Urban Studies and Planning Courses

To view current course offerings visit Testudo; for more detailed information on courses, please visit University of Maryland's Undergraduate and Graduate Course Catalogs.


 

URSP250 The Sustainable City: Exploring Opportunities and Challenges (3 Credits)
An exploration, through an interdisciplinary approach, of a number of issues related to making cities more sustainable in terms of environmental protection, economic opportunity, and social justice. The course assist students to develop skills in critical analysis and systems thinking and to use those skills in analyzing sustainability related problems and potential solutions, and to expand students' understanding of the political implications of crafting and moving towards a sustainable urban future.

 

URSP372 Diversity and the City (3 Credits)
Exploration of the different needs of diverse economic, racial/ethnic, and gender groups that live and work in cities, the historical background of differences, the impact of societal structures and group cultures, and how public and private policies do and can affect different groups.

 

URSP600 Research Design and Application (3 Credits)
Techniques in urban research, policy analysis, and planning. Survey of descriptive and normative models. Objective and subjective measurements. Emphasis on assumptions of research.
Formerly: URSP602.

 

URSP601 Research Methods (3 Credits)
Use of measurement, statistics, quantitative analysis, and micro-computers in urban studies and planning.
Recommended: An undergraduate-level statistics course; and familiarity with Microsoft Excel.
Formerly: URBS601.

 

URSP603 Land Use Planning: Concepts and Techniques (3 Credits)
Land use concepts and definitions: legal context for planning; markets and planning; planning for housing; community services, employment, utilities, and transportation; zoning; subdivision regulations; growth management; plan implementation.
Credit Only Granted for: URSP603, URBS680, or URBS603.
Formerly: URBS603.

 

URSP604 The Planning Process (3 Credits)
Legal framework for U.S. planning; approaches to the planning process; tools and technology; systems thinking; defining problems and issues; soliciting goals and values; developing and making good presentations; public participation; developing and evaluating alternatives and scenarios; plan evaluation; developing RFPs.
Credit Only Granted for: URSP604, URBS656, or URBS604.
Formerly: URBS604.

 

URSP605 Planning History and Theory (3 Credits)
Examination of key, selected major events and issues in U.S. planning history and the development of the Yplanning profession; exploration of major themes in planning theory and practical applications of them; and analysis of the relationship of history and theory.

 

URSP606 Planning Economics (3 Credits)
Resource allocation in a market economy, the nature of market failures, and the justifications for public sector intervention. The limits and possibilities for planning in a market economy.
Restriction: Must not have completed URSP630.
Credit Only Granted for: URSP606, URBS606, or URBS630.
Formerly: URBS606.

 

URSP631 Transportation and Land Use (3 Credits)
The interrelationship between transportation and land use. What are the impacts of various transportation modes on land use patterns, and how can land use solutions influence travel demand. The integration of transportation into master planning and site impact analysis. Using quantitative methods to understand the land use and transportation linkage.

 

URSP640 Growth Management and Environmental Planning (3 Credits)
Topics associated with growth management, defined as policies and strategies by which governments attempted to control the amount, location, pace, pattern and quality of development within their jurisdictions.

 

URSP661 City and Regional Economic Development Planning (3 Credits)
Spatial patterns of employment and populations, and models of urban and regional growth and decline. Focus on application of economic theory and urban planning techniques to issues of local economic development and planning.
Credit Only Granted for: URSP661, URBS440, or URBS661.
Formerly: URBS661.

 

URSP664 Real Estate Development for Planners (3 Credits)
Planning, Architectural and Public Policy students are introduced to the real estate development process primarily from the point of view of the private entrepreneurial developer. It will include the steps in undertaking a real estate development from the initial concept to the property management and final disposition, the basic financial and tax concepts underlying real estate development, a review of national housing policy,including public-private partnerships, and solving specific real estate development problems using financial spread-sheets.
Prerequisite: URSP606.
Credit Only Granted for: URSP664 or URSP688F.
Formerly: URSP688F.

 

URSP671 Politics and Planning (3 Credits)
Examination of the practice of planning as a technical and a practice role. Attitudes of planners toward plan implementation. Development of effective roles for professional planners.
Formerly: URSP691.

 

URSP673 Community Development (3 Credits)
Examines and identifies planning approaches and methods that can help communities - particularly low income communities - become stronger, more cohesive, and more capable of serving their interests. Examines urban poverty; urban politics; history, concepts and practice of community development; and community development approaches and methods.

 

URSP688 Recent Developments in Urban Studies (2-6 Credits)
Examination of selected current aspects of urban affairs and planning, including, for example, <"new towns"> in the United States or neighborhood preservation in Russia. Location of course may be off-campus.
Formerly: URBS688.

 

URSP705 Summer Community Planning Studio I (4 Credits)
Intensive community planning group field work, typically five days a week for four weeks. Often outside the USA. Application of class work to actual planning and policy challenges. Students seeking to meet the URSP studio requirement must also take URSP 706.
Restriction: Permission of instructor.

 

URSP706 Summer Community Planning Studio II (2 Credits)
Intensive analysis and report-preparation of work completed in URSP 705. Held in College Park. Students seeking to meet the URSP studio requirement must also take URSP 705.
Restriction: Permission of instructor.

 

URSP708 Community Planning Studio (2-6 Credits)
The Community Planning Studio is a "capstone" course intended to provide students with an opportunity to apply their knowledge and skills to analyze current, pressing planning issues, in a selected community and to produce a report containing recommendations for addressing those issues. In essence, students act as a consulting team for a community client.
Prerequisite: URSP605URSP604URSP601, and URSP600; and permission of ARCH-Urban Studies & Planning Program department.
Repeatable to: 6 credits.
Credit Only Granted for: URSP704 or URSP708.
Formerly: URSP704.

 

URSP709 Field Instruction (3-6 Credits)
Students will satisfy a 300-hour internship (20 hours for 15 weeks during the spring, 25 hours a week for 12 weeks during the summer). Suitable internships are approved by the Internship Coordinator or Instructor; they involve a significant amount of planning work (preferably in the student's are of interest) and provide an appropriate on-site supervisor. The Internship Coordinator will assist students in finding a suitable internship, but the ultimate responsibility rests with each student. Whether the internship is paid or not is a matter to be worked out between the student and the organization.
Prerequisite: URSP605URSP604, and URSP600; or permission of ARCH-Urban Studies & Planning Program department.
Repeatable to: 6 credits.
Credit Only Granted for: URSP703 or URSP709.
Formerly: URSP703.

 

URSP710 Research Seminar: Urban Theory and Issues (3 Credits)
An advanced research seminar for M.A. and M.C.P. students preparing their final research projects.
Prerequisite: 15 credits in URSP courses.
Restriction: Must be in Urban and Regional Planning and Design (Doctoral) program.
Formerly: URBS710.

 

URSP788 Independent Study in Urban Studies and Planning (1-3 Credits)
Directed research and study of selected aspects of urban affairs.
Repeatable to: 6 credits if content differs.
Formerly: URBS788.

 

URSP798 Readings in Urban Studies and Planning (1-3 Credits)
Directed readings in selected aspects of urban affairs and planning.
Repeatable to: 6 credits if content differs.
Formerly: URBS798.

 

URSP799 Master's Thesis Research (1-6 Credits)
Formerly:
 URBS799.