I will teach this course again in winter 2025.

Tuesdays & Thursdays, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm
2210 Art & Architecture Building

Please email me with any questions. Note: if you are unable to register for the course, simply come to the first day of class, and if interested in enrolling, we can talk after class.

I will post a syllabus for winter 2025 before the start of the semester. Last year's syllabus below for reference.

 

UP532: Sustainable Development -
Resolving Economic and Environmental Conflicts
College of Architecture + Urban Planning
University Of Michigan, Winter 2024
Tue & Thu, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm
2210 Art & Architecture Bldg

modified: Friday, November 22, 2024

links:
• course overview
• assignments
• Canvas (online resources, authentication required)
• eBooks (online books through UM Library, authentication required)

Prof. Scott Campbell
sdcamp@umich.edu
(734) 763-2077
Office hours
office: 2352 Art & Arch Bldg

 

Quick links to sections of this page (by dates and themes):

Jan 11 Jan 16 - 25 Jan 30 - Feb 8 Feb 13 - 15 Feb 20 - Mar 12 Mar 14 - 28 Apr 2 - 11 Apr 16 - 23

Introduction

Theories, Histories, Imaginaries of Sustainability

 Urban Form, Scale and Density: Do they impact sustainability? Is the sustainable City the socially just city?

Plans and Measures

 Local Services: Transportation, water, energy, materials resources and economic-ecological conflicts concluding sessions
  Assign 1 Assign 2   Assign 3 & 4 Assign 5 proposal   Assign 5 final
Assign 6

 

Prerequisites: Graduate standing or permission of instructor. The course has no formal prerequisites. Students from other programs (e.g., SEAS, Ford School, Public Health, Architecture, Social Work, Civil Engineering, Business, Law, LS&A, etc.) are encouraged to participate. Questions? Feel free to email me.

 

Readings by Week (additions/changes possible)
[Sources:eBooks (online books through UM Library); if no link provided, text on the Canvas site.] Please let me know if any links broken.

Jan 11: Course Introduction

 

I. Theories, Histories, Imaginaries of Sustainability

Jan 16: Conceptions of Urban Sustainability

  1. Campbell, Scott. 1996. ""Green Cities, Growing Cities, Just Cities?  Urban Planning and the Contradictions of Sustainable Development", Journal of the American Planning Association 62 (3):  296-312.
  2. Rosenbloom, Sandra. 2016. "Celebrating a Special Anniversary: A Time for Reflection." Journal of the American Planning Association 82 (4):371-373. doi: 10.1080/01944363.2016.1216221.
  3. Schweitzer, Lisa E. 2016. "Tracing the Justice Conversation After "Green Cities, Growing Cities"." Journal of the American Planning Association 82 (4):374-379.
  4. Berke, Philip. 2016. "Twenty Years After Campbell's Vision: Have We Achieved More Sustainable Cities?" Journal of the American Planning Association 82 (4):380-382.
  5. Hirt, Sonia A. 2016. "The City Sustainable: Three Thoughts on "Green Cities, Growing Cities, Just Cities"." Journal of the American Planning Association 82 (4):383-384.
  6. Campbell (2016) The Planner's Triangle Revisited- Sustainability and the Evolution of a Planning Ideal That Can't Stand Still, Journal of the American Planning Association, 82-4, 388-397.

optional:

  • Moore, Steven A. 2016. "Testing a Mature Hypothesis: Reflection on "Green Cities, Growing Cities, Just Cities: Urban Planning and the Contradiction of Sustainable Development"." Journal of the American Planning Association 82 (4):385-388.
  • Saiu, V. (2017). The Three Pitfalls of Sustainable City: A Conceptual Framework for Evaluating the Theory-Practice Gap. Sustainability, 9, 2311.
  • Gunder, M. (2006). Sustainability: Planning's Saving Grace or Road to Perdition? Journal of Planning Education and Research, 26, 208-221.

Here is the shared google doc that we will use today in small groups.

 

Jan 18: The Intellectual and Social History of Urban Sustainability

  1. Berke, Philip R. (2008)- The Evolution of Green Community Planning, Scholarship, and Practice- An Introduction to the Special Issue, Journal of the American Planning Association, 74-4, 393-407
  2. Beatley, Timothy. 2012. Sustainability in Planning: The Arc and Trajectory of a Movement, in Sanyal, Bishwapriya, Vale, Lawrence J., and Rosan, Christina, eds. Planning Ideas That Matter : Livability, Territoriality, Governance, and Reflective Practice. Cambridge, MA, USA: MIT Press. pp. 333-57. [chapter both in Canvas and in eBooks]
  3. Thomas L. Daniels (2009): A Trail Across Time: American Environmental Planning From City Beautiful to Sustainability, Journal of the American Planning Association, 75:2, 178-192
  4. Redclift, M. (1993). Sustainable Development: Needs, Values, Rights. Environmental Values, 2(1), 3-20.
  5. Caradonna, J. L. (2014). Sustainability : A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Ch 5. From Concept to Movement, pp. 136-175]. [eBooks]

background readings (landmark texts):

