Taught By:
RJ Koscielniak
Assistant Professor
Geography and Geology
Eastern Michigan University
mkoscie1@emich.edu
Read profile here.
Course Description:
URP 415 will help students navigate through an urban planning research project from start to finish. Students learn the basics of research design, engage actively in gathering data using several data collection techniques, develop analytical skills to interpret the collected data, and learn to communicate results graphically, verbally, and in writing. Learning to communicate clearly and succinctly in written form and in a variety of styles is an important component of a professional planner’s job. While courses in composition can provide you with the basics of writing, this class will teach you to write to a particular audience. Urban planners communicate information in a variety of ways: books, journal articles, refereed conference papers, reports, grant proposals, grant reviews, book reviews, plan reviews, plans, ordinances, memos, public announcements and flyers. While we will not be able to address these all within this course, you will be challenged with a number of these different methods of communication so that you can begin to develop an understanding of the conventions in the field. In this course, you will learn to not only formulate different types of research projects but also to present the results of your research in several ways that are accepted in the field: basic memo writing; persuasive writing; report writing, creative writing; and grant writing. In other words, this course will train you for your everyday job as a planner who creates flyers, writes professional memos, writes planning reports, and pursues grants. You will do this by accessing several data sources including city and county planning data; plans and ordinances; census data; GIS data; and academic literature. While you will also learn to present your ideas verbally, the primary emphasis will be on written communication.
This course will prioritize and privilege critical, anti-racist, democratic, and abolitionist approaches to urban planning practice and its place in the transformation of the built environment. We will look beyond traditional and incremental solutions to the challenges of the modern metropolis. Students should anticipate iterative engagement with the "problems" of the city and region that defamiliarizes and unsettles history, scale, expertise, and authority.
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