Urban and Environmental Policy Program
UEP 301
URBAN POLICY AND POLITICS
Spring 2004
Monday and Wednesday 3:30-4:55 PM
Professor Robert Gottlieb and UEPI Research
Coordinator Mark Vallianatos
(ext. 2712; office: UEPI 202; gottlieb@oxy.edu)
Urban Policy and
Politics (UEP 301) is a core course for Urban and Environmental Policy majors.
It is also available to all other students wishing to explore the policy and
political debates in cities and regions, the changing nature of the City, the
shift in urban/suburban/ex-urban/rural relationships, and the political,
geographic, demographic, social, and environmental dynamics that have
transformed places like Los Angeles. Like other UEP courses, UEP 301 emphasizes
the real world dimensions of those debates, the opportunities and barriers for
change, and an historical understanding of the different dynamics involved in
the evolution of the City.
The course this year
will include an exploration and evaluation of the issues and outcomes associated
with an urban policy agenda that was developed with input from UEPI and in
conjunction with a wide range of policy analysts and community activists for the
2001 mayoral election in Los Angeles. This agenda (known as the Progressive Los
Angeles Network or PLAN agenda) will serve as a framework for understanding a
broad array of policy and political issues. These include policy initiatives
identified for such areas as housing, transportation, economic development, and
the urban environment, whether those policies were adopted, and, if so, how they
have been implemented, and how these and other issues might emerge in the next
Los Angeles mayoral election scheduled for 2005.
At the same time,
the course will explore through readings, seminar discussions, and speakers the
broader themes of urban crisis and transformation. At the turn of the 20th
century, the U.S. experienced a major population and economic shift, turning a
predominantly rural, agricultural country into an urban and industrial society.
In the 1940s and 1950s another great geographic and cultural shift occurred,
influenced in part by such policies as Federal Housing Authority home ownership
programs. The rise of the suburbs in turn had powerful economic, political, and
environmental consequences that also led to an “inner city” crisis that
erupted during the 1960s and continues to the present day. In recent years,
crucial demographic and economic changes have once again reconfigured cities,
suburbs, and regions, and new kinds of policy and political debates have
emerged. These include questions about revenue sources to keep basic services
afloat. They involve sharp debates about immigration, the development of a
“race to the bottom” or two-tier economy, and the protracted problem of
traffic gridlock and unhealthy air, among may other urban issues. They reference
the need to overcome the disconnect between jobs and housing, how to create
living wage jobs, and how to remake the urban environment, among the various
initiatives currently being explored.
Students enrolled in
UEP 301 will have three requirements. They include: a) participation in the
seminar through the readings and class discussions (one third of the grade); b)
participation in a small-group project tracking one of the Urban Agenda Task
Forces through research, presentations, and “state of the agenda” memo
writing (one third of the grade); and c) an individual research paper providing
an analysis of one of the PLAN Agenda policy issues and/or a policy issue
relevant for the 2005 election (one third of the grade). The Urban Agenda Task
Forces will be divided into several of the areas developed through the PLAN
Agenda as well as a few additional Task Force areas that are likely to emerge as
part of the 2005 election. The Task Forces include:
Housing
Economic
Development
The
Urban Environment
Transportation
and Land Use
Industrial
Policy-Labor Issues
Food
and Nutrition
Democracy
and Participation
Immigration
Each Task Force will
evaluate the progress and implementation (if relevant) of the PLAN Urban Agenda
since 2001, primarily, though not exclusively focusing on the priority issues
that were developed for the PLAN 21 Point Agenda document released in March 2001
and included in the readings for the course. Additional issues (for example, an
ordinance designed to block Wal-Mart from establishing its supercenter stores in
Los Angeles) will also be explored and evaluated. The Task Forces can divide
their work by having each Task Force participant research specific initiatives
(for example, the Housing Trust Fund). However, each Task Force will have the
joint responsibility of developing its own Task Force document and presentations
for its issue area.
The topics, readings
and Task Force assignments for the course are described below.
