Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

This course is intended to confront students with many of the current administrative, policy, inter-governmental and political challenges of local/urban/city-regional government in the 21st century. It will enable students to critically evaluate the varied nature and development of urban and metropolitan governance through an assessment of differing city-regional forms and responsibilities. The primary emphasis is on: social, economic and political sustainability; ethnic, gender and ecological re-definitions of the city; urban fiscal constraints and possibilities; urban governance and local democracy; intergovernmental challenges; urban responses to and re-definitions of re-globalization; case studies of agenda setting and other policy cycle stages. The primary seminar focus is on urban Canada but comparative cases will be drawn from the United States, the EU, Asia and other jurisdictions.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course is intended to confront students with many of the current administrative, policy, inter-governmental and political challenges of local/urban/city governing in the 21st century. It will enable students to critically evaluate the varied nature and development of local and urban governance through an assessment of differing local governing definitions, forms and responsibilities. There is an emphasis on: social, economic, environmental and political sustainability; ethnic, gender and ecological re-definitions of the city; urban fiscal constraints and possibilities; urban governance and local democracy; multi-level governing challenges and opportunities; local and urban responses to and re-definitions of globalization; case studies of agenda setting and other policy cycle stages. The primary seminar focus is on local-urban governing in (a) British Columbia, (b) urban Canada and (c) as appropriate, with comparative cases from other settings. The intention is to apply lessons from this comparative analysis to urban governing in the Vancouver-centred + Cascadia -region.        

The course is organized around three modules: the first focuses on: the history and  evolution and key features of local/urban governance/government and on lessons from this history and theoretical perspectives, some of the administrative, policy and intergovernmental/multilevel and fiscal dilemmas confronting contemporary municipalities and the senior jurisdictions with constitutional authority for their governance: issues such as land use, urban transportation, planning, environmental sustainability, social and economic equity, alternative forms of service delivery and debates about forms of governance. The second module examines some of the dynamics of actual governance in selected Vancouver-area/British Columbia/Canadian case settings. Module three will consist of preparation of briefing notes and policy memoranda on specific urban policy/governance issues, and applying comparative lessons for Vancouver’/South Coast BC’s settings  and to future local-urban governance within Canada.

A couple of ½-day field seminars – in Greater Vancouver (eg with New Westminster mayor-politicians/sr.staff) and/or with Municipal Affairs staff in Victoria (as part of Spring Urban Studies Field Seminar)- as well as the involvement of urban policy/governance participants/experts – eg with teleconferences + guests at class – are anticipated as part of in the course. These will be discussed and set at initial seminar meetings. 

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: