course change cover sheetdesign.umn.edu/about/intranet/governance/committees/curriculum/... ·...

12/2009

Attach the course update printout from ECAS and highlight the changes. CURRENT COURSE DETAIL Course Designator & Number: LA 3004/5004 Credits 3 Course Title: Regional Landscape Planning Prerequisite: A course in GIS

PROPOSED COURSE DETAIL Course Designator & Number: LA 3004/5004 Credits 4 Course Title: Regional Environmental Landscape Planning Prerequisite: A course in GIS

Program/major: Requirement in the Landscape Planning Track of the Landscape Design and Planning major in CDes and requirement for Environmental Planning Concentration in Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree program in HHH School of Public Affairs. Does this course change the Program? YES NO Select changes:

Credit Change

Cross Listing

Course Dropped

Term change(s) will take effect: Spring 2015

I. Please briefly summarize the proposed change(s) and the reasoning behind it.

CURRENT: See Additional Doc 1

PROPOSED: See Additional Doc 2

II. Will there be any change in resources associated with this proposal? Please explain. YES NO

Based on past enrollments in PA 8201 and LA 3004/5004, the reconstituted LA 3004/5004 is likely to attract approximately 28 students per offering. As evidenced in the attached email document from the DLA department head, the DLA is committed to assigning a 0.25 FTE teaching assistant to each offering of the revised LA 3004/5004. Coupled with input from the course instructor, this level of instructional support will allow the course to be fully staffed in providing student support and evaluation services. In addition, the 28 students will be amply accommodated by the facilities of the existing CDes computer instructional computing facility.

III. Consultation

No Consultation Needed The change will affect students in this program ONLY.

Consultation Needed – Change may affect students in other programs.

Please indicate individuals consulted and what department they represent. Indicate support objections to the proposed change(s) and also how the proposed change(s) affect their students or course offerings. Attach separate sheet if necessary.

IV. Resource Impact

Student Services

Physical Space

Technology

COURSE CHANGE APPROVAL

COURSE CHANGE COVER SHEET

Approved by Program Curriculum Committee: Date: Department/School Faculty Vote: Yes No Abstain Date: Department/School Head Certification of Affirmative Vote: Date: Approved by CDes Curriculum Committee: Date: Approved by CDes Faculty: Date:

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LA 3004/5004-Regional Environmental Landscape Panning Spring 2015 Department of Landscape Architecture University of Minnesota Lecture: Rapson 56 Lab: Rapson 33 Professor David G. Pitt Telephone: 625-7370 Office: 145J Rapson Hall e-mail: [email protected] Office hrs: call or e-mail for an appointment Course web site: https://ay13.moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=9730

Course Syllabus, Schedule and Course Policies Catalog Description An exploration of critical regional landscape parameters affecting the growth and development of metropolitan areas. Students assess these parameters and prepare a multifunctional land use plan for a defined locale. 4 credits. Course Goals and Description This course is intended to provide students with the basic knowledge and skills appropriate to understanding and undertaking regional environmental landscape planning practice. One of the major challenges in planning and public policy today is the creation of spatial, temporal, and organizational frameworks that couple the operation of human and natural systems in the environment in a manner that creates sustainable communities and resilient multifunctional landscapes that produce multiple ecosystem services. The course provides an opportunity to develop rudimentary skills in regional environmental landscape planning and analysis. The course places particular emphasis on the creation and use of coupled human natural systems frameworks in designing sustainable cultural settlement patterns and resilient landscapes that deliver multiple ecosystem services. The course focuses on the proposition that ecological patterns and processes are vital informants of land use and associated infrastructure planning. In the laboratory portion of the course, students will become proficient in the use of ArcGIS software to assess various dimensions ecological patterns and processes. Students will also apply this software to the formulation of development plans for various purposes that are based on various ecological assessments. Performance Objectives By the conclusion of LA 3004/5004, students will be able to: 1. Discuss regional environmental landscape planning as a process of integrating human and natural systems

to create multifunctional and resilient landscapes that produce diverse supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services.

a. Discuss the rationale and operational strategies for planning to protect and enhance the delivery of

supporting ecosystem services related to biological diversity. b. Discuss the rationale and operational strategies for planning to protect and enhance the delivery of

regulating ecosystem services related to surface and ground water quality as well as hazard mitigation and avoidance.

c. Discuss the rationale and operational strategies for planning to steward the delivery of provisioning

ecosystem services related to commodity natural resource values and making optimal use of bio-physical characteristics of the environment in defining land use suitability.

d. Discuss the rationale and operational strategies for planning to steward the delivery of cultural

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ecosystem services related to provision of outdoor recreational opportunity as well as historical, archeological, and scenic values.

2. Integrate concepts presented in Objective 1, above, in the creation of resilient landscapes that provide

sustainable multifunctional land use patterns relating to urbanization, agricultural and other patterns of natural resource development, and regional landscape protection.

3. Use ArcGIS software to apply concepts presented in Objective 1 above, to the assessment of a defined

locale in Minnesota and use this software to formulate a future regional landscape management plan for a defined locale in Minnesota based on concepts presented in Objective 2.

4. Discuss dimensions of the legal, regulatory, and political context of regional environemtal landscape

planning as a basis for defining plan implementation strategies 5. Develop professional level communication skills.

a. Prepare professional quality maps in ArcGIS software that clearly portray results of various geographical analyses as well as proposed planning recommendations.

b. Prepare professional quality reports and presentations that clearly and succinctly present analytical results and planning recommendations in narrative and graphic form, oriented toward an audience of local practitioners and decision-makers.

Format The class involves lectures, discussions, readings and a computer laboratory. The class will meet twice a week in Rapson 56 for 75 minute periods during which lectures and discussions will occur. One 120-minute computer laboratory will be held each week in the Rapson 33. Students will use a Geographic Information System software package known as ArcGIS 10.1 that has been installed on the computers in all of CDes Computing Labs. Student versions of the software, with a one year limited license, will be provided to all students enrolled in the course. Students will also be spending both in-class and out of class time in various libraries, in the CDes Computing Labs, and on the internet gathering and producing material to complete course assignments. A significant amount of time working on projects will occur in the student’s own study or working place. We will be working in a series of watersheds located in several Carver County townships including Laketown, Waconia, Benton, Dahlgren, and San Francisco. Carver County is in the southwest suburbs of the Twin Cities just south of Lake Minnetonka and north of the Minnesota River. Collectively, the watersheds contain approximately 80,000 acres (32,375 ha). The study area, to be referred to as the Laketown Township Study Area, contains many lakes and wetlands, significant (for an exurban landscape) areas of forest, the Carver Park Reserve, and a unit of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The Carver County cities of Waconia, Victoria, and Chaska are expanding into the adjacent mostly rural landscape within the study area. The assignments are sequential with the final goal of developing a multifunctional regional landscape plan that creates a resilient landscape, retains sustainable agriculture and other resource development patterns, and provides guidance for expansion of urbanization in a sustainable manner. Some might consider the exurban setting of the area as promoting “greenfield” development at the expense of infill development in already urbanized locales. In comparison to Minneapolis and St. Paul, the populations of Waconia (10,883), Victoria (7473), and Chaska (24,189) are low. However, the combination of distinct urban centers, working agricultural landscapes, and large tracts of extensive recreational areas containing relatively intact habitat systems provides an excellent opportunity to examine regional environmental landscape planning as a process of creating and using coupled human natural systems frameworks to design sustainable cultural settlement patterns and resilient landscapes that deliver multiple ecosystem services. Knowledge and skills

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learned in this class are applicable in more densely populated areas. They are also the “bread and butter” of environmental landscape planners working with watershed districts, various public agencies and non-governmental organizations at the county regional, or state scale, as well as planners working in non-metropolitan areas. While the assignments will involve undertaking various forms of spatial analysis and the production of associated maps, they will also produce fully developed professional maps reports that are suitable for submission to a planning body. As such, each assignment will incorporate full use and documentation of class readings and class discussions. Writing is a significant focus of the course. The instructor will provide detailed feedback on maps and written reports related to content, organization, and approach. Tailoring written materials to an audience of local practitioners and decision makers is a key component of preparing these reports. The instructor will maintain a Moodle 2.6 website for the course. Course materials (e.g. syllabus, assignments, readings), links to relevant information, and a course calendar will be maintained on the site. In order to access the site, follow the instructions below:

1. Launch web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla) 2. Go to http://www.myu.umn.edu 3. Sign in using your x500 4. Click on My Courses tab 5. Select LA 3004/5004 Moodle Site Link on your list of classes or go to

https://ay13.moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=9730. Additional information about using Moodle, including an online tutorial, is available at: https://moodle.umn.edu/. Student Workload Effort For each hour of classroom contact time, students will be expected to spend three hours of out-of-classroom time completing course assignments. Topics to be Covered The content of LA 3004/5004-Regional Environmental Landscape Planning consists of five parts. I. Introduction. The first two weeks of lecture provide an introduction to the structure and content of the

course. In addition, this part provides an overview of the relationship of regional environmental landscape planning to urban and regional planning and regional landscape management. The readings and lectures examine historic precedents for regional environmental landscape planning and are helpful in understanding the ecological implications of regional landscape planning decisions. (Jan. 20 – Feb. 3 ) Tentative Lecture Topics: Introduction: Course goals, learning activities, expectations, concepts of regional landscape

infrastructure planning & design, introduction to GIS. The role of regional environmental landscape planning in managing regional landscape

structure for the production of multiple ecosystem services Historical precedents for regional environmental landscape planning. Rice County regional environmental landscape planning case study. Exercise 1

II. Creating a Regional Environmental Landscape Protection Framework (i.e. the defensive

action). The second part of the course examines the management and allocation of land use in a manner that creates resilient landscapes that produce supporting, regulating, provisioning, and cultural ecosystem services. Continued provision of the services to be examined in this part of the course is often precluded by land use intensification associated with urbanization. We will examine the provision of ecocentric

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values relating to biological diversity and water resources and anthropocentric values related to natural resource values. These ideas relate to protecting landscape features and systems associated with the production of various supporting, regulating, provisioning, and regulating ecosystem services. The protection of such landscapes provides a basis for creating a “green infrastructure” armature to guide the location of future urban development and manage the environmental externalities associated with intensive resource development practices such as agriculture and mining.

Concepts discussed in lecture and readings will be applied in the laboratory portion of the course to the

creation of a green infrastructure framework that establishes regional landscape protection priorities for the Laketown Township study area.

A. Protecting and enhancing the delivery of supporting ecosystem services related to biological diversity.

Students will examine, design and execute strategies for assessing habitat quality and diversity for forest, wetland and aquatic species. They will also prepare a technical memorandum summarizing the purposes, methods, and findings of their analysis and formulate planning recommendations designed to promote habitat protection and enhancement in the study area. (Feb. 5 – Feb. 19) Tentative Lecture Topics: Regional environmental landscape planning to protect and enhance biological diversity

(four lectures) Planning implementation strategies to protect and enhance biological diversity Exercises 2 and 5

B. Protecting and enhancing the delivery of regulating ecosystem services related to water resources in the

environment. Students will examine, design, and execute strategies for assessing the susceptibility of surface and ground water to contamination from surface land use activities. (Feb. 24 – Mar. 12) Tentative Lecture Topics: Regional environmental landscape planning to protect/enhance surface & ground water

quality (4 lectures) Maintaining hydrologic flows & aquatic habitat in an urbanizing context. Guest speaker: Kent

Johnson, Manager of Water Quality Monitoring, Metropolitan Council Planning implementation strategies to protect and enhance surface and groundwater

quality. Exercises 3 and 5

C. Stewarding the delivery of provisioning and cultural ecosystem services related natural resource values in the environment. Humans derive provisioning and cultural ecosystem services associated with the direct use the environment for many purposes. Students will assess use of the study area environment in the derivation of commodity values (e.g. production of agricultural crops and aggregate minerals) as well as amenity values (e.g. enjoyment of recreational, scenic and historical dimensions) from regional landscape use. (Mar. 17 – Apr. 2) Tentative Lecture Topics: Protecting significant commodity resource values. Protecting significant amenity resource values. Exercises 4 and 5

E. Establishing a green infrastructure system that defines regional environmental landscape protection priorities.

Regional landscape planning has the capacity to assure the continued production of supporting, regulating, provisioning, and cultural ecosystem services over time in the face of pressures for urbanization. Students will integrate their analyses of supporting, regulating, provisioning, and cultural ecosystem services by creating a comprehensive green infrastructure framework. In developing this framework, students will: a) prepare a technical memorandum summarizing the purposes, methods, and findings of their analysis; b) define and map regional landscape protection priorities; and c) develop and map planning implementation strategies to achieve these priorities. (Apr. 7 and Apr. 14) Tentative Lecture Topics:

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Strategies for integrating multiple definitions of regional landscape protection Strategies for defining integrated regional landscape protection priorities Planning implementation strategies for achieving protection priorities Exercise 5

III. Creating a Regional Environmental Landscape Use Management Framework for

Urbanization. The third part of the course will examine anthropocentric perspectives on the biophysical world as a basis for determining optimal locations of urban land uses. This section will be based on regulating ecosystem services related to hazard avoidance and mitigation as well as provisioning services related to intrinsic development suitability. This section will examine optimal location of urban uses as defined by physiographic, soil, and climatic characteristics in the environment as well as infrastructure access opportunities and constraints. Students will apply these concepts to the identification and mapping of specific types of urban development priorities in the Laketown Township study area. (Apr. 9-Apr. 21)

A. Protecting and enhancing the delivery of regulating services relating to the mitigation of regional landscape and

other environmental hazards. Landscape features and environmental systems often have the capacity to create property damage and/or bodily injury. For example, residential subdivisions may be damaged if they are constructed in areas subject to flooding or slope instability. Regulating ecosystem services can be realized by identifying and avoiding use of landscapes subject to natural and anthropogenic hazards. Students will assess these hazards in the environment and devise planning strategies that minimize human exposure to their potential adverse effects in the process of land use and infrastructure planning. Tentative Lecture Topics: Avoiding/mitigating regional landscape hazards: natural hazards Avoiding/mitigating regional landscape hazards: anthropogenic hazards Exercise 6

B. Stewarding the delivery of provisioning services related to intrinsic land use suitability. This section will examine optimal location of urban uses as defined by physiographic, soil, and climatic characteristics in the environment as well as infrastructure access opportunities and constraints.

