Designing Healthy Cities
10:762:315– 01
10:832:315-01
Tillet Hall, 226 Livingston Campus
Fall 2014
Tuesday 11:50 to 2:30
Professor: Anton C. Nelessen
Office Info:
Professor Nelessen
Phone: 848 932 2809
Office: Room 368 Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.
33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ
E mail – nelessen@rutgers.edu
I can also be reached at cell 908- 500 3406
Teaching Assistant:
Brian Baldor, PhD Candidate
E Mail - brian.baldor@gmail.com
Designing Healthy Cities …for the 21st Century
The learning goals for this course are the following:
-Expose students to a wide range of cities that through their actions have implemented a more
healthy, sustainable, resilient life style. [Expand general planning knowledge]
-Expose students to a wide range of good city form, mobility and nature integration options,
including, pedestrianism and transit, mixed-use housing and other building typologies, parks,
plazas and gardens. [Expand general planning knowledge]
-Prepare students to understand the planning procedures, policies and design implementation
that will make cities more healthy and sustainable. [Expand general planning knowledge]
-Prepare student to understand the challenges and parallel opportunities generated by climate
change, changes in demography, politics of decisions and psychological media programming
[Values and ethics]
-Prepare students to develop their specific vision for the cities in the future.
-Prepare students to understand the current impediments to implementing healthy sustainable
cities in the future.
-Prepare students to make convincing and graphically interesting presentations. [Expand
planning skills]
-Create a class environment that encourages personal interactions and expands personal
contacts.
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The Course Overview, Grading and Reading Assignments
The future will be more urban with more people living in or dependant upon cities. How do we
regenerate cities to make them more livable, safe, enjoyable and healthy in your lifetime?
This course has been designed for those students who wish to have a base exposure to
current successes and challenges of cities– informed as to what is possible, exposed to
processes and standards that are feasible and reaching into the future. This course is
about setting the goals, exploring the opportunities and formulating policies to create
a healthy, interesting, competitive, safe, walking and transit dependent, green, low CO2,
affordable and sustainable future for the cities and towns. This course is a required
course in the new Sustainability Certificate and an excellent introduction to urban
planning, transportation, urban design and graphic communications. This course is an
ideal first course for those interested in pursuing a major in Planning and Public Policy
(762 at the Bloustein School) or a Certificate in Urban Planning which are follow-up
courses in City Planning and Public Policy. The opportunities in healthy city design will
be confronted with the new realities of political partisanship, resource depletion,
population increases, climate changes, toxic migration, energy transformations, public
and mental health issues and the growing disparity between rich and poor. Whether
you are majoring in engineering, social science, planning, public policy, public health or
other majors, this course will set planning and design goals and standards for you to
participate in the regeneration of cities in the future. The course will start with an
exploration of larger cities and end with specific characteristics of cities that make them
places people want to live and work.
The course will focus on plans and policies, current and historic, that have applied to
make cities more mobility balanced, sustainable and livable to meet the challenges
economically and perceptually of the near and longer term future. The course will
exposing you to a wide range of city and urban development types, infrastructure and
civic places, internationally and nationally, that reflect the positive and some times
negative planning, design, public policy and public health applications of urban
environments.
This course is designed for those who have a respect for cities but perhaps have not
traveled extensively or have not directly experienced or studied the functions of a broad
range of city types but wish to expand their knowledge, thereby being able to have a
voice in the future development and redevelopment of emotionally and physically
healthy cities. The course has been specifically designed as an in-class pedagogical
experience to prepare you to formulate your vision for future cities, which is your final
assignment.
To prepare this final presentation, each week there will be a focused lecture, with
videos, movies, reading, case studies, response discussions and short papers. For six of
the weekly presentations and topics, six short individual response papers are required.
These papers will be critical to formulate your final presentation and to help me
understand what you understand and how your thought process is evolving.
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Most of you are part of the Millennial generation and as such will be the controlling
majority in a few years. There are approximately 80 million of you now in the United
States. By 2014 you are the growing majority generation in the country and by 2012 you
will control the country bases on numbers that translates into market and voting
powers. The baby boomers, born between 1946 to 1964 now 50 to 68 years old as of
2014, currently the majority generation and have determined much of the urban form
and policies that you have come to know.
“As a group, they were the wealthiest, most active, and most physically fit generation up to that
time, and amongst the first to grow up genuinely expecting the world to improve with time. [4]
They were also the generation that received peak levels of income, therefore they could reap the
benefits of abundant levels of food, apparel, retirement programs, and sometimes even "midlife
crisis" products.” Wikipedia
This generation is aging rapidly with tens of thousands turning 65 daily. Your visions for
the future will become the reality of the future. That is why is it so critical that this
urban future be explored now while you are in your formative years. The goal is to help
you set you own personal vision as to what the city will be in the future.
