Tufts University Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning
UEP 250 Foundations of Public Policy and Planning Fall 2015 Class Times and Venues: Wednesdays, 1:30 – 4pm Class meets in the Crane Room in Paige Hall Note: Foundations students are also required to attend 4 sessions of the UEP Colloquium on Wednesdays 12 noon – 1:15 pm (Locations TBD). Professors:
Laurie Goldman Office hours:
617-627-5053
[email protected] Wed. 4pm-5pm and by appointment
Justin Hollander Office hours:
617-627-2297
[email protected] Wed. 11 a.m-12 p.m. and by appointment
Teaching Assistants: Jonathan Diaz,
[email protected] Barbara Shepard Kim,
[email protected]
Course Description and Objectives This course provides a critical overview of facets of planning and public policy formation and implementation that are fundamental to a range of environmental and social issues. It introduces major ideas and debates regarding planning and public policy; historical, legal, and theoretical and conceptual bases of policy and planning; and processes and tools employed by planners and policy makers. Consideration will be given to both spatial and non-spatial issues and challenges in planning and public policy. The class is designed to provide you – and your cohort of UEP students who have varied experiences, expertise, and interests – with a common set of frameworks for pursuing your various interests in public policy and planning. It aims to help you begin to develop the knowledge base and skills necessary to be effective practitioners and it will help prepare you for the UEP Field Projects course in the spring. These frameworks will guide us in exploring a question that will continue to be central to your future careers: What does it mean to be an agent of change in the fields of policy and planning? Among the questions we will entertain are:
How can we understand the dynamics of stability and change as they impact the social and environmental well-being of people and places?
Why and when should we intervene to steer those dynamics so as to enhance people’s lives and protect and improve places? 1
UEP 250 Foundations – Fall 2015
How should we consider which approaches to intervention we should endorse and pursue (or oppose and resist)?
How can we take into account potentially competing priorities and perspectives about problems and interventions among our colleagues, constituents, and other key stakeholders?
With which stakeholders will we interact and in what ways? How will the institutional contexts in which we operate influence our efforts?
Course Format and Structure The course uses readings, lectures, small group discussions, interactive exercises, and written assignments to provide students with a range of ‘windows’ by which to examine, analyze, and understand essential planning and policy dynamics and elements. The course is organized into three main sections: 1. The rationale for planning and public policy intervention. The first four weeks introduce students to the overarching goals of planning and public policy and rationales for intervening to influence dynamics of stasis and change as driven by markets and politics. 2. Approaches to planning and policy intervention. In weeks 5 through 7, we examine different approaches to intervention and consider both the tensions and the potential complementarities among them. 3. The context for planning and policy interventions. In the final weeks, we examine the institutional contexts and power dynamics in which planning and policymaking processes unfold.
UEP Colloquium Because the course cannot survey many of the areas of planning and policy interest within UEP, students are also required to attend at least four sessions of the UEP Colloquium in the Fall and four in the Spring. These sessions will introduce students to other UEP core faculty and current issues in policy and planning research and practice. Students are encouraged to attend all the other sessions of the UEP Colloquium as well. The Colloquium is held from 12 p.m.-1:15 p.m. on Wednesdays.
Library Research Workshop One of the core skills introduced in Foundations is how to conduct research into problems or policy areas. An important step in such research is an understanding of the range and scope of literature published on a topic. Therefore, all Foundations students will be required to attend a library workshop on September 23, during the usual class time. (If you are observing the Yom Kippur holiday, please make arrangements to meet with Josh Quan and let the teaching assistants know you have done so.)
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Trunk Please check Trunk weekly for announcements. Tufts’ Trunk site can be found at http://trunk.tufts.edu/. The Trunk site is used for posting course materials and announcements.
Required Text Stone, Deborah (2011). Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making. Third Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. This book is available through the Tufts University Bookstore. Additional readings will be posted as links on the course Trunk site or will be available for download through the Tisch Library website. (Note that the Third edition is considerably different from earlier versions.)
Writing Support Good writing is an essential tool for public policy and planning practitioners. Through the written assignments, you will have the opportunity to develop your writing skills in various styles: informal personal journal entries, a journalistic news account, academically-focused literature review, research-based analysis, and decision briefing. For citations, please use Chicago Manual of Style (we encourage you to purchase a copy of the Chicago Manual of Style, subscribe to the Manual’s website, or you can review a short summary sheet on Trunk). You are encouraged to use the Academic Resource Center and the Graduate Writing Consultants. This site leads you through setting up an appointment with a Graduate Writing Consultant: http://uss.tufts.edu/arc/writingtutoring/consultants.asp#About_the_Graduate_Writing_Consultants.
