Urban Planning and Public Policy
104 courses · UC Irvine · 2026-2027 Catalog
Classes: Fall 2026
UPPP 4 Introduction to Urban Studies
- Units
- 4
Introduces the substantive areas, concepts, and tools in the field of urban studies. Acquaints students with physical, environmental, social, economic, and political dimensions of cities. Examines the challenges facing cities, including poverty, sustainability, development, globalization, and others.
UPPP 5 Introduction to Urban Planning and Policy
- Units
- 4
Introduces students to the basic issues in urban planning and public policy.
UPPP 8 Introduction to Environmental Analysis and Design
- Units
- 4
Overview of general concepts, theoretical principles, and analytical techniques for investigating environmental systems. Integrates tools from natural and social sciences to analyze contemporary environmental challenges such as pollution, resource acquisition, facility and ecosystem design, impact assessments, formulation of environmental policy.
UPPP 40 Cities, Communities, and Urban Problems
- Units
- 4
Overview of theoretical, substantive, and policy issues in urban sociology. History of urbanization, the school of human ecology, and recent trends regarding urbanism. Time is devoted to understanding the causes and possible solutions to urban problems.
UPPP 41 Introduction to Labor Studies
- Units
- 4
Introduces students to various aspects of labor and employment relations in the U.S., including the perspective of working people and their collective labor organizations. Analyzes changes in employment trends and the changing nature of work.
UPPP 42 The Green New Deal
- Units
- 4
Introduces students to the basic motivations and history behind policies collectively known as “The Green New Deal.” Students learn about large-scale models for equitable growth and sustainability and the politics of implementing them in the U.S. and internationally.
UPPP 50 The Power of Music and Social Change
- Units
- 4
Introduces students to the emerging science of music and its remarkable power in shaping our lives, from individual flourishing and social change to higher education, careers, and connections with nature.
UPPP 100 Special Topics in Urban Studies
- Units
- 4
Course content varies with interest of the instructor.
UPPP 101 History of Cities
- Units
- 4
Surveys the global and historical co-evolution of cities and social institutions, including religion, the economy, governance, the arts, technology, and family life.
UPPP 102 Urban Inequality
- Units
- 4
Examines structural inequality and the influence that urbanization has in affecting race, ethnic, and class relations. Explores how race/ethnicity, class, urban space, housing, economic development, public education, and land policy intersect in cities, both historically and today.
UPPP 103 Comparative Approaches to Urban Regions
- Units
- 4
An introduction to comparative urbanization in developing countries. Introduces students to the geography, history, and theories of urbanization, and then reviews urban planning, public policy, and governance.
UPPP 104 Race in the City: Past, Present, and Future
- Units
- 4
Students examine the historical, social, political, and economic factors that contributed to the construction of the American urban context, one that is poverty concentrated and racially/ethnically segregated. Students also critically assess the consequence of growing up in America's urban neighborhoods.
UPPP 107 Urban and Regional Planning
- Units
- 4
Important substantive areas, concepts, tools in the field of urban and regional planning. Topics include: forces that have historically guided and are currently guiding U.S. urbanization; land use, economic development, housing and community development, environmental planning; legal, environmental, governmental contexts.
UPPP 108 Cities and Transportation
- Units
- 4
The relationship between urban areas and transportation systems. Economic analysis of cities, transportation and urban form, highway congestion, environmental impacts of transportation, public transit, land use and transportation, and political influences on transportation planning.
UPPP 109 Housing and Urban Development Policy
- Units
- 4
- Prerequisite
- Recommended: Previous course work in economics
Surveys public policy issues and develops analytic techniques in the areas of housing and urban development. Examines a range of policy topics including housing assistance to low- and moderate-income families, housing finance system, incentives for economic development, and neighborhood preservation.
UPPP 110 Urban Economic Development Policy
- Units
- 4
Theoretical and practical perspectives on local economic development policy. Integrates economic, planning, and political perspectives. Overview of economic role of cities and metropolitan areas. Specific development issues include: link between taxes, regulation, job growth; redevelopment planning; evaluation economic development policy.
UPPP 111 Climate Solutions
- Units
- 4
Introduction to climate change science and impacts on the health of people and the planet with a focus on the multi-dimensional aspects of solutions to the climate crisis.