  • Rachel Carson, 1962. Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin) [here is a New York Times appreciation]
  • Hardin, Garrett (1968). "The Tragedy of the Commons" (PDF). Science. 162 (3859): 1243–1248.
  • Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., Randers, J., & Behrens, W. W., III. (1972). The Limits to growth; a report for the Club of Rome's project on the predicament of mankind. New York: Universe Books. [see excerpt in the Wheeler & Beatley sustainability reader]
  • Brown, L. R. (1982). Building a sustainable society. Society, 19(2), 75-85.
    (for the book-length publication, see Brown, Lester R. and Worldwatch Institute. (1981). Building a sustainable society. New York, Norton.)
  • World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our Common Future ("the Brundtland Commission"). Oxford: Oxford University Press. [link]

[also: introduce ecotopia/dystopia assignment for next session]

Here is the shared google doc that we will use today in small groups. filename: URP532, a chronology of sustainability (events, laws, publications, etc)

 

Jan 23: What can Ecotopian/Dystopian visions (from Science Fiction, Design, and elsewhere) tell us about Sustainable Futures?

[this session is in preparation for student mini-presentations on Jan 25]

  1. Annette Koh. 2018. The right to the city: urbanism, planning and cities in science fiction and fantasy. The Book Smugglers.
  2. Yusoff, K., & Gabrys, J. (2011). Climate change and the imagination. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 2(4), 516-534.

see also:

  • Davison, A. (2017). ‘"Not to escape the world but to join it": responding to climate change with imagination not fantasy'. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 375 (20160365)https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2016.0365.
  • Revell, Tobias and Voss, Georgina (2018) This Must Be The Place: Critical Design and Urban Futurity. In: Tomorrows: Urban Fiction for Possible Futures. Onassis Cultural Centre, pp. 132-139.
  • Gallardo, Pere, and Russell, Elizabeth, eds. 2014. Yesterday's Tomorrows : On Utopia and Dystopia. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publisher. [ebooks]
  • Tester, Keith. 2012. Utopia: Social Theory and the Future. Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis Group. [ebooks]
  • Collett, Anne, and Murphy, Olivia, eds. 2019. Romantic Climates : Literature and Science in an Age of Catastrophe. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan US. [ebooks]
  • Canavan, Gerry, and Robinson, Kim Stanley, eds. 2014. Green Planets : Ecology and Science Fiction. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press. [ebooks]
  • Milner, Andrew. 2012. Locating Science Fiction. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. [ebooks]
  • Magid, Annette M., ed. 2015. Apocalyptic Projections : A Study of Past Predictions, Current Trends and Future Intimations as Related to Film and Literature. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publisher. [ebooks]
  • Ascott, Roy, ed. 2006. Engineering Nature : Art and Consciousness in the Post-Biological Era. Bristol: Intellect Books Ltd. [ebooks]

 

Jan 25: STUDENT PRESENTATIONS: What can Ecotopian/Dystopian visions (from Science Fiction, Design, and elsewhere) tell us about Sustainable Futures? [Assignment 1]

[Each student will select an example of a future vision, write a brief critique and present to class. see assignment page for details]

Here is the link to the shared google slide file (where you will upload your slide for today): URP532W24 Ecotopias Dystopias IMAGES for presentations, Jan 25 (Campbell)

 

II. Urban Form, Scale and Density: Do they impact sustainability?

Jan 30, Feb 1: Land Use & Sprawl: the Compact Cities Debate

Jan 30:

  1. Bruegmann, Robert. 2005. Sprawl : A Compact History. Chicago, IL, USA: University of Chicago Press. (Chapters 1, 6, 10, 13) [eBooks]
  2. Beatley, Timothy. 1999. Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities. Covelo, CA, USA: Island Press. (Ch. 2: Land Use and Urban Form: Planning Compact Cities).
  3. Calthorpe, Peter. 2010. Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change. Covelo, CA, USA: Island Press. (Ch. 5: The Urban Footprint) [eBooks]

Feb 1:

  1. Talen, E. 2011. "Sprawl retrofit: sustainable urban form in unsustainable places." Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design no. 38 (6):952-978.
  2. Ewing, R., & Cervero, R. (2010). Travel and built environment: A meta-analysis. Journal of the American Planning Association, 76(3), 265–294.
  3. Marcial H. Echenique, Anthony J. Hargreaves, Gordon Mitchell & Anil Namdeo (2012): Growing Cities Sustainably, Journal of the American Planning Association, 78:2, 121-137. [plus read the lively commentaries on Canvas under "Echenique, JAPA article, PLANET 2012 online debate"]

Congress for the New Urbanism: charter

see also:

  • Newman, P, and J. Kenworthy. 1989. "Gasoline Consumption and Cities — A Comparison of U.S. Cities with a Global Survey." Journal of the American Planning Association. 55 (1):24-37.
  • Gordon, Peter, and Harry Richardson. 1990. "Gasoline Consumption and Cities - A Reply." Journal of the American Planning Association 55 (3):342-345.
  • Gordon, Peter, Harry W. Richardson. 2001. "The Sprawl Debate: Let Markets Plan." Publius.
  • Jenks, Mike, and Rod Burgess. 2000. Compact Cities : Sustainable Urban Forms for Developing Countries. London, GBR: Spon Press. [eBooks]
  • Tachieva, Galina. 2010. Sprawl Repair Manual. Island Press. [eBooks]
  • Neuman, Michael. 2005. The Compact City Fallacy. Journal of the American Planning Association 25: 11-26.
  • Shirazi, M. Reza. 2020. "Compact Urban Form: Neighbouring and Social Activity" Sustainability 12, no. 5: 1987. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12051987. [also in Canvas]
  • Robert Steuteville. Eleven ways to retrofit suburbs Transforming suburban places is a growing and necessary trend across America. What are the tactics to make it happen? Public Square: a CNU Journal.
  • Retrofitting suburbia website

google doc for Thursday (Feb 1): in class small group discussion

.