Policy on Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism Students’ work will be closely scrutinized for plagiarism and violations of the University policy will not be tolerated. Please review the materials on plagiarism – including accidental or inadvertent plagiarism – to http://uss.tufts.edu/arc/writingresources/plagiarism.asp. You can find Tufts University’s policy on academic integrity for graduate and undergraduate students at: http://uss.tufts.edu/studentAffairs/documents/HandbookAcademicIntegrity.pdf.
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Primary Assignments and Due Dates Assignment descriptions can be found at the end of this document. (Note you will also prepare additional exercises to be used during class sessions as indicated in the schedule and as communicated in class or via the Trunk site. ) Assignment Interview a UEP alum
Prospectus for Literature Review and Issue Brief
Due Date
% of Grade
Select by 9/16 Submit summary by 10/14
No grade 5%
(in class) 9/29 (Tuesday by 4:00 pm)
10%
Literature Search and Review First draft
10/27 (Tuesday by 4:00 pm)
Final draft
12/15 (Tuesday by 4:00 pm)
35%
Observation and Analysis of a Public Meeting
11/17 (Tuesday by 4:00 pm)
10%
Planning/Policy Issue Brief
12/15 (Tuesday by 4:00 pm)
30%
Personal Learning Reflection
12/15 (Tuesday by 4:00 pm)
Engaged participation and constructive contributions to class discussions
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Course Schedule and Readings All of the course readings can be found on the Trunk site or as links to websites or Tisch Library resources, with the exception of Deborah Stone’s Policy Paradox. Note that this list of readings is subject to change in response to the class discussions. Be sure to check the Trunk site frequently for updates. You will also find questions and additional instructions to guide your active reading and thinking about the materials. (Such instructions will often appear as additional files in the folder for that week’s session.) SECTION I: The rationale for planning and public policy intervention. Section I will introduce students to the fields of public policy and planning. This section will review the rationales for policy and planning from a historical and theoretical perspective. It will also help students develop skills for literature searches and reviews. Sept 9: Course Overview and Introduction Introduce faculty, teaching assistants, and students. Provide overview of the course goals, assignments, and schedule.
What does it mean to be an agent of change in the fields of policy and planning? What are the various positions UEP alumni hold in the fields of policy and planning?
Sept 16: The Roots of Planning and Justification for Intervention • • •
How does policy/planning relate to changes and problems arising in cities? In what ways has the scope of policy/planning changed over time? How has the nature of the policy/planning profession evolved?
Chudacoff, Howard P. (1981). “Urban America in the Colonial Age.” In The Evolution of American Urban Society. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1981, pp. 1-31. Reps, John W. (1992). “The Spanish Towns of Colonial America.” In The Making of Urban America: A History of City Planning in the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1992, pp. 26-55. UEP Core Values at “Welcome to UEP: Message from Chair” (1 pg) http://ase.tufts.edu/uep/about/About.aspx#core Peruse one or more journals that target policy and planning professionals. (See the list on the Trunk site.) Select one article that interests you and read it to identify the urban, environmental, and/or social problem and the type of intervention to address the problem it discusses. How does the problem and approach to addressing it compare and contrast with the depiction of planning in today’s readings? How do they relate to the UEP Core Values? (Post your reflection on the Discussion Forum on Trunk by 10pm Tuesday evening – no more than 150 words.) Due: Select the alumna/us you plan to interview and/or shadow. Foundations of Public Policy and Planning, Fall 2015
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Sept 23: Effective Use of Library Resources: Session in Tisch Library This session will be held in Tisch library and will be led by librarian Josh Quan. The session will introduce you to the Tisch library resources and the web-based databases that are critical to research in the fields of policy and planning. You will participate in hands-on exercises to learn how to conduct effective and efficient literature searches (or to improve your strategies if you are already familiar with these techniques). An exercise to guide your exploration of the sources you discover will be distributed in advance of this session. It will be designed to help you prepare your Prospectus due on October 2nd. We will also draw on your findings from this exercise in class discussion on September 30th. (If you are observing the Yom Kippur holiday, please make arrangements to meet with Josh Quan and let the teaching assistants know you have done so.)
Due on Tuesday, 9/29 by 4pm: Prospectus for your literature review and policy/planning issue brief.
