University of Texas at El Paso Master of Public Administration Regional and Urban Planning (PAD 5359) I. Instructor: Dr. João Ricardo Faria Office: Room 410, Kelly Hall Office Phone: (915)747-8938 Fax: (915)747-7948 Email:rfaria2@utep.edu http://jockafaria.googlepages.com/ Professor Master of Public Administration Program University of Texas at El Paso El Paso, TX 79968-0703 II. Availability Office hours are on Mondays from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.. If you find these hours inconvenient, please contact me via phone or e-mail to arrange another time to meet. III. Course Schedule and Location Jan 20, 2015 - May 07, 2015. 1:00 pm - 3:50 pm F Health Science/School of NURS 219 IV. Prerequisites None. V. Course Objectives Upon completing this course, students will be able to: Analyze important policy issues using the planning tools Apply basic concepts of urban economics and planning Access basic planning data at the national, state, regional and urban levels Understand basic urban economics and planning concepts Learn how regional and urban plans are determined Examine the effects of plans on regions and cities. Lead and manage in public governance Participate in and contribute to the public policy process Incorporate public values into decisions Communicate and interact productively with a diverse and changing workforce and citizenry VI. Course Description This course is intended for graduate students with interests in public policy issues, but little or no knowledge of planning and urban economics. VII. Disability Accommodations If you are a person with a disability and anticipate needing any type of accommodation in order to participate in this class, please provide me with official documentation from the Disabled Student Services Office (DSSO) as soon as possible. The DSSO may be
contacted at (915) 747-5148. More information regarding the Office is available on page 101 of the 2004-2006 Graduate Catalog or the DSSO s website: http://www3.utep.edu/dsso/. VIII. Statement of Equal Opportunity The learning environment is based upon open communication, mutual respect, and nondiscrimination. It follows commonly practiced guidelines of nondiscrimination on the basis of age, color, disability, gender, national origin, race, religious belief (or lack thereof), sexual orientation, or veteran status. Please also refer to the Statement of Equal Educational Opportunity of the University of Texas at El Paso on page 4 of the 2004-2006 Graduate Catalog. IX. Scholastic Integrity It is assumed graduate students know how to avoid committing plagiarism. In this course, it is considered a violation of scholastic integrity to use within any out-ofclass, for-credit assignment the exact words, phrases, or a similar writing structure (where you use the sentence structure and/or paragraph structure, but change a few words or phrases) of a source or sources, even if you cite the source(s). In order to maintain program standards, cases of [suspicion] plagiarism, are treated according to UTEP s Handbook of Operating Procedures. Ignorance is not an excuse. I thoroughly encourage verbal discussion among students in your studying of the course material. However, unless I give you written consent, all assignments that you submit for credit must be your own original work. In this course, this means that you may not provide assistance to or seek assistance from another individual during an in-class examination. Also, you may not possess materials that are not allowed during an in-class exam. Finally, while you may verbally discuss your problem sets and research projects, you may not provide direct assistance to or seek direct assistance from any other individual. Direct assistance includes, but is not limited to, downloading data, analyzing data, presenting data and/or findings, or writing any portion of the research report. Any violation of this policy constitutes academic dishonesty. For more information, please refer to the section on Scholastic Integrity (page 41) in the University of Texas at El Paso Graduate Catalog 2004-2006. This document contains a detailed definition of academic dishonesty, along with the University procedure for handling cases of alleged scholastic dishonesty. A more detailed guide to academic integrity is available in the Student Conduct and Discipline Section of the Handbook of Operating Procedures. Please contact me if you have any questions or need clarifications regarding this topic. X. Class Attendance & Preparation Students are expected to attend every class. Please avoid arriving late to class. I will need to drop you from the class due to excessive absence if you miss more than 20% of the