Feb 6: The Regional Scale: Urban-Suburban Balance, Greenbelts, Ecoregions

  1. Walker, Richard A. 2009. Country in the City : The Greening of the San Francisco Bay Area. Seattle, WA, USA: University of Washington Press. [Introduction, Chs. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, Conclusion] [eBooks]
  2. Abbott, Carl;Margheim, Joy. 2008. Imagining Portland's Urban Growth Boundary: Planning Regulation as Cultural Icon. Journal of the American Planning Association; Spring; 74, 2.
  3. Campbell, Scott. 2009. “Megaregions and Sustainability,” in Megaregions: Planning for Global Competitiveness, Catherine Ross (ed), Island Press, pp. 127-139.[eBooks]
  4. Wheeler, Stephen M (2009): Regions, Megaregions, and Sustainability, Regional Studies, 43:6, 863-876

see also:

  • Mckinney, Matthew J., Johnson, Shawn, and Johnson, Shawn. 2009. Working Across Boundaries : People, Nature, and Regions. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. [ebooks] (see Chapter 1: Why Work Across Boundaries)
  • Metro (Portland regional government) • maps • mission • timeline/history • urban growth boundary (UGB) • UGB map
  • Amati, Marco (ed). 2008. Urban Green Belts in the Twenty-First Century. Abingdon, Oxon, GBR: Ashgate. [eBooks]
  • Sale, Kirkpatrick. 2001. "There's no place like home..." The Ecologist: 31 (2): 40-43.
  • Hiss, Tony. 1990. The Experience of Place: A new way of looking at and dealing with out radically changing cities and countryside. New York: Vintage. (Chapter 9, "Thinking Regionally," pp. 194-220.)
  • Thayer, Robert L. 2003. Life-Place : Bioregional Thought and Practice. Ewing, NJ, USA: University of California Press. (Ch. 7: Planning: Designing a Life-Place)[eBooks]
  • Calthorpe, Peter, and William Fulton. 2001. Regional City : New Urbanism and the End of Sprawl. Covelo, CA, USA: Island Press. (Chs. 1, 3, Conclusion)
  • Anderson, Larry. 2002. Benton MacKaye : Conservationist, Planner, and Creator of the Appalachian Trail. Baltimore, MD, USA: Johns Hopkins University Press. (Chs. 1, 8-11). [eBooks]
  • Bailey, Robert G. 2002. Ecoregion-Based Design for Sustainability. Secaucus, NJ, USA: Springer. [eBooks]
  • Carl Abbott and Margery Post Abbott, A history of Metro,( May 1991) [link through the Metro site]
  • Ethan Seltzer. 2004. "It’s Not an Experiment: Regional Planning at Metro, 1990 to the Present" (Chapter 2), in Ozawa, C. P. ed. (2004). Portland Edge : Challenges in Growing Communities. Covelo, CA, USA: Island Press.

 

Feb 8: STUDENT PRESENTATIONS: Mini Case studies of the Connection between Land Use/Urban Form and Sustainability [Assignment 2]

Each student will give a brief 3-4 minute presentation of a mini case study that explores the relationship between land use/urban form and environmental consequences. See the assignment page for details of this assignment.

 

Is the sustainable City the socially just city? Values, inequalities and inclusive environmentalism

Feb 13: Social Justice + Environmental Sustainability = Environmental Justice?

  1. Agyeman, Julian. 2005. Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice. New York, NY, USA: New York University Press (NYU Press). [eBooks] [Introduction, Chs 1,2,6; Appendix]
  2. Schrock, G., Bassett, E. M., & Green, J. (2015). Pursuing Equity and Justice in a Changing Climate: Assessing Equity in Local Climate and Sustainability Plans in U.S. Cities. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 35(3), 282-295.
  3. Gunder, Michael. 2006. Sustainability: Planning's Saving Grace or Road to Perdition? Journal of Planning Education and Research. 26: 208-221.
  4. Campbell, Scott D. 2013. Sustainable Development and Social Justice: Conflicting Urgencies and the Search for Common Ground in Urban and Regional Planning. Michigan Journal of Sustainability, Vol 1. [link]

see also:

  • Cole, H. V. S., Garcia Lamarca, M., Connolly, J. J. T., & Anguelovski, I. (2017). Are green cities healthy and equitable? Unpacking the relationship between health, green space and gentrification. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 71, 1118-1121.
  • Caniglia, B. S. (Ed.), Vallee, M. (Ed.), Frank, B. (Ed.). (2017). Resilience, Environmental Justice and the City. London: Routledge, https://doi-org.proxy.lib.umich.edu/10.4324/9781315652054. [available online via UM Library -- login required]
  • Castán, Broto, Vanesa, and Linda Westman. Urban Sustainability and Justice : Just Sustainabilities and Environmental Planning, Zed Books, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/lib/umichigan/detail.action?docID=5982631. [eBooks]
  • Pearsall, H., & Pierce, J. (2010). Urban sustainability and environmental justice: evaluating the linkages in public planning/policy discourse. Local Environment, 15(6), 569-580. doi:10.1080/13549839.2010.487528

