A. How are cities managed?
1. Cities as 'public companies:' voluntary incorporation, the virtual body as
legal shield
2. City, County, State, Federal Heirarchy: problem for regional coordination
3. Funding: by Property Tax, Local Sales Tax, Bonds (debt)
4. Urban development: Township-subdivisions, city plans, railroad towns
5. Governance: councils vs. mayors, nonpartisan civil service, community organizations
6. Water, power, and transport: public or private?
7. The General Plan: mission statement for the community; core of planning code
B. What types of planning are there?
1. Land Use planning & Zoning: maintaining property values
2. Setbacks, Height Limits, Design Guidelines, Design Review: controlling character
3. Regional and Economic Planning: Planner as researcher and resource
4. Transportation Planning: response to, or cause of, types of growth
5. Private sector planning, the planner as public servant or community activist
C. What are specific tools planners use in urban development?
1. The Building Permit: primary point of control
2. Information: plat-maps, property records, census, surveys, business and real
estate data
3. 30-year FDIC-insured mortgages as a housing policy
4. Public Health standards: housing, water & air quality
5. Building Safety Codes: life-safety, performance-based regulations vs. prescriptive
6. Standards: ISO, IBC, ASTM, CSI, other resources
Suburban Sprawl, or, why we are oil-dependent
Urban Decline, or, the geography of racism. Toxic soils, invisibility of the
poor
Sick Buildings and Sick Children: poor air quality or excessive sterility?
Sustainability/Green Planning
New Urbanism
ADA as a policy case study
1. How are urban and regional governments organized in Afghanistan? How has
this changed over the last 400 years?
2. How did the Ghaznivids and Mughals conceive of cities, and what were the
actual processes of urban development in these periods?
3. How are civil codes applied by Islamic courts in Afghanistan?
4. How are the Sunni contractual, legal, and legislative traditions different
than the Shiite Iranian tradition?
5. What was the role of a civil servant in Kabul in 1975?
6. What are the valuable lessons to be learned from Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan,
and the Soviet system?
7. How can expatriate Afghan professionals be a resource for Afghanistan?