classes. I will use my discretion to apply the same rule to excessive and/or severe lateness. If you anticipate being absent from or late to a particular class period, please contact a fellow student as soon as possible to arrange note sharing. I do not re-teach course material to students who miss class. Please refer to the Class Attendance section (pages 39 and 40) of the Graduate Catalog for more information on UTEP s policy. As this is a graduate level course, I assume that you have prepared yourself prior your arrival to class. This means that you have read the required reading and understand the general material from that reading. I also expect that you have reviewed the notes from the previous class prior to the next class period. If you do not understand some of the reading or class material, I expect that you will ask specific questions about it in class. Due to our time constraints, I may not be able to fully answer all of your questions during class. In that case, I expect you to set up an office visit to discuss the material you find confusing. XI. UTEP s Tutoring and Learning Center (TLC) Students are encouraged to visit the Tutoring and Learning Center (TLC), located on the third floor of the library. The TLC offers free peer tutoring, especially in math and writing. These tutoring services are very helpful both for students returning to school after a long delay and for students with limited backgrounds in mathematics or written English composition. Because economics is a technically demanding subject, I urge you to visit the TLC early in the semester if you find the readings, lectures, or assignments difficult to understand. In the past, I have referred individual students to the TLC for assistance in writing. Such referrals were intended to help the students improve some aspect of their written communication. Because it is essential for graduate students to effectively communicate their ideas in writing, I will continue to make such referrals. If I refer you to the TLC using the Center s referral form, you must obtain assistance from a TLC tutor. Then, when resubmitting your revised assignment, you must provide me with the original referral form completed by your TLC tutor. I will consider your assignment incomplete without the completed referral form. XII. In-Class Etiquette Please switch your cell phone to vibrate or turn it off prior to the start of class. Because our class meetings last nearly 3 hours, there is a 10-minute break sometime during the period. Using the classroom clock, I will announce the time when the class will resume. Please be sure to return to the classroom prior to the resume time.
XII. Grading End-of-semester letter grades will be determined as follows: Letter Grade Numeric Grade Range A 90% - 100% B 80% - 89% C 70% - 79% D 60% - 69% F 0% - 59% Unless I have made a recordkeeping error, I will not adjust your grade for any reason. Please do not ask. As documented on pages 41 and 42 of UTEP s 2004-2006 Graduate Catalog, [a]ssignment of the grade I (incomplete) is made only in exceptional circumstances[.] Because of the strict guidelines governing grades of I, I will not grant such a grade except in the most extreme emergencies. XIII. Timeliness of Work Submission Please submit your out-of-class assignments in the deadline or before it. I will not accept late submissions. XIV. Electronic Communications Please check your e-mail at least once each business day when classes are in session. That way, you will know of any class news. Please consult the syllabus, course website, and other relevant course materials prior to call or sending me a an e-mail. XV. Required Readings Textbooks Jan K. Brueckner (2011) Lectures on Urban Economics, MIT Press. XVI. Optional Readings Arthur O Sullivan (2009) Urban Economics [UE], McGraw-Hill, New York, 7 th Edition. John Levy (2009) Contemporary Urban Planning [CUP], Pearson, Upper Saddle Rivers, New Jersey. XVI. Assignments A. Presentations (40%) Students will present chapters of Brueckner (2011) in this course. B. Essay (35%)
An important aspect of learning is applying your knowledge to real world situations. In the essay the student will identify an urban and/or regional problem and use the tools learned in the course to present a solution. The essay is limited to 2,500 words. Deadline for essay proposal [one page] is February 27 th at 1p.m.. Deadline for the essay is April 24 th at noon. C. Chapter Summary (25%) Students will write a chapter summary of one page for each Brueckner (2011) chapters covered in the course, to be turned in the beginning of each class, except for the first lecture [chapter 1]. XVII. Course Structure and Required Reading List (subject to change) Class Date Class Topic/Activity Required Reading Course Introduction; Syllabus; 1 1/23 Cities B [Ch.1] 2 1/30 Urban spatial structure B [Ch.2] 3 2/6 Modifications of the urban model B [Ch.3] 4 2/13 Urban sprawl and land use controls B [Ch.4] 5 2/20 Freeway congestion B [Ch.5] 6 2/27 Housing demanda and tenure choice B [Ch.6] 7 3/6 Housing policies B [Ch.7] 8 3/13 SPRING BREAK 9 3/20 Local public goods and services B [Ch.8] 10 3/27 Pollution B [Ch.9] 11 4/10 Crime B [Ch.10] 12 4/17 Urban quality of life measurements B [Ch.11] Disclaimer: This syllabus is tentative and any changes will be announced in class for which students are responsible