 

Feb 15: Eco-Gentrification

  1. Rigolon, A., & Németh, J. (2019). Green gentrification or ‘just green enough’: Do park location, size and function affect whether a place gentrifies or not? Urban Studies.
  2. Dooling, S. (2009). Ecological Gentrification: A Research Agenda Exploring Justice in the City. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 33, 621-639.
  3. Haffner, J. (2015, May 6). The dangers of eco-gentrification: what's the best way to make a city greener? The Guardian. [link]
  4. Rice, J. L., Cohen, D. A., Long, J., & Jurjevich, J. R. Contradictions of the Climate-Friendly City: New Perspectives on Eco-Gentrification and Housing Justice. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research.
  5. McClintock, N. (2018). Cultivating (a) Sustainability Capital: Urban Agriculture, Ecogentrification, and the Uneven Valorization of Social Reproduction. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 108(2), 579-590.

optional:

  • Anguelovski, I., Connolly, J.J.T., Cole, H. et al. Green gentrification in European and North American cities. Nat Commun 13, 3816 (2022). [link] https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31572-1. [just added]
  • Cucca, R. (2012). The Unexpected Consequences of Sustainability. Green Cities Between Innovation and Ecogentrification. sociologica. doi:10.2383/38269
  • Harper, E. T. (2020). Ecological Gentrification in Response t Apocalyptic Narratives of Climate Change: The Production of an Immuno-political Fantasy. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 44(1), 55-71. doi:10.1111/1468-2427.12842
  • Machline, E., Pearlmutter, D., Schwartz, M., & Pech, P. (2020). Green Neighbourhoods and Eco-Gentrification : A Tale of Two Countries. Cham: Springer International Publishing AG. [digital book available through UM Library]
  • Black, KJ, & Richards, M. (2020). Eco-gentrification and who benefits from urban green amenities: NYC’s high Line. Landscape and Urban Planning, 204, 103900. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103900
  • Klein, M., B.L. Keeler, K. Derickson, K. Swift, F. Jacobs, H. Waters, R. Walker. (2020). Sharing in the benefits of a greening city. A policy toolkit to address the intersections of housing and environmental justice. link: https://create.umn.edu/toolkit/
  • Ecological Gentrification (Life in the City Evolution in an Urbanizing World) [just added]

.

 

Plans & Measures for Sustainable Development

Feb 20: Local Sustainability Plans and Municipal Offices of Sustainability

  1. Liao, L., Warner, M. E., & Homsy, G. C. (2020). When Do Plans Matter? Tracking Changes in Local Government Sustainability Actions From 2010 to 2015. Journal of the American Planning Association, 86(1), 60-74.
  2. Berke, Philip R., and Maria Manta Conroy. 2000. "Are We Planning for Sustainable Development? An Evaluation of 30 Comprehensive Plans." Journal of the American Planning Association, 66(1): 21–33.
  3. Godschalk, David R. 2004. "Land Use Planning Challenges: Coping with Conflicts in Visions of Sustainable Development and Livable Communities." Journal of the American Planning Association, 70(1): 5–13. (in Canvas under "APA,EIP33part3")
  4. Saha, D., & Paterson, R. G. (2008). Local Government Efforts to Promote the “Three Es” of Sustainable Development: Survey in Medium to Large Cities in the United States. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 28(1), 21-37.
  5. International City and County Association. (2016). 2015 ICMA sustainability survey questionnaire and results. [link] (a concise overview of patterns and trends)

see also:

  • American Planning Association. 2000. Policy Guide on Planning for Sustainability. Ratified by Board of Directors, April 17, 2000, New York, N.Y. (in Canvas under "APA,EIP33part2").
  • selections from these two files:
    APA,EIP33part5: "Excerpts from Comprehensive Plans"
    APA,EIP33part6 "Sustainability Elements, Chapters, and Sections from Comprehensive Plans"
  • Roseland, Mark. 2005. Toward Sustainable Communities : Resources for Citizens and Their Governments. Gabriola Island, BC, CAN: New Society Publishers. (review Ch 3, "Making Community Policy," and Ch 14, "Tools for Community Sustainability). [now on Canvas]

see also:

 

Feb 22: How do Cities know they are substantively moving towards sustainability? the Use of Carrying Capacity, Ecological Footprint and Other Measures for Planning

  1. Turcu, C. (2013). Re-thinking sustainability indicators: local perspectives of urban sustainability. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 56(5), 695-719.
  2. Huang, L., Wu, J., & Yan, L. (2015). Defining and measuring urban sustainability: a review of indicators. Landscape Ecology, 30(7), 1175-1193.
  3. Newman, Peter, and Isabella Jennings. 2008. Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems : Principles and Practices. Washington, DC, USA: Island Press. (Chapter 4:  Ecological Footprints; pp. 223-7, "Indicator Projects"). [eBooks]
  4. Brandon, Peter, and Patrizia Lombardi. 2010. Evaluating Sustainable Development in the Built Environment (2nd Edition). Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley-Blackwell. (Chapters 4-6) [eBooks]
  5. Newman, Peter, and Isabella Jennings. 2008. Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems : Principles and Practices. Washington, DC, USA: Island Press. [eBooks]

Please enter your ecological footprint, carbon footprint and walk score on this google sheet. Thanks!

