Comparative Planning Regulations
This course provides an overview of the institutional and legal framework for planning through comparative lenses. It will examine how institutional structures and legal rules provide the sources and limits to planning authorities in different societies, and how planning systems regulate urban and regional issues through different approaches. Four national planning prototypes will be specifically addressed in the course: American, British, German, and Chinese, but comparisons from other countries will be drawn on certain topics. Students will be encouraged to explore such comparisons in their targeted countries or city regions.
The main objective of the course is to enhance students’ understanding of the ways that planning functions in different regimes and the tensions being resolved between the requirements of public welfare provision, private property rights, sustainable growth, justice, and urban planning. At the heart of the discussion lies an acknowledgment that planning is not a single process with a universally accepted outcome, but divergence and convergence happen across different systems, and comparison is instrumental to understanding their development.
The course will begin with three fundamental factors that shape the structure of planning regulations: a society’s attitude toward property rights, the role of national and local governments and their relationship to each other, and the different nature of legal frameworks. Then the course discussion will cover a series of topics with a comparison of different approaches by different countries traditionally and how they evolved:
- Zoning and development control
- Comprehensive planning and growth management
- Building infrastructure
- Housing supply and affordability
- Urban redevelopment and brownfields
- Environmental protection and natural resource management
- Public participation, dispute resolution, and judicial review
The course will be delivered through lectures, discussions, and group exercises, geared toward students from across the planning, design, law, and social science disciplines. It has no prerequisites. Participation in discussion is expected among all students. Students will form groups and conduct comparative research on an essential debate revolving around the above topics, to explore how different countries or regions reacted to the debate and make the arguments.
After completing this course, students will be able to:
- Understand planning regulations with necessarily diverse views
- Relate contemporary planning practice to the impacts of different institutional and legal settings
- Critically examine planning institutions and laws through comparative lens
- Reflect and actively engage in the ongoing major debates on planning regulations