Univ of Southern California
University of Southern California
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Courses of Instruction

Urban and Regional Planning (PLUS)

PLUS 600 Environmental Goods in Planning and Development (4, Irregular) Production, distribution, and valuation of environmental goods with attention to amenity concepts, externalities, public goods, consumer behavior; as characterized in economics, political science, sociology, psychology.

PLUS 601 Advanced Planning Theory I (4, Fa) Value hierarchies, means-ends continuums, and the nature of social action; problems of prediction and choice under conditions of uncertainty; alternative planning strategies.

PLUS 603 Planning and Development Paradigms (4, Sp) Introduction to historic, prevalent, and alternative paradigms of professional planning and development practice; seminar format and case studies.

PLUS 611 Sustainable Cities: Problems and Policies (3, Fa) (Enroll in GEOG 601)

PLUS 612 Analysis of Quantitative Data for Planning and Development (4, Fa) Planning and development case study approach to identifying data needs, acquisition, evaluation, manipulation, analysis, and multimedia presentation. Prerequisite: PPD 525.

PLUS 615 Behavioral Issues in Environmental Design (4, Irregular) Planning and design of the physical environment for human activities, e.g., user preferences, privacy, territoriality, stress and adaptation, cognitive mapping, lifestyles.

PLUS 623 Politics of Planning and the Urban Environment (4, Sp) Historic roots of property rights and obligations related to public policy, focus on current issues and discourse.

PLUS 626 Information Systems for Planning and Development (4, 2 years, Sp) Structure, content, and applications of formal information systems in planning and policy making emphasizing social accounts and indicators, censuses, social reporting, and “futures” research.

PLUS 631 Seminar in Physical Planning and Design in Developing Countries (4, Irregular) Issues in comparative urbanism; planning and design in developing countries: slums and squatters, housing and infrastructure, new towns, land policy, conservation and redevelopment, city design.

PLUS 632 National Urban Policy in Developing Countries (4, Irregular) The problems of the primate city, the role of intermediate cities, and the implicit spatial impacts of macro and sectoral policies.

PLUS 633 Seminar in Comparative Housing Policy and Urban Planning Programs (4, Irregular) Comparative examination of urbanization experience in selected areas and cities throughout the world; housing policies, urban planning approaches, financial, administrative, legal, and other techniques.

PLUS 635 Urban Finance (4, Irregular) The theory of fiscal federalism and municipal finance, with examples from the USA and other countries, public/private partnerships in urban development, and government decentralization.

PLUS 640 International Urban Development (4, Irregular) Study of urbanization in developing countries; special attention to urban growth, migration, city size, land use, and urban management. Comparative case studies.

PLUS 680 Advanced Urban and Regional Transportation Planning (4, 2 years, Fa) Social and environmental impacts; incentive structures; alternate travel; investment guidelines; technological change.

PLUS 692 Conspectus Preparation (4, FaSpSm) Preparation of a case study of a specific planning and/or development project that defines the student’s field of study.

PLUS 694abcdz Planning, Design and Development Project (2-2-2-2-0, FaSp) Credit on acceptance of planning, design and development project. Graded IP/CR/NC.