbour)
Transportation Policy and Planning
Cross-listed with CIVENG C250N
Units: 3 (lecture)
Prerequisites: Civil and Environmental Engineering C290U, City Planning C213, or consent of instructor. Also listed as Civil and Environmental Engineering C250N.
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.
Extended Course Description: TBD
CYPLAN 238 (Metcalf)
Development-Design Studio
Units: 4 (seminar/studio)
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.
Extended Course Description:
Studio Format: Serving as an opportunity to mimic real-world experience, this class simulates the process of working with a client and navigating the social, economic, and political challenges inherent in creating an affordable housing project. Students will apply design, finance, and planning skills to develop new approaches to affordable housing—approaches that could go on to inspire an actual development for low-income residents. Thanks to a generous gift from CED Alumni James R. Boyce (M. Arch. ’67), two interdisciplinary studios (Masters of Architecture students (ARCH 202) and Master of City Planning, Law, Business, Public Policy students (CP 238)) will work in tandem to consider all aspects of development and design. City and Regional Planning Lecturer Ben Metcalf is co-teaching this class with City and Regional Planning faculty member Carol Galante and Daniel Simons and Chelsea Johnson of David Baker Architects. Student teams will produce an affordable-housing development plan and design in a competition that will be professionally juried at the end of the semester.
Throughout the course, leading professionals in development, finance, law, planning, architecture, non-profits, and municipal agencies will work with students, providing a more thorough understanding of site selection, entitlements, community needs, affordable housing programs, financial modeling, management, construction, and design. Design will include the principles of site planning, sustainability, unit plans, common area spaces, pedestrian street experiences, and neighborhood context. There will be an emphasis on innovation and creativity that simultaneously lower costs and enhance livability and quality.
Project: This year the studio will focus on affordable housing development opportunities in the context of adaptive reuse of former commercial buildings. Working with the State of California on publicly-owned sites that are slated for future disposition, students will have a real-world opportunity to inform upcoming State requests for proposals for affordable housing. The typology of the building, the population served, and the financing plan are all decisions that each team will have to make. During the first few weeks of class, students will evaluate how zoning regulations, physical constraints, city governments, and the neighborhood context impact what can be built on two different sites. Each site will have multiple interdisciplinary teams of approximately five students collaborating on a finished design, with each team developing their own program, financing plan, and entitlement path as described above.
Competition: Students will present their work as part of an end-of-year symposium that will include both a juried review and presentations from working professionals in the field of affordable housing. Winning teams will be recognized by a variety of means.
CYPLAN 248 (Ellis)
Advanced Studio: Urban Design/ Environmental Planning
Units: 4 (seminar/studio)
Advanced problems in urban design and land use, and in environmental planning. Occasional Friday meetings are required.
Extended Course Description:
This studio will explore creating plans for compact, mixed-use neighborhoods that are transit-oriented, pedestrian friendly and environmentally resilient and sustainable. In an era of climate change, the need for skilled practitioners and policy makers to address many of the big challenges has never been greater.
The course will explore through the analysis of precedents and case studies examples of sustainable urban design. Case studies to be evaluated will include Hammarby Sjostad, Malmo’s Bo 01 district and Vauban in Freiberg, documented in Harrison Fraker’s book ‘The Hidden Potential of Susainable Neighborhoods’, as well as examples from the West Coast from Vancouver to Los Angeles. A critical reading will be Michael Dennis’ 2021 book ‘Architecture and the City’.
The studio will examine a real live project in London as an opportunity to draw lessons on urban design and environmental planning. Thamesmead is a Brutalist era town in the Thames Estuary that was planned and built in the 1960’s and 70’s. It achieved notoriety with Stanley Kubrick’s film ‘A Clockwork Orange’ that characterized the place as a violent dystopia. Since then, Thamesmead has suffered from isolation, poor transit and the lack of a town center. With London’s expansion in the last few decades and the advent of Crossrail, London’s new transit spine, Thamesmead is poised to be reimagined.
The London Plan 2050 aims to build 15,000 new dwellings there together with a new town center, new transit links and other features. The developers Lendlease and Peabody have outlined a detailed program for development which will be the focus of this study. It will be an opportunity to explore planning ideas and to create an urban framework for a new community. We will be able to explore different densities of development, street and block patterns, building typologies and study relevant precedents and case studies. Students will be asked to work in teams to prepare plans and designs as well as individual assignments.
