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Growth Management and Comprehensive Planning

Growth management and comprehensive planning focuses on the planning and implementation of policies to manage the location, timing, type, and intensity of land development.

The land development process consists of three types of activities that need to be coordinated if desirable development outcomes are to be achieved. The private market system provides much of the motivation, incentives, and capital of the development process. The public sector regulates development in order to prevent land use conflicts and to help ensure that the location, type, intensity, and timing of development are consistent with public policy goals and the ability of land and public facilities to support development. The public sector also acts as a stimulant to private development through the construction of roads, schools, sewer and water systems, and other facilities that are necessary for land development. The specialization is concerned with how well these three functions are carried out and coordinated in order to improve the outcomes of the city building process.

The courses in the specialization are designed to examine a number of issues, including the problems that may result from unplanned and unmanaged growth, the operation of the private land development market, the institutional structure of land use and development regulation, the legal framework of development regulations, and the mechanisms by which government provides community facilities. There is a special focus on the range of policy solutions implemented by government in the past, the methods of evaluating the need for policy solutions, and the methods for designing policy and implementation strategies.

Coursework

The specialty consists of three required and two elective courses. The required courses are:

URP 5312: Issues in Comprehensive Planning and Growth Management
URP 5731: The Planning of Community Infrastructure
URP 5316: Land Use Planning

Two elective courses should be chosen from the following list:

URP 5122: Dispute Resolution for Planning
URP 5272: Urban and Regional Information Systems and Analysis
URP 5331: Approaches to Regional and State Planning
URP 5389r: Special Topics in Growth Management
URP 5424: Sustainable Development Planning
URP 5540: State and Local Economic Development
URP 5622: Planning and Intergovernmental Relation
URP 5711: Transportation Planning Process
URP 5716: Transportation and Land Use
URP 5717: Methods of Transportation Planning
URP 5873: Site Design and Land Use Analysis
URP 6846: Advanced Seminar in Urban Theory
URP 6847: Advanced Seminar in Regional Theory

Courses that may be used as electives with permission of advisor include:

ECO 5556: State and Local Government Public Finance
GEO 5840: Land Use Analysis and Growth Management
LAW 6460: Land Use Regulation
PAD 5227: Managing Public Financial Resources
PAD 5826: Intergovernmental Management and Administration
REE 5045: The Real Estate Process
REE 5315: Real Estate Project Feasibility Analysis

Concentrations

Students interested in developing an in-depth perspective on particular aspects of growth management and comprehensive planning may utilize their specialty electives and two additional electives to define a specific concentration. Examples of relevant concentrations include real estate development, infrastructure planning and financing, dispute resolution, state growth management policy, local comprehensive planning, and others. Each of these concentrations may consist of courses from the above list of electives, and relevant courses from other specializations and/or other departments. Students are encouraged to consult with a specialty advisor and design a concentration that satisfies their particular interests and career goals.