Tentative Lecture Topics: Assessing and optimizing intrinsic land use suitability Planning implementation strategies to optimize intrinsic land use suitability. Exercise 6

IV. Integrating Landscape Protection and Urban Development Priorities. (Apr. 23) Exercise 7 V. Regional Environmental Landscape Planning in a Community Context. The last part of the

course will address the interactions between regional landscape planning and land use planning, focusing on how natural resource information is used in the planning process. Readings and lectures also will discuss approaches to using the environment as a framework to guide land use, infrastructure, and other community planning decisions. Students will integrate the green infrastructure framework with urban development priorities to devise a land use plan that creates a resilient landscape and guides the creation of sustainable patterns of urbanization. (Apr. 28 – May 7) Tentative Lecture Topics: Tentative Lecture Topics: Laketown Township planning simulation (two class periods) Natural resources, regional landscape planning, and politics in the cities of Arden Hills and

Lino Lakes Guest speakers Regional landscape planning in the context of climate change Exercise 7

Texts

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The course texts are: Randolph, J. (2012). Environmental Land Use Planning and Management. Second Edition. Washington, DC: Island

Press. Available at the University Bookstore. Pitt, D., R. Bolan, J. Coleman, et al. (2002). Environmentally Based Regional Smart Growth Planning and Design. St.

Paul, MN. Metropolitan Council. A copy is available on the Moodle web site. Additional required readings are available on the course Moodle web site. The course schedule outlines when reading assignments are due. Required Course Assignments Exercise #1 – Introduction to GIS: Reclassifying data, use of overlays, use of different scales. Exercise #2 – Assessing forest, wetland and aquatic habitat quality. Exercise #3 – Assessing surface and groundwater contamination susceptibility. Exercise #4 – Assessing commodity and amenity natural resource values. Exercise #5 – Establishing a green infrastructure system that defines and maps regional landscape protection

priorities and strategies and identifies planning strategies to implement the system in the study area. Exercise #6 – Assessing land use suitability for urbanization. Exercise #7 – Preparing a final development plan. Evaluation of Students Course grades will be assigned on the basis of nine criteria: Criteria Percent of final grade a. Exercise #1 (Individual submission) 5% b. Exercise #2 (Individual and group submission) 15% c. Exercise #3 (Individual submission) 10%/5%* d. Exercise #4 (Individual submission) 10%/5%* e. Exercise #5 (Group submission) 15% f. Exercise #6 (Individual submission) 10%/5%* g. Exercise #7 – Preparation of final development plan (Group submission) 25% h. Presence in class. 5% i. Engagement in class discussion and critiques. 5%__________ Total 100% *Note: Graduate students enrolled in LA 5004 will complete the group assignments (Exercises 2, 5, and 7) with

other graduate students and these group assignments will be graded on a higher standard than that used in grading the same submissions for undergraduate students enrolled in LA 3004. In addition, students enrolled in LA 5004 will prepare an additional written assignment of less than 10 pages on a topic negotiated with the instructor. This additional assignment will be worth 15% of the final grade and the importance of the other assignments in calculating final grade will be reduced accordingly.

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Course Schedule and Assigned Readings A detailed course schedule will be issued subsequently. Course Policies Grading policy. Grades will be awarded on the basis of the following criteria: A: Student’s work in the course represents achievement that is outstanding relative to the level necessary to

meet course requirements. B: Student’s work in the course represents achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to

meet course requirements. C: Student’s work in the course represents achievement that meets course requirements in every way

(competent). D: Student’s work in the course represents achievement that is worthy of credit even though it fails to meet

fully the course requirements. F: Student’s work in the course was either:

1. completed, but at a level that is not worthy of credit; or 2. was not completed and there was no agreement between the instructor and the student that the

student would be awarded a grade of Incomplete (I). Plus and minus designations will be assigned to express a more refined judgment of these levels.

Dispute of exam or assignment grade. If you wish to dispute the grade assigned to an assignment, you must do so IN WRITING within 24 hours after the assignment has been returned. You must include a specific rationale for why your answer is correct, or why the assignment deserves a higher grade. "I think I deserve a better grade" does NOT constitute a suitable rationale. Effect of improvement in grades over the semester. Progress and improvement during the semester will positively affect your grade. Some projects are more difficult for some people and we all come to class with different skills and interests. Your individual interest and progress will be taken into account and you can feel free to discuss your progress of your grade specifically at any time. Feedback and grades will be issued for each exam and each Discussion exercise. Grades will be posted on the Moodle site. Extra credit. Extra credit may be awarded for exercise submissions whose quality vastly exceeds the quality evident in submissions by other members of the class. Class attendance. Full attendance is mandatory. Lack of attendance or partial attendance of lecture and Discussion sessions will negatively affect your grade in direct proportion to the amount of time missed. Work presented late is reduced one-third letter grade (e.g., B- to C+) for each class session late. Workload expectation. An average student will be able to achieve an average grade in this course with the equivalent of three hours of in-class learning effort per class period plus the equivalent of three hours of out-of-class effort for every hour of in-class effort, averaged over the course of the semester. Thus, over the course of

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the semester, I expect you to devote 45 hours of in-class effort plus an additional 135 hours of out-of-class effort. This equates to the equivalent of 12 hours of effort per week. Late submission of assignments. All assignments must be submitted by the date and time specified on each exercise statement. Late work will be penalized one grade notch (e.g., B- to C+) for each day it is late. The weekend counts as one day. Incomplete grades. Incomplete grades in the course will not be awarded without a written doctor’s notice, a written description of the causal family emergency or similar written hardship request submitted to the course instructor prior to May 8, 2014. Course evaluation. At the end of the semester, you will be asked for a formal evaluation of the course from your perspective. Formal evaluations will be conducted for both the course instructor and for your discussion instructor. However, I will also engage in informal discussion during the semester to talk about the class’ progress and make schedule or format changes as needed. I also encourage you, anonymously or otherwise, in public or private, to communicate problems or disagreements you are having with the instructors. No progress can be made in correcting a bad situation if the dimensions of the situation are not evident to all concerned. Alternative formats. The information in the course syllabus and reading packet is available in alternative formats upon request. Please contact the course instructor, Professor David Pitt, Dept. of Landscape Architecture, 145J Architecture, 625-7370. It is University policy to provide, on a flexible and individualized basis, reasonable accommodations to students who have disabilities that may affect their ability to participate in course activities or to meet course requirements. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact their instructors to discuss their individual needs for accommodations. Academic dishonesty and scholastic misconduct. Academic dishonesty and scholastic misconduct in any portion of the academic work for this course shall be grounds for awarding a grade of F for the entire course. Scholastic misconduct is broadly defined as "any act that violates the rights of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work." Scholastic dishonesty includes, (but is not necessarily limited to): a) cheating on assignments or examinations; b) plagiarizing, which means misrepresenting as your own work any part of work done by another; c) submitting the same paper, or substantially similar papers, to meet the requirements of more than one course without the approval and consent of all instructors concerned; d) depriving another student of necessary course materials; or e) interfering with another student's work. This class will involve a considerable amount of group activity. You will be working with a group of two other students in completing most of discussion exercises. In these projects, group work will be expected, and all members within a group will receive the same grade. In these activities, academic dishonesty and scholastic misconduct policies will be applied to the work of the group. The easiest way to avoid academic dishonesty and scholastic misconduct is to always cite explicitly who was involved in the creation of your work and from whom or what sources you have drawn your work. This means if you get a map, drawing, idea or quotation from a source outside of your group, be sure to provide a full citation of the source that would allow another person to also find the material you are using. As an regional landscape planner, you will spend the rest of your life synthesizing ideas into the creation places. Planning usually involves the use of other people’s ideas, and I encourage the consideration and use of other people’s ideas in completion of your discussion exercises. However, I do require full attribution to other people’s ideas and citation of source material where these ideas can be located. This applies to sources such as newspaper and magazine articles, websites, journal articles, books, public presentations and personal communications. Plagiarism. Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this class. Students believed to be engaging in plagiarism will be subject to procedures outlined in the University of Minnesota Board of Regents Policy on Academic Misconduct, adopted on September 11, 1992 and amended on January 8, 1993 and March 14, 1997. The consequences of plagiarism may result in the receipt of a grade of F for the course. Student conduct. Instructors are responsible for maintaining order and a positive learning environment in the classroom. Students whose behavior is disruptive either to the instructor or to other students will be asked to

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leave. Students whose behavior suggests the need for counseling or other assistance may be referred to their college office or University Counseling Services. Students whose behavior may violate the University Student Conduct Code may be referred to the Director of the University Counseling Office. Sexual harassment. University policy prohibits sexual harassment as defined in the University policy statement of 17 May 1984; copies of this statement are available in 419 Morrill Hall. Complaints about sexual harassment should be reported to the University Office of Equal Opportunity, 419 Morrill Hall. Equal opportunity. The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, martial status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, or sexual orientation. Additional Readings Ahern J., E. Leduc, M.L. York. 2007. Biodiversity planning and design: Sustainable practices. Washington, DC: Island

Press. Beatley, T. 1994. Habitat conservation planning: Endangered species and urban growth. Austin, TX: Univ. of Texas

Press. Benedict M., E. McMahon and L.Bergen. 2006. Green infrastructure: Linking landscapes and communities.

Washington, DC: Island Press. Birch, E.L. and S. M. Wachter (ed.). 2008. Growing greener cities : Urban sustainability in the twenty-first century.

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press. Boody, G, B. Vondracek, D. Andow, M. Krinke, J. Westra, J. Zimmerman and P. Welle. 2005. Multifunctional

agriculture in the United States. BioScience 55(1): 27-38. De Groot, R. S. 2003, A typology for the classification, description, and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods,

and services. Ecological Economics 41:393-408. Dramstad, W., J. Olson and R.T.T. Forman.1996. Landscape ecology principles in landscape architecture and land-use

planning. Washington, DC: Island Press. Duerksen, C. and C. Snyder. 2005. Nature-friendly communities: Habitat protection and land use planning.

Washington, DC: Island Press. Farr, D. 2007. Sustainable urbanism: Urban design with nature. New York: J. Wiley & Sons. Findley, Roger and Daniel Farber (2008). Regional landscape law in a nutshell, 7th Edition. St. Paul, MN : West

Publishing. Folke, C., S. Carpenter, T. Elmqvist, L. Gunderson, C. Holling and B. Walker. 2002. Resilience and sustainable

development: Building adaptive capacity in a world of transformations. Ambio 31(5): 437-440. Forman, R.T.T., D. Sperling, J. Bissonette, A. Clevenger, C. Cutshall, V. Dale, L. Fahrig, R. France, C. Goldman,

K. Heanue, J. Jones, F. Swanson, T. Turrentine and T. Winter. 2002. Road ecology: Science and solutions. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Hellmund, P. and D. Smith. 2006. Designing greenways: Sustainable landscapes for nature and people. Washington,

DC: Island Press.

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Hopkins, Lewis D. (1977). Methods for generating land suitability Journal of the American Institute of Planners, 43(4): 386-400.

Ison R., Roling N., Watson D. 2007. Challenges to science and society in the sustainable management and use of

water: investigating the role of social learning. Regional landscape Science & Policy 10:499-511. Jordan, N., G. Boody, W. Broussard, J. Glover, D. Keeney, B. McCown, G. McIsaac, M. Muller, H. Murray, J.

Neal, C. Pansing, R. Turner, K. Warner, and D. Wyse. 2007. Sustainable development of the bio-economy. Science 315(5381): 1560-1571.

Leitao, A.B., J. Miller, J. Ahern, K. McGarigal. 2006. Measuring landscapes: A planner's handbook. Washington, DC:

Island Press. Liu, J., T. Dietz, W. W. Taylor, S. Carpenter, C. Folke, M. Alberti, C. Redman, S. H. Schneider, E. Ostrom, A.