September 30: Planning and Policy for Advancing the “Public Interest” Scott, James C. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. Chpt. 3: “Authoritarian High Modernism” (87-102) Chpt. 4: “The High-Modernist City: An Experiment and a Critique” (103-146) Stone, D. (2012) Policy Paradox. Introduction and Chapter 1 “The Market and the Polis.” pp. 136. Brooks, M. (2002). Planning Theory for Practitioners. Chapter 4. “Rationales for Public Planning.” pp. 50-61. Peruse the materials about the Boston Olympics Bid in the folder on the Trunk site. Come to class prepared to discuss the “public interest” in relation to the proposed bid.
SECTION II: Approaches to planning and policy intervention. In this section, we examine different approaches to intervention and consider both the tensions and the potential complementarities among them. October 7th: Rationality and Efficiency and Their Limits Stone, D. (2012) Policy Paradox. Chapters 2, “Equity” and Chapter 3, “Efficiency” pp. 39-84. Brooks, M. (2002). Planning Theory for Practitioners. Chapter 6, “Centralized Rationality: The Planner as Applied Scientist.” pp. 81-96. Foundations of Public Policy and Planning, Fall 2015
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Whittemore, A. H. (2015). "Practitioners Theorize, Too: Reaffirming Planning Theory in a Survey of Practitioners' Theories." Journal of Planning Education and Research 35(1): 76-85. Material on cost-benefit analysis in relation to the Olympic Bid on the Trunk site. Review the materials on conducting literature reviews (on the Trunk site) in advance of class. Come prepared with questions about how you will pursue your literature review. October 14th: Contending with Multiple Values and Values Tradeoffs and Mid-Term Course Reflection Stone, D. (2012) Policy Paradox. Chapters 4-6: “Welfare,” “Liberty,” and “Security.” pp. 85153. Muller, M. (2015) “The Mega-Event Syndrome: Why So Much Goes Wrong in Mega-Event Planning and What to Do About It.” Journal of the American Planning Association, 81(1): 617. Due in class: Summary of gleanings from interview with UEP alum about being a change agent (Instructions for this summary will be distributed.)
October 21: The Roles of Advocate, Mediator, and Facilitator – Planning for and with Stakeholders How can engaging stakeholders in the planning and policymaking process help us contend with the tradeoffs discussed last week? What are the limitations and pitfalls of advocacy and collaborative planning? Case: Community stakeholders in the context of the Union Square redevelopment process. Instructions for reviewing the materials on the Trunk site will be provided. Bratt, R. G. and Reardon, K.M. (2013). “Beyond the Ladder: New Ideas about Resident Roles in Contemporary Community Development in the United States.” in Policy, Planning, and People: Promoting Justice in Urban Development, N. Carmon and S.S. Fainstein (Eds.), pp. 356-81. Hollander, Justin B. 2011. Approaching an ideal: Using technology to apply collaborative rationality to urban planning processes. Planning Practice and Research 26, 5: 587-596. Bryson, J. M., K. S. Quick, C. S. Slotterback, and B. C. Crosby. 2013. Designing Public Participation Processes. Public Administration Review 73 (1):23-34. [Optional] Fung, A. 2006. Varieties of participation in complex governance. Public Administration Review 66:66-75. [Optional]
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SECTION III: The context for planning and policy interventions. Due Tuesday, 10/27 by 4pm: First draft of your Literature Search and Review
October 28: Legal and Other Institutional Foundations of Policy and Planning How do laws and regulations planning and policy activities? What are the federal and state influences on local autonomy? Cullingworth, J. Barry and Roger Caves. Planning in the USA: Policies, Issues, and Processes. Third Edition. London: Routledge, 2009. Chpt. 5 “The Institutional and Legal Framework of Planning and Zoning” (78-91). Hirt, Sonia. 2014. Zoned in the USA. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, Chpt. 3. November 4th: Laws, Regulations, and Institutions – Context for Change and Levers for Change Holland, Dorothy, Donald M. Nonini, Catherine Lutz, Lesley Bartlett, Marla FrederickMcGlathery, Thaddeus C. Guldbrandsen and Enrique G. Murillo, Jr. Local Democracy Under Siege: Activism, Public Interests, and Private Politics. New York: New York University Press, 2007. • Chpt. 6: “Local Politics and the Contemporary American Scene” (107-129) Case and Guest, Bob Terrell, Executive Director of Boston Fair Housing and UEP alumnus: We will examine the context and anticipated impact of the recently adopted Federal Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) regulation and the Supreme Court decision on disparate impact. Reading materials to be supplied in advance of the class session. November 10th: Politics and Power in Policy and Planning (Class Meets on Tuesday Due to Veteran’s Day) How do politics and power dynamics influence the window of opportunity for change? Who holds power over policy and planning processes and what are the various types of power that influence these processes? How can agents of change in policy and planning harness that power? Kingdon, John W. “Agenda Setting.” In Public Policy: The Essential Readings, edited by Stella Z. Theodoulou and Matthew A. Cahn, 105-113. Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995. Foundations of Public Policy and Planning, Fall 2015