To keep the class interesting, there will be a number of focus groups discussions, one
final exam the third last week of the class and as stated earlier a final powerpoint or
video presentation focusing on one or more design and/or policy recommendations.
You will have the opportunity to present your ideas, policies and approaches to making
cities more healthy, sustainable, environmentally responsible and livable in the future
within the context of emerging constraints. The final powerpoint report, or as an
alternative video, will require images of good urban areas and/or new sustainable
applications that will be developed and researched during the semester. This can be an
individual presentation or a team of not more than two people.
Much of the material presented in the class has been generated from 50 years of award
winning and many time controversial professional experience as an urban designer,
public participation facilitator, visionary, film maker and professional planner. It will
include completed projects from large redevelopment to new towns. There are no guest
lecturers.
This course will be an ideal prerequisite course for who want to explore future
professional involvement with designing the future. It is particularly important for those
majors in planning, public policy, transportation, American studies, engineering,
urban/architectural design, land planning, financing, landscape architecture, urban
redevelopment, geography, and public health.
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GRADES
Your grade for this course will be based on the following breakdown:
Class attendance/participation/discussion
7 % (1/2 %for each of the classes)
Attendance will be taken for each class
You must attend all classes including all final presentations during the last two sessions.
Please read Absences below for more information.
Response Papers and Assignments
Photographic Assignment
Final Exam
Final Powerpoint/video/Report/Presentation
40 % eight response papers at 5% each
8%
20 %
25%
Assignments and exams will be graded from 0 to 100 points.
Grade distribution for each assignment as well as the final grade will be based on the 1
to 100 scale. The final grade will be the average of all grades by proportion as
indicated above.
92 to 100
A Exceptional
85 to 91.9
B+ Very Good
80 to 84.9
B Good
75 to 79.9
C+ Better than Average
70 to 74.9
C Average
65 to 69.9
D Poorly without merit
64.9 or lower F Failure
All assignments are due as assigned and at deadline posted. It is absolutely imperative
that assignments be handed in on time. No excuses unless approved by Professor at the
time of assignment. A late assignments, will be graded as normal and than reducing 25%
after the first week, 50% the second week and 90% after the third week. The assigned
short response papers are due and must be posted on Sakai on the Monday before the
class by 1:01pm
I will not give incompletes for the course unless there is an extraordinary documented
excuse. If you receive a low grade on any assignment, you can resubmit it up to two
weeks after it is returned. The final grade will be an average of the two grades. For the
final grade, unexcused incompletes will be given no value and will be reflected in your
final grade. No T grades will be given.
For the response papers, I will be looking for clean short answers to the questions; an
understanding of the concept; understanding of the potential impact on the future
design of cities and your personal interpretation of any future change.
The future will not wait for you, nor can you waste the money spent for this course- my
time and energy or yours. We need every person we can to focus on this critical and
exciting problem and prospect.
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Academic Integrity
Please review the University’s Academic Integrity Policy
http://academicinterfirty.rutgers.edu/integrity.shtml
You cannot use someone else’s intellectual property without proper attribution.
Plagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in breach of academic integrity and
potential dismissal from the university.
Absences
Students are required to attend all classes during the semester, including those where
other students are making presentations. According to new university regulations,
students missing a class for any reason are required to notify the instructor in advance
and to report the date and specific reason for their absence on the new university
attendance website: https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra/ . The Rutgers reporting system
then automatically sends an email to me. Rutgers University now requires us to include
this absence reporting requirement on all course syllabi.
Class attendance: 2 points from your average grade level at the end of the semester will
be deducted for each classes missed without permission of professor) e.g your final
average is 91 which is an A, if you missed one class then 2 points are deducted giving you
a 89 or a B+.
Please Note: My policy for missed exams is to provide the opportunity to take the same
exam outside of class time as soon as possible after the initial exam is administered.
Because of the likelihood that the questions on the exam will be discussed with those
students that have taken the exam, there will be a 7 point penalty which still allows a
student to receive an A on the exam.
Course Evaluation
It is important that you complete the on-line course evaluation. In the same way you
expect a grade after the course, we expect all of you to evaluate the course. There will be
a question on the final exam regarding this and you will have points reduced if you did not
complete the course evaluation.