Pell, J. Lubchenco, Z. Ouyang, P. Deadman, T. Katz, and W. Provencher. 2007. Coupled human and natural systems. Ambio 36(8): 639-649.

MacKaye, B. 1962. The new exploration. Urbana, IL: Univ. of Illinois Press. McHarg, Ian. (1992). A step forward. In Design with nature. 2nd ed. New York: J. Wiley & Sons. Melnick, R., B.Johnson and K. Hill. 2001. Ecology and design: Frameworks for learning. 2001. Washington, DC: Island

Press. Noss, R. F., M. A. O’Connell and D. D. Murphy. 1997. The science of conservation planning. Washington, DC:

Island Press. O’Farrell, P. J. and P. M. L. Anderson. 2010. Sustainable multifunctional landscapes: a review to implementation.

Current Opinion in Regional landscape Sustainability 2:59-65. Ormsby, Tim, Eileen Napolean, Robert Burke, Carolyn Groess, and Laura Feaster. (2004). Getting to know ArcGIS

desktop; Second Edition. Redlands CA: ESRI Press. Peck, S. 1998. Planning for biodiversity: Issues and examples. Washington, DC: Island Press. Pitt, David, Richard Bolan, Jean Coleman, et al. (2002). Regional landscapely based regional smart growth planning

and design. St. Paul, MN. Metropolitan Council. A copy is available on the WebVista site. Randolph, John. (2004). Regional landscape land use planning and management. Washington, DC: Island Press. Robinson, Scott K. (1996). Threats to breeding neotropical migratory birds in the Midwest. In Thompson, F. R.

III (ed.). 1996. Management of Midwestern landscapes for the conservation of neotropical migratory birds. Gen. Tech. Report NC-187. St. Paul, MN: USDA-Forest Service North Central Forest Experiment Station.

Schueler, Tom. (1995). Site planning for urban stream protection. Washington, DC: Center for Watershed

Protection.

Soule, M. E. and J. Terbough (ed.). 1999. Continental Conservation: Scientific Foundations of Regional Reserve Networks. Island Press, Washington, DC.

Soulé, Michael E. 1991. Land use planning and wildlife maintenance. Journal of the American Planning Association,

57:3 (Summer), 313-323. Steiner, F. 2008. The living landscape: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning. Washington, DC: Island Press.

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Steinitz, C., H. Arias, S. Bassett, M. Flaxman,T. Goode, T. Maddock, D. Mouat, Richard Peiser and Allan Shearer.

2003. Alternative futures for changing landscapes: The Upper San Pedro River Basin in Arizona And Sonora. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Thompson, G.F. and F.R. Steiner (Ed.). 1997. Ecological design and planning. New York: J. Wiley & Sons.

9/22/2014 ECAS View Course Proposal

https://webapps-prd.oit.umn.edu/ecas/viewCourseProposal.jsp?EcasId=47798&seq=4 1/18

Electronic Course Authorization System (ECAS)

LA 3004 - VIEW COURSE PROPOSAL

Back to Proposal List

Approvals Received: Department on 09-22-14

by Amanda Smoot ([email protected])

Approvals Pending: College/Dean > Provost > Catalog > PeopleSoft Manual Entry

Effective Status: Active

Effective Term: New: 1153 - Spring 2015Old: 1109 - Fall 2010

Course: LA 3004

Institution:Campus:

UMNTC - Twin CitiesUMNTC - Twin Cities

Career: UGRD

College: TALA - College of Design

Department: 10828 - Landscape Architecture

General

Course Title Short: New: Regional Environ LA PlanningOld: Regional Land Planning

Course Title Long: New: Regional Environmental Landscape PlanningOld: Regional Landscape Planning

Max-Min Creditsfor Course:

New: 4.0 to 4.0 credit(s)Old: 3.0 to 3.0 credit(s)

CatalogDescription:

New: An exploration of critical regional landscape parameters affecting the growth anddevelopment of metropolitan areas. Students assess these parameters and prepare amultifunctional land use plan for a defined locale. 4 credits. Old: Critical environmental parameters affecting growth/development of metropolitanareas. Students assess these parameters and prepare multifunctional land use plan for adefined locale.

Print in Catalog?: Yes

CCE CatalogDescription:

<no text provided>

Grading Basis: Stdnt Opt

Topics Course: No

Honors Course: No

Online Course: No

InstructorContact Hours:

4.5 hours per week

Years mostfrequently offered:

Every academic year

Term(s) mostfrequently offered:

Spring

Campuses: Twin Cities Crookston Duluth Morris Rochester Other LocationsSigned in as: asmoot | Sign out

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Component 1: LEC (with final exam)

Component 2: LAB (no final exam)

Auto-EnrollCourse:

Yes

GradedComponent:

LAB

AcademicProgress Units:

New: Not allowed to bypass limits.4.0 credit(s)Old: Not allowed to bypass limits.3.0 credit(s)

Financial AidProgress Units:

New: Not allowed to bypass limits.4.0 credit(s)Old: Not allowed to bypass limits.3.0 credit(s)

Repetition ofCourse:

New: Repetition not allowed. Old: Repetition not allowed.

CoursePrerequisitesfor Catalog:

New: prereq FR 3131 or Concurrent registration is required (or allowed) in FR 3131 orGEOG 3561 or Concurrent registration is required (or allowed) in GEOG 3561, orequivalentOld: FR 3131 or &FR 3131 or GEOG 3561 or &GEOG 3561

CourseEquivalency:

New: LA 5004Old: No course equivalencies

ConsentRequirement:

No required consent

EnforcedPrerequisites: (course-based ornon-course-based)

New: prereq FR 3131 or Concurrent registration is required (or allowed) in FR 3131 orGEOG 3561 or Concurrent registration is required (or allowed) in GEOG 3561, orequivalentOld: 003270 - FR 3131 or &3131 or Geog 3561 or &3561

Editor Comments: <no text provided>

Proposal Changes: <no text provided>

History Information: <no text provided>

FacultySponsor Name:

David G. Pitt

FacultySponsor E-mail Address:

[email protected]

Student Learning Outcomes

Student Learning Outcomes: * Student in the course:

- Can identify, define, and solve problems

Please explain briefly how this outcome will be addressed in the course. Give briefexamples of class work related to the outcome.

This course is intended to provide students with the basic knowledge and skillsappropriate to understanding and undertaking the problems of regional landscapeplanning practice, particularly as it relates to the creation of multi-functionallandscapes at the regional scale. One of the major challenges in planning and publicpolicy today is the coupling and long-term sustainable integration of human activitiesand the natural environment. The course provides an opportunity to developrudimentary skills in landscape planning with particular reference to the relation ofthe urban development process to ecological processes. The course focuses on theproposition that ecological patterns and processes are vital informants in definingsustainable patterns of urban land use and associated infrastructure planning. By theend of the semester, students are able to address the problem of creating sustainableregional landscape that protect and enhance biological diversity, protect and managesurface and ground water quality, steward commodity and amenity values derivedfrom human use of the environment, avoid and mitigate property damage andpersonal injury resulting from environmental hazards, optimize use of bio-physical



characteristics of the environment in defining land use suitability and addressinstitutional constraints on land use policy implementation.

How will you assess the students' learning related to this outcome? Give briefexamples of how class work related to the outcome will be evaluated.

Students complete a series of five problems using computer-assisted geographicinformation systems (GIS) technology to address the major issue problems of thecourse. For each problem, students prepare a technical memorandum thatsummarizes the major issues being addressed, methodology used in examining thatissue, findings of the analysis and landscape planning recommendations emanatingfrom the assessment. At the end of the semester, students put the problemassessments together in the formulation of a landscape plan for a specific landscape.Projects are evaluate by the course instructor. Collectively, they constitute 85% ofthe final grade.

Liberal Education

Requirementthis course fulfills:

None

Other requirementthis course fulfills:

None

Criteria forCore Courses:

Describe how the course meets the specific bullet points for the proposed corerequirement. Give concrete and detailed examples for the course syllabus,detailed outline, laboratory material, student projects, or other instructionalmaterials or method.

Core courses must meet the following requirements:

They explicitly help students understand what liberal education is, how thecontent and the substance of this course enhance a liberal education, andwhat this means for them as students and as citizens.They employ teaching and learning strategies that engage students withdoing the work of the field, not just reading about it.They include small group experiences (such as discussion sections or labs)and use writing as appropriate to the discipline to help students learn andreflect on their learning.They do not (except in rare and clearly justified cases) have prerequisitesbeyond the University's entrance requirements.They are offered on a regular schedule.They are taught by regular faculty or under exceptional circumstances byinstructors on continuing appointments. Departments proposing instructorsother than regular faculty must provide documentation of how suchinstructors will be trained and supervised to ensure consistency andcontinuity in courses.

<no text provided>

Criteria forTheme Courses:

Describe how the course meets the specific bullet points for the proposed theme requirement. Giveconcrete and detailed examples for the course syllabus, detailed outline, laboratory material, studentprojects, or other instructional materials or methods.

Theme courses have the common goal of cultivating in students a number of habits of mind:

thinking ethically about important challenges facing our society and world;;reflecting on the shared sense of responsibility required to build and maintain community;;connecting knowledge and practice;;fostering a stronger sense of our roles as historical agents.

<no text provided>

LE Recertification-Reflection Statement:(for LE courses being re-certified only)

<no text provided>

Statement of Certification: This course is certified for a Core, effective as of This course is certified for a Theme, effective as of



Writing Intensive

Propose this courseas Writing Intensivecurriculum:

No

Question 1 (see CWB Requirement 1): How do writing assignments and writing instruction further the learning objectives of this course andhow is writing integrated into the course? Note that the syllabus must reflect the critical role thatwriting plays in the course.

<no text provided>

Question 2 (see CWB Requirement 2): What types of writing (e.g., research papers, problem sets, presentations, technical documents, labreports, essays, journaling etc.) will be assigned? Explain how these assignments meet the requirementthat writing be a significant part of the course work, including details about multi-authoredassignments, if any. Include the required length for each writing assignment and demonstrate how theminimum word count (or its equivalent) for finished writing will be met.

<no text provided>

Question 3 (see CWB Requirement 3): How will students' final course grade depend on their writing performance? What percentage of thecourse grade will depend on the quality and level of the student's writing compared to the percentage ofthe grade that depends on the course content? Note that this information must also be on the syllabus.

<no text provided>

Question 4 (see CWB Requirement 4): Indicate which assignment(s) students will be required to revise and resubmit after feedback from theinstructor. Indicate who will be providing the feedback. Include an example of the assignmentinstructions you are likely to use for this assignment or assignments.

<no text provided>

Question 5 (see CWB Requirement 5): What types of writing instruction will be experienced by students? How much class time will be devotedto explicit writing instruction and at what points in the semester? What types of writing support andresources will be provided to students?

<no text provided>

Question 6 (see CWB Requirement 6): If teaching assistants will participate in writing assessment and writing instruction, explain how willthey be trained (e.g. in how to review, grade and respond to student writing) and how will they besupervised. If the course is taught in multiple sections with multiple faculty (e.g. a capstone directedstudies course), explain how every faculty mentor will ensure that their students will receive a writingintensive experience.

<no text provided>

Statement of Certification: This course is certified as Writing Internsive effective as of

Course Syllabus

ProvisionalSyllabus:

Please provide a provisional syllabus for new courses and courses in whichchanges in content and/or description and/or credits are proposed that includethe following information: course goals and description;; format/structure of thecourse (proposed number of instructor contact hours per week, studentworkload effort per week, etc.);; topics to be covered;; scope and nature ofassigned readings (texts, authors, frequency, amount per week);; requiredcourse assignments;; nature of any student projects;; and how students will beevaluated.

The University policy on credits is found under Section 4A of "Standards forSemester Conversion" athttp://www.policy.umn.edu/Policies/Education/Education/STUDENTWORK.html. Provisional course syllabus information will be retained in this system until newsyllabus information is entered with the next major course modification, Thisprovisional course syllabus information may not correspond to the course asoffered in a particular semester.

New: Course Goals and Description

This course is intended to provide students with the basic knowledge and skills appropriateto understanding and undertaking regional environmental landscape planning practice. One of the major challenges in planning and public policy today is the creation of spatial,temporal, and organizational frameworks that couple the operation of human and naturalsystems in the environment in a manner that creates sustainable communities andresilient multifunctional landscapes that produce multiple ecosystem services.

The course provides an opportunity to develop rudimentary skills in regionalenvironmental landscape planning and analysis. The course places particular emphasis on



the creation and use of coupled human natural systems frameworks in designingsustainable cultural settlement patterns and resilient landscapes that deliver multipleecosystem services. The course focuses on the proposition that ecological patterns andprocesses are vital informants of land use and associated infrastructure planning. In thelaboratory portion of the course, students will become proficient in the use of ArcGISsoftware to assess various dimensions ecological patterns and processes. Students willalso apply this software to the formulation of development plans for various purposes thatare based on various ecological assessments.

