Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Spring 2025 - PLAN 400 D100

Policy Analysis for Social and Environmental Change (4)

Class Number: 6079

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Jan 6 – Apr 9, 2025: Tue, Thu, 10:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    PLAN 100 or PLAN 200; and 60 units.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Provides an advanced evaluation of public policy, policy analysis, and policy change, focusing on problems in urban and regional planning and resource and environmental management.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course covers public policy and policy analysis, with a focus on problems in environmental planning. An emphasis in the course concerns knowledge mobilization and policy impact. In addition to building an understanding of what public policy is and how policy analysis works, the course will examine:

  • Theories and models of the policy process;
  • The nature of policy problems and the role of problem definition in policy making;
  • The relationship between research and policy;
  • Stages or functions in the policy-making process and the participants and practices commonly associated with each;
  • The instruments that are available for achieving policy aims;
  • The dynamics and processes associated with policy change;
  • Methods and criteria for evaluating policy processes and outcomes;
  • Conceptual frameworks for analyzing and organizing knowledge about policy and socio-ecological systems.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

You will learn to:

  1. Understand prominent theories of the policy process and how they can be used to study the development and fate of policies in planning and environmental management;
  2. Assess the strengths and weaknesses of policies, critique the rationales offered in support of policies, and understand the processes through which policies are designed, adopted and implemented;
  3. Analyze and effectively intervene in policy processes;
  4. Conduct and present (orally and in writing) a policy analysis of a resource and environmental management, planning problem, in which you evaluate alternative strategies and make a recommendation to decision makers to address the problem.

Grading

  • Assignments 60%
  • Participation 10%
  • Midterm Exam 30%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Howlett, M., M. Ramesh, and A. Perl. 2020. Studying public policy: Principles and Processes. Fourth Edition. Oxford, U.K: Oxford University Press.

We will supplement the required texts with additional on-line (electronic) required reading and suggested reading for each class.


REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity website http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating. Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the university community. Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the university. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the university. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.