Reading for the Course
Books:
The Post Carbon Reader- Managing the 21st Century’s Sustainable Crisis edited by Richard
Heinberg and Daniel Lerch
Visions for a New American Dream: Process, Principles and Ordinance to Plan and Design
Small Communities. by Anton Nelessen
This book is available at the Rutgers Book Store or is available from the Planners Book Service –
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Highly Recommended
Millenial Make Over by Richard Winograd and Michael D. Hais
New Urbanism Best Practices Guide, Robert Steuterville, Phlip Langdon published by
New Urban News
Generations: The History of America’s Future, 1584 to 2069 by William Strauss and Neil
Howe
Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities, Timothy Beatley
Ecocities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature by Roger Register
The End of Growth: Adapting to Our New Economic Realities, by Richard Heinberg
[Lownload]
Charter for the New Urbanism - From the congress for the New urbanism
Living Building Challenge 2.0 A Visionary Path to a Restorative Future
International Living Building Institute Nov 2009
Videos: Throughout the course there will be YouTube videos recommended for review
Meeting with Professor: You and your team members will be required to set up one
meeting with Professor Nelessen during the course of the semester. Ideally this should
happen after week five thereby allowing you to respond to the course material and
discuss your thought on your final presentation. See the TA and Sakai for specific times
Equipment for Course
Final presentation in Powerpoint
1 Flash drive USB
1 digital and or video camera
Course Structure
WEEK ONE September 2
Characteristics of Great Cities – Creating places and experiences
Introduction and Opening Comments
Who are the instructors? Why professional focus on Visioning, Urban Design and City
Planning
The Extraordinary Potential of the Millennials
Review of student’s backgrounds and previous courses related to topic
Three to five word “tweet response” to image.
In-class Assignment: Completion of Place Exposure Form
Review of Place Exposure Form
Overview of Course – Urban design---Sustainability and Public Health
LECTURE/PRESENTATIONS:
The Millennial Vision from the Class of 2013
Mega Cities – Lessons for American Cities: The Six Unassailable Urban Design Characteristics of
Great Cities
Case Study- Tokyo, Hong Kong, Dubai
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READING ASSIGNMENTS: Charter of the Congress for the New Urbanism. [Sakai, F14-315 ,
Resources]
“Imagining Land Use in 2063”- ULI March 2013 [Sakai, F14-315 , Resources]
“Generation Next” - midjeresybusines.com [Sakai, F14-315 , Resources]
ASSIGNMENT: Response Paper 1 Biography of My Past is Key to the Future – due next week
Monday at 1:00 pm
WEEK TWO September 9
In Search of Sustainable World Urbanism – Practices and Policies
IN-CLASS DISCUSSION – Responses from readings and Biography of my Past (bring copy of
your response paper to class.
LECTURE/PRESENTATION: 10 Policies of World Urbanism
IN-CLASS DISCUSSION - Response and discussion from the World Urbanism Policies
Questionnaire
(please return completed form at end of class)
LECTURE/PRESENTATION: World population growth – average and low incomes- expectations
and opportunities - Low Income communities – the architecture of the Favela, the village plans
for Mozambique and clip from accommodating climate change in Guatemala
IN-CLASS - Response and discussion
READING ASSINGNMENT:
Post Carbon Reader – Forward thru page 40
Visions for a New American Dream - Preface to page 23
The Challenges and Potentials of Regenerating Resilient Cities and Regions in the 21st Century
Introductory Essay and Critical Definitions. by AC Nelessen [Sakai, F14-315 , Resources]
ASSIGNMENT: Response Paper 2 due next week Monday at 1:00 pm
WEEK THREE September 16
How Urban Evolution has Impacted the Modern City - Understanding the Past - How, Why and
Where
IN-CLASS DISCUSSION – Responses from readings and critical definitions
ASSIGNMENT/DISCUSSION OF FINAL PRESENTATIONS “Recommendations to make Cities more
healthy and livable in the Future” The first part of this assignment is due at week seven of this course.
See handout.
LECTURE/ PRESENTATION
Historic Urban Evolution The Engrams of Urban Design
Part One – Visioning Future Cities
The Transects/Smart code – determining a common nomenclature
In-class visual exam: The Transect test
Short Visual Preference Survey
READING ASSINGMENT:
Visions for a New American Dream - Page 23-80
Planning the Future: What Americans Want, Article from National Association of Realtors
VIDEO ASSIGNMENT: UTube The Shock of the New- 3p4 Trouble in Utopia
ASSINGMENT: Response Paper 3 - due next week Monday at 1:00 pm
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WEEK FOUR September 23
Suburbia- the American Growth Pattern- is continuation possible and rational?
