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Community and Economic Development
Graduate Education at Penn State
CEDEV 509: Population, Land Use, and Municipal Finance (Offered Spring Semesters)
The objective of this course is to provide a multidimensional approach
to understanding how communities work. Three interrelated elements help
to define a community: its population, the spatial distribution of
activities on the land, and the way it finances its operations.
"Community" in the context of this course refers to some governmental
jurisdiction typically at the municipal or county level. The focus of
the course is applied governmental management.
People, land
use, and municipal finance are inseparable. Every person and every land
use has an address in some governmental jurisdiction. In fact they are
usually located in several coincident jurisdictions. Similarly, all
people and land uses generate costs as well as provide some of the
financial wherewithal that contributes to the operation of the
government entity. The impacts each element has on the others is dynamic
and inseparable and must be studied together to fully understand and
effectively manage the government unit in question.
The basic
assumption of this course is that the decisions made by communities are
of pluralistic concern, are achieved democratically, and that they are
unconstrained, that is, made in an open system in which the outcomes of
decisions are not pre-ordained. So, while the characteristics of the
current population are known, land use choices and municipal finance
policies may significantly modify the outline of the future population
of the jurisdiction. Similarly, population characteristics may shape
land use choices and fiscal decisions to accommodate some activities
more strenuously than others. Municipal finance is selective in its
impacts on both people and land use, and are made with some management
goal in mind. Understanding the dynamic interplay among population, land
use, and municipal finance, and how to effectively manage using this
knowledge, are the goals of this course.
Course learning objectives:
Upon
completion of CEDEV 509, you will:
- introduce you to
basic concepts, measures, and data sources used in applied
demography,
- give you the
ability to thoroughly and clearly describe the demographic
characteristics of a population (e.g., a county or township),
- enable you to
assemble and effectively present demographic information to your
clientele,
- introduce you to
basic concepts of municipal finance, including tax incidence, tax
fairness, and tax shifting,
- give you a basic
understanding of how land uses and land use change affects local
public revenues and expenditures,
- enable you to
evaluate and perform basic fiscal impact studies,
- give you the
ability to prepare a capital planning budget,
- introduce you to
the role/status of planning and the roles of planners,
- give you guidance
in interpreting state planning legislation,
- learn how
community comprehensive plans can be used as a tool of municipal
management as well as a limitation, and
- explore strategic
planning as an alternate approach to management.
Required course materials:
The following
materials are required and must be purchased from MBS Direct:
- ISBN
# 1420073826 Roosa, Stephen, Sustainable Development Handbook
For pricing and ordering
information please see the MBS Direct web-site at:
http://direct.mbsbooks.com/psude.htm or via telephone at
1-800-325-3252.
Materials
will be available at MBS Direct approximately three weeks before the
course begins. When ordering your course materials, please pay close
attention to the version number (01WC). It is very important that you
purchase the correct materials. If your course requires one or more
textbooks, you must have exactly the correct text required (edition and
year).
Using the library:
Many of Penn State's library resources can be utilized from a
distance. Through the Library Resources and Services for World Campus and Distance Education Web site, you can...
- access electronic databases, and even full text articles, from the LIAS
Fast Track,
- borrow materials and have them delivered to your doorstep...or even your
desktop
- talk to reference librarians in real time using the "Virtual Reference
Service"
...and much more!
NOTE: You must have an active Penn State Access Account and be
registered with the University Libraries in order to take full
advantage of the Libraries' resources and services. Registration and
services are free!
Topics for the course:
Module 1
– Welcome to the
Course
Module
2 – The Dynamics of Land Use, Population, and Municipal Finance
In this module, students are
asked to consider how the effective functioning of communities requires
an integrated, multidimensional view of people (demographics), land use,
and financing of municipal
operations. Any one of these perspectives is
useful in itself, but their value for managing communities
in action
depends on an integrated application of all three areas. We will be
exploring and evaluating development scenarios ranging from urban
redevelopment, suburban sprawl, agricultural land
preservation, and
growth management in our discussion.
Module 3 –
Applied Demography
This module introduces students to applied demography. We cover basic
demographic terms and
concepts, and the uses of demographic information.
Demography is the scientific study of human population, with special
emphasis on the causes and consequences of population composition and
change. Applied demography has been defined as "that branch of the
discipline that is directed toward
the production, dissemination, and
analysis of demographic and closely related socioeconomic
information
for quite specific purposes of planning and reporting" (Rives and Surow
1984:9-10).
Students
will learn about the science of demography and its application in
community and economic development. Specific objectives are to: (1)
introduce basic concepts, measures, and data sources used in applied
demography, (2) give students the ability to thoroughly and clearly
describe the demographic characteristics of a population (e.g., a county
or township), (3) teach students how applied demographers estimate the
size of a given population and predict its growth over time, and (4)
enable students to assemble and effectively present demographic
information to their clientele.
Module 4 –
Demographic
Composition
This module teaches methods for statistically describing the demographic
composition of populations.
We consider the many variables that can be
used in this regard, such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, education, labor
force status, family size and structure, income, and poverty. (A
variable is any characteristic of people that can differ between people
or within the same person over time.) Students
also learn about the best
ways to measure and illustrate demographic composition.
Module 5 – Social Systems
Approach to Community
This module covers the
techniques available to estimate the population size of a place, and to
project
the future size and composition of a population. You'll learn
about the reasons why population
estimates and projections are needed,
what some of the basic methods are, how to do some of them yourself, and
how to track down and employ estimate and projection data from the U. S.