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UEP 250 Foundations – Fall 2015 Fisher, Robert and Eric Shragge. “Contextualizing Community Organizing,” in Transforming the City, edited by Marion Orr. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2007, pp 193-217. Healey, Richard, and Sandra Hinson. “Power and Social Change,” Grassroots Policy Project. Available at: http://strategicpractice.org/system/files/power_and_social_change.pdf Stone, D: Chapter 10 “Interests” pp. 229-47 and Chapter 16 “Powers” pp. 354-77. “A Note on Mapping: Understanding Who Can Influence Your Success.” Electronic Hallway, Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington. [Optional] Flyvbjerg, B. (2003/1998). “Rationality and Power.” In Readings in Planning Theory, 2nd Ed, S. Campbell and S. S. Fainstein (Eds.), pp. 318-29. [Optional] Domhoff, G. William. The Class-Domination Theory of Power. April 2005. Available at: http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/class_domination.html Due in class: Follow the guidance the “Note on Mapping” to identify stakeholders relevant to your Policy/Planning Issue Brief topic and analyze their relationships with one another. Details to be posted on the Trunk site.
Due on Tuesday, 11/17 at 4pm: Observation and Analysis of a Public Meeting, 4-5 pages double-spaced. November 18th: Communicative Planning and the Power of Framing
How do people’s deeply seated biases and ways of effect policy and planning and public support for initiatives? How might we use strategic framing and the media to influence attitudes and opinions? Framing: Stone, D Chapters 7-9 “Symbols,” pp. 147-182; “Numbers,” pp. 183-205, and “Causes,” pp. 206-28. Foldy, E.G, L. Goldman, and S. Ospina (2009). “The Leadership Task of Prompting Cognitive Shifts: Shaping Perceptions of Issues and Constituencies to Achieve Public Service Goals.” Lakoff, George. Don’t Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Printing, 2004. Chpt 1: “Framing 101: How to Take Back Public Discourse” (3-34) [Optional] Krimsky, Shelly. 2015. An Illusory Consensus behind GMO Health Assessment. Science, Technology & Human Values, 1-32. Recognizing Implicit Bias: Take one or more of the tests on Harvard’s Project Implicit website: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html Staats, et al (2015). State of the Science: Implicit Bias Review 2015, the Kirwan Institute. Read the introduction and one or more of the essays.
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UEP 250 Foundations – Fall 2015 Watch: NBC News correspondent, Sara James, reports for Dateline NBC a psychological experiment (The Implicit Association Test) designed to reveal hidden "racial bias". Broadcast Date: April 15, 2007 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYQVDik69Nw&list=PL802298AE45D8652C&index=1
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UEP 250 Foundations – Fall 2015 November 25th:
No Class. Happy Thanksgiving!
Describe your career objectives and the fields of policy and planning to your family and friends. What were their reactions? What resonated? What was confusing? Do you have additional questions as a result? December 2nd: Implementation of Policies and Plans Implementing plans and policies is a process of ongoing evaluation, development controls, budgeting and financing, drafting detailed plans, and problem solving. What are the key elements of policy implementation? What regulatory tools can local governments use to implement comprehensive plans? What are the major sources of financing for local policy implementation? McLaughlin, Milbrey W. 2005. “Listening and Learning from the Field: Tales of Policy Implementation and Situated Practice” in A. Lieberman (ed.), The Roots of Educational Change, Springer, 58-72. Cullingworth, J. Barry and Roger Caves. Planning in the USA: Policies, Issues, and Processes. Third Edition. London: Routledge, 2009. Chpt. 8 “Financing and Planning for Development” (139-153). Stone Chapter 11: “Incentives.” pp, 271-88. Peters, B. Guy (2015). “Designing intervention and implementation.” Advanced Introduction to Public Policy. Northamption, MA: Elgar, pp. 83-100. December 9th: Being a Change Agent in Policy and Planning Reflections and synthesis of the course themes and gleanings from interviews, meeting observations, reading of the literature, guest presentations, and class discussions. Review the syllabus and your notes from class.