Performance Objectives

By the conclusion of LA 3004/5004, students will be able to:

1. Discuss regional environmental landscape planning as a process of integratinghuman and natural systems to create multifunctional and resilient landscapes that producediverse supporting, provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services.

a. Discuss the rationale and operational strategies for planning to protect andenhance the delivery of supporting ecosystem services related to biological diversity.

b. Discuss the rationale and operational strategies for planning to protect andenhance the delivery of regulating ecosystem services related to surface and ground waterquality as well as hazard mitigation and avoidance.

c. Discuss the rationale and operational strategies for planning to steward thedelivery of provisioning ecosystem services related to commodity natural resource valuesand making optimal use of bio-physical characteristics of the environment in defining landuse suitability.

d. Discuss the rationale and operational strategies for planning to steward thedelivery of cultural ecosystem services related to provision of outdoor recreationalopportunity as well as historical, archeological, and scenic values.

2. Integrate concepts presented in Objective 1, above, in the creation of resilientlandscapes that provide sustainable multifunctional land use patterns relating tourbanization, agricultural and other patterns of natural resource development, andregional landscape protection.

3. Use ArcGIS software to apply concepts presented in Objective 1 above, to theassessment of a defined locale in Minnesota and use this software to formulate a futureregional landscape management plan for a defined locale in Minnesota based on conceptspresented in Objective 2.

4. Discuss dimensions of the legal, regulatory, and political context of regionalenvironemtal landscape planning as a basis for defining plan implementation strategies

5. Develop professional level communication skills.a. Prepare professional quality maps in ArcGIS software that clearly portray results ofvarious geographical analyses as well as proposed planning recommendations.b. Prepare professional quality reports and presentations that clearly and succinctlypresent analytical results and planning recommendations in narrative and graphic form,oriented toward an audience of local practitioners and decision-makers.

Format

The class involves lectures, discussions, readings and a computer laboratory. The classwill meet twice a week in Rapson 56 for 75 minute periods during which lectures anddiscussions will occur. One 120-minute computer laboratory will be held each week in theRapson 33. Students will use a Geographic Information System software package knownas ArcGIS 10.1 that has been installed on the computers in all of CDes Computing Labs. Student versions of the software, with a one year limited license, will be provided to allstudents enrolled in the course.

Students will also be spending both in-class and out of class time in various libraries, inthe CDes Computing Labs, and on the internet gathering and producing material tocomplete course assignments. A significant amount of time working on projects will occurin the student s own study or working place.



We will be working in a series of watersheds located in several Carver County townshipsincluding Laketown, Waconia, Benton, Dahlgren, and San Francisco. Carver County is inthe southwest suburbs of the Twin Cities just south of Lake Minnetonka and north of theMinnesota River. Collectively, the watersheds contain approximately 80,000 acres (32,375ha).

The study area, to be referred to as the Laketown Township Study Area, contains manylakes and wetlands, significant (for an exurban landscape) areas of forest, the Carver ParkReserve, and a unit of the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The Carver Countycities of Waconia, Victoria, and Chaska are expanding into the adjacent mostly rurallandscape within the study area. The assignments are sequential with the final goal ofdeveloping a multifunctional regional landscape plan that creates a resilient landscape,retains sustainable agriculture and other resource development patterns, and providesguidance for expansion of urbanization in a sustainable manner.

Some might consider the exurban setting of the area as promoting greenfielddevelopment at the expense of infill development in already urbanized locales. Incomparison to Minneapolis and St. Paul, the populations of Waconia (10,883), Victoria(7473), and Chaska (24,189) are low. However, the combination of distinct urban centers,working agricultural landscapes, and large tracts of extensive recreational areascontaining relatively intact habitat systems provides an excellent opportunity to examineregional environmental landscape planning as a process of creating and using coupledhuman natural systems frameworks to design sustainable cultural settlement patterns andresilient landscapes that deliver multiple ecosystem services. Knowledge and skills learnedin this class are applicable in more densely populated areas. They are also the bread andbutter of environmental landscape planners working with watershed districts, variouspublic agencies and non-governmental organizations at the county regional, or state scale,as well as planners working in non-metropolitan areas.

While the assignments will involve undertaking various forms of spatial analysis and theproduction of associated maps, they will also produce fully developed professional mapsreports that are suitable for submission to a planning body. As such, each assignment willincorporate full use and documentation of class readings and class discussions. Writing isa significant focus of the course. The instructor will provide detailed feedback on mapsand written reports related to content, organization, and approach. Tailoring writtenmaterials to an audience of local practitioners and decision makers is a key component ofpreparing these reports.

The instructor will maintain a Moodle 2.6 website for the course. Course materials (e.g.syllabus, assignments, readings), links to relevant information, and a course calendar willbe maintained on the site. In order to access the site, follow the instructions below:

1. Launch web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla)2. Go to http://www.myu.umn.edu3. Sign in using your x5004. Click on My Courses tab5. Select LA 3004/5004 Moodle Site Link on your list of classes or go tohttps://ay13.moodle.umn.edu/course/view.php?id=9730.

Additional information about using Moodle, including an online tutorial, is available at: https://moodle.umn.edu/.

Student Workload Effort

For each hour of classroom contact time, students will be expected to spend three hoursof out-of-classroom time completing course assignments.

Topics to be Covered

The content of LA 3004/5004-Regional Environmental Landscape Planning consists of fiveparts.

I. Introduction. The first two weeks of lecture provide an introduction to the structureand content of the course. In addition, this part provides an overview of the relationshipof regional environmental landscape planning to urban and regional planning and regionallandscape management. The readings and lectures examine historic precedents forregional environmental landscape planning and are helpful in understanding the ecologicalimplications of regional landscape planning decisions. (Jan. 20 Feb. 3 )



Tentative Lecture Topics:Introduction: Course goals, learning activities, expectations, concepts of regionallandscape infrastructure planning & design, introduction to GIS.The role of regional environmental landscape planning in managing regional landscapestructure for the production of multiple ecosystem servicesHistorical precedents for regional environmental landscape planning.Rice County regional environmental landscape planning case study. Exercise 1

II. Creating a Regional Environmental Landscape Protection Framework (i.e. thedefensive action). The second part of the course examines the management and allocationof land use in a manner that creates resilient landscapes that produce supporting,regulating, provisioning, and cultural ecosystem services. Continued provision of theservices to be examined in this part of the course is often precluded by land useintensification associated with urbanization. We will examine the provision of ecocentricvalues relating to biological diversity and water resources and anthropocentric valuesrelated to natural resource values. These ideas relate to protecting landscape features andsystems associated with the production of various supporting, regulating, provisioning,and regulating ecosystem services. The protection of such landscapes provides a basis forcreating a green infrastructure armature to guide the location of future urbandevelopment and manage the environmental externalities associated with intensiveresource development practices such as agriculture and mining.

Concepts discussed in lecture and readings will be applied in the laboratory portionof the course to the creation of a green infrastructure framework that establishes regionallandscape protection priorities for the Laketown Township study area.

A. Protecting and enhancing the delivery of supporting ecosystem services related tobiological diversity. Students will examine, design and execute strategies for assessinghabitat quality and diversity for forest, wetland and aquatic species. They will also preparea technical memorandum summarizing the purposes, methods, and findings of theiranalysis and formulate planning recommendations designed to promote habitat protectionand enhancement in the study area. (Feb. 5 Feb. 19)Tentative Lecture Topics:Regional environmental landscape planning to protect and enhance biological diversity(four lectures)Planning implementation strategies to protect and enhance biological diversityExercises 2 and 5

B. Protecting and enhancing the delivery of regulating ecosystem services related towater resources in the environment. Students will examine, design, and execute strategiesfor assessing the susceptibility of surface and ground water to contamination from surfaceland use activities. (Feb. 24 Mar. 12) Tentative Lecture Topics:Regional environmental landscape planning to protect/enhance surface & ground waterquality (4 lectures)Maintaining hydrologic flows & aquatic habitat in an urbanizing context. Guest speaker:Kent Johnson, Manager of Water Quality Monitoring, Metropolitan CouncilPlanning implementation strategies to protect and enhance surface and groundwaterquality.Exercises 3 and 5

C. Stewarding the delivery of provisioning and cultural ecosystem services relatednatural resource values in the environment. Humans derive provisioning and culturalecosystem services associated with the direct use the environment for many purposes.Students will assess use of the study area environment in the derivation of commodityvalues (e.g. production of agricultural crops and aggregate minerals) as well as amenityvalues (e.g. enjoyment of recreational, scenic and historical dimensions) from regionallandscape use. (Mar. 17 Apr. 2)Tentative Lecture Topics:Protecting significant commodity resource values. Protecting significant amenity resource values.Exercises 4 and 5

E. Establishing a green infrastructure system that defines regional environmentallandscape protection priorities. Regional landscape planning has the capacity to assure thecontinued production of supporting, regulating, provisioning, and cultural ecosystemservices over time in the face of pressures for urbanization. Students will integrate theiranalyses of supporting, regulating, provisioning, and cultural ecosystem services bycreating a comprehensive green infrastructure framework. In developing this framework,



students will: a) prepare a technical memorandum summarizing the purposes, methods,and findings of their analysis;; b) define and map regional landscape protection priorities;;and c) develop and map planning implementation strategies to achieve these priorities.(Apr. 7 and Apr. 14)Tentative Lecture Topics:Strategies for integrating multiple definitions of regional landscape protectionStrategies for defining integrated regional landscape protection prioritiesPlanning implementation strategies for achieving protection prioritiesExercise 5

III. Creating a Regional Environmental Landscape Use Management Framework forUrbanization. The third part of the course will examine anthropocentric perspectives onthe biophysical world as a basis for determining optimal locations of urban land uses. Thissection will be based on regulating ecosystem services related to hazard avoidance andmitigation as well as provisioning services related to intrinsic development suitability. Thissection will examine optimal location of urban uses as defined by physiographic, soil, andclimatic characteristics in the environment as well as infrastructure access opportunitiesand constraints. Students will apply these concepts to the identification and mapping ofspecific types of urban development priorities in the Laketown Township study area. (Apr.9-Apr. 21)

A. Protecting and enhancing the delivery of regulating services relating to themitigation of regional landscape and other environmental hazards. Landscape features andenvironmental systems often have the capacity to create property damage and/or bodilyinjury. For example, residential subdivisions may be damaged if they are constructed inareas subject to flooding or slope instability. Regulating ecosystem services can berealized by identifying and avoiding use of landscapes subject to natural andanthropogenic hazards. Students will assess these hazards in the environment and deviseplanning strategies that minimize human exposure to their potential adverse effects in theprocess of land use and infrastructure planning. Tentative Lecture Topics:Avoiding/mitigating regional landscape hazards: natural hazardsAvoiding/mitigating regional landscape hazards: anthropogenic hazardsExercise 6

B. Stewarding the delivery of provisioning services related to intrinsic land usesuitability. This section will examine optimal location of urban uses as defined byphysiographic, soil, and climatic characteristics in the environment as well asinfrastructure access opportunities and constraints.

Tentative Lecture Topics:Assessing and optimizing intrinsic land use suitabilityPlanning implementation strategies to optimize intrinsic land use suitability. Exercise 6

IV. Integrating Landscape Protection and Urban Development Priorities. (Apr. 23) Exercise 7

V. Regional Environmental Landscape Planning in a Community Context. The last partof the course will address the interactions between regional landscape planning and landuse planning, focusing on how natural resource information is used in the planningprocess. Readings and lectures also will discuss approaches to using the environment as aframework to guide land use, infrastructure, and other community planning decisions.Students will integrate the green infrastructure framework with urban developmentpriorities to devise a land use plan that creates a resilient landscape and guides thecreation of sustainable patterns of urbanization. (Apr. 28 May 7)Tentative Lecture Topics:Tentative Lecture Topics:Laketown Township planning simulation (two class periods)

Natural resources, regional landscape planning, and politics in the cities of Arden Hills andLino Lakes Guest speakersRegional landscape planning in the context of climate changeExercise 7Texts

The course texts are:

Randolph, J. (2012). Environmental Land Use Planning and Management. Second Edition.



Washington, DC: Island Press. Available at the University Bookstore.

Pitt, D., R. Bolan, J. Coleman, et al. (2002). Environmentally Based Regional SmartGrowth Planning and Design. St. Paul, MN. Metropolitan Council. A copy is available onthe Moodle web site.

Additional required readings are available on the course Moodle web site. The courseschedule outlines when reading assignments are due.

Required Course Assignments

Exercise #1 Introduction to GIS: Reclassifying data, use of overlays, use of differentscales.Exercise #2 Assessing forest, wetland and aquatic habitat quality.Exercise #3 Assessing surface and groundwater contamination susceptibility. Exercise #4 Assessing commodity and amenity natural resource values. Exercise #5 Establishing a green infrastructure system that defines and maps regionallandscape protection priorities and strategies and identifies planning strategies toimplement the system in the study area.Exercise #6 Assessing land use suitability for urbanization.Exercise #7 Preparing a final development plan.