see also:

  • Neuman, M., & Churchill, S. W. (2015). Measuring sustainability. Town Planning Review, 86(4), 457-482.
  • Conke, L. S., & Ferreira, T. L. (2015). Urban metabolism: Measuring the city's contribution to sustainable development. Environmental Pollution, 202, 146-152
  • Tanguay, G. A., Rajaonson, J., Lefebvre, J.-F., & Lanoie, P. (2010). Measuring the sustainability of cities: An analysis of the use of local indicators. Ecological Indicators, 10(2), 407-418. doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2009.07.013
  • Newman, Peter, and Isabella Jennings. 2008. Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems : Principles and Practices. Washington, DC, USA: Island Press. (Chapter 5:  Modeling Cities on Ecosystems). [eBooks]
  • Alan AtKisson. 1996. Developing indicators of sustainable community: Lessons from sustainable Seattle. Environmental Impact Assessment Review. Volume 16, pp 337-350. [see also Seattle's Office of Sustainability and Environment]
  • Moore, J., Kissinger, M., & Rees, W. E. (2013). An urban metabolism and ecological footprint assessment of Metro Vancouver. Journal of Environmental Management, 124, 51-61. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2013.03.009.

 

Mid-Winter Break: No class Feb 26 - 30

 

Mar 5: Local Responses to the Crisis: Climate Action Plans and Related Policies

Long, Joshua, and Jennifer L Rice. 2019. ‘From Sustainable Urbanism to Climate Urbanism’. Urban Studies 56(5): 992–1008.

Meerow, S., & Woodruff, S. C. (2020). Seven Principles of Strong Climate Change Planning. Journal of the American Planning Association, 86(1), 39-46. doi:10.1080/01944363.2019.1652108

Schrock, G., Bassett, E. M., & Green, J. (2015). Pursuing Equity and Justice in a Changing Climate: Assessing Equity in Local Climate and Sustainability Plans in U.S. Cities. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 35(3), 282-295. doi:10.1177/0739456X15580022

World Resources Institute. 2018. IPCC 1.5° Report: We Need to Build and Live Differently in Cities

see also:

.

Mar 7: STUDENT PRESENTATIONS: Case studies of Local Sustainability Plans and Planning [Assignment 3]

Each student will give a brief 2-3 minute presentation of a case study of Local Sustainability Plans and Planning. See the assignment page for details of this assignment.

.

Mar 12: STUDENT PRESENTATIONS: Case studies of Local Sustainability Measures [Assignment 4]

Each student will give a brief 2-3 minute presentation of a case study of Local Sustainability Measures. See the assignment page for details of this assignment.

.

Local Services: Transportation, water, energy, Materials/Waste/Recycling

Mar 14: The City and the Car: An uneasy history of co-existence, conflict and accommodation (or, is the Sustainable Future a car-free future?)

Martin V. Melosi. "The Automobile Shapes The City," from the Automobile in American Life and Society. ©2004-2010.

Le Corbusier. 1929. The City of To-Morrow and Its Planning, Chs. 1 and 11. [Canvas]

Jackson, Kenneth T. 1987. Crabgrass Frontier : The Suburbanization of the United States, Oxford University Press.  (Ch 9: The New Age of Automobility; 14. The Drive-in Culture of Contemporary America) [eBooks]

see also:

  • Norton, Peter D.. Fighting Traffic : The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, MIT Press, 2008. [eBooks]
  • Martin Wachs, Peter Sebastian Chesney, Yu Hong Hwang. 2020. A Century of Fighting Traffic Congestion in Los Angeles (1920-2020). UCLA Luskin Center for History and Politics.
  • Okeke, Francis O., Andy E. Okosun, Clifford A. Udeh, and Chukwumezie J. Okekeogbu. "Cities for People: The Dependency & Impact of Automobile in the Life of City Dwellers." European Journal of Sustainable Development 9, no. 3 (October 1, 2020): 157. http://dx.doi.org/10.14207/ejsd.2020.v9n3p157. [link]
  • Shoup, Donald C. (2017). The high cost of free parking. London: Routledge. [link]
  • Jane Jacobs. (1992). The Death and Life of Great American Cities: Vol. Vintage Books edition. Vintage. (see Ch 18: "Erosion of cities or attrition of automobiles") [UM Library link]

.

Mar 19: Moving Outside Cars: towards a Pedestrian-, Bicycle- and Transit-Friendly Landscape

Schlossberg, M., Rowell, J., Amos, D., & Sanford, K. (2013). Rethinking Streets: An Evidence-based Guide to 25 Complete Street Transformations. Eugene, OR: Sustainable Cities Initiative, University of Oregon. [in Canvas; see also: http://www.rethinkingstreets.com/, which also includes Rethinking Streets for Bikes]

Speck, J., & SpringerLink (Online service). (2018). Walkable City: Rules 101 Steps to Making Better Places. [read online via Springer Link c/o UM Library]

 

Please explore these many resources (both governmental and non-profit sources):

Streetsblog: Informing The Movement To Improve Walking, Biking, And Transit (many relevant articles, including: "Advocates to Feds: We Need a New Traffic-Control Manual" 3/24/2021)

BUILDING EQUITY: Race, ethnicity, class, and protected bike lanes: An idea book for fairer cities (A report from PeopleForBikes and Alliance for Biking & Walking) [updated link]

Tamika Butler. 2020. Why We Must Talk About Race When We Talk About Bikes. Bicycling. June 9.

