Urban Design Policy and Action

Readings

Multiple selections from the following texts are included in the table below. The full citations are provided here:

Required Text

Schuster, J. Mark, John de Monchaux, and Charles Riley II, eds. Preserving the Built Heritage: Tools for Implementation. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 1997. ISBN: 9780874518313.

Other Texts

Ben-Joseph, Eran, and Terry Szold, eds. Regulating Place: Standards and the Shaping of Urban America. New York, NY: Routledge, 2004. ISBN: 9780415948746.

Hood, Christopher. The Tools of Government. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House, 1986. ISBN: 9780934540520.

Lai, Richard Tseng-yu. Law in Urban Design and Planning: The Invisible Web. New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1988. ISBN: 9780442258856.

Patterson, T. William. Land Use Planning: Techniques of Implementation. Malabar, FL: Krieger, 1988. ISBN: 9780898749441.

Salamon, Lester. The Tools of Government: A Guide to the New Governance. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN: 9780195136654.

Stone, Deborah. Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision Making. New York, NY: W. W. Norton, 2001. ISBN: 9780393976250.

Bemelmans-Videc, Marie Louise, Ray Rist, and Evert Vedung, eds. Carrots, Sticks and Sermons: Policy Instruments and Their Evaluation. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2003. ISBN: 9780765805461.

SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
Part I: A tools approach to implementing urban design policy
Introduction
1	Why should government get involved in urban design?	Required Lai, Richard Tseng-yu. “The Basis for Design Regulation.” Chapter 9 in Law in Urban Design and Planning. Supplementary Lai, Richard Tseng-yu. “The Origins,” and “Under the Constitution.” Parts I and II in Law in Urban Design and Planning.
A tools approach to government action
2	The five (plus or minus) tools	Required Salamon, Lester. “The New Governance and the Tools of Public Action: An Introduction.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government, pp. 1-47. Hood, Christopher. “Exploring Government’s Toolshed,” and “Government as a Tool-Kit.” Chapters 1 and 7 in Hood, The Tools of Government. Vedung, Evert. “Policy Instruments: Typologies and Theories.” In Bemelmans-Videc, et al., Carrots, Sticks and Sermons. Lessig, Lawrence. “Appendix.” In Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace. New York, NY: Basic Books, 2000. ISBN: 9780465039135. de Monchaux, John, and J. Mark Schuster. “Five Things to Do.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage. Supplementary Patterson, T. William. “The Context for Plan/Policy Implementation.” Chapter 1 in Land Use Planning. Theses Doherty, Patsy. Public Policy Instruments for Designing the Built Environment, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1986. Zhanbin, Jiang. Preserving the Waterscape in Chinese Historical Canal Cities: Government Tools for Implementation, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2003.
3	Ownership and operation	Required Leman, Christopher. “Direct Government.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government. Bianca, Stephano. “Direct Government Involvement in Architectural Heritage Management: Legitimation, Limits, and Opportunities of Ownership and Operation.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage. Supplementary “Federal Architecture: A Framework for Debate.” Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts, April 1974, pp. 1-53. Musolf, Lloyd. “The Government Corporation Tool: Permutations and Possibilities.” Chapter 8 in Beyond Privatization: The Tools of Government Action. By Lester Salamon and Michael Lund. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 1989. ISBN: 9780877664543. Stanton, Thomas, and Ronald Moe. “Government Corporations and Government-Sponsored Enterprises.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government. Theses Bressler, Mark. The City as Entrepreneur: A Legal Rationale for Sharing the Profits of Downtown Development, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1985. Peters, John. The Desirability of an Indian Housing Authority for Massachusetts, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1987.
4	Regulation	Required Throsby, David. “Making Preservation Happen: The Pros and Cons of Regulation.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage. Pearce, B. J. “Property Rights vs. Development Control: A Preliminary Evaluation of Alternative Planning Policy Instruments.” Town Planning Review 52, no. 1 (1981): 47-60. Baer, W. C. “Toward Design of Regulations for the Built Environment.” Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 24 (1997): 37-57. Select and read a couple of chapters from: Ben-Joseph and Szold, Regulating Place: Standards and the Shaping of Urban America. Supplementary Fogelson, Robert. “The Sacred Skyline: The Battle over Height Limits.” Chapter 3 in Downtown: Its Rise and Fall, 1880-1950. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2003. ISBN: 9780300098273. (There is quite a bit of interesting material on parking and land-use regulations scattered throughout this book.) Patterson, T. William. “Zoning,” “Subdivision Regulations,” and “Supplemental Regulations and Tax Policies.” Chapters 2-4 in Land Use Planning. Cook, Robert. Zoning for Downtown Urban Design: How Cities Control Development. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1980, particularly chapter 14, “Final Thoughts.” ISBN: 9780669036428. “Development Control: Policy and Practice.” Circular 22/80, UK Department of the Environment, HMSO, 28 November 1980. Duerksen, Christopher. “Aesthetics and Land-Use Controls: Beyond Ecology and Economics.” American Planning Association, Planning Advisory Service Report Number 399. Lassar, Terry Jill. “Zoning as Shaper of Building Design.” Chapter 5 in Carrots and Sticks: New Zoning Downtown. Washington, DC: Urban Land Institute, 1989. ISBN: 9780874206937. Salamon, Lester, “Economic Regulation”, and Peter J. May, “Social Regulation.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government. Stone, Deborah. “Rules.” Chapter 12 in Policy Paradox. Lemaire, Donald. “The Stick: Regulation as a Tool of Government.” In Bemelmans-Videc, et al., Carrots, Sticks and Sermons. Theses Kohr, Todd. From Form to Function: An Evaluation of the Effectiveness and Potential of Form-Based Zoning Codes, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2004. Nally, Thomas. Design Review: Alternative Models of Administration, M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, September 1977. Mangle, Katie. Growth Management Strategies in the American West: A Case Study of Intergovernmental Collaboration in Colorado, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1996. Riesman, Jean. Rules of the Game: Rezoning Boston 1984-1989, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1990. Schonberger, Benjamin. Locally Grown: Statewide Land Use Planning in Northern New England, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2000. Solzhenitsyn, Stephan. Parcel-by-parcel Urban Design: A Strategy Toward Clarifying Rights and Restrictions in the Redevelopment of Center-city Moscow, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1997. Tham, Karen. Singapore: Design Guidelines for an Urban Waterfront, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1991. Jacobson, Alexandra. The Effectiveness of Zoning in Solidifying Downtown Retail, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2001. Sellers-Garcia, Oliver. Regulating New Construction in Historic Areas, M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. Mehta, Shilpa. Form-Based Zoning: What Place is this Code? M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. Shaw, Jeremy. Standard Values: Change in Urban Arterial Street Design, M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007.