Weeks 1-2
(January 21-28)
TOPIC: The Reconfiguration of the City: 20th Century Transformation; 21st Century Debates
Readings
“The Misplacing of
America,” Chapter 2 in Changing Places: Rebuilding Community in the Age of
Sprawl, Richard Moe and Carter Wilkie, pp. 36-74
Laws of the
Landscape: How Policies Shape Cities in Europe and America,
Pietro Nivola, Chapters 1-3, pp. 1-34
Task
Force Assignments:
Review Task Force Opportunities
Week 3
(February 2-9)
TOPIC: Developing an Urban Agenda: The Los Angeles Experience
Readings
The PLAN 21 Point Agenda and PLAN issue papers
The Next Los
Angeles: The Struggle for a Livable City
(Draft Manuscript), Gottlieb et al, Introduction, Chapters 6 and 7.
Task Force Assignments
Each student selects a Task Force; Task Force groups meet and establish assignments.
Weeks
4-5
TOPIC: Economic and Community
Development: Avoiding a Race to the Bottom
Readings
The Puzzle of the
Los Angeles Economy: A Look at the Last Thirty Years,
Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty
“Is Wal-Mart Too
Powerful,” Business Week, October 6, 2003.
Robert Greene,
“Sam and His Pals: L.A. is a Wal-Mart Tow. Get Used to It,” L.A. Weekly,
October 10-16, 2003.
“The Wal-Mart
Effect,” Three part series in Los Angeles Times, November 23-25, 2003.
Making a Place for Community: Local Democracy in a Global Era, Gar Alperovitz et al, Chapter 2 (pps. 52-70); chapters 5-10: 133-248
Task Force Assignments
Interviews and research on Task Force issues
Weeks 6-7
TOPIC: Urban Demographics: The Impact
of Immigration and Population Shifts
Readings
“The Making of a
Multicultural Metropolis”, Roger Waldinger and Mehdi Bozorgmehr Chapter 1 (pp.
3-38); and “Population Change: Immigration and Ethnic Transformation, Sabagh
and Borozgmehr Chapter 3 (pp. 79-108), in Ethnic Los Angeles, Waldinger
and Bozorgmehr
“Spicing the
City,” “The Latino Metropolis,” and “Tropicalizing Cold Urban Space,”
Chapters 1, 4 & 5 in Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US City,
Mike Davis, pp. 1-9; 39-49; 51-57
“Suburbia Gains an
Accent,” Gregory Rodriguez, L.A. Times,
December 28, 2003
Task Force Assignments
Progress Report Presentations and First Memos Due
Weeks 8-9
TOPIC: Urban Geographies
Readings
“Sprawl Hits the Wall: Confronting the Realities of Metropolitan Los Angeles,” Southern California Studies Center, USC.
Gregg Easterbrook, “Suburban Myth: the Case for Sprawl,” New Republic, March 15, 1999.
“Dudley Street
Neighborhood Initiative,” in Solving Sprawl: Models of Smart Growth in
Communities Across America, NRDC (pp. 34-40).
Alperovitz et al:
Chapter 3 (pp. 71-99); Chapter 11 (pp. 249-264)
Task Force Assignments
Research comparable
initiatives in other cities; other background research
Weeks 10-11
TOPIC: The Urban Environment
Readings
The Next Los Angeles, Chapter 4.
“Making
Brownfields Bloom,” Carl Anthony, Land
and People, Fall 1996
“A Darker
Shade of Green: The Inner City’s Latest Foe is a Mainstream
Environmentalist,” David Friedman, Los
Angeles Times, June 20, 1999
“Subsidies and
Gentrification,” Lenny Siegel, Citizen’s
Report on Brownfields, April 1999
“Cleanups Fuel
Debate: How Much is Enough?” Miguel Bustillo, Los Angeles Times,
December 16, 2003
“The Urban Nexus:
Open Space, Brownfields, and Justice,” Paul Stanton Kibel, Boston
College Environmental Affairs Law Review, Spring 1998
Task Force Assignments
Research implementation; plans for future initiatives
Weeks 12-13
TOPIC: Urban Politics
Readings
The Next Los
Angeles, Chapter 5
Task Force Assignments
Presentation of Findings and Memos
Weeks 14-15
TOPIC:
Class Presentations