Courses

The following directory draws from the official course catalog for the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. New and one-time courses offered since the last publication of the catalog may not be included here. Visit Testudo for a list of current course offerings.

• Urban Studies & Planning

• URSP 600 Research Design and Applications (3)

  Techniques in urban research, policy analysis and planning. Survey of methods and practices associated with data collection and analysis. Computer use expected.
  
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• URSP 601 Research Methods (3)

  Prerequisite: As a prerequisite for URSP 601, students are required to have at least one statistics course within the past five years with a minimum grade of C. Contact the instructor if you have additional questions.Emphasis on multivariate statistics in the analysis of urban problems
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• URSP 603 Land Use Planning: Concepts and Techniques (3)

  Basic techniques for regulating the use and appearance of land. Legal framework, social implications, planning approaches, communicating land use information.
  
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• URSP 604 The Planning Process (3)

  Problem formulation, goal setting, generating and assessing alternatives, implementation. Group and organizational settings in which planning takes place. Working with committees and communities, conducting meetings, making decisions, and making presentations.
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• URSP 605 Planning History and Theory (3)

  Examination of major events and issues in U.S. planning history, exploration of major themes in planning theory, and analysis of the relationship of history and theory.
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• URSP 606 Microeconomics of Planning and Public Policy (3)

  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. 
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• URSP 612 Geographic Information Systems for Urban Planning (3)

  This course provides an introduction to Geographic Information System (GIS) and its application in urban planning. The lecture component of the course will help students understand GIS fundamentals, and show them examples of application. The laboratory component of the course will offer students opportunities to learn GIS software and to develop technical skills for mapping and conducting spatial analysis. In addition to attending lectures and completing lab exercises, students will undertake a class project that applies GIS to some urban planning context. By the end of the semester, students will be expected to have gained working.
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• URSP 620 Introduction to U.S. Housing Policy and Planning (3)

  Critical appraisal of U.S. housing policy in terms of production and allocation of housing services. An historical overview of federal, state, and local policy, followed by analysis of the organizational infrastructure around which housing is produce
  

• URSP 631 Transportation and Land Use (3)

  Coordination of land use and transportation is one of today's hot topics in urban planning, mainly because other Asolutions@ to traffic congestion have proven so ineffective. If we cannot pave our way out of congestion, we must reduce the need for so much vehicular travel, or so the theory goes. This is where coordinated land use and transportation planning comes in. This course is based on a training course developed for the National Transit Institute and delivered to land use and transportation professionals in 30 metropolitan areas across the U.S. The greater time available for this course should allow us to do a better job than in the NTI training course.
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• URSP 632 The Urban Neighborhood (3)

  Urban neighborhoods as physical, socio-political and geographic entities. Residents' perceptions, urban/suburban differences, neighboring behavior, organization, planning concept.
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• + URSP 640 Growth Management and Environmental Planning (3)

  The course deals with policies and strategies by which governments attempt to control the amount, location, pace, pattern and quality of development within their jurisdictions. This is a foundational course frequently taught by one of the experts on faculty at the Center for Smart Growth.  Environmental requirements relative to brown fields, asbestos and lead paint are anticipated to be addressed in this course as well.  One or more other planning courses offered at the School may be substituted for this core course with approval of the director.

  
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• URSP 660 Function and Structure of Metropolitan Areas (3)

  Prerequisite: URSP 606 or equivalent. Structural shifts m the national economy and their impact on urban areas. Theory and empirical evidence on the inter- and intra-metropolitan location and movement of population and employment.
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• URSP 661 City and Regional Economic Development Planning (3)

  Also HISP 620.  Prerequisite: URSP 606 or equivalent. Causes of urban and regional growth and decline. Focus on application of economic theory and urban planning techniques. Analysis of local economic development planning potential. Strategies for urban and regional revitalization.
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• URSP 662 Urban and Regional Planning in Developing Countries (3)

  Familiarizes participants with urban ways-of-life, challenges, and social and other influences and changes throughout the world, with a special emphasis upon less industrialized areas. Cross-cultural planning communication and organization, equity, and ethic.
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• URSP 664 Real Estate Development for Planners (3)

  The principal purpose of this course is to introduce planning, architecture and public policy students to the real estate development process primarily from the point of view of the private entrepreneurial developer. This course could well be sub-titled; How developers think; We will examine how a private developer gets into the development business, the stages of a development, and the tasks that must be accomplished at each stage, including particularly the financial requirements. We will review the basic financial concepts underlying the development process. We will learn to use financial spread-sheets. We will learn the language of development and developers; in one sense, this is a course teaching the; foreign; language of real estate development. We will plan and negotiate several development projects. We discuss some of the public policies affecting real estate development. Although we concentrate on the development of both market rate and government-assisted multifamily housing, we touch on other varieties of real estate development, including office buildings, single-family tract development, and historic preservation.
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• URSP 673 Community Social Planning (3)

  Analysis of social influences on community well-being. Research, organizing, and planning methods for designing programs and policies for community development.
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• URSP 681 Urban Planning Law (3)

  Survey of the urban legal environment. Issues of planning, zoning, eminent domain, land use controls, housing codes, historic preservation, and related tax provisions.
  

