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Urban Policies: Housing, Neighbourhoods and Transport

Code: 104257 ECTS Credits: 6
2024/2025
Degree Type Year
2503710 Geography, Environmental Management and Spatial Planning OB 3

Contact

Name:
Oriol Nel·lo Colom
Email:
oriol.nello@uab.cat

Teachers

Carles Donat Muņoz

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

There are no specific prerequisites for taking this course.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The objective of the course is to introduce the student to urban policies in three different fields: housing, neighborhoods and mobility.


Learning Outcomes

  1. CM23 (Competence) Develop proposals for action and intervention in the territory that address socio-demographic and environmental problems.
  2. KM35 (Knowledge) List the different policies on housing, rehabilitation and urban transport.
  3. KM36 (Knowledge) List the theoretical and conceptual approaches related to housing, mobility, local and territorial development.
  4. SM27 (Skill) Apply spatial, environmental and urban policy management tools in an exercise related to spatial and environmental planning.
  5. SM28 (Skill) Develop systematic thinking for a practical case by including various elements of urban problems and their management.

Content

The course will consist of three parts, each of which will consist of four topics. The blocks will contain theoretical and practical sessions. The contents are detailed below.

A. Housing policies (prof. Carlos Donat)

1. Difficulties of access and permanence in housing: dynamics and challenges
- The housing problem from a historical perspective
- Accessibility to housing, the contemporary problem
- Housing, social cohesion and space.

Practice 1: The effort to access rental housing in the area of Barcelona.

2. Housing policy from a comparative international perspective
- Housing policies in the framework of the welfare state
- Housing policies, a uni-level and multi-level approach.
- Housing policies in Catalonia: competence framework and instruments.

Practice 2: Investment in social housing in the countries of the European Union

3. Land policy and the generation of affordable housing
- Land policy: legal framework and implications for the promotion of affordable housing.
- Affordable housing stock: concept and types.
- Policies to support the generation of affordable housing: production, transfer and purchase.

Practice 3: The production of social housing in Catalonia

4. Policies directed at specific situations: emancipation, aging, residential exclusion.
- Policies to help residential emancipation
- Housing policies during aging
- Policies to prevent residential exclusion and inclusion.

Practice 4: Policies to combat residential exclusion in the Barcelona metropolitan area


B. Neighborhood policies (Prof. Oriol Nel·lo)

1. Urban segregation and the concentration of disadvantaged social groups in urban areas
- Social inequality and urban segregation
- The study of segregation: historical evolution
- The measure of segregation: indicators and data

Practice 1. Use of statistical indicators to mesure residential segregation

2.Urban policies on segregation and its effects
- The objectives of policies against segregation: the question of the "Neighborhood Effect" and the "Right to the city"
- The actors of neighborhood policies: "top down" and "bottom up" approaches
- The instruments for neighborhood policies: norms, resources and means

Practice 2. The debate on the "Neighborhood Effect"

3. The challenges for neighborhood policies
- Cross-cutting actions and the redistributive capacity
- Involvement of the citizens and the evaluation
- Land rent, housing market and the risk of gentrification

Practice 3. The bases for a neighborhood plan

4. Neighborhood policies in Catalonia
- Historical perspective: the nineteenth-century plans for interior reform to the rehabilitation of the late 20th century
- The experience of the Catalan Neighborhood Law
- The Barcelona Neighborhood Plan

Practice 4. The objectives and actions of a neighborhood plan


C. Mobility policies (Prof. to be assigned)

1. The motivations, means, impacts and costs of mobility
- Motivations for mobility
- Modes and means of transportation
- Environmental and social impacts. Mobility costs

Practice 1. The costs of mobility.

2. The challenges of mobility:
- Urban planning and mobility
- Towards a sustainable mobility model.
- Rethink the urban model.

Practice 2. Daily mobility and people.
Departure: Terrassa urban center

3. The instruments for mobility management
- International framework.
- The Mobility Law in Catalonia.
- Mobility plans.

Practice 3. The mobility indicators.