UPPP 112 Foundations of Community Health
- Units
- 4
A social ecological framework for understanding community health is presented. Measures of individual and community health are compared, and the influence of personal and environmental factors on individual, group, and population health is examined. Community health promotion strategies are discussed.
UPPP 113 Poverty and Change in Developing Countries
- Units
- 4
Focuses on poverty in developing countries. Analyzes the magnitude and changing nature of poverty in the global south. Critically examines poverty conceptualized in terms of economic deprivation, well-being, and social exclusion.
UPPP 114W Advanced Research Methods
- Units
- 4
- Prerequisite
- SOCECOL 10 and SOCECOL 13. Satisfactory completion of the Lower-Division Writing requirement
For students planning to conduct senior research projects or apply to graduate school in social research fields. Topics include reviewing literature, preparing a research proposal, protecting human subjects, citing scholarly work, building measures, estimating sample size, interview and presentation skills.
UPPP 115 Global Poverty and Inequality in the 21st Century
- Units
- 4
Explores a multidisciplinary understanding of poverty and inequality in the 21st century and assesses impact of education, health, technology, and other interventions. Course offered online only.
UPPP 116 Cities and Climate Change
- Units
- 4
Students examine the intersection between climate change and social justice while developing skills necessary for local climate action, such as inventorying emissions, assessing vulnerability, and evaluating the costs, benefits, and equity implications of mitigation and adaptation strategies.
UPPP 117 Environmental Justice
- Units
- 4
Engages students to critically analyze and evaluate environmental problems, environmental responses, and planning and policy debates regarding "environmental justice" - essentially the race, class, and equity implications of environmental problems and policies.
UPPP 118 Gentrification
- Units
- 4
Gentrification is a complex process that changes the makeup of neighborhoods and fuels political and policy conflicts. Students are provided with tools to understand the process and conceive of policies to ensure more inclusive and equitable cities.
UPPP 119 Human Trafficking: Prevention, Protection, Prosecution, Policy, and Partnership
- Units
- 4
Equips students with a deeper understanding of human trafficking, and explores their role in ending the fastest-growing criminal industry worldwide: the exploitation of human beings through the use of force, fraud, or coercion.
UPPP 120 Introduction to GIS for Planning and Policy
- Units
- 4
Provides hands-on experience creating, visualizing, and interpreting spatial data, with a focus on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications for urban planning and public policy.
UPPP 125 Advanced Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- Units
- 4
- Prerequisite
- UPPP 120 with a minimum grade of C-
Provides hands-on experience using geoprocessing to analyze spatial data and using maps to visualize and communicate findings, with a focus on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications for urban planning and public policy.
UPPP 127 Spatial Analysis Project
- Units
- 4
- Prerequisite
- UPPP 120 with a minimum grade of C- and UPPP 125 with a minimum grade of C-
As the capstone in the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) degree specialization, students are guided through the process of applying their GIS skills to designing and conducting an original spatial research project, focusing on research design and research methods.
UPPP 129 American Public Policy
- Units
- 4
Focuses on the development and implementation of public policy in the United States. Lectures cover theoretical models of the policy process as well as significant problems facing contemporary American decision-makers.
UPPP 131 Environmental Sustainability I
- Units
- 4
Provides an introduction to sustainability from different points of view; historical, scientific, political, ethical, and economic.
UPPP 132 Energy Justice and Just Transitions
- Units
- 4
Investigates how sustainability can be implemented in a variety of contexts including water, energy, non-renewable resources, biodiversity, and urban policy, and also how it could be measured.
UPPP 133 Environmental Law and Policy
- Units
- 4
Environmental law as a combination of traditional legal principles and newly created statutes, rules, and decisions applied to environmental protection. Investigates roles of courts, legislature, executive branch and administrative agencies, and private citizens attempting to regulate environmental quality.
UPPP 135 Urban Data Science
- Units
- 4
Introduces computational tools, data literacy, spatial analysis methods, and introductory statistics for understanding cities and metropolitan regions.
UPPP 140 Global Metropolis
- Units
- 4
Explores global perspectives on urban phenomena like poverty and housing, postcolonial and global-South urbanization, citizenship, race, violence, inequality, and our shared climate future.