Due on Tuesday, 12/15 by 4pm: Policy/Planning Issue Brief, 5 pages double-spaced. Final draft of the Literature Review Personal Learning Reflection
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Course Requirements and Grading Assignment #1 (5%): Interview a UEP Alum Select and arrange your interview and/or shadowing by September 16. Conduct the interview by October 9. Summary due in class on October 14th. Write one to two paragraphs about what being an agent of change in the fields of public policy and planning entails drawing on your interactions with the UEP alumnus/a. Relate your gleanings to the themes we have discussed in class (including the idea of the public interest and values tradeoffs.) Instructions for posting specific findings from your interaction with the alumni will be provided. These will allow us to identify common characteristics as well as divergent perspectives.
Assignment #2 (10%): Prospectus for the Literature Review and Issue Brief – Due Tuesday, September 29 by 4pm. 3 pages double-spaced maximum To plan for your assignments on literature review and the issue brief, identify a topic or issue area that is of interest to you. In this assignment you will outline this topic in some detail. Organize your prospectus by asking: 1) how a problem originated, 2) why it persists as an issue or problem, 3) what efforts have been attempted to deal with it, and 4) who has been active in addressing it, and 5) why this topic is important in planning or policy. Be sure to delineate a topic that is specific enough for you to examine in some depth. For instance, if you are interested in environmental planning, tell us what aspects or elements of environmental planning you wish to explore. One example could be the role of federal legislation in environmental planning; another could be the design and implementation of coastal zone management programs. Other ways of specification include the geographic scale of environmental planning, the level of government where environmental planning is implemented, or the historical evolution of environmental planning. Reference at least a few relevant readings in your prospectus. Please follow the Chicago Manual of Style for formatting and citations. We encourage you to meet outside of class with instructors and/or TAs to discuss and hone your topic ideas. Finally, you are strongly encouraged to find a partner and review and comment on each other’s draft before submitting your prospectus.
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Assignment #3 (35%): Literature Search and Review – First draft due Tuesday, October 27 by 4pm; Final draft due Tuesday, December 15th by 4pm. 10 pages double-spaced To support the development of strong policy and planning analysis, it is essential to ground your work in the larger conversation that exists in the professional and/or academic world. This assignment will give you an opportunity to apply some of the research skills we will learn about throughout the semester. Beginning with the required Library Research Workshop on September 23rd, you will design a literature search to answer some questions you might have on the topic you have identified in the Prospectus assignment. The first part of this assignment is to use both scholarly and other resources to seek out answers to your questions. You should be finding at least 8-10 relevant refereed journal articles, and at least a dozen other sources, though you will sort through many more. The second part of this assignment is to write a synthesis of the primary claims about the problems and interventions.1 This should include a characterization and comparison of different perspectives you’ve identified in the literature as well as an assessment of the supporting evidence the authors’ have provided to substantiate their claims. While there are various types of literature reviews used by different disciplines, this literature review will be more typical of those written by and for policy and planning professionals. The major characteristics of this format will be discussed in class, and examples will be provided. (Make use of the guides to preparing a literature review on the Trunk site.) The literature review should be no more than ten (10) double-spaced pages in length and fully documented with citations. You may use either parenthetical acknowledgement of author/s and publication date or footnotes to reference reach point. Use the Chicago Manual of Style for the list of references at the end of your document. (Your bibliography pages will not count toward the 10 page upper limit for this assignment.) You should anticipate writing more than one draft to develop your understanding of the key arguments and their substantiation and to refine your presentation of your analysis. We encourage you to work with fellow students to review and comment on drafts.
1
Note that a sequential summary of the publications you have read is not a synthesis. Constructing a matrix to compare and contrast central themes and types of evidence conveyed in the publications you’ve read is one effective tool for arriving at the synthesis. (For guidance see the materials in the Trunk folder, including: http://guides.library.vcu.edu/ld.php?content_id=1720465.)
