Planning Practice and Equity

Course Description

This course provides a survey of key historical moments and contemporary debates that have shaped the field of urban planning. It conceives of planning as a field of practice that is influenced and influences broader social, economic, political, and environmental factors. Students will critically examine the way planners across history have and have not upheld values of racial, gender, economic and environmental equity in their practice, and delve into current debates around equity justice and inclusion through case studies and conversations with practitioners working in the field. Through readings, assignments and class discussions students will engage with various streams of planning thought, and critically compare intellectual approaches to planning. They will examine the historical roots of these ideas and analyze how intellectual approaches have evolved and/or persisted over time to influence current practice. In both its focus on history and contemporary practice, the course asks students to engage critically with both the successes and failures of the practice to live up to the field's ethical mandate of building a more just, equitable city. The course will also introduce and discuss the landscape of planning practice in Philadelphia and more broadly, covering the legal and institutional entities that set the context for professional practice, historically and today.

Code

CTRP 5011

Credits

3

Subject

CTRP

Programs That Include This Course

• Master's Master of Science in City and Regional Planning