UPPP 142 Environmental Hazards in an Urbanizing World
- Units
- 4
Development patterns, including urbanization, can contribute to environmental hazard severity. Humans can plan, mitigate, and prepare to reduce costly hazard losses. Students learn about environmental hazards and human response to these threats.
UPPP 145 Environmental Governance
- Units
- 4
How should the environment be managed and who should be responsible? What is effective environmental management, and for whom? These questions are answered by exploring traditional and emerging theoretical frameworks and applying them to real world environmental challenges.
UPPP 146 Principles of Economics for Planning and Policy
- Units
- 4
Provides an introduction into economics for planning and policy students.
UPPP 155 Urban Design Principles
- Units
- 4
Introduction to principles of urban design and its applications. Study of contemporary and traditional theories of urban design formulated to improve physical characteristics of built environment to facilitate an enhanced quality of life. A variety of case studies are discussed.
UPPP 166 Urban Politics and Policy
- Units
- 4
Examines why and how urban policies are enacted and carried out in contemporary U.S. cities and regions. Topics include evolution and organization of city governments and policymaking over the past century; who directs public policy and controls how cities develop.
UPPP 167 Public Policy and Governance
- Units
- 4
Exposes students to best practices that assure effective planning and implementation of policies and programs in government, business, and nonprofit sectors. Includes guest lecturers who are proven leaders in four principal institutions of community: business, education, government, and non-profit.
UPPP 170 Health Policy
- Units
- 4
Considers social and economic aspects of health and disease in the United States. What are the proper roles of the individual, community, and government in improving health and health care? International comparisons will be made wherever possible.
UPPP 172 Latino Metropolis
- Units
- 4
Explores the processes of Latino urbanization in the United States and the spatialization of Latino identities, particularly in the context of Southern California with selected comparisons drawing from other cities.
UPPP 178 International Divided Cities
- Units
- 4
Investigates urban divisions in international cities where deep-seated nationalistic ethnic differences create pressures for intergroup conflicts, autonomy, or territorial separation, and can incite violence. Urban political polarization as it is manifest in the urban setting.
UPPP 190 Applied Statistics in Social and Behavioral Research
- Units
- 4
- Prerequisite
- SOCECOL 13
Covers statistical techniques used to describe and make generalizations about phenomena represented by data. Hands-on experience in data analysis and interpretation using statistical software (SPSS, STATA) is emphasized. Topics include data visualization, ANOVA, multiple regression, and categorical data analyses.
UPPP 202 History and Theory of Urban Planning
- Units
- 4
Introduces students to the historical bases, fundamental perspectives, and current challenges of urban and regional planning. Critical historical episodes and personalities in planning and their influences on contemporary planning practice and thought are explored.
UPPP 203 Theoretical Foundations of Planning
- Units
- 4
Intellectual excursion into central themes in policy and planning, including philosophy of the market, institutionalization of space, hypostatizations of policy, constructions of communities, logics of spatial analysis. Objective is engagement of the professional in thoughtful reflections on practice and institutions.
UPPP 204 Plan Development and Communication
- Units
- 4
Graphic representation and communication of physical place characteristics, design and physical planning ideas, and concepts using a variety of graphic techniques of free hand drawing, sketching, orthographic representations, scale drawings, 3D representations, maps, photo-documentation, and various media.
UPPP 206 Microeconomic Analysis for Urban Planning
- Units
- 4
Provides students with a working knowledge of basic microeconomic concepts. Emphasizes applications related to urban planning and policy analysis. Topics covered include demand analysis, firm behavior, market structure, public goods, externalities, and the role of economics in land markets.
UPPP 207 Land-Use Law
- Units
- 4
Investigates legal and institutional frameworks for development control. Review of constitutional issues implicated in land-use regulation. Traces development control historically and analyzes contemporary approaches to land-use control which reflect environmental and economic development concerns.
UPPP 209 Qualitative Research Methods: Overview
- Units
- 4
Introduction to fundamentals of “qualitative” research and non-positivistic inquiry. Formulation of research questions, selection of method, data collection techniques, and analysis (briefly). Overview of selected methods from ethnography, naturalistic field research, phenomenology, ethnoarchaeology, critical approaches, and others.