Evaluation of Students

Course grades will be assigned on the basis of nine criteria:

Criteria Percent of final grade

a. Exercise #1 (Individual submission) 5%b. Exercise #2 (Individual and group submission) 15%c. Exercise #3 (Individual submission) 10%/5%*d. Exercise #4 (Individual submission) 10%/5%*e. Exercise #5 (Group submission) 15%f. Exercise #6 (Individual submission) 10%/5%*g. Exercise #7 Preparation of final development plan (Group submission) 25%h. Presence in class. 5%i. Engagement in class discussion and critiques. 5%__________Total 100%

*Note: Graduate students enrolled in LA 5004 will complete the group assignments(Exercises 2, 5, and 7) with other graduate students and these group assignments will begraded on a higher standard than that used in grading the same submissions forundergraduate students enrolled in LA 3004. In addition, students enrolled in LA 5004 willprepare an additional written assignment of less than 10 pages on a topic negotiated withthe instructor. This additional assignment will be worth 15% of the final grade and theimportance of the other assignments in calculating final grade will be reduced accordingly.

Course Schedule and Assigned Readings

A detailed course schedule will be issued subsequently.

Course Policies

Grading policy. Grades will be awarded on the basis of the following criteria:

A: Student s work in the course represents achievement that is outstandingrelative to the level necessary to meet course requirements.

B: Student s work in the course represents achievement that is significantly abovethe level necessary to meet course requirements.

C: Student s work in the course represents achievement that meets courserequirements in every way (competent).

D: Student s work in the course represents achievement that is worthy of credit



even though it fails to meet fully the course requirements.

F: Student s work in the course was either:1. completed, but at a level that is not worthy of credit;; or2. was not completed and there was no agreement between the instructor and thestudent that the student would be awarded a grade of Incomplete (I).

Plus and minus designations will be assigned to express a more refined judgment of theselevels.

Dispute of exam or assignment grade. If you wish to dispute the grade assigned to anassignment, you must do so IN WRITING within 24 hours after the assignment has beenreturned. You must include a specific rationale for why your answer is correct, or why theassignment deserves a higher grade. "I think I deserve a better grade" does NOTconstitute a suitable rationale.

Effect of improvement in grades over the semester. Progress and improvement during thesemester will positively affect your grade. Some projects are more difficult for somepeople and we all come to class with different skills and interests. Your individual interestand progress will be taken into account and you can feel free to discuss your progress ofyour grade specifically at any time. Feedback and grades will be issued for each examand each Discussion exercise. Grades will be posted on the Moodle site.

Extra credit. Extra credit may be awarded for exercise submissions whose quality vastlyexceeds the quality evident in submissions by other members of the class.

Class attendance. Full attendance is mandatory. Lack of attendance or partial attendanceof lecture and Discussion sessions will negatively affect your grade in direct proportion tothe amount of time missed. Work presented late is reduced one-third letter grade (e.g.,B- to C+) for each class session late.

Workload expectation. An average student will be able to achieve an average grade in thiscourse with the equivalent of three hours of in-class learning effort per class period plusthe equivalent of three hours of out-of-class effort for every hour of in-class effort,averaged over the course of the semester. Thus, over the course of the semester, I expectyou to devote 45 hours of in-class effort plus an additional 135 hours of out-of-classeffort. This equates to the equivalent of 12 hours of effort per week.

Late submission of assignments. All assignments must be submitted by the date and timespecified on each exercise statement. Late work will be penalized one grade notch (e.g.,B- to C+) for each day it is late. The weekend counts as one day.

Incomplete grades. Incomplete grades in the course will not be awarded without a writtendoctor s notice, a written description of the causal family emergency or similar writtenhardship request submitted to the course instructor prior to May 8, 2014.

Course evaluation. At the end of the semester, you will be asked for a formal evaluation ofthe course from your perspective. Formal evaluations will be conducted for both thecourse instructor and for your discussion instructor. However, I will also engage ininformal discussion during the semester to talk about the class progress and makeschedule or format changes as needed. I also encourage you, anonymously or otherwise,in public or private, to communicate problems or disagreements you are having with theinstructors. No progress can be made in correcting a bad situation if the dimensions ofthe situation are not evident to all concerned.

Alternative formats. The information in the course syllabus and reading packet is availablein alternative formats upon request. Please contact the course instructor, Professor DavidPitt, Dept. of Landscape Architecture, 145J Architecture, 625-7370. It is University policyto provide, on a flexible and individualized basis, reasonable accommodations to studentswho have disabilities that may affect their ability to participate in course activities or tomeet course requirements. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact theirinstructors to discuss their individual needs for accommodations.

Academic dishonesty and scholastic misconduct. Academic dishonesty and scholasticmisconduct in any portion of the academic work for this course shall be grounds forawarding a grade of F for the entire course. Scholastic misconduct is broadly defined as"any act that violates the rights of another student in academic work or that involvesmisrepresentation of your own work." Scholastic dishonesty includes, (but is notnecessarily limited to): a) cheating on assignments or examinations;; b) plagiarizing, which



means misrepresenting as your own work any part of work done by another;; c) submittingthe same paper, or substantially similar papers, to meet the requirements of more thanone course without the approval and consent of all instructors concerned;; d) deprivinganother student of necessary course materials;; or e) interfering with another student'swork.

This class will involve a considerable amount of group activity. You will be working with agroup of two other students in completing most of discussion exercises. In these projects,group work will be expected, and all members within a group will receive the same grade.In these activities, academic dishonesty and scholastic misconduct policies will be appliedto the work of the group. The easiest way to avoid academic dishonesty and scholasticmisconduct is to always cite explicitly who was involved in the creation of your work andfrom whom or what sources you have drawn your work. This means if you get a map,drawing, idea or quotation from a source outside of your group, be sure to provide a fullcitation of the source that would allow another person to also find the material you areusing. As an regional landscape planner, you will spend the rest of your life synthesizingideas into the creation places. Planning usually involves the use of other people s ideas,and I encourage the consideration and use of other people s ideas in completion of yourdiscussion exercises. However, I do require full attribution to other people s ideas andcitation of source material where these ideas can be located. This applies to sources suchas newspaper and magazine articles, websites, journal articles, books, publicpresentations and personal communications.

Plagiarism. Plagiarism will not be tolerated in this class. Students believed to be engagingin plagiarism will be subject to procedures outlined in the University of Minnesota Board ofRegents Policy on Academic Misconduct, adopted on September 11, 1992 and amended onJanuary 8, 1993 and March 14, 1997. The consequences of plagiarism may result in thereceipt of a grade of F for the course.

Student conduct. Instructors are responsible for maintaining order and a positive learningenvironment in the classroom. Students whose behavior is disruptive either to theinstructor or to other students will be asked to leave. Students whose behavior suggeststhe need for counseling or other assistance may be referred to their college office orUniversity Counseling Services. Students whose behavior may violate the UniversityStudent Conduct Code may be referred to the Director of the University Counseling Office.

Sexual harassment. University policy prohibits sexual harassment as defined in theUniversity policy statement of 17 May 1984;; copies of this statement are available in 419Morrill Hall. Complaints about sexual harassment should be reported to the UniversityOffice of Equal Opportunity, 419 Morrill Hall.

Equal opportunity. The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all personsshall have equal access to its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race,color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, martial status, disability, public assistancestatus, veteran status, or sexual orientation.

Additional Readings

Ahern J., E. Leduc, M.L. York. 2007. Biodiversity planning and design: Sustainablepractices. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Beatley, T. 1994. Habitat conservation planning: Endangered species and urban growth.Austin, TX: Univ. of Texas Press.

Benedict M., E. McMahon and L.Bergen. 2006. Green infrastructure: Linking landscapesand communities. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Birch, E.L. and S. M. Wachter (ed.). 2008. Growing greener cities : Urban sustainability inthe twenty-first century. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press.

Boody, G, B. Vondracek, D. Andow, M. Krinke, J. Westra, J. Zimmerman and P. Welle. 2005. Multifunctional agriculture in the United States. BioScience 55(1): 27-38.

De Groot, R. S. 2003, A typology for the classification, description, and valuation ofecosystem functions, goods, and services. Ecological Economics 41:393-408.

Dramstad, W., J. Olson and R.T.T. Forman.1996. Landscape ecology principles inlandscape architecture and land-use planning. Washington, DC: Island Press.



Duerksen, C. and C. Snyder. 2005. Nature-friendly communities: Habitat protection andland use planning. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Farr, D. 2007. Sustainable urbanism: Urban design with nature. New York: J. Wiley &Sons.

Findley, Roger and Daniel Farber (2008). Regional landscape law in a nutshell, 7th Edition.St. Paul, MN : West Publishing.

Folke, C., S. Carpenter, T. Elmqvist, L. Gunderson, C. Holling and B. Walker. 2002.Resilience and sustainable development: Building adaptive capacity in a world oftransformations. Ambio 31(5): 437-440.

Forman, R.T.T., D. Sperling, J. Bissonette, A. Clevenger, C. Cutshall, V. Dale, L. Fahrig, R.France, C. Goldman, K. Heanue, J. Jones, F. Swanson, T. Turrentine and T. Winter. 2002.Road ecology: Science and solutions. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Hellmund, P. and D. Smith. 2006. Designing greenways: Sustainable landscapes fornature and people. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Hopkins, Lewis D. (1977). Methods for generating land suitability Journal of the AmericanInstitute of Planners, 43(4): 386-400.

Ison R., Roling N., Watson D. 2007. Challenges to science and society in the sustainablemanagement and use of water: investigating the role of social learning. Regionallandscape Science & Policy 10:499-511.

Jordan, N., G. Boody, W. Broussard, J. Glover, D. Keeney, B. McCown, G. McIsaac, M.Muller, H. Murray, J. Neal, C. Pansing, R. Turner, K. Warner, and D. Wyse. 2007.Sustainable development of the bio-economy. Science 315(5381): 1560-1571.

Leitao, A.B., J. Miller, J. Ahern, K. McGarigal. 2006. Measuring landscapes: A planner'shandbook. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Liu, J., T. Dietz, W. W. Taylor, S. Carpenter, C. Folke, M. Alberti, C. Redman, S. H.Schneider, E. Ostrom, A. Pell, J. Lubchenco, Z. Ouyang, P. Deadman, T. Katz, and W.Provencher. 2007. Coupled human and natural systems. Ambio 36(8): 639-649.

MacKaye, B. 1962. The new exploration. Urbana, IL: Univ. of Illinois Press.

McHarg, Ian. (1992). A step forward. In Design with nature. 2nd ed. New York: J. Wiley &Sons.

Melnick, R., B.Johnson and K. Hill. 2001. Ecology and design: Frameworks for learning.2001. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Noss, R. F., M. A. O Connell and D. D. Murphy. 1997. The science of conservationplanning. Washington, DC: Island Press.

O Farrell, P. J. and P. M. L. Anderson. 2010. Sustainable multifunctional landscapes: areview to implementation. Current Opinion in Regional landscape Sustainability 2:59-65.

Ormsby, Tim, Eileen Napolean, Robert Burke, Carolyn Groess, and Laura Feaster. (2004).Getting to know ArcGIS desktop;; Second Edition. Redlands CA: ESRI Press.

Peck, S. 1998. Planning for biodiversity: Issues and examples. Washington, DC: IslandPress.

Pitt, David, Richard Bolan, Jean Coleman, et al. (2002). Regional landscapely basedregional smart growth planning and design. St. Paul, MN. Metropolitan Council. A copy isavailable on the WebVista site.

Randolph, John. (2004). Regional landscape land use planning and management.Washington, DC: Island Press.

Robinson, Scott K. (1996). Threats to breeding neotropical migratory birds in the Midwest.In Thompson, F. R. III (ed.). 1996. Management of Midwestern landscapes for theconservation of neotropical migratory birds. Gen. Tech. Report NC-187. St. Paul, MN:USDA-Forest Service North Central Forest Experiment Station.



Schueler, Tom. (1995). Site planning for urban stream protection. Washington, DC:Center for Watershed Protection. Soule, M. E. and J. Terbough (ed.). 1999. Continental Conservation: Scientific Foundationsof Regional Reserve Networks. Island Press, Washington, DC.

Soulé, Michael E. 1991. Land use planning and wildlife maintenance. Journal of theAmerican Planning Association, 57:3 (Summer), 313-323.

Steiner, F. 2008. The living landscape: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Steinitz, C., H. Arias, S. Bassett, M. Flaxman,T. Goode, T. Maddock, D. Mouat, RichardPeiser and Allan Shearer. 2003. Alternative futures for changing landscapes: The UpperSan Pedro River Basin in Arizona And Sonora. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Thompson, G.F. and F.R. Steiner (Ed.). 1997. Ecological design and planning. New York: J.Wiley & Sons.