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Assignment #4 (10%): Observation and Analysis of a Public Meeting – Due Tuesday, November 17 by 4pm. 4-5 pages double-spaced This assignment requires you to attend a public meeting focusing on an issue or concern of relevance to urban, environmental, and/or social policy and planning. The meetings must be open to the public and part of a public policy or planning process, whether the meeting is sponsored by a government agency or another entity. Possible meetings include: Board of Selectmen/Aldermen/City Council meetings, Planning Board or Zoning meetings, Historic Preservation Commission meetings, or public meetings organized by neighborhood groups. The TAs will put a list of local meetings, together with dates, on Trunk, though you are not limited to this list. (You should be aware that regular meetings of advisory groups or commissions often contain less substantive discussions and may not be ideal for this assignment.) The assignment should be written as if you were a reporter writing for a journal for policy and planning students. (Note this is not a personal diary entry.) It should include information about who sponsored the meeting, what happened during the meeting, and when and where it occurred. Most importantly, it should include both your commentary about your observations and your analysis of at least one key issue addressed in the meeting. Some questions to keep in mind: What is the purpose of the meeting? What kind of policy or planning process is it a part of? What are the roles of the various participants (including members of the public), and what are the next steps after the meeting? In your commentary, it is appropriate to express your opinions and perspectives. In your analysis, you required to reference relevant readings from the course. Please follow the Chicago Manual of Style for any citations. You will find useful references for framing public participation in the readings for October 21st. 2
Assignment #5 (30%): Policy/Planning Issue Brief and Reflection– Due Tuesday, December 15 by 4pm. 5 pages double-spaced The Policy/Planning Issue Brief will build on the Literature Review in assignment #3. In fact, you will have an opportunity to revise your Literature Review based on instructor feedback and resubmit it along with this assignment. The purpose of the paper is to communicate persuasively on the issue you surveyed in the literature review, with solid analysis of the issue and concrete recommendations for decision makers. Your goal is to persuade someone in a
2
One classic source (referenced in the assigned readings) is Arnstein, Sherry R. “A Ladder of Citizen Participation.” Journal of the American Institute of Planners 35, no. 4 (1969): 216-224.
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UEP 250 Foundations – Fall 2015 decision-making position to not only embrace your point of view, but also translate it into concrete action. You can adopt the vantage point of an agency staffer preparing a memo for the agency’s director, a policy analyst for a legislator, or an advocate working for a public interest group trying to influence a particular policy. Because decision makers have very limited time, you can creatively format the brief to make it more readable, but you may not exceed 1,500 words (not including the references). Each paper should begin with a paragraph framing the problem, summarizing main points, and laying out the structure of the brief. Your analysis should include: •
Summary of the "problem/situation" (based on the fuller literature review assignment).
•
Your assessment of the policy/planning responses proposed (also based on literature review) and their intellectual or theoretical bases.
•
Discussion of any key policy/planning or research questions that remain unanswered and your suggestions for future research.
•
Your recommendations.
Here are a few aspects to pay attention to as you write: •
Frame of reference of the person you are seeking to persuade, such as their position, political leanings, and stakeholders that they are accountable to.
•
Problem frames and main arguments of various points of view, including opponents of your view.
•
Information important in making a decision on these measures, including other models (successful and not) and impacts on stakeholders.
Assignment #6 (completion included in participation grade): Personal Learning Reflection – Due Tuesday, December 15th by 4pm. 3 pages double-spaced The Reflection is an opportunity to write about the ways in which you drew on the course readings, lectures, and other materials in writing the brief and throughout the course more generally. This can be written very informally and will be graded pass/fail (and included in the assessment of your participation in the course). Think of this as a memo you might write to a supervisor explaining your thinking behind how and why you wrote the issue brief the way you did.
Throughout the Course: Engaged Participation and Constructive Contributions to Class Discussions (10%) Communication skills are among the core competencies of policy and planning professions. These skills include clearly articulating your ideas and showing how they build constructively on what others have said. Equally important is listening to your colleagues respectfully and Foundations of Public Policy and Planning, Fall 2015
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UEP 250 Foundations – Fall 2015 encouraging them to express their thoughts, especially when they hold views that differ from your own. The teaching team with evaluate your efforts to practice these skills. Assessment will also take into account your reflections on how you have made an effort to develop these communication skills to be included in the Personal Reflection noted above. Final class grades will be on the following scale: A+
=
99 – 100
Points
A
=
94 – 98
Points
A-
=
90 – 93
Points
B+
=
87 – 89
Points
B
=
84 – 86
Points
B-
=
80 – 83
Points
C
=
70 – 79
Points
D
=
60 – 69
Points
F
=
0 – 59
Points
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