NR 377: Land Use Policy and Economics

Instructor: Austin Troy

atroy@uvm.edu

Instructor’s Office: 313 Aiken

656-8336

Website: www.uvm.edu/~atroy/landuse

Requirements (subject to change)

• Participation in class discussions and online discussion threads
• Midterm essay question (details later)
• Lead one class discussion and post discussion topics online before class
• Attend and write a brief report on local commission meeting of your choice (click here to link to the Burlington Planning and Zoning page, which includes meeting times and agendas for several commissions)
• My town exercise (make posting to WebCT and do research which will serve as the basis for your midterm essay question)
• Final paper. Due date to TBD

Discussion leader list

Readings:

Book: Fischel, W. 1985. The Economics of Zoning Laws. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore.

All other readings are available as PDFs at WebCT

Sources for current land use articles:

Require on campus computer or VPN:

Lexis Nexis environmental: http://web.lexis-nexis.com/envuniv/

Lexis Nexis general news: http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/form/academic/s_guidednews.html

Factiva: http://library.uvm.edu/articles/alpha.html#f

Vermont articles index: http://bfprhdindex.uvm.edu/

America History and Life (for a historical perspective): http://serials.abc-clio.com/active/start?_appname=serials

Available anywhere:

Planetizen: A great source for planning articles and resources: www.planetizen.com

Google News: www.google.com/news

WebCT: http://webct.uvm.edu:8900; then log on with your zoo user name and password; this is where you go to post and read online discussion threads for the course, including links to online articles; if that link doesn’t work, try linking here

Seminar Schedule and Reading List

1/22:	Introduction
1/29	The Balance Between Planning and Markets in Land Use Bertaud and Renaud, Cities without land markets Klosterman, Arguments For and Against Planning O’Sullivan, chapter 19: Local Government Spending Powerpoint lecture
2/5	Urban Growth and Spatial Structure O’Sullivan, chapters 2 and 7 (from the 4^th edition—note 5^th edition is different) Mills: A Thematic History of Urban Economics, pp. 7-16 Powerpoint lecture
2/12:	Urban decentralization Downs, Some Realities about Sprawl and Urban Decline Mieszkowski and Mills, The Causes of Metropolitan Suburbanization Ewing: Is Los Angeles style sprawl desirable? Optional:Excerpt from “Sprawl: A Compact History” by Robert Bruegmann; www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/076903.html Powerpoint lecture Google Earth exercise: “your definition of sprawl” (email your Google Earth placemarks before)
2/19:	President’s Day holiday
2/26:	Introduction to local regulation and property rights Fischel: The Economics of Zoning Laws, Chapters 2-3 Porter: Growth Management Approaches and Techniques pp. 15-42 Powerpoint lecture
3/5:	The economics of zoning and land use controls Fischel: ‘The Economics of Zoning Laws’ chapter 10-12 Powerpoint lecture
3/12:	Spring Break
3/19:	Land use control and exclusion Fischel: The Economics of Zoning Laws, Ch 15 Fischel: why are there Nimbys Optional: Ihlanfeldt: Exclusionary land use regulations within suburban communities Visit to Burlington Department of Planning and Zoning; meet at the Department Offices in the basement of City Hall (on Church St and Main) at 4:45
3/26:	Urban differentiation Fischel The Economics of Zoning Laws chapter 14 O’Sullivan, chapter 13 Powerpoint lecture Midterm handed out in class, due Thursday evening
4/2:	The new land use frontier: Teasing out exurban, rural and faux rural towns Walker and Fortman: Whose landscape? A Political Ecology of the Exurban Sierra Davis: The new ‘burbs: The Exurbs and their Implication for Planning Policy Short LA Times Orange County Canyon article
4/9:	Introduction to growth management Chinitz: Growth Management: Good for the Town, Bad for the Nation (short piece) Downs and Godschalk: Growth Management, Satan or Savior (short piece) Landis, Growth Management Revisited Anthony: do state growth management regulations reduce sprawl Burlington FreePress Article on Growth Centers Bill
4/16	State growth management case studies: Vermont and Oregon Shoemake: the Smalling of America, pp. 895-910 Murphy: Vermont’s Act 250 and the Problem of Sprawl Portland Metro Region’s 50 year plan for managing growth: read report at http://www.metro-region.org/library_docs/land_use/2040history.pdf Myths and facts about the Oregon UGB by 1000 Friends of Oregon at http://www.friends.org/resources/myths.html. This is just a short list Short recent article on Oregon’s Measure 37: From Farmland to Subdivision
4/23	Farmland and open space preservation Nelson: Preserving Prime Farmland in the Face of Urbanization Fulton. The Reluctant Metropolis, chapter 7 (The Education of Maria Van der Kolk) Denver Post Article: Too Many Homes on the Range Arizona Sun Article: Where Rural Life, City Growth Clash AlterNet Article related to Fulton readings: Being Like Brokovitch Optional Reading: Hellerstein et al., Farmland Protection: The Role of Public Preferences for Rural Amenities, pp. 1-18
4/30:	Smart Growth: Urban Density and Infill Readings: Urban Land Institute: Higher Density Development: Myths and Facts (this can be skimmed) Downs: Smart Growth: why we discuss it more than we do it O’Toole: The Folly of Smart Growth Visualizing Density presentation at the Lincoln Institute (try the density game!): http://www.lincolninst.edu/subcenters/VD/index.aspx, (requires free login) Also check out images at these cool websites: http://www.urban-advantage.com/images.html, http://www.sflcv.org/density/ Guests: Chuck Leif and Miro Weinberger of the Hartland group. For more details on the development project we will analyze with them, see http://hartlandgroup.biz/projects/237north.html; also see relevant sections of zoning code
Bibliography (under construction) Anas, A., R. Arnott, et al. (1998). "Articles - urban spatial structure." Journal of economic literature 36(3): 39. Anderson, W., P. Kanaroglou, et al. (1996). "Urban form, energy and the environment: A review of issues, evidence and policy." URBAN STUDIES 33(1): 7-35. Anthony, J. (2004). "Do state growth management regulations reduce sprawl?" URBAN AFFAIRS REVIEW 39(3): 376-397. Bertaud, A. (2004). The spatial organization of cities: Deliberate outcome or unforseen consequence. working paper. Bertaud, A. and B. Renaud (1994). "Cities without land markets: Lessons of the failed socialist experiment." World Bank discussion papers(227): ALL. Burchell, R., D. Listokin, et al. (2000). "Smart growth: More than a ghost of urban policy past, less than a bold new horizon." HOUSING POLICY DEBATE 11(4): 821-879. Carruthers, J. (2002). "The impacts of state growth management programmes: A comparative analysis." URBAN STUDIES 39(11): 1959-1982. CHINITZ, B. (1990). "Growth management - good for the town, bad for the nation." JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION 56(1): 3-8. Daniels, T. L. (1997). "Where does cluster zoning fit in farmland protection?" Journal of the American Planning Association 63(1): 8. DAVIS, T., A. NELSON, et al. (1994). "The new burbs - the exurbs and their implications for planning policy." JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION 60(1): 45-59. DEAR, M. (1992). "Understanding and overcoming the nimby syndrome." JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION 58(3): 288-300. DOWNS, A. (1992). "Growth management - satan or savior - regulatory barriers to affordable housing." JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION 58(4): 419-422. Downs, A. (1999). "Some realities about sprawl and urban decline." HOUSING POLICY DEBATE 10(4): 955-974. Downs, A. (2005). "Smart growth: Why we discuss it more than we do it." Journal of the American Planning Association 71(4): 11. Ewing, R. (1997). "Is los angeles-style sprawl desirable?" JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN PLANNING ASSOCIATION 63(1): 107-126. Fischel, W. (2004). "An economic history of zoning and a cure for its exclusionary effects." URBAN STUDIES 41(2): 317-340. Fischel, W. A. (1985). The economics of zoning laws: A property rights approach to american land use controls. Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press. Fischel, W. A. (2001). "Why are there nimbys?" Journal of Planning Literature 16(1): 80-163. Fulton, W. 1997. The Reluctant Metropolis. Solano Press Books, Point Arena, CA. Galster, G., R. Hanson, et al. (2001). "Wrestling sprawl to the ground: Defining and measuring an elusive concept." HOUSING POLICY DEBATE 12(4): 681-717. Glaeser, E. L., M. Kahn, et al. (2004). Job sprawl: Employment locatoin in us metropolitan areas. Survey Series. C. o. U. a. M. P. Brookings Institution. Washington, DC. Glaeser, E. L. and J. E. Kohlhase (2004). "Cities, regions and the decline of transport costs." Papers in regional science: the journal of the Regional Science Association International 83(1): 32. Ihlanfeldt, K. (2004). "Exclusionary land-use regulations within suburban communities: A review of the evidence and policy prescriptions." URBAN STUDIES 41(2): 261-283. Klosterman, R. (2003). Arguments for and against planning. Readings in planning theory. S. Campbell and S. Fainstein. Malden, MA, Blackwell Publishers. Landis, J. D. (2006). "Growth management revisited - Efficacy, price effects, and displacement." Journal of the American Planning Association 72(4): 411-430. MIESZKOWSKI, P. and E. MILLS (1993). "The causes of metropolitan suburbanization." JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES 7(3): 135-147. Mills, E. (2000). "A thematic history of urban economic analysis." Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs 2000(1): 52. Nelson, A. C. (1992). "Preserving prime farmland in the face of urbanization: Lessons from oregon." Journal of the American Planning Association 58(4): 467. Newman, K. (2004). "Newark, decline and avoidance, renaissance and desire: From disinvestment to reinvestment." ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE 594: 34-48. O'Sullivan, A. (2003). Urban economics. Boston, McGraw-Hill/Irwin. O'Toole, R. Phillips, J. and E. Goodstein (2000). "Growth management and housing prices: The case of portland, oregon." Contemporary economic policy 18(3): 11. Porter, D. R. and Growth Management Institute. (1997). Managing growth in america's communities. Washington, D.C., Island Press. Sanford, R. and H. Stroud (1997). "Vermont's act 250 legislation: A citizen based response to rapid growth and development." LAND USE POLICY 14(4): 239-256. Shoemake, J. (1999). "The smalling of america? Growth management statutes and the dormant commerce clause." DUKE LAW JOURNAL 48(4): 891-931. Walker, P. and L. Fortmann (2003). "Whose landscape? A political ecology of the 'exurban' sierra." CULTURAL GEOGRAPHIES 10(4): 469-491.