CY PLAN 23* and CY PLAN 26* course series)

Faculty Advisors: Nezar AlSayyad, Teresa Caldeira, Karen Chapple, Jason Corburn, Karen Christensen, Fred Collignon, Judith Innes, Ananya Roy

Housing is probably planning’s oldest sub-field. In one form or another, planners have been involved in framing housing policies, creating housing plans, and developing publicly-funded housing projects for more than one hundred years. Housing planners work at all levels: at the national level drafting and administering housing policies; at the local level developing and implementing housing programs and plans; as community, non-profit, and for-profit developers of affordable housing; and as advocates for new types of housing and different housing ownership forms. 

Community development, as currently practiced in the U.S., grew out of frustrations with urban renewal and anti-poverty efforts of the 1950s and 1960s. In response to the failures of prior top-down policies and programs, the community development field emerged as a way of mobilizing communities to play a larger role in affecting their futures. Today, community developers work in the public sector, the private sector, and the non-profit sector. They help to develop the skills, capacities, and assets of all segments of society. Of particular concern are disadvantaged communities and the unequal access to opportunities that people of such communities are faced with in their daily lives.

In the past twenty years, the field of economic development has blossomed at the local and community level for several reasons. First, local governments have increasingly experienced fiscal stress, leading to new entrepreneurial approaches to attracting and retaining business and a skilled workforce. Second, the devolution of most social programs from the federal to the state/local level, along with the decreased funding for the safety net, has led cities to focus increasingly on social equity in their economic development programs. Finally, the field of community economic development has come of age, offering an increasing number of best practices in developing assets and improving employability for disadvantaged community residents. Economic development specialists work not only in local government, but also at business and economics consulting firms and community-based organizations.

Course Requirements

Students in the HCED concentration must take at least one course from each of the following groupings: Theory, Policy, and Practice; Skills and Methods; and Studio/Practicum/Workshop.

Theory, Policy, and Practice
CY PLAN 223: Economic Development Planning (Spring, 3 units)
CY PLAN 230: Housing Policy and Planning (Fall, 3 units)
CY PLAN 231: Housing in the Developing World (Spring, 3 units)
CY PLAN C234: Housing and the Urban Economy (Fall, 3 units) (1)
CY PLAN 260: Community Development History, Theory and Practice (3 units)

Skills and Methods
CY PLAN 225: Workshop in Economic Analysis (Fall, 3–4 units)
CY PLAN 235: Methods of Project Analysis (Spring, 3 units)
CY PLAN C261: Citizen Involvement in the City Planning Process (Fall, 3 units)
CY PLAN 290: Community Development Finance (Spring, 1–3 units)
Public Health 204D: Community Organization and Community Building for Health

Studio/Practicum/Workshop (1)
CY PLAN 238: Affordable Housing and Neighborhood Development Studio (Fall, 4 units)
CY PLAN 265: Community Development Practicum (Spring, 2–4 units)
CY PLAN 268: Community Development Workshop (Spring, 4 units)

(1) HCED students who petition to take CY PLAN C234 to meet their core economics requirement may not use it to also meet their HCED Theory, Policy, and Practice requirement.

(2) HCED students may also meet the Studio/Practicum/Workshop requirement by petitioning the MCP Program Committee to substitute CY PLAN 208 (plan preparation studio) as well as other studio courses offered in the past and that may be offered in the future, such as CY PLAN 290 (The Y-Plan) and CY PLAN 298 (Low-Income Housing Challenge).