Smart Growth America: National Complete Streets Coalition

Michigan Municipal League: Complete Streets

SEMCOG: Complete Streets

Detroit Greenways Coalition: Complete Streets+ (including a 5 minute video)

Complete Streets: Detroit's Streetscape Program (5 minute video)

Washtenaw Biking and Walking Coalition - Sustainable Transportation

Ars Technica: US pedestrian deaths rose sharply in the first half of 2020 (3/23/2021)

Beyond the Automobile (blog)

The Guardian. "‘Would that all journeys were on foot’: writers on the joy of walking" (9/21/2018) and 'Let's bring back the dignity of walking': being on foot in your city (9/21/2018)

Speck, J. (2012). Walkable city : how downtown can save America, one step at a time (1st ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

See also Ann Arbor's transportation page (such as the 2019 NON-MOTORIZED PROGRESS REPORT), about complete streets, walkability, non-motorized transportation planning, the links between local- and state-level transportation efforts, and how the idea of sustainability is viewed from within the world of transportation planning! See also: Ann Arbor Moving Together Towards Vision Zero •

.

Mar 21: Local Water and Stormwater to Feed the City's Thirst and Keep the Streets and Basements Dry

  1. Gandy, Matthew. 2002. Concrete and clay : reworking nature in New York City, Urban and industrial environments. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. (Chapter 1: "Water, Space and Power," pp. 19-75 - in Canvas)
    [NOTE: electronic text also available online via UM Library's NetLibrary.] *I also recommend the very useful introduction (also in Canvas).
  2. Kaika, Maria, and Erik Swyngedouw. "Fetishizing the Modern City: The Phantasmagoria of Urban Technological Networks." International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 24, No. 1, March 2000, pp. 120-138.
  3. Richter, et al. 2018. JOURNAL AWWA. Assessing the Sustainability of Urban Water Supply Systems. AWWA. February.
  4. NRDC: Green Infrastructure: How to Manage Water in a Sustainable Way

Please add an entry to this google sheet: "Where does your drinking water come from?"

see also:


March 26: Energy (local renewables, microgrids, etc.)

ANN ARBOR’S SUSTAINABLE ENERGY UTILITY Report, 2021.

Coffey. 2019. Planning for Utility-Scale Solar Energy Facilities. PAS Memo. [Canvas]

APA, Integrating-Solar-into-Local-Development-Regulations. [Canvas]

Damian Pitt & Ellen Bassett (2013) Collaborative Planning for Clean Energy Initiatives in Small to Mid-Sized Cities, Journal of the American Planning Association, 79:4, 280-294, DOI: 10.1080/01944363.2014.914846. [Canvas]

 

see also:

American Planning Association: APA Policy Guide on Energy • Wind Energy • Solar Energy

Clinton J. Andrews AICP (2008) Energy Conversion Goes Local: Implications for Planners, Journal of the American Planning Association, 74:2, 231-254, DOI: 10.1080/01944360801993531.

Rynne et al., Planning for Wind Energy, PAS-Report-566

Morley (ed), Planning for Solar Energy, PAS-Report-575

Shutford, Rynne, Mueller, Planning for a New Energy and Climate Future, PAS-Report-558

WIndustry: https://www.windustry.org/community_wind_toolbox

Gundlach, 2019, Getting_the_Value_of_Distributed_Energy_Resources_Right (see esp. pp 5-8 for an overview)

MacKay, D.J., 2009. Sustainable Energy - Without the Hot Air, 1st ed., UIT Cambridge Ltd. Access at withouthotair.com

 

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Mar 28: Class Workshop on your Final Project Proposals (Assignment 5)

NOTE: this a change in the syllabus

Instructions for the week (three steps):

BY Tuesday evening (midnight):

Your proposals for your projects are due Tuesday evening (March 26).  IMPORTANT: When you upload your proposals to Canvas by Tuesday evening, please also upload a copy to this google folder.  Please use this file naming convention: LAST NAME, project title. [example: Campbell, Do Residential Electrification Regulations promote sustainability and carbon neutrality goals?] Please do this promptly by the end of Tuesday evening (so that other members of your editing group can read your proposal on Wednesday).


Before Thursday’s class:

I have created small “editing groups” (see this google file for your group assignment).  Members of each group read each other’s proposals BEFORE Thursday’s class (located in the shared google folder) and come ready to share comments with the other members of the group.  (You are encouraged to provide some written comments on the proposals as well as oral comments on Thursday.  You can write these comments directly on the files in the shared google folder.)  Most of you will read two other proposals.  My appreciation to the final group for reading three.


During class on Thursday:

  1. I will begin with some general comments and advice about this project.
  2. Each editing group  will meet and share feedback about each other’s proposals.
  3. We will then come back together as a large group and conclude with some final questions and comments.

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background readings on writing proposals. (Note: some of these are more relevant to graduate student class papers, while others are focused more on large, funded research projects in other disciplines. That said, the qualities that make a strong research proposal cross disciplinary boundaries.):

The economics of Sustainability / the Conflicts between Economic Development and Environmental Protection

Apr 2: Using Urban Economics and Resource Economics to Understand Barriers and Opportunities towards Sustainability

[we will have a short lecture, and then do an in-class role play/scenario. Here is a link to the scenario including the assigned roles.]

