GEOG3605

“We shape our buildings. Thereafter, our buildings shape us.” Winston Churchill.

Plans and planning have been at the center of a struggle over our cities. The discipline evolved around critical urban problems and challenges — poverty, disease, art, democracy, mobility — and has continued to change along with our understanding of justice, value, and social good.

This course is going to dive into the history and present debates in urban planning, and will include two fieldwork activities that contrast planning and practice in Minneapolis. We will look at why the discipline of urban planning was created, how it has evolved, what tools planners use, how it works legally (e.g. zoning) and politically (e.g. public meetings). At the end of the semester, you will have a good grasp of the history of planning in cities, why most plans fail, and the central importance of planning to capitalism, democracy, and combating larger social problems.