Syllabus

Course Information

CRN 58870
Mondays and Wednesdays
1:00 pm - 2:20 pm
219 David Kinley Hall

Professor Andrew J. Greenlee        
Office Hours: By appointment via Calendly

Course Overview and Objectives

Housing represents a fundamental human need and a critical element of human settlements. Within the context of urban planning, housing represents one of the ways in which planning intervention has sought to ensure the health and safety of residents, while also bearing influence on the spatial, social, and economic relationships that differentiate housing and other land uses. Within this class, we will explore the policies and practices that constitute housing policy in the United States and abroad, in order to understand where and how planning strategies have been effective (and ineffective) at shaping physical, economic, social, and political dimensions of housing.

Learning Goals

By the end of this course, we will develop:

1. An understanding of the housing production and regulation system in the United States,
2. An understanding of historic and contemporary housing policy intervention strategies,
3. An understanding the intersection between housing policy and other urban policy initiatives,
4. A framework for evaluation and analysis of housing policies in the US and abroad,
5. Strategies for effective analysis and communication of housing policy trends and impacts

Prerequisites

UP 473 is designed as a seminar which compliments engagement and discussion with independent work. This course has no prerequisites aside from upper-level undergraduate or graduate-level standing. Students will benefit from some prior knowledge of urban planning theories, concepts, and analytical techniques, although these are not a required prerequisite. Please touch base with me if you have any questions regarding whether this course is right for you.

Course Materials

Most course materials are accessible via our course website. Because this website is publicly accessible, some course materials are restricted access and available by logging in to your UIUC Box.net account. Some links especially to academic journal articles may also require you to log in via VPN if you are off campus.

There is one required textbook which we will use of the course of the semester:

Schwartz, Alex F. Housing Policy in the United States (3rd Edition)

Please purchase a copy of this book from your preferred bookseller. While we will focus on chapters in the third edition, you may also purchase the fourth edition if you wish.

Assignments, Grading, and Attendance

This course requires your engagement both within and outside of our seminar sessions. Grading criteria include contribution to the course environment, quality of writing, depth of analysis, and thoughtful engagement with the subject matter and each other. You work will be graded on a 100-point scale

Consistent contributions to discussion, thoughtful engagement with course material, and other achievements may lead to adjustments in course grades.

Grade Elements

All assignments should be submitted via your Box.net assignment dropbox as a PDF file (unless otherwise noted in the assignment). Late work will be automatically graded down by 5 points per 24-hour period your assignment is late, and will only be accepted if you have made arrangements with me prior to the assignment due date.

The learning environment in this seminar depends upon your participation. Full participation is expected for all course sessions. For each course session that you are absent from (excluding excused absences), 2 percent will be deducted from your final course grade. Excused absences will be granted on a case-by-case basis, but must be approved by me prior to the course session which you are absent from.

Honor Code and Learning Environment

The Illinois Student Code states: “It is the responsibility of each student to refrain from infractions of academic integrity, from conduct that may lead to suspicion of such infractions, and from conduct that aids others in such infractions.” Note that you are subject to the Honor Code, as well as procedures for addressing violations to the Code, regardless of whether you have read it and understand it. According to the Code, “ignorance is no excuse.”

To meet this standard in this class, note the following: in written work, all ideas (as well as data or other information) that are not your own must be cited. Note that ideas that require citation may not have been published or written down anywhere. While you are free—and indeed encouraged—to discuss the assignments with your peers, all of your data collection, analysis, and writing should be your own. Sharing of data sources you have been assigned to collect is a violation of the honor code in this course. The penalty for failing to meet the principles or spirit of the honor code may include automatic failure of the assignment or the class, at the discretion of the instructor.

The Department of Urban and Regional Planning is committed to maintaining a learning environment that is rooted in the goals and responsibilities of professional planners. By enrolling in a class offered by the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, students agree to be responsible for maintaining an atmosphere of mutual respect in all activities, including lectures, discussions, labs, projects, and extracurricular programs. See Student Code Article 1-Student Rights and Responsibilities, Part 1. Student Rights: §1-102.

Health and Safety

Following University policy, all students are required to engage in appropriate behavior to protect the health and safety of the community. Students are also required to follow the campus COVID-19 protocols.

If you feel ill, do not come to class. In addition, if you test positive for COVID-19 or have had an exposure that requires testing and/or quarantine, do not attend class. Please notify me, and at my discretion, you will be given excused absences for these class sessions. We will also develop a plan to discuss how to make up any missed work.

Face Coverings

In accordance with CDC guidance and university policy, all students, faculty, staff, and visitors are required to wear face coverings in classrooms and university spaces. You are encouraged to wear a N-95 (or comparable) mask in UP 473.

Please refer to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s COVID-19 website for further information on face coverings. Thank you for respecting all of our wellbeing so we can learn and interact together productively.

Building Access

In order to implement COVID-19-related guidelines and policies affecting university operations, instructional faculty members may ask students in the classroom to show their Building Access Status in the Illinois app or the Boarding Pass. Staff members may ask students in university offices to show their Building Access Status in the Illinois app or the Boarding Pass. If the Building Access Status says “Granted,” that means the individual is compliant with the university’s COVID-19 policies—either with a university-approved COVID-19 vaccine or with the on-campus COVID-19 testing program for unvaccinated students.

Let’s Be In Touch!

We’ve been living in particularly abnormal times for the last two years - it would be irresponsible to expect that teaching and learning would occur “normally” right now. We continue to teach and learn under emergency circumstances amidst an continually evolving global pandemic.

As you face challenges this semester, I need you to communicate with me, either during our course sessions or individually. You can schedule an appointment with me at your convenience via my Calendly page. I promise to listen, to be a resource, and to help in any way that I can - if I can’t help you, I will find someone who can.