Census
Bureau.
Module 6 –
Presenting Demographic
Information in Formal Settings
At this point in the course students should have a good sense of what
applied demography is, and
why it's critical that community and economic
development professionals are equipped to "do" applied demography in
some measure. It is important to clearly understand the nature and
sources of
demographic data, how populations differ in terms of
composition and why these differences are
important for your work, and
how to think about change in populations over time. In this module
students will learn how to take this information and package it into a
formal presentation, and how to
use Microsoft's PowerPoint to produce
graphics and slides so as to effectively present demographic
information. These skills should be transferable to other presentation
methods and technology.
Module 7 –
Government Finance Data
A basic understanding of
local government finance is essential for working effectively with local
governments on community and economic development issues. This module is
intended to give
students a working knowledge of where local governments
get their money, how they spend it, and
how these may vary across
jurisdictions and between communities.
When discussing public
finance, taxpayers often think immediately of the taxes they pay to
support their municipal and county governments, and school districts. It
is also important to realize that the sole reason such jurisdictions
require taxes and other revenues is because they need the funds to
provide services demanded by citizens: the more services they provide,
the more revenue they require. Expenditures and revenues are intertwined
but these topics need first to be discussed separately.
This
module helps students understand the dynamics of the American federal
system, in particular that local governments are the creation of state
governments, not the national government. In turn, the institutional
structure, locus of responsibility, revenue sources, and choices
available to local governments varies from state to state. Some states,
such as Maryland, place primary responsibility for local decision-making
in the hands of county governments. Other states have "weak counties"
and give more responsibility to municipal governments. The implication
of this diversity is that generalizations about local governments
sometimes can be difficult, and that local government finance must be
understood in the context of each state's system. What holds true for
one state may not hold true for another.
Module 8 – Controlling Costs and Expenditures: Fiscal
Capacity Analysis and Capital Planning
Fiscal capacity analysis and
capital budgeting (sometimes referred to as "capital improvements
programming") are one of the most important planning and economic
development tools available to
local officials. Fiscal capacity analysis
involves projecting future expenditures and revenues to predict
the
ability of the local government to afford new or existing services, and
the potential impact of such services on future tax rates. The analysis
can be used to predict the impact of future capital
improvements
(capital assets with a useful life greater than one year, such as new
road equipment, a municipal building, or sewer lines) on the municipal
budget, and to evaluate different ways of paying
for such capital
improvements.
Students will learn the role of budgeting as an important
tool for land use controls and planning, learn how to estimate future
public revenues and expenditures and plan for future capital
expenditures, and learn how to develop a capital plan for a local
government or school district.
Module
9-10 – Understanding the Impacts of Land Use Change
"Smart Growth," "sprawl,"
and "sustainability" have been buzz words in the past few years, with a
lot of local, state, and national attention focused on the consequences
of different land use patterns. There is
little agreement about the
diagnosis of and cure for sprawl, however. The term "sprawl" is usually
used
as a pejorative term (as noted by Cox et al.), without a clear
definition; people "know sprawl when they
see it," but too often it's a
reactionary value judgment about some land use the person making the
statement doesn't like. Everyone in the community may agree that sprawl
should be avoided, but
achieving consensus on proactive solutions can be
difficult.
Until this
point the course has considered population, land use, and local services
primarily as separate entities. In this module, the three are considered
simultaneously, with particular focus on how land use and population
change affect local governments and school districts. This is an
important (and somewhat controversial) issue in many communities, and
there are clear philosophical differences about how to perceive these
impacts.
Module 11 – Community
Planning Systems
This module looks at the
historical antecedents of contemporary community land use planning. It
covers both the role/status of planning, and the roles of planners. The
principal approaches to planning in use
in the various states are
categorized and discussed. Students will learn how to interpret state
planning legislation.
This
module has two primary objectives. First, it will provide an overview of
community planning in the United States from 1890 to the present.
Students will observe some of the ideas that inform the planning ideal
and persist through the approximately 100-year history of municipal
planning. They will learn how some basic ideas are adapted for a
changing society. Second, the module will encourage students to learn
how the enabling planning legislation for specific states create
opportunities and constraints for managing community action through
planning.
Module 12 –
Comprehensive
Planning Techniques and Issues
This module addresses community comprehensive plans as a tool of
municipal management, as well as a limitation thereof. The basis of land
use regulations will be explored, and approaches to growth
management
will be examined.
Specific
objectives of this module are: (1) to provide an in-depth view of
municipal planning as it is practiced in the United States, (2) to
provide an understanding of the role of planners and others in plan
making, and (3) to emphasize the role of communications and rhetoric in
the planning process.
Module 13 – Final Project Submission and Discussion
-
Complete and submit
Final Project
-
Post Final Project
Summary to the course message board
-
Participate in class
discussion on Final Project
Note: Formal instruction
will end on the last day of class. However, you will have access to the
course materials for one year from the day the course began.
Grading
Please refer
to the
University Grading Policy for Graduate Courses for additional
information about University grading policies.
Course
Policies
Disclaimer: Please
note that the specifics of this Course Syllabus are subject to change,
and you will be responsible for abiding by any such changes. Your
instructor will notify you of any changes.
This is a required course in the
Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Community and Economic Development
and in the
Community and Economic
Development Masters Degree Program.
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