4. Experiences in mobility
- Mobility management in a metropolitan node: the UAB Campus.

Practice 4. Participation in mobility management
Departure: UAB Mobility Table


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Field work 9 0.36
Practical sessions (PAUL) 9 0.36
Teothical and Practical lessons 9 0.36
Theoretical lessons 20 0.8
Type: Supervised      
Individual tutoring or tutoring in small groups 5 0.2
Practical exercices 20 0.8
Type: Autonomous      
Completion of the practices dossiers 35 1.4
Preparation of written assignments 20 0.8
Readings 20 0.8

The course will consist of three parts, each of which will consist of 4 theoretical sessions, 4 practicals and one evaluation session. In total, therefore, 27 sessions (12 theoretical and 12 practical and 3 evaluations). In addition, field trips are also planned.

The expected duration of the course is 12-13 weeks and will be organized around three types of work sessions:

-12 theoretical sessions (TE) of 1.50 hours each. In each of these sessions, the teacher will provide a ppt presentation and will recommend several readings related to the topic covered. The participation of students through questions and debate will be encouraged. 

-12 teorethical and practical sessions of 1,50 hour each. These sessions will combine theoretical expositions (TE) and classroom practices (PAUL).

-3 field trips (PCAM) of 3-4 hours each. These field trips will be carried out, in principle, in various locations in the metropolitan area of Barcelona. At the beginning of the course, the teacher will explain the protocol of measures and good practices for field trips.

All three sessions will involve in their set 50 hours of face-to-face activities.


The virtual Campus will be used as a means of communication between teachers and students. On the campus, the student will find the complete agenda of the subject, the presentations of the theoretical sessions, the information about practices, teaching materials and other information.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Evaluation of contents 50% 3 0.12 KM35, KM36
Field work and participation in the debates 10% 0 0 CM23, SM27, SM28
Practices in the classroom and preparation of the dossier 40% 0 0 CM23, SM27, SM28

The evaluation of the course (This subject does NOT incorporate single assessment) will consist of three elements:


a) Three partial examinations on the content of the theoretical lessons. These examinations will be done at the end of each part. They represent 50% of the final mark (25% + 25%).

b) A dossier of practices that will have to be delivered at the end of each part of the course. The dossier represents 40% of the final grade.

c) Participation in field work and classroom discussions. It will represent 10% of the final mark.

To pass the subject, the student must:

a) Have passed the exams with a minimum score of 5.

b) Have submitted the dossier of practices and have obtained an average rating of these practices of not less than 5.

c) Have regularly participated in all the activities of the course (lessons TE, PAUL and PCAM). The attendance to the theoretical lessons, the practices and the field work is mandatory. In exceptional cases of absence, the justification must be given to the teaching staff.

Ratrieve:

The final grade of the subject will be the weighted average of each of the evaluation evidences: exams (50%), practices (40%) and participation (10%). It will consist of a score between 0 and 10. To pass the course you must have obtained a total minimum score of 5.

On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

 

 


Re-evaluation:

a) Exams and practices will be retrieved in the manner and in the dates that will be indicated in due time.

b) In order to opt for retrive the exam, it is necessary to have participated, in an active way, in the evaluation tests and delivered the materials of the practices.

c) In case of retrieving the exam the maximum grade thatcan be obtained for each of the re-evaluated tests will be 5.

Non-evaluated students:

In the event that any of the requirements indicated in b) are no fulfilled the corresponding grade will be "non-evaluable". In the event that an activity is not carried out -exam, practice or field work-, the mark obtained for this activity will be 0, it will not be revaluable, and this is the grade inclouded in the weighted average.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.


Honours:

Honours will be awarded to those who obtain a mark greater than or equal to 9.5, up to 5% of those enrolled in descending order of the final grade. At the discretion of the teaching staff, they may also be granted in other cases.


Bibliography

The bibliography of each part of the course will be communicated in a timely manner.


Software

No specific software is requiered for this course. 


Language list

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(PCAM) Field practices 11 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(PCAM) Field practices 12 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed