Florida State University General Bulletin 1998-1999

Academic Departments and Programs (course descriptions)

Department of Urban and Regional Planning

College of Social Sciences

Chair: Bruce Stiftel;

Professors: Connerly, Cowart, Smith, Stiftel;

Associate Professors: Deyle, Doan, Frank, Thompson;

Assistant Professors: Audirac, Miles-Doan, Muskin;

Planner-in-Residence: Casella;

Affiliate Faculty: Cobbe, Dzurik, Lazos, Ruiz;

Professor Emeritus: Rubino.

Urban and regional planning is an interdisciplinary field that is concerned with the management of population growth and decline in urban, suburban, and rural areas. It is concerned with the uses of land to accommodate population; the provision of employment, services, and facilities needed by this population (for example, housing, hospitals, roads and other transportation facilities, schools, parks and recreation, and health services); and the impacts of this population on the environment (air, water, and land), society, and governance.

Planners study these issues and develop policies and plans to accommodate population growth and the problems that arise from this growth. Planners are concerned with the development of coordinated policy responses to these issues; they practice a broad view that focuses on the interrelationships between problems and the necessary interrelatedness of solutions. Above all, planners are concerned with improvements to the quality of life of our communities. They attempt to address these issues in ways that recognize the diverse interests of both genders and those of varying social and economic groups.

Planning is practiced at all levels of government, including local, regional, state, multistate, and national levels. Planners are also found in the private sector; in the employment of development firms, law firms, banks, and specialized resource firms (mining, forestry, etc.); in public interest organizations; and in international settings.

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning offers two nonmajor programs for undergraduates interested in planning and urban affairs. These programs are designed to complement an existing major for those students who wish to develop an appreciation of planning or who wish to lay the foundation for graduate study in planning. These programs are the undergraduate planning studies program and the pregraduate program. Within each of these two programs, students may satisfy their minor requirements.

Because of the variety of issues and contexts within which planners work, there is no one undergraduate background that is universally more important than others. Students may combine their interests in planning and urban affairs with undergraduate majors in the variety of social sciences, physical or natural sciences, business, engineering, design professions, communications, criminology and criminal justice, and others.

Planning Studies Minor Program

This program is designed for students who wish to apply their major field to problems and issues in planning and urban affairs. The program consists of a series of courses at the 3000 and 4000 levels that provide an overview of planning and that introduce the student to issues, organizations, policies, and implementation strategies. Students may earn a minor in urban and regional planning by completing a four-course sequence that is composed of two required courses and two elective courses. URP 3000 is a prerequisite for all of the required and elective courses. Electives are chosen from among a set of introductory courses representing the major policy areas taught by the department. These include growth management and comprehensive planning, planning for developing areas, environmental planning and resource management, health and aging, housing and community development, and transportation planning.

Students interested in the planning studies minor program are advised to see the departments Director of Undergraduate Programs for advice on the availability of courses.

Required Courses

Elective Courses(Choose Two)

Pregraduate Minor Program

This undergraduate program is designed for students who anticipate continuing to graduate school to earn the professional masters degree in planning. Students in this program are given the opportunity to begin graduate-level course work in their senior year and thereby may satisfy some of the requirements of a graduate degree while still completing their undergraduate credit hour requirements. This program is closely coordinated with the departments graduate program, offering students the possibility of preferred admission with advanced standing at the graduate level. Students make application for advanced standing after admission to the masters program.

The pregraduate program allows acceleration toward the master of science in planning degree upon satisfactory completion of two required undergraduate courses, a graduate level statistics requirement, and one to three of the eligible URP graduate courses listed below. URP 3000 is a prerequisite/corequisite for all these courses.

Admission to the pregraduate program is available only to those undergraduates who are beginning or in their senior year and who have maintained a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.2 or who have earned a score of at least 1000 on the combined verbal and quantitative portions of the GRE. Students completing this program with an upper-division GPA of at least 3.0 and with a minimum grade of B in at least six (6) semester hours of graduate courses may be offered admission to the masters program in planning with advanced standing for up to twelve (12) semester hours of course work in which the grade of B or higher was earned.

Required Courses

Elective Courses (Choose One to Three)

Note: a guide to undergraduate studies in urban and regional planning is available from the department and should be consulted by all students enrolling in the minor planning studies or pre-graduate programs.

A minor can be earned concurrent with work on the pregraduate program. The minor is composed of a four-course sequence: URP 3000, 4022, 5211, and at least one additional graduate course included in the list below.

Multicultural Studies

A variety of Urban and Regional Planning undergraduate courses explore perspectives of different cultural groups on questions related to urban life and the development of human settlements. Approved for credit under the University’s baccalaureate Multicultural requirement for Cross-cultural (X) courses are: URS 1000 World Cities; and URP 4615 Planning for Developing Regions. Approved under the requirement for Diversity in Western Cultures (Y) is: URP 4402 Sustainable Development Planning in the Americas.

Definition of Prefixes

Undergraduate Courses

Liberal Studies Area III

Upper Division Courses

Graduate Courses

Planning Theory and Practice

Planning Methods

Urban Growth Process

Planning for Developing Regions

Environmental Planning and Natural Resource Management

Growth Management and Comprehensive Planning

Transportation Planning

Housing and Community Development

Planning for Health and Aging

Other Courses for Graduate Students

For listings relating to graduate course work for thesis, dissertation, and masters and doctoral examinations and defense, consult the Graduate Bulletin.

VISUAL DISABILITIES: see Special Education