Old: Course Goals and Description

This course is intended to provide students with the basic knowledge and skills appropriateto understanding and undertaking regional landscape planning practice, particularly as itrelates to the creation of multi-functional landscapes at the regional scale. One of themajor challenges in planning and public policy today is the coupling and long-termsustainable integration of human activities and the natural environment. The courseprovides an opportunity to develop rudimentary skills in landscape planning with particularreference to the relation of the urban development process to ecological processes. Thecourse focuses on the proposition that ecological patterns and processes are vitalinformants in defining sustainable patterns of urban land use and associated infrastructureplanning. In the laboratory portion of the course, students will become proficient in theuse of ArcGIS software to assess various dimensions ecological patterns and processes.Students will also apply this software to the formulation of development plans that arebased on various ecological assessments.

Performance Objectives

By the conclusion of LA 3004, students will be able to:

1. Discuss the rationale and spatial and operational strategies for planning to protectand enhance biological diversity.

2. Discuss the rationale and spatial and operational strategies for planning to protectand manage surface and ground water quality.

3. Discuss the rationale and operational strategies for planning to steward commodityand amenity values derived from human use of the environment.

4. Discuss the rationale and operational strategies for planning to avoid and mitigateproperty damage and personal injury resulting from environmental hazards.

5. Discuss the rationale and spatial and operational strategies for planning to makeoptimal use of bio-physical characteristics of the environment in defining land usesuitability.

6. Integrate concepts presented in Objectives 1 through 5, above, in the creation ofsustainable land use patterns, especially in landscapes experiencing significant pressurefor urbanization.

7. Use ArcGIS software to apply concepts presented in Objectives 1 through 5,above, to the assessment of a defined locale in Minnesota and use this software toformulate a future urban development plan for a defined locale in Minnesota based onconcepts presented in Objective 6.

8. Discuss dimensions of the legal, regulatory, and political context of environmentalplanning and design strategies for integrating public policy considerations into theenvironmental planning process.

9. Prepare professional quality maps in ArcGIS software that clearly portray results



of various geographical analyses as well as proposed planning recommendations.

10. Prepare professional quality reports and presentations that clearly and succinctlypresent analytical results and planning recommendations in narrative and graphic form,oriented toward an audience of local practitioners and decision-makers.

Format

The class involves lectures, discussions, readings and a computer laboratory. The classwill meet twice a week for 75 minute periods during which lectures and discussions willoccur. A two-hour computer laboratory will be held once a week in the CDes ComputingLab. Students will use a Geographic Information System software package known asArcGIS 9.2 that has been installed on all of the computers in CDes Computing Lab. Student versions of the software, with a one year limited license, will be provided to allstudents enrolled in the course.

The primary assignments for the course will be carried out in the computer lab. Studentswill work in a defined geographic locale on the exurban fringe of the Twin CitiesMetropolitan Area.. The assignments are sequential with the final goal of all assignmentsto follow the steps in developing an ecologically compatible urban development plan forthe locale that would guide development over the next 10-15 years. While theassignments will involve undertaking various forms of spatial analysis and the productionof associated maps, the assignments are also intended to be fully developed professionalreports such as might be submitted to a planning body. As such, it is intended that full useand documentation of class readings and class discussions be incorporated into eachassignment. Writing is a significant focus of the course. The instructors will providedetailed feedback on written reports related to content, organization, and approach. Significant attention will be given to tailoring written materials to an audience of localpractitioners and decision makers.

The instructors will maintain a WebVista site for the course. Course materials (e.g.syllabus, assignments, readings), links to relevant information, and a course calendar willbe maintained on the site.

Structure of the Course

Students engage instructors each week in two 75 minute lecture periods and a two-hourlaboratory period conducted in the CDes Computing Lab. Students will also be spendingboth in-class and out of class time in the College of Design (CDes) Library, in the CDesComputing Lab and on the internet gathering and producing material to complete courseassignments. A significant amount of time working on projects will occur in the studentsown study or working place.

Student Workload Effort

For each hour of classroom contact time, students will be expected to spend two hours ofout-of-classroom time completing course assignments.

Topics to be Covered

The content of LA 3004 Regional Landscape Planning will be presented in five parts.

I. Introduction. The first part provides an introduction to the structure and content ofthe course. In addition, this part provides a conceptual overview of the relationship ofregional landscape planning to urban and regional planning and environmentalmanagement. The readings and lectures are helpful in understanding the ecologicalimplications of environmental and planning decisions. Case studies are referenced. (Oneweek)

II. Creating an Environmental Protection Framework. In the second part, studentswill examine the management and allocation of land use in a manner that protectsbiocentric values relating to biological diversity and water resources. Concepts discussedin lecture and readings will be applied in the laboratory portion of the course to thecreation of a green infrastructure and development plan for a defined locale in Minnesota.

A. Protecting and enhancing biological diversity in the environment. Students will



examine and design strategies for assessing habitat quality and diversity for forest,wetland and aquatic species. They will also learn about and formulate planningrecommendations designed to promote habitat protection and enhancement. (Threeweeks)

B. Protecting and enhancing water resources in the environment. Students willexamine and design strategies for assessing the susceptibility of surface and ground waterto contamination from surface land use activities. Based on their assessments of waterquality contamination susceptibility, students will recommend planning strategies toprotect and enhance water resources in the study area environment. (Three weeks)

III. Creating an Environmental Use Management Framework. The third part willexamine anthropocentric perspectives on the bio-physical world as a basis for land usemanagement and allocation. This section also will consider infrastructure accessopportunities and constraints to the scale, uses and forms of development. Students willapply these concepts to the creation of a development plan for a defined locale inMinnesota.

A. Stewarding natural resource values in the environment. Humans use theenvironment for many purposes. Students will assess both commodity values (e.g.production of agricultural crops and aggregate minerals) as well as amenity values (e.g.enjoyment of recreational, scenic and historical dimensions) derived from environmentaluse. They will also devise planning strategies to steward these multiple natural resourcevalues across generations. (One week)

B. Avoiding and mitigating environmental hazards emanating from natural andcultural sources. There are many characteristics of the environment (e.g. flooding, landinstability, roadway noise) that have potential to create property damage or personalinjury. Students will assess natural and cultural hazards in the environment and deviseplanning strategies that minimize human exposure to these hazards in the process of landuse and infrastructure planning. (One week)

C. Defining land use suitability. Intrinsic characteristics of the environment (e.g. soils,topography) affect the suitability of the environment to provide the type of landcharacteristics needed for development. For example, excessively wet soils and steepslopes require considerable improvements before they can be used for developmentpurposes. Students will assess suitability of the environment to support development usesbased on intrinsic bio-physical characteristics and infrastructure access and deviseplanning strategies based on their land use suitability assessment. (Two weeks)

IV. Understanding of the Politics of Environmental Planning. In this part of the course,students will examine the legal, regulatory and political context of environmental planning.The readings and lectures will include an examination of the history of environmentalregulation, the relations among federal, state and local policies, and the role of the courts.(Two weeks)

V. Relationship of Environmental Planning to Urban Land Use Planning. The last partof the course will address the interactions between environmental planning and land useplanning, focusing on how natural resource information is used in the planning process. Readings and lectures also will discuss approaches to using the environment as aframework to guide land use, infrastructure, and other community planning decisions.(Two weeks)

Scope and nature of Assigned Readings

Students will be expected to complete an average of between 50-60 pages of reading perweek from basic texts, journal articles and web-based materials relating to course topics.Prospective readings for the course will be drawn from the following sources:

Ahern J., E. Leduc, M.L. York. 2007. Biodiversity planning and design: Sustainablepractices. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Beatley, T. 1994. Habitat conservation planning: Endangered species and urban growth.Austin, TX: Univ. of Texas Press.

Benedict M., E. McMahon and L.Bergen. 2006. Green infrastructure: Linking landscapesand communities. Washington, DC: Island Press.



Birch, E.L. and S. M. Wachter (ed.). 2008. Growing greener cities : Urban sustainability inthe twenty-first century. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press.

Boody, G, B. Vondracek, D. Andow, M. Krinke, J. Westra, J. Zimmerman and P. Welle. 2005. Multifunctional agriculture in the United States. BioScience 55(1): 27-38.

Dramstad, W., J. Olson and R.T.T. Forman.1996. Landscape ecology principles inlandscape architecture and land-use planning. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Duerksen, C. and C. Snyder. 2005. Nature-friendly communities: Habitat protection andland use planning. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Farr, D. 2007. Sustainable urbanism: Urban design with nature. New York: J. Wiley &Sons.

Findley, Roger and Daniel Farber (2008). Environmental law in a nutshell, 7th Edition. St.Paul, MN : West Publishing.

Folke, C., S. Carpenter, T. Elmqvist, L. Gunderson, C. Holling and B. Walker. 2002.Resilience and sustainable development: Building adaptive capacity in a world oftransformations. Ambio 31(5): 437-440.

Forman, R.T.T., D. Sperling, J. Bissonette, A. Clevenger, C. Cutshall, V. Dale, L. Fahrig, R.France, C. Goldman, K. Heanue, J. Jones, F. Swanson, T. Turrentine and T. Winter. 2002.Road ecology: Science and solutions. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Hellmund, P. and D. Smith. 2006. Designing greenways: Sustainable landscapes fornature and people. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Hopkins, Lewis D. (1977). Methods for generating land suitability Journal of the AmericanInstitute of Planners, 43(4): 386-400.

Ison R., Roling N., Watson D. 2007. Challenges to science and society in the sustainablemanagement and use of water: investigating the role of social learning. EnvironmentalScience & Policy 10:499-511.

Jordan, N., G. Boody, W. Broussard, J. Glover, D. Keeney, B. McCown, G. McIsaac, M.Muller, H. Murray, J. Neal, C. Pansing, R. Turner, K. Warner, and D. Wyse. 2007.Sustainable development of the bio-economy. Science 315(5381): 1560-1571.

Leitao, A.B., J. Miller, J. Ahern, K. McGarigal. 2006. Measuring landscapes: A planner'shandbook. Washington, DC: Island Press.

MacKaye, B. 1962. The new exploration. Urbana, IL: Univ. of Illinois Press.

McHarg, Ian. (1992). A step forward. In Design with nature. 2nd ed. New York: J. Wiley &Sons.

Melnick, R., B.Johnson and K. Hill. 2001. Ecology and design: Frameworks for learning.2001. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Noss, R. F., M. A. OConnell and D. D. Murphy. 1997. The science of conservationplanning. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Ormsby, Tim, Eileen Napolean, Robert Burke, Carolyn Groess, and Laura Feaster. (2004).Getting to know ArcGIS desktop;; Second Edition. Redlands CA: ESRI Press.

Peck, S. 1998. Planning for biodiversity: Issues and examples. Washington, DC: IslandPress.

Pitt, David, Richard Bolan, Jean Coleman, et al. (2002). Environmentally based regionalsmart growth planning and design. St. Paul, MN. Metropolitan Council. A copy is availableon the WebVista site.

Randolph, John. (2004). Environmental land use planning and management. Washington,DC: Island Press.

Robinson, Scott K. (1996). Threats to breeding neotropical migratory birds in the Midwest.In Thompson, F. R. III (ed.). 1996. Management of Midwestern landscapes for theconservation of neotropical migratory birds. Gen. Tech. Report NC-187. St. Paul, MN:



USDA-Forest Service North Central Forest Experiment Station.

Schueler, Tom. (1995). Site planning for urban stream protection. Washington, DC:Center for Watershed Protection. Soule, M. E. and J. Terbough (ed.). 1999. Continental Conservation: Scientific Foundationsof Regional Reserve Networks. Island Press, Washington, DC.

Soul, Michael E. 1991. Land use planning and wildlife maintenance. Journal of theAmerican Planning Association, 57:3 (Summer), 313-323.

Steiner, F. 2008. The living landscape: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Steinitz, C., H. Arias, S. Bassett, M. Flaxman,T. Goode, T. Maddock, D. Mouat, RichardPeiser and Allan Shearer. 2003. Alternative futures for changing landscapes: The UpperSan Pedro River Basin in Arizona And Sonora. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Thompson, G.F. and F.R. Steiner (Ed.). 1997. Ecological design and planning. New York: J.Wiley & Sons.

Required Course Assignments

Exercise #1 - Introduction to GIS: Reclassifying data, use of overlays, use of differentscales Exercise #2 Assessment of forest, wetland and aquatic habitat qualityExercise #3 - Assessment of surface and groundwater contamination susceptibility Exercise #4 - Assessment of significant commodity and amenity resource values,potential natural and cultural hazards and intrinsic development sutiability.Exercise #5 Preparation of final development plan

Students will present their work in a setting consisting of course instructors, invited guests(as appropriate and feasible), the student presenter, and student critiques. Students willbe expected to offer critical by constructive commentary on the work presented by theirpeers.

Evaluation of Students

Course grades will be assigned on the basis of four criteria:

Criteria Percent of final grade

a. Exercise #1 5%b. Exercise #2 15%c. Exercise #3 15%d. Exercise #4 15%e. Exercise #5 35%f. Presence in class. 5%g. Engagement in class discussion and critiques. 10%__________Total 100%

Letter grades for the course will represent the following levels of achievement:

A Represents achievement that is outstanding relative to the level necessary tomeet course requirements.B Represents achievement that is significantly above the level necessary to meetcourse requirements.C Represents achievement that meets the basic course requirements in everyrespect (competent).D Represents general familiarity with the material presented and achievementwhich is worthy of credit even though it does not fully meet the course requirements inevery respect. F Represents achievement level unworthy of credit.

