GEOG 346 – DAY 1Urban and Regional Management

WELCOME TO 346 AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I’m Don Alexander – been at VIU for 9½ years, including teaching this course; also a registered planner, writer on planning issues, and occasional research consultant.

My office hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays, from noon to 1, and by appointment, in Building 359 (Room 215). I will occasionally be unavailable because of other meetings.

I would like to hear from each of you for one minute as to why you are taking this course and if you have any special interests.

[add in course description and learning objectives]

TEXTBOOK Seven Rules for Sustainable Communities by Patrick Condon

(Washington, DC: Island Press, 2010) – is it in the bookstore? Highly Recommended: Towards Sustainable Communities:

Solutions for Citizens and Their Governments (Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2012; e-copy available through the library); Ecocities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature (revised edition) by Richard Register (Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 2006; e-copy available through the library).

What is your image of the ideal sustainable city?

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EXERCISE

Pick an urban region where you have lived during your life: what worked well, and what were some significant problems/ issues? (If you want, choose different regions for each).

This course is about how the imperatives/ crucial issues for urban and regional management are changing dramatically. In the past, the key ones were: “orderly” development (though too often the planners and managers were serving the interests of developers, and some say they still are), infrastructure (roads, sewer/ water, hospitals, fire services/ police, community centres), adequate housing and green space, etc.

COURSE OUTLINE See course web site (no

Moodle) at http://web.viu.ca/alexander2

The textbook by Patrick Condon is short and sweet, and is written by a Vancouver prof who practices what he preaches. He has been involved in lots of green development projects, in addition to helping to run the Design Centre for Sustainability at UBC.

In addition, I have added some supplementary readings to the course outline.)

For today and Thursday, I would you to look at the Preface and Introduction of Ecocities (revised edition) by Richard Register, available as an e-copy though our library (just look up the title).

COURSE OUTLINE

I also think you will find Mark Roseland’s Toward Sustainable Communities to be very helpful. It is also available as an e-copy. The course schedule is subject to changes, but I hope to start discussing climate change and water security issues on Thursday.

I want to cover these and some of the other key issues in urban and regional management before getting heavily into the text. They are background issues for him, but he doesn’t get into them in much depth. But first I am interested to hear what you think are the key issues are facing cities and regions over the next 20-30 years.

See the dates, topics, questions and readings for each week, and note that an outline for your major project is due on January 30th, and your final project is due on April 3rd.

COURSE OUTLINE The grades are weighted as follows: 10% for

participation and attendance, 20% for two mini-assignments (involving group work), 15% for a field trip assignment, 30% for the major project (includes 5% for outline), and 25% for the final exam. If time permits, you will get a chance to share the results of your research with the rest of the class.

For the field trip assignment, you will work with one or two other people, you will select a site in Nanaimo that illustrates, for better or worse, a discussion topic in the class (we will try to coordinate the trips with the discussions and readings themselves). You will guide and help us interpret what it is we see.

COURSE OUTLINE There is an extensive bibliography at the

end of the outline. I will provide additional resources as needed for your specific projects.

Anyone with any GIS capabilities? How about a Class 4 license?

If you have any thoughts about the benefits of individual vs. group work, I would like to hear them.

See the section in the course outline about laptops and phones. They’re allowed, but don’t abuse them.

Any questions, concerns, or comments?