Power, T. M. (1998). Lost Landscapes and Failed Economies: The Search for a Value of Place. Covelo, CA: Island Press. [Please read Chs. 1 & 3] [Canvas]

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optional: here are some additional articles on the challenges of the timber --> tourism transition:

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Apr 4: The Suburban Edge, Forests and Wildfire: Exurban Growth and the Changing Wildland-Urban Interface (or: Trees as Resource, Trees as Risk)

Themes for today: How do we understand the multiple roles of trees and forests? (as habitat, open space, natural resource, scenery, fire danger). How is the interface between human settlements and forests changing -- due to urban development at the metropolitan edge; due to changing forestry practices; due to increased fire risk? How do we rethink land use planning and regulation?

  1. Spencer Bokat-Lindell. 2019. Can California Save Itself From Burning? New York Times. Oct 29. [link] [note: I have also added pdf copies of these 3 NY Times articles in Canvas in case you can't access them directly via these links]
  2. Thomas Fuller. 2020. Native Solutions to Big Fires. New York Times. Jan 24. [link]
  3. Damien Cave. 2020. The End of Australia as We Know It. New York Times.Feb 15. [link]
  4. Syphard AD, Bar Massada A, Butsic V, Keeley JE (2013) Land Use Planning and Wildfire: Development Policies Influence Future Probability of Housing Loss. PLoS ONE 8(8): e71708. [link]
  5. Stephen, R. S. (2006). Sustainable forestry in the balance. Journal of Forestry, 104(4), 187-195.


see also:

  • Read, Anna and Molly Mowery. 2018. Zoning and Land-Use Tools in the Wildland-Urban Interface. Zoning Practice. American Planning Association. [in Canvas] [APA link]
  • Headwater Economics: Land Use Planning to Reduce Wildfire Risk: Lessons from Five Western Cities. [link] [summary table]
  • CalFire
  • Markey, Sean. 2004. Second Growth: Community Economic Development in Rural British Columbia. Vancouver: UBC Press. [eBooks] (Chs. 3, 4; optional, see also Chs. 1-2).
  • Rajala, Richard A. 1998. Clearcutting the Pacific Rain Forest: Production, Science, and Regulation. Vancouver, BC, CAN: UBC Press. [eBooks] (Ch. 1 The Forest as Factory: Technological Change in West Coast Logging, 1880-1965; and Ch 2 Managing the Factory Regime: The Emergence of Logging Engineering and Industrial Forestry, 1880-1965)
  • Van Kooten, G. Cornelis. 1993. Land Resource Economics and Sustainable Development: Economic Policies and the Common Good. Vancouver, BC, CAN: UBC Press. (Ch 14, Economics and Management of Public Forestlands) [eBooks]
  • U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Fossil Energy and National Energy Technology Laboratory. 2009. Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer. [link ] 2013 update
  • Cohen, Shaul Ephraim. 2004. Planting Nature : Trees and the Manipulation of Environmental Stewardship in America. Berkeley: University of California Press. [eBooks]
  • Ross, Michael L. 2001. Timber Booms and Institutional Breakdown Southeast Asia. Port Chester, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press. [eBooks]
    Barton, Gregory A. 2002. Empire Forestry and the Origins of Environmentalism. West Nyack, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press. [eBooks]
    McEvoy, Thomas J. 2004. Positive Impact Forestry : A Sustainable Approach to Managing Woodlands. Washington, DC, USA: Island Press. [eBooks]
  • Radeloff, Volker C; Helmers, David P; Kramer, H. Anu Mockrin, Miranda H; Alexandre, Patricia M; Bar-Massada, Avi Butsic, Van Hawbaker, Todd J; Martinuzzi, Sebastián Syphard, Alexandra D; Stewart, Susan I. “Rapid Growth of the US Wildland-Urban Interface Raises Wildfire Risk.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, vol. 115, no. 13, United States: National Academy of Sciences, 2018, pp. 3314–19, doi:10.1073/pnas.1718850115. [link]
  • Roos, Christopher I; Swetnam, Thomas W; Ferguson, T. J; Liebmann, Matthew J; Loehman, Rachel A; Welch, John R; Margolis, Ellis Q; Guiterman, Christopher H; Hockaday, William C; Aiuvalasit, Michael J; Battillo, Jenna Farella, Joshua Kiahtipes, Christopher A. “Native American Fire Management at an Ancient Wildland-Urban Interface in the Southwest United States.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS, vol. 118, no. 4, Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, 2021, doi:10.1073/pnas.2018733118. [link]
  • Abrahm Lustgarten. 2024. America's Climate Boomtowns Are Waiting: Rising temperatures could push millions of people north. The Atlantic. March 23.

 

Apr 9: Transitioning Resource-Dependent Communities: Mining, Fracking, Timber

[theme: how the search for domestic energy sources using new extraction technologies has led to a new landscape of drilling, with new economic opportunities in rural communities and complex environmental impacts and land regulation challenges]

Beebeejaun, Y. (2017). Exploring the intersections between local knowledge and environmental regulation: A study of shale gas extraction in Texas and Lancashire. Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 35(3), 417-433. doi:10.1177/0263774X16664905

Loh, C. G., & Osland, A. C. (2016). Local Land Use Planning Responses to Hydraulic Fracturing. Journal of the American Planning Association, 82(3), 222-235. doi:10.1080/01944363.2016.1176535

Sabina E. Deitrick and Ilia Murtazashvili (eds). 2022. When Fracking Comes to Town: Governance, Planning, and Economic Impacts of the US Shale Boom. Cornell University Press. [available via Project Muse]. [Please read: Introduction; 3. How the Legal Framework of Fracking in Appalachia Disserves the Poor; see also Ch. 6 & 8.]