LECTURE - End of Suburbia
In class focus group
What American Wants
Redevelopment / Revitalization in a suburban setting. Case study – Overland Park,
Kansas
READING ASSINGMENT:
The 25% Rules
Visions for a New American Dream - Chapter 7 : The Ten Design Principles for Planning and
Designing Small Communities pages 132 to 261
ASSIGNMENT- Response Paper 4 - due next week Monday at 1:00 pm
WEEK FIVE September 30
Implementing the Future: Starting with small urbanizations - Form-based Building and Site
Planning and Design Principles. Policies and Codes
LECTURES/presentation: The 10 principles to Plan and Design Small Communities
Agricultural Urbanism
The Historic City: Stade Germany
New Town Center/Neighborhood Robinsville, NJ
READING ASSINGMENT:
Visions for a New American Dream - Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 pages 81 to 131
Post Carbon Reader Forward, Preface and Foundation Concepts pages 1 to 40
ASSIGNMENT- Field Work Using the 10 design principles, record three images/one video of
each principle that clearly and distinctly capture the design intent as they apply to towns
and/or cities. The question is how does this image help people understand the principle. (Due
Week ten, November 4th of the course )
WEEK SIX October 7
Discussion of readings
Set up meetings with professor
Streets and Transit ,How great streets, transit and bicycles transform the character of the city
and can improve public health.
LECTURE : Great Streets Street type/ sections, Blocks and Networks- Streets are the most
important public places
The Unified Theory of City Design: Three Transit Transects
Powerpoint _ Great Streets for Metcalf
The Transit Based City - video
The Bicycle Based City-Considered Normal - video
VIDEO ASSIGNMENT: Review:
San%20Francisco%20on%20film%3A%20Days%20before%20the%201906%20Quake%20%20CBSNews
URL: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20075062-10391709.html
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READING ASSINGMENT:
Post Carbon Reader Transportation Pages 347 to381
ASSINGMENT- Response Paper 5 - due in one week Monday at 1:00 pm
ASSINGMENT- Basic content and outline of our teams final presentation - due in one week
during class.
WEEK SEVEN October 14 (Professor Nelessen keynotes World Future Cities Conference – TA
lectures class
Outline of final presentation due
Urban Revitalization, Regeneration, Redevelopment and Infill : Using our resources wisely
LECTURE: The Differences between Redevelopment, Rehabilitation and Revitalization
Examples and case studies
East Trenton infill and Rehabilitation Plan
Modular Housing
Oshkosh Redevelopment Vision Plan
ASSINGMENT- Response Paper 6 - due in one week Monday at 1:00 pm
READING ASSINGMENT:
Transit Dependent Development –a paper by A. Nelessen
Post Carbon Reader Part 10 Cities, Towns and Suburbs Pages 295 to 344
WEEK EIGHT October 21
Pedestrians are the Heat beat of the City.
Parks and Public Places: Positive People Interacting improving mental and physical health
LECTURE/PRESENTATON
Social Life of Small Urban Spaces- video
Pedestrianism, Sidewalks and the City
Public Spaces: Holocaust Memorial Park, Highline, Paley Park
Pedestrian Streets
READING ASSINGMENT: to be assigned
ASSIGNMENT: Response Paper 7 - due in two weeks November 10th at 1:00 pm
WEEK NINE October 28
Plans for Revitalization, Regeneration, Redevelopment and Infill - Using what we have
- making cities safer and more livable – large scale
Lecture: Case Studies of Urban Redevelopment: Bayfront, Jersey City ; Camden Downtown
Plan
In class focus group
WEEK TEN November 4
Photographic assignment due
Plans for Revitalization, Regeneration, Redevelopment and Infill - Using what we have
- making cities safer and more livable – selective infill
Lecture/Presentation: Case Studies of Urban Redevelopment: Hudson Place; 2-30
Montgomery - Mixed use High Rise, Jersey City; No How Redevelopment area; Journal Square.
Jersey City
Assignment: Response Paper 8 – due in one week, Monday at 1:00
Reading:
Post Carbon Reader Part Two Climate Pages 43 to 73
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WEEK ELEVEN November 11 Plans for Revitalization in Light of Global Climate Change -
Making Cities Safer and More Livable
Lecture: Videos by ACN: Impact of Global Climate Change In the Artic ; How Three New
Jersey Towns Are Preparing for the Next Sandy ; Flood and Serge Protection Proposal for
Hoboken /Jersey City
WEEK TWELVE November 18
Presentations - Group One “Recommendations to Improve
Cities: Making them more Healthy and
Livable in the Future”
November 25
No Class University time shift
WEEK THIRTEEN - December 2
Presentations Group Two “Recommendations to Improve Cities: Making them more Healthy and
Livable in the Future”
WEEK FOURTEEN - December 9
Presentations group Three “Recommendations to Improve Cities: Making them more Healthy and
Livable in the Future”
December 9 - Take Home Final Exam - due Monday December 15th 12:01 pm This is a solo
final. Anyone found copying, collaborating or plagiarizing on this exam will fail the
class, regardless of previous grades. I want to know what you know and think
not what someone else know s or thinks.
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