The CP 248 studio undertook a similar exercise in 2017 and 2018 for another site in West London and were able to participate in a week-long urban design charrette with Cambridge University students over the Spring Break. Depending on funding it might be possible to arrange a similar visit to London and Cambridge in the Spring Break 2022.
CYPLAN 255 (Gardner)
Urban Informatics and Visualization
Units: 3 (lecture)
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.
Extended Course Description: TBD
CYPLAN 268 (McKoy)
Planning a Resilient Oakland with Young People & Schools
Co-listed with CYPLAN 190-1
Units: 4 (studio/seminar)
Extended Course Description: This studio offers graduate and undergraduate students a unique opportunity to gain hands-on experience in community engagement. Participants will work directly with city planners and Oakland K-12 public school students on projects focusing on equity and climate/environmental resilience. This course will also cover powerful youth engagement strategies by utilizing the award-winning Y-PLAN (Youth - Plan, Learn, Act, Now) methodology and allow UCB students to serve as mentors to support high school classes to develop policy proposals.
Project Clients & Partners May Include:
- Oakland Unified School District (OUSD)
- City of Oakland, Sustainability Office
- OUSD’s, Central Kitchen, Instructional Farm and Educational Center
- City of Oakland Mayor’s Office
- Oakland Housing Authority
- UC Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Course Overview: Despite being directly affected by city planning decisions, children and youth often have little to no say in the policymaking process. In response, this studio course utilizes the Y-PLAN (Youth - Plan, Learn, Act, Now) community engagement methodology to provide young people (K-12 public school students) with the tools and platform needed to help shape their cities. Studio participants will work with Oakland/Bay Area youth on projects that are relevant to their lives and meaningful to their communities. While focusing on a range of community-based needs, the course will emphasize social justice as the driving force behind its youth engagement projects.
Graduate and undergraduate students will learn about the importance of engaging young people and best practices for doing so. They will use the nationally recognized Y-PLAN methodology to support OUSD (Oakland Unified School District) high school teachers and their students to develop innovative proposals for civic clients, including city agency leaders and city planners. As part of this process, UC Berkeley students will serve as mentors during 6-8 week planning projects, engaging with OUSD classrooms in-person and/or virtually (depending on COVID-19 protocols).
This year, project topics include, but are not limited to, green infrastructure (i.e. rainwater capture and urban agriculture), air quality (i.e. monitoring, ventilation, filtration), and earthquake resilience (i.e. vulnerability of soft-story housing). UC Berkeley’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering will also contribute to these projects, which offers exciting opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.
As studio mentors, CP268/190 students will engage in a total of 15 hours of fieldwork over the course of the semester (largely in-person/some hybrid). They will support up to three different high schools in Oakland (and possibly an elementary school in San Francisco).
To learn more about Y-PLAN visit: y-plan.berkeley.edu
CYPLAN 280A (Frick)
Research Design for the Ph.D.
Units: 3 (seminar)
Extended Course Description: 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.
CYPLAN 280B (Summers)
Doctoral Research and Writing Seminar
Co-listed GMS 201 / GEOG 206
Units: 3 (seminar)
Extended Course Description: 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.
CYPLAN 280C (Gonzalez)
Doctoral Seminars: Doctoral Colloquium
Units: 2 (seminar)
Extended Course Description: Presentation and discussion of research by Ph.D. students and faculty.
CYPLAN 284 (Caldeira)
Urban Theory
Units: 3 (seminar)
Extended Course Description: 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 and more recently the various forms of post-industrial cities. 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. Readings for the class include classical texts from Weber, Simmel, the Chicago School, the Marxist canon (from Engels to Lefebvre, Harvey and Castells), contemporary urbanists writing from the perspective of cities in the global south, critical perspectives from feminism, black geography, critical race studies, and more.
CYPLAN 290 SEC A (Hamstead)
Topics in City and Metropolitan Planning: "Climate Justice Seminar"
Units: 3 (seminar)
Extended Course Description: The 21st century is characterized by a set of interrelated ecological, climate, and economic concerns that articulate with inequities across race, ethnicity, gender, economic capacity, sexual orientation, species, and other forms of identity and difference. Across the globe, communities are experiencing unstable weather and climate conditions unfavorable for the wellbeing of humans, and the ecological and technological systems on which we rely. Historical processes of urbanization—including urban densification and expansion—have not only warmed the globe through greenhouse gas-emitting activities, but have also warmed the local climate and changed local weather patterns through land use changes. Like earlier generations of environmental burdens (e.g., toxic waste, auto emissions), climate-induced extreme weather events are products of our political economy, and the risks associated with those events are exacerbated by political, economic, and exclusionary processes. The Human Rights Council of the United Nations has used the term “climate apartheid” to describe the vast unevenness in access to climate disaster protection across communities (United Nations Human Rights Council, 2019). Altering the climate is an economic and political endeavor, as is curbing climate change and adapting to climate-exacerbated extreme weather events. Thus, understanding urban climate and environmental injustice requires unpacking the political and power dimensions of these types of burdens.