University of Michigan Graham Sustainability Institute. 2015. Hydraulic Fracturing in Michigan Integrated Assessment Final Report [link]

see also:

Fry, M., Brannstrom, C., & Sakinejad, M. (2017). Suburbanization and shale gas wells: Patterns, planning perspectives, and reverse setback policies. Landscape and Urban Planning, 168, 9-21. doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2017.08.005

Pothukuchi, K., Arrowsmith, M., & Lyon, N. (2018). Hydraulic Fracturing. Journal of Planning Literature, 33(2), 155-170. doi:10.1177/0885412217733991

Freilich, R. H., & Popowitz, N. M. (2012). Oil and gas fracking: State and federal regulation does not preempt needed local government regulation: Examining the santa fe county oil and gas plan and ordinance as a model. The Urban Lawyer, 44(3), 533-575.

Nolon, J. R., & Polidoro, V. (2012). Hydrofracking: Disturbances both geological and political: Who decides? The Urban Lawyer, 44(3), 507-532.

Steven C. Deller and Andrew Schreiber. 2012. Frac Sand Mining and Community Economic Development. University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics Staff Paper No. 565, May 2012. [link]

plus see these resources on fracking from various perspectives: Clean Water Action (on fracking) • Grow WNY: A Fracking Primer • US DOE: Fracking 101 • API (American Petroleum Institute) : Hydraulic Fracturing • among many others...

video resources on fracking: My Water's On Fire Tonight (The Fracking Song) • "Gasland" (NOW on PBS) •  ProPublica's Abrahm Lustgarten on Congress's fracking report • PBS News Hour: 'Fracking' for Natural Gas Continues to Raise Health Questions (other PBS news hour videos on fracking) • This American Life: "Game Changer" (audio podcast) • Shale cowboys: fracking under Trump | VPRO Documentary | 2017

 

Apr 11: Water Resources and Urban Growth in the American West and other Arid Regions [reading linked updated Apr 10]

Reisner, M. 1993. Cadillac desert: the American West and its disappearing water. revised ed. New York and London: Penguin Books. [chapter excerpts: "A Semidesert with a Desert Heart" and "A Country of Illusion," pp. 1-51.] (in Canvas; see also google book preview)

see also:

  • CALFED links: CALFED Operations • Water Education Foundation
  • Judith E. Innes , Sarah Connick & David Booher (2007): Informality as a Planning Strategy, Journal of the American Planning Association, 73:2, 195-210. [subtitle: "Collaborative Water Management in the CALFED Bay-Delta Program"; part of a special issue on water] (Canvas)
  • Fiege, Mark. 2009. Irrigated Eden : The Making of an Agricultural Landscape in the American West. Seattle, WA, USA: University of Washington Press. [eBooks]
  • Jones, Nick, Karen R. Jones, and John Wills. 2009. American West : Competing Visions. Edinburgh, GBR: Edinburgh University Press. [see Ch. 8: "The Thirsty West: Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam and Las Vegas"] [eBooks]
  • Pisani, Donald J. 2002. Water and American Government : The Reclamation Bureau, National Water Policy, and the West, 1902-1935. Ewing, NJ, USA: University of California Press. [eBooks]
  • Brooks, Karl Boyd. 2009. Public Power, Private Dams : The Hells Canyon High Dam Controversy. Seattle, WA, USA: University of Washington Press.[eBooks]
  • Maxwell, Steve, and Scott Yates. 2011. Future of Water : A Startling Look Ahead. Denver, CO, USA: American Water Works Association. [eBooks]
  • Summit, April. Contested Waters : An Environmental History of the Colorado River. Boulder, CO, USA: University Press of Colorado, 2013. [eBook]
  • Aton, James M.. John Wesley Powell : His Life and Legacy. Salt Lake City, UT, USA: University of Utah Press, 2006. [eBook]
  • Mulholland, Catherine. William Mulholland and the Rise of Los Angeles. Berkeley, CA, USA: University of California Press, 2002. [eBook]
  • Benke, Arthur C., Cushing, Colbert E., and Benke, Arthur C, eds. 2005. Rivers of North America. Burlington: Elsevier Science & Technology. [eBook]
  • BBC. The Forum. "The dam builders" (podcast). Released On: 23 Mar 2023. [link]

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Towards a Sustainable Future -- COncluding Session

Apr 16 & 18: Student Presentations of Projects [Assignment 5]

[students will make presentations of their case study projects -- see assignment page for details]

link to Presentation schedule (and editing groups)

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Apr 23: Conclusion: the Future of "Sustainable Development -- the Ongoing Evolution of an Idea [Assignment 6]

This last session will provide an opportunity to link common themes from the class sessions and develop a set of principles for sustainable urbanism. [instructions on assignments page].
A reminder: this task has TWO PARTS: (a) slide & 2-minute presentation; (b) 1-page analysis/critique uploaded to Canvas.

 

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