Plus and minus designations will be assigned to express a more refined judgment of theselevels.

Strategic Objectives & Consultation



Name of Department ChairApprover:

New: Kristine F. MillerOld: <no text provided>

Strategic Objectives -Curricular Objectives:

How does adding this course improve the overall curricular objectives ofthe unit?

New: N/A, course is not being added [changed]. Old: <no text provided>

Strategic Objectives - CoreCurriculum:

Does the unit consider this course to be part of its core curriculum?

New: The revised course title, Regional Environmental Landscape Planning, reflects thevariable roles the course plays in the MURP program and the Landscape Design andPlanning major. MURP students in the class are pursuing an Environmental Planningconcentration and this is the only course in their curriculum that carries the explicit title ofenvironmental planning. Enrolled BED students are pursuing an emphasis in LandscapePlanning. Again, this is the only course that carries the explicit title of landscape planning.Differences between environmental and landscape planning are subtle. Both (butespecially the latter) connote the environment as a coupled human/natural system inwhich biophysical phenomena are inherently recognized as a product of interactionsbetween human and natural systems. However, environmental planning has a widerconnotation that also includes planning for the regulatory dimensions of water and airquality management, mitigation of environmental hazards, and several other topics. Inaddition, environmental planning can be construed at the site as well as the regionalgeographic scales. Within the Landscape Design and Planning curriculum, landscapeplanning is interpreted at the regional scale as opposed to the site scale. The termRegional Environmental Landscape Planning specifies the content of the course as it is

actually offered while also offering nominal reference to key terminology of importance toboth majors. It delimits the content of the course from content and scale issues that mightbe addressed in other interpretations of the term environmental planning. Old: <no text provided>

Strategic Objectives - Consultation with OtherUnits:

In order to prevent course overlap and to inform other departments of new curriculum, circulateproposal to chairs in relevant units and follow-up with direct consultation. Please summarize responsefrom units consulted and include correspondence. By consultation with other units, the informationabout a new course is more widely disseminated and can have a positive impact on enrollments. Theconsultation can be as simple as an email to the department chair informing them of the course andasking for any feedback from the faculty.

New: Detailed email correspondence between LA faculty and faculty in the MURP programis included in the electronic packet sent to the CDes curriculum committee. LaurieGardner, College Registrar, can provide this documentation.Old: <no text provided>

Back to Proposal List

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Library Resource Questions Would you like your class to have a custom research into to the library? ܆ Yes - Basic

Yes - Advanced ܆ No ܆

Would you like a custom library guide handout tailored to your class? ܆ Yes No ܆

Would you like to exhibit a class project in the library? ܆ Yes No ܆

Will your class need an orientation to the library? ܆ Yes No ܆

Will you need to use the seminar room?1 ܆ Yes No ܆

What resources will you need from the library?

What resources are missing from the library?

1 Only applies to the Architecture and Landscape Architecture Library


Workshop / DigiFab Resource Questions

Number of hours per student per week who will be using the workshop: _________

Number of students in the class: _________

Class meeting day/time: ______________________________________________________

Will the class use fabrication space? ܆ Yes

No ܆

If yes, which weeks will require fabrication space?

15 ܆ | 14 ܆ | 13 ܆ | 12 ܆ | 11 ܆ | 10 ܆ | 9 ܆ | 8 ܆ | 7 ܆ | 6 ܆ | 5 ܆ | 4 ܆ | 3 ܆ | 2 ܆ | 1 ܆

Group demonstrations of the equipment available within the workshop and Digifab lab? ܆ Yes

No ܆

Describe specifics regarding requested group demonstrations:

Equipment Needed:

Materials Needed:


Goldstein Resource Questions Describe what Goldstein resources you would anticipate needed access to for your class:


Computer Lab / IT Resource Questions Describe what computer lab or IT resources you would anticipate needing for your class:


Imaging Lab Resource Questions Please describe what resources you anticipate needing from the imaging lab and when you’ll need them to be available to your class:

Consultation Pertaining to Proposed Course Changes for LA 3004/5004 The following material documents the level of consultation that has occurred between the Department of Landscape Architecture and the Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree program relative to the proposed course change. CONSULTATION 1 represents correspondence from Professor David Pitt to Kristine Miller, Head in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Carissa Schively Slotterback, Director of the Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree program that raised basic questions pertaining to the proposed course revision. CONSULTATION 2 represents the response of Kristine Miller to the questions posed by Professor Pitt. CONSULTATION 3 represents the response of Carissa Schively Slotterback to the questions posed by Professor Pitt. CONSULTATION 1-Questions from David Pitt to Kristine Miller and Carissa Schively Slotterback. July 15, 2014. Hi Carissa and Kristine, I am responding to the message Carissa sent Amanda Smoot relative to MURP students taking what used to be taught as PA 8201 in the fall as LA 5004 in the Department of Landscape Architecture in the spring. There are several points in this message that summarize previous agreements upon which Carissa and I have concurred relative to this decision. It is important that the three of us understand and concur on several points relative to teaching LA 5004 in a manner that allows it to be equivalent to previous offerings of PA 8201. 1. As you know the course that we currently teach in the spring (LA 3004/5004) is the equivalent of PA 8201 in terms of content and mode of offering. Of course, with graduate students only in the PA 8201 course, there is a difference in the intellectual and emotional maturity of the student, but the work required is identical and quality of work submitted is very comparable. Graduate students from NRSM, MGIS, and other programs who have registered for LA 5004 have always had to complete an extra assignment to earn the graduate credit. To avoid having to establish an entirely new course in the ECAS system (such an action requirements considerably more monkey business with Curriculum Committees, etc.), we propopsed that MURP students who previously enrolled in PA 8201 would now enroll in LA 5004. Are you still okay with the change in status of a core requirement in the Environmental Planning Concentration of a 5000 level course instead of an 8000 level course? 2. Currently, MURP students enroll in a class titled PA 8201-Environment and Infrastructure Planning while Bachelor of Environmental Design (BED) students as well as graduate students from multiple disciplines enroll in a class titled LA 3004/5004-Regional Landscape Planning. As you know PA 8201 has not discussed "Infrastructure Planning," per se, in many years. In fact, I now refer informally to the course as "Environmental Infrastructure Planning." We discussed the importance of MURP students gaining experience in "Environmental Planning," while the BED students need to gain experience in Regional Landscape Planning. As a compromise, we identified a course title of "LA 3004/5004 - Regional Environmental Landscape Planning." Are we in agreement that the title of LA 3004/5004 be changed to Regional Environmental Landscape Planning? 3. Previously, I mentioned that the current three credit class we offer in the spring (LA 3004/5004-Regional Landscape Planning) is offered as a lecture (Tu/Th 4-5:15) with a lab on Tues from 5:30-8:30.

We discussed that the 5-hour contact time is a bit excessive for a three credit class. As a resolution of this issue, we dicussed the prospect of increasing the credits for LA 3004-5004 from 3 to 4. This would be accompanied by a decrease in the laboratory hours from three to two per week. Thus, total contact time would be reduced from five hours to four hours for which students would earn 4 credits. A precedent for such a credit load/contact hour relationship is Jason Cao's, 4-credit PA 8202, which meets for almost four hours per week. 4. In addition, for the past two years, I have been teaching PA 8201 with two one-hour labs per week rather than one two-hour lab. I find this to be useful for the students as it provides opportunity for them to receive more timely assistance in trouble-shooting problems that they are encountering. At the same time, I found it very difficult to touch base with all students needing help within a one-hour time frame without a Teaching Assistant, which I have not had for the past two years. Thus, I am amenable to having two 1-hour labs per week as long as I can be guaranteed of having a TA in the class to assist in trouble-shooting as well as grading. I have had conversation with Kristine Miller to the effect that the Department of Landscape Archtiecture will provide this TA and that it will be a person who has previously completed either LA 3004/5004 of PA 8201. Are the three of us (Kristine, Carissa, and me) in concurrence on this issue? 5. Given the intellectual/emotional disparity between graduate MURP and undergraduate BED students, we agreed that in group assignments (which account for roughly 40% of the final grade) there would be no mixing of the graduate and undergraduate student groups. Furthermore, in reviewing student work, graduate students would be held to a higher standard than undergraduates. Graduate students would also complete one additional assignment in recognition of the fact that they are earning graduate credit for the course. 6. To monitor MURP student satisfaction with switching from an 8000 level class containing all graduate students to a 5000 level class that also contained undergraduate students, the Director of the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program would be given access to the Student Rating of Teaching forms for each offering of the class. I am open to further discussion of these points as well as additional considerations not covered in this message. Best regards, Dave Pitt CONSULTATION 2-Response of Kristine Miller to questions posed by Professor Pitt. July 16, 2014. Hello Dave and Carissa - I've added my response to each section in bold. Thanks again for making this work. Sincerely, Kristine

On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 1:17 PM, David Pitt <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Carissa and Kristine, I am responding to the message Carissa sent Amanda Smoot relative to MURP students taking

what used to be taught as PA 8201 in the fall as LA 5004 in the Department of Landscape Architecture in the spring. There are several points in this message that summarize previous agreements upon which Carissa and I have concurred relative to this decision. It is important that the three of us understand and concur on several points relative to teaching LA 5004 in a manner that allows it to be equivalent to previous offerings of PA 8201. 1. As you know the course that we currently teach in the spring (LA 3004/5004) is the equivalent of PA 8201 in terms of content and mode of offering. Of course, with graduate students only in the PA 8201 course, there is a difference in the intellectual and emotional maturity of the student, but the work required is identical and quality of work submitted is very comparable. Graduate students from NRSM, MGIS, and other programs who have registered for LA 5004 have always had to complete an extra assignment to earn the graduate credit. To avoid having to establish an entirely new course in the ECAS system (such an action requirements considerably more monkey business with Curriculum Committees, etc.), we propopsed that MURP students who previously enrolled in PA 8201 would now enroll in LA 5004. Are you still okay with the change in status of a core requirement in the Environmental Planning Concentration of a 5000 level course instead of an 8000 level course? I have no problem with that for our students. Carissa? 2. Currently, MURP students enroll in a class titled PA 8201-Environment and Infrastructure Planning while Bachelor of Environmental Design (BED) students as well as graduate students from multiple disciplines enroll in a class titled LA 3004/5004-Regional Landscape Planning. As you know PA 8201 has not discussed "Infrastructure Planning," per se, in many years. In fact, I now refer informally to the course as "Environmental Infrastructure Planning." We discussed the importance of MURP students gaining experience in "Environmental Planning," while the BED students need to gain experience in Regional Landscape Planning. As a compromise, we identifed a course title of "LA 3004/5004 - Regional Environmental Landscape Planning." Are we in agreement that the title of LA 3004/5004 be changed to Regional Environmental Landscape Planning? This sounds good to me. It will also avoid confusion with a class called Infrastructure and Natural Systems we teach. 3. Previously, I mentioned that the current three credit class we offer in the spring (LA 3004/5004-Regional Landscape Planning) is offered as a lecture (Tu/Th 4-5:15) with a lab on Tues from 5:30-8:30. We discussed that the 5-hour contact time is a bit excessive for a three credit class. As a resolution of this issue, we dicussed the prospect of increasing the credits for LA 3004-5004 from 3 to 4. This would be accompanied by a decrease in the laboratory hours from three to two per week. Thus, total contact time would be reduced from five hours to four hours for which students would earn 4 credits. A precedent for such a credit load/contact hour relationship is Jason Cao's, 4-credit PA 8202, which meets for almost four hours per week. This makes sense given the workload. 4. In addition, for the past two years, I have been teaching PA 8201 with two one-hour labs per week rather than one two-hour lab. I find this to be useful for the students as it provides opportunity for them to receive more timely assistance in trouble-shooting problems that they are encountering. At the same time, I found it very difficult to touch base with all students needing

help within a one-hour time frame without a Teaching Assistant, which I have not had for the past two years. Thus, I am amenable to having two 1-hour labs per week as long as I can be guaranteed of having a TA in the class to assist in trouble-shooting as well as grading. I have had conversation with Kristine Miller to the effect that the Department of Landscape Archtiecture will provide this TA and that it will be a person who has previously completed either LA 3004/5004 of PA 8201. Are the three of us (Kristine, Carissa, and me) in concurrence on this issue? Yes, you will have 2 TAs for 5 hours a week (10 hours total) to help with lab time and grading, TAs will be Jonathan Fillmore and Alex Hill. You can decide the best way to use their time each week. 5. Given the intellectual/emotional disparity between graduate MURP and undergraduate BED students, we agreed that in group assignments (which account for roughly 40% of the final grade) there would be no mixing of the graduate and undergraduate student groups. Furthermore, in reviewing student work, graduate students would be held to a higher standard than undergraduates. Graduate students would also complete one additional assignment in recognition of the fact that they are earning graduate credit for the course. Yes, this makes sense to me. 6. To monitor MURP student satisfaction with switching from an 8000 level class containing all graduate students to a 5000 level class that also contained undergraduate students, the Director of the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program would be given access to the Student Rating of Teaching forms for each offering of the class. Yes. I would also add that it might be a good idea to do a mid-term course review, especially for the graduate students to catch any issues before the end of the semester? This could be 3 simple questions - What is working well this year and should not be changed, what should we consider changing before the end of the semester, and what should we consider changing next year? I am open to further discussion of these points as well as additional considerations not covered in this message. Best regards, Dave Pitt CONSULTATION 3-Response of Carissa Schively-Slotterback to questions posed by Professor Pitt. July 21, 2014. Hi all, I have added my replies as well, IN CAPS.