UPPP 210 Practice Experience
- Units
- 4
Provides Master of Urban and Regional Planning students an opportunity to link classroom knowledge with real planning situations through a 10-week unpaid practice experience.
UPPP 212 Transportation Planning and Policy
- Units
- 4
Introduces current topics in transportation planning. Includes an analysis of the economic role of transportation in urban areas, land-use impacts of transportation projects, traffic congestion, air quality, alternatives to the automobile, and other transportation topics.
UPPP 213 Advanced Qualitative Methods: Analyzing Qualitative Data
- Units
- 4
Introduction to the theory and practice of analyzing qualitative data. Students must have already learned about data collection and research design for qualitative research and must have qualitative data they can analyze.
UPPP 214 Quantitative Analysis for Planners
- Units
- 4
Introduces students to the basic statistical concepts used to address issues of public concern. Prepares students to perform, interpret, and evaluate quantitative data analyses commonly used in professional studies.
UPPP 215 Analytical Methods for Planning
- Units
- 4
Emphasizes the development of analytical techniques proven useful in the fields of management and administration. Topics include multiple regression, cost-benefit analysis and discounting, decision trees, and other techniques useful for the purposes of community analysis and planning.
UPPP 216 Statistics and Methods for Public Policy
- Units
- 4
Introductory course with focus on gaining a sound understanding of what constitutes credible evidence in support of policy arguments and management decisions.
UPPP 219 Information and Public Policy
- Units
- 4
Evaluates strengths and weaknesses of qualitative and quantitative methods and the data used in making public policy claims. Looks at the bases of certain widely accepted measures of poverty, growth, environmental quality, and the like.
UPPP 220 Qualitative Methods: Fieldwork and Data Collection
- Units
- 4
Covers fieldwork, data collections techniques, and related issues for anti-positivistic research. Data collection techniques include observation, physical traces, participation, in-depth interview. Data checks include veracity, detail, completeness, rigor.
UPPP 221 Public Policy
- Units
- 4
Explores different approaches to public policy analysis, the diverse conceptions of the goals and objectives that should be served by policy, and the appropriate role of the policy analyst. Policy consequences are traced to indirect and subtle incentives and disincentives.
UPPP 224 Environmental Politics and Policy
- Units
- 4
Reviews and critiques literature on discussion topics including: the nature and effectiveness of environmental movements and policies; the role of science and technology; the use of economic incentives in policy; decentralization of decision making; and creating arenas for public involvement.
UPPP 225 Qualitative Methods for Public Policy
- Units
- 4
Fieldwork, data collections techniques, and related issues for anti-positivistic research. Data collection techniques include observation, physical traces, participation, in-depth interview. Data checks include veracity, detail, completeness, rigor.
UPPP 227 Economics of Government
- Units
- 4
Prepares students to analyze public policy questions with tools from economics. By the end, students should be able to identify important economic issues in public policy debates and consume and critique economic research on these topics.
UPPP 228 Demographics for Planning and Policy
- Units
- 4
Provides planning and policy practitioners with a condensed, nonspecialist orientation to the sources, applications, and interpretation of population statistics, and conveys the steps used in constructing local-area population forecasts and projections.
UPPP 232 Water Policy and Planning
- Units
- 4
Examines major issues in global water management including privatization, emerging water quality challenges, water system planning, affordability, conservation strategies, and flood resilience. Emphasizes integrated understanding of economics, governance, environmental health, technology, and development.
UPPP 235 Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Problem Solving in Planning
- Units
- 4
Explores the application of geographic information systems (GIS) in urban planning. Steps through a GIS-based planning procedure that balances housing, jobs, tax base, utilities, transportation, and the natural environment.
UPPP 237 Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
- Units
- 4
Application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to the field of urban and regional planning. Emphasizes current issues that occur in actual implementation settings. Lecture/discussion followed by laboratory demonstrating the area of GIS discussed. Offers "hands-on" student usage of GIS software.
UPPP 239 Urban Design Theories and Applications
- Units
- 4
Introduction to contemporary and traditional theories of urban design and their applications. Organized around one question: How might planning and design of built environment contribute to making a good city? National and international case studies are introduced.
UPPP 240 Microeconomics and Public Policy
- Units
- 4
Introduces the fundamental principles of microeconomics that are required for applied policy analysis. Provides students with an intuitive understanding of the microeconomic approach, and familiarizes them with concepts used in applied public policy analysis.
UPPP 243 Health Policy and Management
- Units
- 4
Multidisciplinary inquiry into theory and practice concerned with delivery, quantity, costs of health care for individuals and populations. Explores managerial and policy concerns regarding structure, process, outcomes of health services including the costs, financing, organization, outcomes, and accessibility of care.
UPPP 244 Land-Use Policy
- Units
- 4
Examination of the role of public policy in guiding growth and development in urban and suburban environments. Description of a wide-ranging set of growth policies, the rationales underlying their use, controversies and legal constraints, and evaluation of their effectiveness.
UPPP 246 Housing Policy
- Units
- 4
- Prerequisite
- Familiarity with basic statistics is required
Examines theories and practices of housing policy and the relationship of housing to larger neighborhood, community, and regional development issues. Considers the roles of private for-profit and not-for-profit developers, lenders, and all levels of government in the provision of housing.
UPPP 251 Poverty and Development
- Units
- 4
Examines competing conceptualizations, methods of measurement, and poverty alleviation strategies widely used in developing countries. Focuses on poverty conceptualized as economic deprivation, well-being, vulnerability, and social exclusion.
UPPP 252 Issues in Environmental Law and Policy
- Units
- 4
Treatment of legal and policy strategies for promoting environmental protection and deterring environmental degradation within the context of other societal objectives. Topical approach with a focus on problems of special interest to criminologists and to environmental policy specialists.
UPPP 253 Foundations of Public Administration
- Units
- 4
Introduction to the complex and interdisciplinary field of public administration. Topics include theories of public organizations, the role of bureaucracy in the political process, leadership and accountability, and the changing nature of public administration.
UPPP 254 Program Management and Evaluations
- Units
- 4
Introduces students to the principles and practice of program evaluation and management. Emphasis is on both the theoretical foundations and practical applications in a variety of decision-making contexts within the public and nonprofit sectors.
UPPP 255 Public Budgeting and Financial Management
- Units
- 4
The practice and problems of modern fiscal management in government, including budgetary procedures, major expenditure and revenue sources, and public financing methods.
UPPP 256 Sustainable Public Administration
- Units
- 4
Overview of administrative structures that guide effective responses to complex environmental management challenges. Explores important questions regarding who makes environmental decisions, the processes behind those decisions, and the influence of political and economic power on environmental management.
UPPP 257 Designing and Consuming Research
- Units
- 4
In-depth examination of issues relevant to designing and evaluating research in public administration. Topics address ethical issues surrounding the responsible conduct of research, experimental, quasi-experimental, and case study designs, and reliability and validity of measurement.
UPPP 258 Ethics and Leadership
- Units
- 4
The importance of ethical leadership and the many challenges to behaving ethically that leaders face in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Topics include diverse ethical theories and principles, theories of effective leadership, and approaches to fostering ethical behavior.
UPPP 260 Policy and Ethics
- Units
- 4
Examines the challenge of identifying ethical principles that can guide us in formulating and assessing public policy, the public policy process from an ethical perspective, and the ethics of the individual engaged in the public policy arena.
UPPP 266 Economic Democracy
- Units
- 4
Explores a wide range of radical democratic and egalitarian visions (including but not limited to the Marxist tradition) for a more sane, just, and sustainable future.
UPPP 271 Public Finance for Urban Planning
- Units
- 4
Introduction to public project financing, including overviews of major expenditure and revenue sources, budgeting processes, and the relationship between budgeting and planning. Practical skills covered include public financing methods, relevant mathematical analytic techniques, and grant writing.
UPPP 272 Site Development
- Units
- 4
Basics of site plan review (e.g., site/plot plans, floor plans, elevations) to ensure compliance with the zoning code, comparison of ministerial vs. discretionary review processes, Intersection of California Environmental Quality Act with review processes, understanding reporting requirements.
UPPP 273 Global Urbanization
- Units
- 4
Examines the spread of cities worldwide in the 20th century. What are the political and economic causes of this process? What are the social-cultural, political, and economic effects? How is contemporary urbanization linked to global restructuring of other kinds?