• URSP 688 Special Topics in Urban Studies and Planning (3)

  Repeatable to a maximum of six credits if the topics are significantly different. Examination of selected current aspects of the rapidly evolving field of urban affairs. (1-3 Credits)
  

• URSP 688F Recent Developments in Urban Studies: Negotiation/Conflict Resolution (3)

  
  

• URSP 688G Recent Developments in Urban Studies: Housing Planning and Policy (3)

  
  

• URSP 688I Recent Developments in Urban Studies: Sustainable and Equitable Economic Development (3)

  
  

• URSP 688K Urban Design Software (3)

  
  

• URSP 688L Recent Developments in Urban Studies: Planning Technology (3)

  
  

• URSP 688N Recent Developments in Urban Studies: Urban Transportation Planning and Policy (3)

  
  

• URSP 688O Recent Developments in Urban Studies: U.S. Housing Policy and Planning (3)

  
  

• URSP 688P Readings in Urban Design (3)

  The course introduces students to some key books (and some not-so-key) that deal with seeing and shaping urban environments. We will look at urban form as a composition of physical elements and as a mental image. We will consider advocacy of medieval cities, garden suburbs, and new urbanism. We will consider urban design as an art form and as a science; used as a means of communication, as an instrument for behavioral change, and as an expression of a particular time and culture. We will consider the limits and boundaries of urban design, and at the design product as a blueprint and as a set of performance standards. Classes will be spent discussing the readings;their content and possible contradictions, their relevance for today, and their application by planners, architects, landscape architects, and preservationists.
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• URSP 688X New Issues in Community (3)

  The purpose of the course is to look closely and carefully at the meanings of community and at different types of community. The course examines these questions in three parts. The first defines terms: What is a community? What are the varieties of community? The second examines issues posed by communities: What are tensions between individualism, the market, and community? What is the balance between diversity and unity in a community? How does race matter in community? How do communities behave when they plan? The third part explores issues that must be addressed in designing and planning communities: What is community development? How can physical design contribute to community? What are the political requirements for community governance? What is a healthy community? Students will do research and write papers that give them opportunities to wrestle with these questions and the dilemmas they pose.
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• URSP 705 Summer Community Planning Studio I (4)

  
  

• URSP 706 Summer Community Planning Studio II (2)

  
  

• URSP 708 Community Planning Studio (6)

  Prerequisite: At least 18 credits of coursework completed, including URSP 600, 601, 604, and 605. For some projects, additional prerequisites may be required. Approaches and techniques previously learned in class are applied to a real-world planning problem. Teams collect and analyze information, develop plans, publish a report, make presentations.
  
  The studio course simulates the practice of planning in a real-world setting. It provides an opportunity for students to learn through doing, with faculty providing guidance rather than instruction, building on the students' previously-acquired knowledge, skills, and ability. Additional learning-which may include invited speakers, discussions, and library research-may be needed to further the project, but the format is more like on-thejob training than a lecture, seminar or laboratory class.
  
  Because each studio deals with dynamics outside the classroom, and because it involves group interaction, each is a unique experience. Even with the most careful preparation, unanticipated things may happen in the course of a project; learning to deal with them is part of the studio experience.
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• URSP 709 Internship (3)

  Prerequisite: At least 18 credits of coursework completed, including URSP 600, 601, 604, and 605. Professional experience as an intern in a planning office.
  

• URSP 710 Research Seminar: Urban Theory and Issues (3)

  Prerequisite: 15 graduate credit hours in URSP. An advanced faculty-guided seminar for students preparing their final research projects.
  

• URSP 788 Independent Study in Urban Studies and Planning (3)

  Repeatable to a maximum of six credits if the topics are significantly different.
  Directed research and study of selected aspects of urban studies and planning.
  

• URSP 799 Master's Thesis (3)

  Directed thesis study.
  

• URSP 804 Advanced Planning Theory (3)

  This course will examine selected, major themes and issues in planning theory. The reading, contemplation and discussion of key concepts and debates in planning theory are intended to expand students' capacities to: a) critically examine planning practice; b) make scholarly contributions to the planning theory literature; and c) teach at the graduate level. Since the Ph.D. program at the University of Maryland encompasses planning and design, design theory will also be included. While the instructor has selected the readings for the first 11 weeks of the course, students will have the opportunity to suggest alternative readings for sessions 12 and 13 based on their research interests.
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• URSP 805 Research Design (3)

  This course explores the logic of designing research for the analysis of planning, urban design, and historic preservation questions and the formulation of public policies. This course will cover the elements of research design, case study, survey research, quasi-experimental designs, and social experiments.  Students will focus on formulating researchable questions and produce a product that should lead to a Ph.D. proposal.

  
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• URSP 810 Contemporary Metropolitan Issues (3)

  This seminar addresses the current debates and issues in metropolitan planning, urban design, and historic preservation. A current course would cover controversies over urban sprawl, edge cities, the new urbanism, the impact of technological change on urban form, the role of immigration on shaping the social and economic form of American cities and suburbs, and the role of historic preservation in economic development. The emphasis will be on identifying hypothesis and evaluating methods of analysis.

  
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• URSP 898 Pre-Candidacy Research (1-8)

  
  

• URSP 899 Doctoral Dissertation Research (6)