This course engages with the historical contexts, governance processes, theories, scientific understandings, and politics of urban climate and environmental justice. We will become familiar with the origins of environmental and climate justice movements, a pluralism of theoretical frameworks that shape our understanding of climate equity and environmental justice, governance and scientific frameworks that are used to address environmental inequities, and critical perspectives that enable us to examine how green and climate concepts are leveraged rhetorically to maintain power structures. Course activities are structured around student-selected place-based case studies that will ground our learning. Students will 1) conduct background research to understand a particular place-based climate injustice-related problem and existing plans and policies which could be leveraged to address it; 2) apply theories (e.g., ecofeminism, capabilities, critical race) and scientific assessment and analysis frameworks (e.g., discourse analysis, spatial analysis) to that problem; and 3) review planning precedents (e.g., climate resilience plans) that could inform solutions. These activities will build toward developing a planning framework that could be used to guide place-based climate equity strategies.
CYPLAN 290 SEC B (South & Weinstein-Carnes)
Topics in City and Metropolitan Planning: "Business and Legal Issues in Real Estate Development"
Units: 3 (seminar)
Extended Course Description: This is an excellent time to learn about, and ultimately invest in and plan, real estate development. This course is designed as an interdisciplinary approach for business, law, planning, and public policy students to learn about every aspect of deal making in the land development process. Although the course will focus on real estate and land investment, the thrust will be on deal making, whether it be on acquisition, financing, environmental review, entitlement, obtaining community support, or ultimate disposition of a successful project. Law students will learn to evaluate business risks and to make deals, and business, planning, and public policy students will gain a conceptual framework for understanding legal issues which are critical to the real estate development and deal making process. The course will also introduce the use of green technology and the inclusion of affordable housing in the development process.
CYPLAN 291 SEC 2 (Wolch)
The Buzz Studio: Planning Equitable Cities for People and Pollinators
Units: 4 (studio)
Extended Course Description: The world’s people and ecosystems depend on pollinators such as bees, butterflies, insects, and fruit bats. Three-fourths of all flowering plants and 35% of all food crops worldwide need pollinators in order to reproduce. Yet many native pollinator populations are shrinking, and many are threatened or endangered due to habitat loss, pollution, agricultural insecticides, and competition from non-native species. Growing awareness of the plight of pollinators have catalyzed ‘pollinator city’ programs, employing a rich array of participatory strategies. They range from small scale community garden and green space efforts to city-wide efforts such Toronto’s Pollinator Protection Strategy and Oslo’s Bee Highway, from private developments such as Baseline, Colorado that feature a ‘pollinator district’ to Auckland’s ‘For the Love of Bees’ project led by artists, and ‘Ciudad Dulce’, Curridabat, Costa Rica’s urban plan that declares pollinators citizens of the city.
The Buzz Studio will partner with Peralta Hacienda Historical Park in Oakland. Headquartered in the historic 1870 Peralta House in the Fruitvale District, the mission of the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park is to promote understanding and historical healing in a diverse and changing community, giving voice to the many cultures that have created—and are still transforming—California. The Park, which includes the Peralta Creek Nature Area, offers a range of youth programs focused on arts, culture and the environment as well as community gardening opportunities, events and exhibits, and social and environmental justice education. The Park is located on 34th Avenue, one of the City of Oakland’s designated “Slow Streets” designed to promote equitable opportunities for physical activity and recreation, walkable access to neighborhood services, and community interaction. The Park’s master plan, developed in collaboration with Hood Design, includes reimagined spaces for community events, performances, markets, classes, courses, workshops, exhibitions and food celebrations.