On Wed, Jul 16, 2014 at 10:09 AM, Kristine Miller <[email protected]> wrote: Hello Dave and Carissa - I've added my response to each section in bold. Thanks again for making this work. Sincerely, Kristine

On Tue, Jul 15, 2014 at 1:17 PM, David Pitt <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Carissa and Kristine, I am responding to the message Carissa sent Amanda Smoot relative to MURP students taking what used to be taught as PA 8201 in the fall as LA 5004 in the Department of Landscape Architecture in the spring. There are several points in this message that summarize previous agreements upon which Carissa and I have concurred relative to this decision. It is important that the three of us understand and concur on several points relative to teaching LA 5004 in a manner that allows it to be equivalent to previous offerings of PA 8201. 1. As you know the course that we currently teach in the spring (LA 3004/5004) is the equivalent of PA 8201 in terms of content and mode of offering. Of course, with graduate students only in the PA 8201 course, there is a difference in the intellectual and emotional maturity of the student, but the work required is identical and quality of work submitted is very comparable. Graduate students from NRSM, MGIS, and other programs who have registered for LA 5004 have always had to complete an extra assignment to earn the graduate credit. To avoid having to establish an entirely new course in the ECAS system (such an action requirements considerably more monkey business with Curriculum Committees, etc.), we propopsed that MURP students who previously enrolled in PA 8201 would now enroll in LA 5004. Are you still okay with the change in status of a core requirement in the Environmental Planning Concentration of a 5000 level course instead of an 8000 level course? I have no problem with that for our students. Carissa? IT'S NO PROBLEM TO SWITCH THE COURSE TO 5000 LEVEL. 2. Currently, MURP students enroll in a class titled PA 8201-Environment and Infrastructure Planning while Bachelor of Environmental Design (BED) students as well as graduate students from multiple disciplines enroll in a class titled LA 3004/5004-Regional Landscape Planning. As you know PA 8201 has not discussed "Infrastructure Planning," per se, in many years. In fact, I now refer informally to the course as "Environmental Infrastructure Planning." We discussed the importance of MURP students gaining experience in "Environmental Planning," while the BED students need to gain experience in Regional Landscape Planning. As a compromise, we identifed a course title of "LA 3004/5004 - Regional Environmental Landscape Planning." Are we in agreement that the title of LA 3004/5004 be changed to Regional Environmental Landscape Planning? This sounds good to me. It will also avoid confusion with a class called Infrastructure and Natural Systems we teach. THE TITLE IS CLEAR, ALIGNS WELL WITH OUR ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING CONCENTRATION, AND I THINK WILL BE ATTRACTIVE TO STUDENTS 3. Previously, I mentioned that the current three credit class we offer in the spring (LA 3004/5004-Regional Landscape Planning) is offered as a lecture (Tu/Th 4-5:15) with a lab on

Tues from 5:30-8:30. We discussed that the 5-hour contact time is a bit excessive for a three credit class. As a resolution of this issue, we dicussed the prospect of increasing the credits for LA 3004-5004 from 3 to 4. This would be accompanied by a decrease in the laboratory hours from three to two per week. Thus, total contact time would be reduced from five hours to four hours for which students would earn 4 credits. A precedent for such a credit load/contact hour relationship is Jason Cao's, 4-credit PA 8202, which meets for almost four hours per week. This makes sense given the workload. SOUNDS GOOD 4. In addition, for the past two years, I have been teaching PA 8201 with two one-hour labs per week rather than one two-hour lab. I find this to be useful for the students as it provides opportunity for them to receive more timely assistance in trouble-shooting problems that they are encountering. At the same time, I found it very difficult to touch base with all students needing help within a one-hour time frame without a Teaching Assistant, which I have not had for the past two years. Thus, I am amenable to having two 1-hour labs per week as long as I can be guaranteed of having a TA in the class to assist in trouble-shooting as well as grading. I have had conversation with Kristine Miller to the effect that the Department of Landscape Archtiecture will provide this TA and that it will be a person who has previously completed either LA 3004/5004 of PA 8201. Are the three of us (Kristine, Carissa, and me) in concurrence on this issue? Yes, you will have 2 TAs for 5 hours a week (10 hours total) to help with lab time and grading, TAs will be Jonathan Fillmore and Alex Hill. You can decide the best way to use their time each week. DAVE - CAN YOU CONFIRM THE TIME THAT YOU'RE THINKING ABOUT FOR THIS COURSE? THE COURSE SCHEDULE IS DOWN FOR MAINTENANCE RIGHT NOW, BUT BASED ON YOUR PREFERRED OPTION AND I CAN CHECK THAT TIME AGAINST POTENTIAL CONFLICTING COURSES. I THINK IT WILL BE DIFFICULT FOR MURP STUDENTS IF THE COURSE EXTENDS INTO THE EVENING TIME SLOT. THERE ARE NUMEROUS EVENING CLASSES THAT STUDENTS MIGHT TAKE AS ELECTIVE. I CAN DOUBLE-CHECK CONFLICTS ON MONDAY AFTERNOON. 5. Given the intellectual/emotional disparity between graduate MURP and undergraduate BED students, we agreed that in group assignments (which account for roughly 40% of the final grade) there would be no mixing of the graduate and undergraduate student groups. Furthermore, in reviewing student work, graduate students would be held to a higher standard than undergraduates. Graduate students would also complete one additional assignment in recognition of the fact that they are earning graduate credit for the course. Yes, this makes sense to me. SOUNDS GOOD 6. To monitor MURP student satisfaction with switching from an 8000 level class containing all graduate students to a 5000 level class that also contained undergraduate students, the Director of the Master of Urban and Regional Planning Program would be given access to the Student Rating of Teaching forms for each offering of the class.

Yes. I would also add that it might be a good idea to do a mid-term course review, especially for the graduate students to catch any issues before the end of the semester? This could be 3 simple questions - What is working well this year and should not be changed, what should we consider changing before the end of the semester, and what should we consider changing next year? KRISTINE'S SUGGESTION OF A MID-TERM COURSE REVIEW SOUNDS GREAT. I LIKE THE SIMPLE LIST OF QUESTIONS. IF IT'S USEFUL, I'D BE HAPPY TO DO ONE OR TWO GUEST LECTURES TO PROVIDE AN EVEN STRONGER PLANNING CONNECTION. IT'S NOT NECESSARY, BUT I'M HAPPY TO ASSIST IF DAVE THINKS IT'S USEFUL. I am open to further discussion of these points as well as additional considerations not covered in this message. Best regards, Dave Pitt

CURRENT (course change cover sheet LA 3004/5004) Over the last 14 years, Professor David Pitt offered PA 8201-Environmentatal and Infrastructure Planning as a required 4credit course within the Environmental Planning concentration of the Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) degree program in the HHH School of Public Affairs. This class contained 150 minutes of lecture contact time and 105 minutes of laboratory contact time, amounting to 4.25 contact hours per week. In recent offerings of this course, enrollment has averaged 14 students. Most of the required courses in the MURP curriculum have laboratories and therefore carry four credits. In 2010, Professor Pitt began teaching exactly the same course as LA 3004/5004, a required 3 credit course to students in the undergraduate Landscape Planning track of the Landscape Design and Planning (LDP) major (degree offered is the Bachelor of Environmental Design - BED) within the Department of Landscape Architecture (DLA). This class contained 150 minutes of lecture contact time and 180 minutes of laboratory contact time, amounting to 5.5 contact hours per week. The exceptionally high number of contact hours was considered necessary to accommodate the level of rigor required in course assignments relative to other undergraduate courses. However, the reality is that very few students avail themselves of the extra laboratory time assigned to the course. Enrollment in recent offerings of this course has averaged 14 students. In spite of the high contact hours associated with this course, it was purposefully created as a three-credit class in an effort to maintain as many elective credits in the LDP curriculum as possible. Both courses make extensive use of geographic information systems technology in completion of course requirements. The PA 8201 course is offered using instructional and laboratory space in the Humphrey Center while the LA 3004/5004 course is offered in Rapson Hall facilities. The courses have had identical assignments that include five submissions by each class member involving spatial analysis of specific phenomena in the landscape and three assignments requiring group work to prepare reports to explain the spatial analyses and interpret their significance for the development of land use planning recommendations. Students in both classes are held to the same level of rigor in evaluation of the individual spatial analysis exercises. However, grading of the PA 8201 group submissions is at a more rigorous level than is true for students in LA 3004/5004. To earn graduate credit in LA 5004, students are required to prepare an additional written assignment of less than 10 pages on a topic negotiated with the instructor. This additional assignment is worth 15% of the final grade and the importance of the other assignments in calculating final grade is reduced accordingly.

In 2014, the MURP program and the DLA decided for a number of reasons to consolidate the two courses into a single offering under the LA 3004/5004 course number. This offering will be taken as a required course by graduate students in the MURP Environmental Planning concentration, graduate students from other programs (in the past, these have included the Natural Resources Science and Management program and the Applied Plant Biology program), as well as by BED students in the Landscape Planning Track of the LDP major. Combining the two courses requires: a) negotiating a new course title, b) revising the number of credits awarded for LA 3004/5004 to bring it into alignment with contact hours and credits assigned to required courses in the MURP curriculum; c) aligning weekly contact hours with actual credits awarded; and d) calibrating the level of rigor used in evaluating group assignments in the class according to the academic level (graduate versus undergraduate) of the student.

PROPOSED (course change cover sheet LA 3004/5004) The revised course will be offered as LA 3004/5004-Regional Environmental Landscape Planning. It will be a four credit course having 4.25 hours of weekly contact. As is true for the existing LA 5004 course, enrolled graduate students, whether from the MURP program or elsewhere, will be required to submit an additional written assignment to earn graduate credit for the course. In completing written assignments, groups will be constituted of either all undergraduate or all graduate students. Evaluation of graduate student group submissions will be conducted at a more rigorous level than that used for undergraduate student group submissions. As evidenced in the documents attached to this application, the DLA and the MURP program have consented to all aspects of the proposed changes in LA 3004/5004 relative to instruction in their respective programs. The rationale for alteration of existing LA 3004/5004 course specifications is explained below. The revised course title, Regional Environmental Landscape Planning, reflects the variable roles the course plays in the MURP program and the Landscape Design and Planning major. MURP students in the class are pursuing an Environmental Planning concentration and this is the only course in their curriculum that carries the explicit title of environmental planning. Enrolled BED students are pursuing an emphasis in Landscape Planning. Again, this is the only course that carries the explicit title of landscape planning. Differences between environmental and landscape planning are subtle. Both (but especially the latter) connote the environment as a coupled human/natural system in which biophysical phenomena are inherently recognized as a product of interactions between human and natural systems. However, environmental planning has a wider connotation that also includes planning for the regulatory dimensions of water and air quality management, mitigation of environmental hazards, and several other topics. In addition, environmental planning can be construed at the site as well as the regional geographic scales. Within the Landscape Design and Planning curriculum, landscape planning is interpreted at the regional scale as opposed to the site scale. The term “Regional Environmental Landscape Planning” specifies the content of the course as it is actually offered while also offering nominal reference to key terminology of importance to both majors. It delimits the content of the course from content and scale issues that might be addressed in other interpretations of the term “environmental planning.” Advancing LA 3004/5004 to a four credit course recognizes the amount of weekly contact time inherent in the actual offering of the course. At the same time, reducing contact time from 5.5 hours per week to 4.25 more closely more closely approximates the normal contact time associated with a four credit class, and it acknowledges the amount of contact time actually experienced in recent offerings of LA3004/5004. Requiring students working in groups to differentiate themselves into graduate and undergraduate levels and requiring an additional assignment from graduate student enrollees enables a greater level of rigor to be applied to the evaluation of students receiving graduate credit for the course. In addition, this proposal must be evaluated in the context of financial implications. The course is required in the dual degree program in which students obtain the professionally accredited MLA degree as well as the accredited MURP degree. Moving the home of the course from the MURP in the HHH School of Public Affairs to the DLA within CDes transfers the home institution receiving the largest portion of tuition revenues generated by the course from HHH to CDes, thus providing a financial advantage to CDes programs. The larger portion of tuition revenues generated from Professor Pitt’s former offering of PA 8201 in the MURP curriculum will now accrue to CDes rather than HHH.

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