Introduction to Planning, Policy, and Health
10:762:101:01 | 10:832:101:01
Time and location
Wednesday, 12-3pm. Beck Hall, room 219
Instructor
Brian Stromberg - brian.stromberg@rutgers.edu, office hours by appointment.
Class objectives
This class is designed to introduce you to the histories, concepts, and theories of
planning, policy, and public health. By the end of the class, you should have a
foundational understanding of the basic outline of the three fields, their context in
American history, and how they relate to each other.
This class satisfies the SAS Core Curriculum Learning Goals ‘h’, ‘m’, and ‘n’, defined
below:
‘H’: Student is able to understand the bases and development of human and societal
endeavors across time and place
‘M’: Student is able to understand different theories about human culture, social
identity, economic entities, political systems, and other forms of social organization.
‘N’: Student is able to apply concepts about human and social behavior to particular
questions or situations.
Class policies
Grading: 30% Assignments, 30% participation, and 40% midterm/final
examinations.
Attendance: Attendance is mandatory, other than significant excuses like a death in
the family or sickness. Class participation is a large part of your grade and it’s hard
to participate in any meaningful way without being there in person. More than two
unexcused absences will be taken as an indication that you are not interested in
participating and your grade will suffer. Also, please show up on time. If you are
more than 20 minutes late, it will count as an absence.
Academic integrity: I take this issue very seriously, as does the University. Rutgers
University’s policy on academic integrity can be found at the URL listed below this
paragraph. If you have any questions or concerns at any point during the class about
whether or not you are citing sources correctly, please ask me. I’m more than happy
to discuss them with you, but only before you submit any assignments.
http://academicintegrity.rutgers.edu/academic-integrity-at-rutgers
Assignments:
Reaction papers: You will write 5 reaction papers throughout the semester that
discuss one week’s readings. They should be no longer than one page, single-spaced
using a 12-point font. In addition to a prepared lecture, I will be using your reaction
papers to pull out discussion points that we will talk about in class.
In-class exercises: You will turn these in at the end of class for credit.
Readings:
All readings will be available on Sakai. You will not have to buy any books for this
class (unless you end up loving the assigned selections so much you want to).
1/23: Introduction to the class
1/30: Theoretical Bases of Social Welfare
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Ebenstein (1962) – “The Welfare State,” Chapter 25 from Great Political
Thinkers: Plato to the Present
Skocpol (1992) – “America’s First Modern Social Policies and Their Legacies.”
Conclusion to Protecting Mothers and Soldiers: The Political Origins of Social
Policy in the United States.
2/6: Basic characteristics of American public policy
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
Polsby (1997) – “On the Distinctiveness of the American Political System.”
From New Federalist Papers: Essays in Defense of the Constitution.
Kingdon (1999) – “Describing the Comparisons.” From American the
Unusual.
2/13: The relationship between planning, policy, and public health
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
Northridge et al (2003) – “Sorting out the Connections Between the Built
Environment and Health.” The Journal of Urban Health.
Coburn (2004) – “Confronting the Challenges in Reconnecting Urban Planning
and Public Health.” The American Journal of Public Health.
2/20: Careers and majoring in planning, policy, and public health

Guest lecture from Christina Miller
2/27: A century of social policy

O'Connor (2008) - "Swimming Against the Tide." In The Community
Development Reader.


Abramovitz (2001) - "Everyone is Still on Welfare"
Sherman et al (2012) – “Contrary to Entitlement Society rhetoric…”
3/6: Focus on education policy
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Film: “Waiting for Superman”
Ravitch (2010) - "The Myth of Charter Schools." Online at
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2010/nov/11/myth-charterschools
Klein (2011) - "The Failure of American Schools." Online at
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/06/the-failure-ofamerican-schools/308497/
3/13: Focus on housing policy


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Halpern (1985) - "Urban Renewal and Public Housing." From Rebuliding
the Inner City: A History of Neighborhood Initiatives to Address Poverty
in the United States.
Stoloff - "A Brief History of Public Housing."
Lees et al (2008) - "The Birth of Gentrification." From Gentrification.
3/27: History and theory of planning
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
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Mumford (1937) – “What Is a City?”
Jacobs (1961) – Introduction to The Death and Life of Great American
Cities.
Chapters from Krueckeberg (1983) – Introduction to planning history in
the United States.
4/3: Practicing planning

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Film - "The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces” and “The Pruitt-Igoe Myth”
In-class assignment: Mapping Rutgers.
Scott - "The High Modernist City: An Experiment and a Critique." From
Seeing Like a State.
Bressi (1994) - "Planning the American Dream." From New Urbanism.
Congress for the New Urbanism - http://www.cnu.org/
4/17: History of public health

Selected chapters from Melosi (2008) “The Sanitary City.”
4/24: Environmental Health

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Film: “Rumor of a Blue Sky”
Rosenthal and Lehren (2012) – “Profits on Carbon Credits Drive Output of
a Harmful Gas.” New York Times.
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Kiester (1999) – “A Darkness in Donora.” Smithsonian Magazine.
Bedford (1949) – Abstract of public health bulletin 306: “Air Pollution in
Donora, PA: Epidemiology of Unusual Smog Episode of October 1948.”
Environmental policy in the news:
o Danny Hakim (2013) – “Gas Drilling is Called Safe in New York.”
New York Times.
o Mireya Navarro (2013) – “Bans and Rules Muddy Prospects for
Gas Drilling.” New York Times.
5/1: Health and food policy
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Film: “Food, Inc.”
Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) website:
http://frac.org/initiatives/hunger-and-obesity/
“Food Technology and How it Shaped the Western Palate” From the Kojo
Nnamdi show. Online at:
http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2013-01-16/food-technologyand-how-it-shaped-western-palate
USDA Food desert locator:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-desert-locator/go-to-thelocator.aspx
Mari Gallagher at TEDxWindyCity on food deserts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEWriN6kh3c
“Can Murder be Tracked like an Infections Disease?” NPR. Online at:
http://www.npr.org/2012/12/06/166600403/can-murder-be-trackedlike-an-infectious-disease?ft=1&f=100
o Also see Zoeli et al 2012 – “Homicide as an infectious disease:
Using public health methods to investigate the diffusion of
homicide”
Final exam (date to be set)