The Buzz Studio will work with Peralta Hacienda to co-create a model “pollinator district” program that simultaneously addresses environmental and ecological justice. The collaborative effort will develop strategies to increase awareness of the role of pollinators in food security, the ecological challenges facing pollinator species, and ways to support native pollinator populations. After an introduction to the challenges facing pollinator species and the variety of pollinator programs undertaken in cities around the world, the studio’s work will include research on the history of urban agriculture and community gardens in the Bay Area, documentation of native pollinator habitat and population decline over time, and assessment of current local pollinator-related projects. At the same time, the studio will assess the park and green space inequities facing residents of the Fruitvale District, and the city’s plans for the 34th Avenue Slow Street. In collaboration with Peralta Hacienda partners, the studio may develop community pollinator education and engagement strategies (including public art and signage); design outreach tools to encourage 34th Avenue residents and institutions to plant native species that support pollinators as well as food security; propose urban design interventions associated with the 34th Avenue Slow Street to increase green space equity as well as support pollinator diversity; and/or build a youth science program to monitor pollinator populations over time as pollinator friendly plantings and insect hotels are installed.
Enrollment by consent of instructor.
Please apply here by November 4. https://tinyurl.com/8zdh2hnk
CYPLAN 298 SEC 6 (Christensen)
The Writing Workshop
Units: 1 (Workshop)
Extended Course Description: This writing workshop will help Masters Students acquire writing skills, habits and methods to prepare them for their professional careers. Each workshop session introduces one or more concepts or techniques to aid in writing effectively. For example, workshop sessions include “free writing”, the nutshell, funnel and tree, and a structured form of writing feedback. The workshop will also include writing feedback, ensuring that each student receives individualized support and guidance to move his or her work forward.
Recommended readings:
- Strunk, William and E. B. White. 1979. The Elements of Style. 3rd Ed. New York: Macmillan
- Elbow, Peter. 1981. Writing with Power. New York: Oxford University Press
- Dunlap, Louise. 2007. Undoing the Silence: Six Tools for Social Change Writing. Oakland, CA: New Village Press
- Flower, Linda. Problem – Solving Strategies for Writing 4th Edition. Amazon
The Writing Workshop Sessions will be held on January 28th, February 25th, March 18th.
CYPLAN 298 SEC 7 (Imboden)
Community Engagement Workshop for Planners and Developers
Units: 1 (Workshop)
Extended Course Description: In this one-credit class, to be held January 3-14, 2022 students will gain concrete tools and a framework for planning and conducting community engagement to incorporate public priorities into their projects. Building on the principles and best practices for public participation, students will learn, through practice, how to build and implement an engagement plan, including how to identify and prioritize key stakeholders and how to select appropriate techniques for gathering input, including using online tools. Students will discuss the importance of framing public participation with an equity lens; collaborating with community partners; and preparing in advance to incorporate learnings. In addition, students will have space to discuss the importance of empathy and cultural humility in engagement processes. Students will work from a current, real-world case with instructor Heather Imboden (Communities in Collaboration), as well as guest experts in equitable community engagement, to develop approaches to working with the community. Students can expect to gain hands-on experience throughout the course.
CYPLAN 298 SEC 8 (Metcalf)
California Housing Elements
Units: 2 (Workshop)
Prerequisites: CYPLAN 230 or consent of instructor.
Extended Course Description: Every eight years, cities and counties in California must update the Housing Element of their General Plan. Among other things, this update is a commitment to plan for housing production at all income levels, to affirmatively further fair housing, and to address climate change and jobs-housing balance through local programs and policies. In the Bay Area, these updates are currently underway and drafts will be available during spring 2022 for the public to comment on. The state's Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) reviews and certifies these Housing Elements, but does not have the capacity to adequately scrutinize all aspects. Indeed, HCD relies on local feedback to assess the veracity of claims in Housing Elements and question cities that may not be following the guidelines.
In this group study course, students will review and provide public comment on a draft Housing Element from a city or county in the Bay Area. The reviews will focus on both qualitative (Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing and Affordable Housing Programs) and quantitative (site inventory, ADUs and realistic development projections) analysis and assessment. The course will be taught in collaboration with Jon Wizard of YIMBY Law and the Campaign for Fair Housing Elements.
By the end of the semester, students will understand the structure and components of the Housing Element of California cities’ and counties’ General Plans; evaluate the technical challenges with projecting housing need at the local level and assessing constraints to housing production and site capacity; consider and develop arguments around governmental constraints to housing production and site capacity; and think through and provide feedback on local housing programs included in the housing element. In addition, they will have provided substantive feedback to improve a City or County’s Housing Element.
Participation in the course is limited to students who have completed CYPLAN 230 or can demonstrate comparable familiarity with housing policy to the instructors’ satisfaction. The course will be pass/fail unless otherwise requested by students.
Please submit your enrollment application HERE