UPPP 274A MPP Capstone Research Project and Briefing
- Units
- 4
Focuses on an issue by emphasizing all aspects of the policy process, including problem definition, mobilizing support, design, implementation, management, and entrepreneurship. Two quarters in length. Students work in teams and present their product to faculty, students, and policymakers.
UPPP 274B MPP Capstone Research Project and Briefing
- Units
- 4
Focuses on an issue by emphasizing all aspects of the policy process, including problem definition, mobilizing support, design, implementation, management, and entrepreneurship. Two quarters in length. Students work in teams and present their product to faculty, students, and policymakers.
UPPP 275 Special Topics in Urban Planning
- Units
- 2-4
Special topics in urban and regional planning are offered from time to time, but not on a regular basis. Course content varies with interest of the instructor.
UPPP 276 Planning for Sustainable Cities
- Units
- 4
Measurement, implementation, and evaluation of urban sustainability practices.
UPPP 277 Site Planning and Design
- Units
- 4
Enhance understanding of planning documents, including site plans, sections, design guidelines that are part of the everyday practice of most planners. Students gain opportunities to create a physical end product that can be added to a professional portfolio.
UPPP 279 Theories of Power and Empowerment
- Units
- 4
Studies different ways of thinking about power and its uses. Explores theories of power that inform various notions of empowerment, including resistance, participatory democracy, and workplace empowerment.
UPPP 280 Transportation Practice
- Units
- 4
Broad survey of transportation policy issues that are confronting transportation planners, engineers, policymakers, and citizens.
UPPP 281 Theoretical Approaches in Planning and Policy
- Units
- 4
Provides students with an overview of how theory is employed in urban planning and public policy research. Distinguishes between macro, meso and micro theories, including critical approaches. Cuts across disciplinary and topical boundaries. Ph.D. level course.
UPPP 282 Urban Design Studio for Planners: An Introduction
- Units
- 4
Introductory urban design for planners. Organized around a variety of assignments to encourage learning by design in a studio setting. Students work on design projects and drawing assignments to learn practical aspects of urban design.
UPPP 283 Collaborative Governance and Public Management
- Units
- 4
Introduction to inclusive management. To make effective use of public resources, public managers are inventing ways of managing that alter relationships within organizations, between organizations, between sectors, and with the public. Requires rethinking fundamentals such as leadership and motivation.
UPPP 284 Environmental Theory and Topics
- Units
- 4
Provides an overview of various theoretical approaches to the study of natural and built environments. Cuts across disciplinary boundaries. Canonical studies of the environment and sustainability are examined. Ph.D. level course.
UPPP 285 Urban Theory and Topics
- Units
- 4
An advanced course for Ph.D. students looking to study canonical and contemporary urban theory that is both interdisciplinary and global.
UPPP 292 Professional Report
- Units
- 4
Workshop designed to assist M.U.R.P. students in conducting their professional reports. Students select topics, design projects, conduct professional investigations, and write up reports.
UPPP 293 Planning Career Development
- Units
- 4
Introduces students to the career options for urban planners. Provides opportunities to meet with professional planners practicing in a variety of settings (public, private, non-profit) and introduces students to professional norms, roles, and career paths.
UPPP 294A Urban Planning Practicum I
- Units
- 4
Engages students in practical planning projects in the community under a central theme within Planning. Students take a problem-solving approach and employ and further develop data gathering, analysis, graphic and oral communication, public engagement, and report writing skills.
UPPP 294B Urban Planning Practicum II
- Units
- 4
- Prerequisite
- PP&D 294A with a minimum grade of B-
Engages students in practical planning projects in the community under a central theme within Planning. Students take a problem-solving approach and employ and further develop data gathering, analysis, graphic and oral communication, public engagement, and report writing skills.
UPPP 296 Doctoral Dissertation Research and Writing
- Units
- 2-12
- Prerequisite
- Advancement to candidacy
Dissertation research with Urban Planning and Public Policy faculty.
UPPP 297 Research Design
- Units
- 4
Provides training in research design and methods. Students learn how to evaluate the strength of research findings based on the methods used by a researcher and learn to use lessons from the course to develop a research proposal.
UPPP 298 Directed Studies in Urban Planning
- Units
- 2-4
Directed studies in Urban Planning.
UPPP 299 Independent Study in Urban Planning
- Units
- 2-8
Independent Study in Urban Planning.