Plants lie at the intersection of climate change, food security, ecological risk, geopolitical conflict, and cultural self-determination. Yet, they remain largely overlooked and marginalized as a practical body of knowledge to the alarming ignorance of the botanical world. Through selected topics, this course will investigate the role and agency of plants in transforming the built environment, urbanization, and climate adaptation, among others.

This course will help you identify global segregation trends in cities and the role of planning and designing interventions to reduce inequality and segregation towards disadvantaged socio-economic groups, racial minorities, people with physical and cognitive disabilities, children, older adults, refugees, gender minorities, etc. This course will build your confidence in your ability to design and plan participatory, inclusive, and innovative ways of re-thinking the city.

Explores neighborhood, planning issues from the professionals' and citizens' perspectives.

The course emulates the real estate development process in a specific geographic and socio-economic setting. In this studio, students will form small teams assigned to develop a project for a specific site. The students begin with site analysis, develop a proposed "product," conduct all the key financial analyses, and identify and develop the materials that would be necessary to move the project through public approval. Prerequisite: PLAN 5220

Topical Offerings in Planning

The course is an introductory studio for the degree of Master of Urban and Environmental Planning. The course covers the history of planning, emergence of sub-fields, ethical considerations, and methodological approaches to planning. The main applied emphasis is on physical planning/urban design and the way in which public planning shapes the built environment. Enrollment restricted to First Year MUEPs; all others permission of instructor.

Collaborative Planning for Sustainability asserts that communities can only be sustained ecologically, socially, and economically by community members working together to solve problems. Most people yearn for ways to engage one another productively to care for their environment and their communities. Such caring can engender conflict, but when done well, authentic collaborative planning can transform civic disarray into civic virtue.

This course serves as the fourth semester integrative class for the MUEP. Students work on a group project for a community client. Course entails understanding and drafting MOUs, creating concrete work plans, engaging with the public, gathering data and investigating strategies and alternatives. Final product should be a meaningful, implementable planning document for community use.

Adaptation refers to actions taken at the individual, local, regional, and national levels to reduce the risks posed by a changing climate. This course contrasts the theory and academic research of climate adaptation planning with the state of practice in communities around Virginia. Anticipated impacts such as sea level rise, heat waves, and coastal storms will be explored as well as implications for natural ecosystems & urban infrastructure.

Cities have altered natural drainage patterns, vegetation, local climate and habitats. Cities can use natural elements such as plants, trees and wetlands combined with engineered structures as "constructed green infrastructure" to redesign degraded urban sites. Students will utilize "green infrastructure" to create conceptual designs for sites to absorb stormwater, clean the air, or provide food and recreation.