5	Property rights	Required Pearce, B. J. “Instruments for Land Policy: A Classification.” Urban Law and Policy 3 (1980): 115-155. ———. “Property Rights vs. Development Control: A Preliminary Evaluation of Alternative Planning Policy Instruments.” Town Planning Review 52, no. 1 (1981): 47-60. Costonis, John. “The Redefinition of Property Rights as a Tool for Historic Preservation.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage. Supplementary Schnidman, Frank. “Transferable Development Rights (TDR).” In Windfalls for Wipeouts: Land Value Capture and Compensation. Edited by Donald Hagman and Dean Misczynski. Chicago, IL: American Society of Planning Officials, 1977, pp. 532-522 and 656-660. ISBN: 9780918286116. Stone, Deborah. “Rights.” Chapter 14 in Policy Paradox. Cordes, Joseph. “Corrective Taxes, Charges, and Tradable Permits.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government. Theses Holleran, Michael. Remnant Rights of Way as a Preservation Issue, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1985. Solzhenitsyn, Stephan. Parcel-by-parcel Urban Design: A Strategy Toward Clarifying Rights and Restrictions in the Redevelopment of Center-city Moscow, M.C.P. Thesis, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 1997. Tuttle, William. Limited Development as a Tool for Agricultural Preservation in Massachusetts, M.C.P. and SMArchS Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1988.
6	Incentives and disincentives: direct and indirect	Required Schuster, J. Mark. “Inciting Preservation.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage. Lai, Richard Tseng-yu. “The Web of Fiscal Policy and Taxation.” Chapter 13 in Law in Urban Design and Planning. Lefcoe, George. “How Taxes Affect Urban Design: And How to Make Them Do a Better Job of It.” Real Estate Law Journal 4, no. 3 (1976): 244-262. Kayden, Jerold. “Using and Misusing Law to Design the Public Realm.” In Ben-Joseph and Szold, Regulating Place: Standards and the Shaping of Urban America, pp. 115-140. Supplementary Kayden, Jerold. “History,” “Law: Design, Operation, and Enforcement,” and “Record.” Chapters 1-3 in Privately Owned Public Space: The New York Experience. New York, NY: Wiley, 2000, pp. 7-59. ISBN: 9780471362579. Beam, David, and Timothy Conlan, “Grants;” Thomas Stanton, “Loans and Loan Guarantees;” Christopher Howard, “Tax Expenditures;” and E. Eugene Steuerle and Eric Twombly, “Vouchers.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government. Kayden, Jerold. “Incentive Zoning in New York City: A Cost-Benefit Analysis.” Lincoln Policy Roundtable, Policy Analysis Series no. 201. Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 1978. Patterson, T. William. Land Use Planning, pp. 130-146. Leeuuw, Frans. “The Carrot: Subsidies as a Tool of Government—Theory and Practice.” In Bemelmans-Videc, et al., Carrots, Sticks and Sermons. Stone, Deborah. “Inducements.” Chapter 11 in Policy Paradox. Gihring, Thomas. “Incentive Property Taxation: A Potential Tool for Urban Growth Management.” Journal of the American Planning Association 65, no. 1 (1999): 62-79. Hager, Connie, and S. Jerome Pratter. Financial Incentives for Better Design. Washington, DC: National League of Cities, Office of Membership Services, 1982. Theses Geng, Lining. The Application of Information and Incentives as Tools to Promote Green Affordable Housing Development, M.C.P. and SMArchS Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004. Berry, Robin L. Can the Market Create What the City Wants? Boston’s Midtown Cultural District, M.C.P. and SMRED Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Center for Real Estate Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000. Fischer, Michael. Real Estate Development Exactions in Boston: Implications for Linkage and Planning in the South Boston Seaport District, M.C.P. and SMRED Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Center for Real Estate Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1999. Wong, Debra Gail. Modeling Historic Preservation Tax Incentives, M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, September 1985.
7	Information	Required Schuster, J. Mark. “Information as a Tool of Preservation Action.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage. O’Hare, Michael. “Environmental Management.” In American Society: Public and Private Responsibilities. Edited by Winthrop Knowlton and Richard Zeckhauser. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger, 1987, pp. 99-135. ISBN: 9780887301292. Schuster, J. Mark. “Making a List: Information as a Tool of Historic Preservation.” In Economics of the Arts and Culture: Invited Papers of the 12th International Conference of the Association of Cultural Economics International. Edited by Victor Ginsburgh. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004. Vedung, Evert, Frans C. J., and van der Doelen. “The Sermon: Information Programs in the Public Policy Process—Choice, Effects, and Evaluation.” In Bemelmans-Videc, et al., Carrots, Sticks and Sermons. Owen, Stephen. “The Role of Village Design Statements in Fostering a Locally Responsive Approach to Village Planning and Design in the UK.” Journal of Urban Design 3, no. 3 (1988): 359-380. Supplementary Hood, Christopher. “Advice, Information, Persuasion.” Chapter 2 in Hood, The Tools of Government. Stone, Deborah. “Facts.” Chapter 13 in Policy Paradox. Rosen, Jeffrey. “The Social Police: Following the Law, Because You’d Be Too Embarrassed Not To.” The New Yorker, October 20 and 27, 1997, pp. 170-181. This is a layperson’s introduction to the literature on law and social norms; for a more formal treatment, see Eric Posner, Law and Social Norms (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000). Weiss, Janet. “Public Information.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government. The use of information as a tool of government has been receiving increasing attention in the environmental policy literature. Here are three examples. (Note that there is a similar literature on product labeling for health purposes.) Fung, Archon, and Dara O’Rourke. “Reinventing Environmental Regulation from the Grassroots Up: Explaining and Expanding the Success of the Toxics Release Inventory.” Environmental Management 25, no. 2 (2000): 115-127. Rubik, Frieder, and Paolo Frankl, eds. The Future of Eco-Labelling: Making Environmental Product Information Systems Effective. Sheffield: Greenleaf Publishing, 2005. Kuhre, W. Lee. ISO 14020s: Efficient and Accurate Environmental Marketing Procedures. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996. ISBN: 9780132521499. Another literature opened up by thinking about information as a tool of government is the extensive literature on place-based marketing and branding. See, for example: Morgan, Nigel, Annette Pritchard, and Roger Pride, eds. Destination Branding: Creating the Unique Destination Proposition. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004. ISBN: 9780750649940. Kearns, Gerry, and Chris Philo, eds. Selling Places: The City as Cultural Capital, Past and Present. Oxford, UK: Pergamon Press, 1993. ISBN: 9780080413853. Ashworth, G. J., and H. Voogd. Selling the City: Marketing Approaches in Public Sector Urban Planning. London, UK: Belhaven Press, 1990. ISBN: 9781852930080. Theses Lampkin, Martha. Intervention in the City Building Network: An Evaluation of the A.I.A.’s R/UDAT Program, M.C.P. and MArchAS Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1981. Reitman, Alexandra Naming as a Mechanism for Neighborhood Revitalization, M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004. Vincent, Lieza. When Home Becomes World Heritage: The Case of Aleppo, Syria, M.C.P. and SMArchS Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004. McCarthy, Danielle. Designation: The Use of Information-Based Strategies in Planning and Preservation, M.C.P. and SMArchS Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005. Geng, Lining. The Application of Information and Incentives as Tools to Promote Green Affordable Housing Development, M.C.P. and SMArchS Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning and Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2004. Wells, Anna. The Boston Indicators Project: The Role of Indicators in Supporting Environmental Efforts in the Boston Metropolitan Region, M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006. Dissertation Morton, Elizabeth. Heritage Partnerships: National Designation, Regional Promotion, and the Role of Local Preservation Organizations, Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006.
8	Choosing tools and designing programs	Required Hood, Christopher. “Appraising Government’s Tools,” and “A Changing Mix of Government Tools.” Chapters 8-9 in Hood, The Tools of Government, pp. 133-168. Schuster, J. Mark. “Choosing the Right Tool(s) for the Task.” In Schuster, et al., Preserving the Built Heritage. van der Doelen, Frans C. J., “The ‘Give-and-Take’ Packaging of Policy Instruments: Optimizing Legitimacy and Effectiveness,” and Ray Rist, “Choosing the Right Policy Instrument at the Right Time: The Contextual Challenges of Selection and Implementation.” In Bemelmans-Videc, et al., Carrots, Sticks and Sermons, pp. 129-146 and 149-163. Peters, B. Guy. “The Politics of Tool Choice”; Stephen Rathgeb Smith and Helen Ingram, “Policy Tools and Democracy”; and Lester Salamon, “The Tools Approach and the New Governance: Conclusion and Implications.” In Salamon, The Tools of Government, pp. 552-564, 565-584, and 600-610. Supplementary Eury, Robert, and Gary Hack. “Keys to Effective Urban Environmental Design,” and “A Catalog of Techniques for Urban Environmental Design.” Parts 3 and 4 in Lessons from Local Experience. U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research, Office of Community Planning and Development. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1983.
Part II: Two case studies in the implementation of urban design policy
9	Downtown planning in San Francisco	Required Vettel, Steven. “San Francisco’s Downtown Plan: Environmental and Urban Design Values in Central Business District Regulation.” Ecology Law Quarterly (1985): 511-566. Punter, John. “San Francisco.” Chapter 4 in Design Guidelines in American Cities: A Review of Design Policies and Guidance in Five West Coast Cities. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780853238935.
10	Field trip to Boston Civic Design Commission meeting	Required For further information on the Boston Civic Design Commission, see: BCDC.
11	Design review	Required Bender, Richard, and Todd Bressi. “Design Review: A Review of Processes, Procedures, and Potential.” Berkeley, CA: Center for Environmental Design Research, March 1989, pp. 1-69. Schuster, J. Mark. “The Role of Design Review in Affecting the Quality of Urban Design: The Architect’s Point of View.” Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 14, no. 3 (1997): 209-224. Scheer, Brenda. “The Debate on Design Review.” From Design Review: Challenging Urban Aesthetic Control (1994), reprinted in The Urban Design Reader. Edited by Michael Larice and Elizabeth Macdonald. London, UK: Routledge, 2006, pp. 490-499. ISBN: 9780415333863. Rawn, William. “The Boston Federal Courthouse: The Role of the Boston Civic Design Commission.” In Federal Buildings in Context: The Role of Design Review. Edited by J. Carter Brown. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1995, pp. 95-104. ISBN: 9780300076981. Look at the following Web site: Design Review Panel Pilot Project. Supplementary A list of supplemental readings on design review is provided in the Appendix. Theses Donham, Thayer. Passing Judgment: The Interaction Between Local and Federal Design Review, M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2000. Nally, Thomas. Design Review: Alternative Models of Administration, M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, September 1977. Kou Chen Kao, Evaluating the Impact of Design Review on Real Estate Development: A Boston Sampling-1980-1990, SMRED Thesis, Center for Real Estate Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1991. Sellers-Garcia, Oliver, Regulating New Construction in Historic Areas, M.C.P. Thesis, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2006.
12	In conclusion	Required Hood, Christopher. “Intellectual Obsolescence and Intellectual Makeovers: Reflections on the Tools of Government after Two Decades.” Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions 20, no. 1 (2007): 127-144. Ducker, Richard, and David Owens. “A Smart Growth Toolbox for Local Governments.” Popular Government 66, no. 1 (2000): 29-41.

Appendix: Additional References (PDF)