SCARP YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW
Overview Prepared for Director Search
January 2006
Tony Dorcey
SCARP Director
This brief
overview is designed to provide basic background information for members of the
Search Committee for a new Director of the School. It is anticipated that it
would also be useful to applicants for the position in preparing a presentation
on their vision for the Directorship and the School. This draft has been
produced by editing and updating the statement that was used in the most recent
accreditation reviews. It includes how the School has responded to
recommendations from the site visit team reports and concludes by suggesting
the opportunities and challenges in prospect. Reports from the reviews by the
U.S. Planning Accreditation Board (2004) and the Canadian Institute of
Planners/ Planning Institute of B.C. (2005) are available at http://www.scarp.ubc.ca
SCARP's
Vision
Sustainability
through democratization of planning.
SCARP's
Mission
To advance
the transition to sustainability through excellence in integrated policy and
planning research, professional education and community service.
SCARP's Goal
To be the
premier professional planning school in North America focusing on the
challenges of implementing sustainability.
The SchoolÕs
program is shaped by five critical long-range goals, which we see as the major
challenges confronting both students and professional practitioners. These
program challenges are shaped by our belief that the most effective planners
are a rare breed of inspired visionaries, whose vision is tempered by sensitive
flexibility and respect for practical reality.
Our primary pedagogical and practical goal is to give
effective meaning to the concept of ecologically sustainable social and
economic development and to explore local and global paths toward achieving it.
We approach this challenge through practiced interdisciplinarity. The
integration of our teaching, research, and practice is oriented to providing
professional planners with the knowledge and skills required to ensure the
viability of our communities and regions in a rapidly evolving world. Adapting
to global ecological change, economic rationalization and cultural diversity
requires a new generation of planners who are dedicated both to understanding
the issues and acting to resolve them in a wide variety of public and private
settings.
Our second challenge is to bring new understanding to
the interdependencies among the many variables that affect the design and
planning of the built environment, the development and use of natural capital,
and the creation of wealth generally. Professional planning must better reflect
both the biophysical stage upon which we mount our socioeconomic play and the
lead roles performed by cultural values and aesthetics in meeting the needs of
the human spirit. To meet this challenge, planners must acquire a sense of
confident familiarity with diverse forms and sources of knowledge and develop
the facility to use that knowledge in integrated development planning.
The
third goal of our program is to advance societyÕs capacity for strategic
thought and action. What institutional arrangements can best assimilate new
knowledge and implement responsive policies and plans? In an era of
deregulation and privatization, what new tools for governance are needed to
protect the public interest and enhance the common-pool assets upon which we
all depend? Answering such questions requires planners skilled at identifying
feasible options, structuring decision processes, and identifying the
inevitable trade-offs and long-term consequences inherent in all significant
public policy choices.
The
fourth challenge facing the School is to increase the effectiveness of our
professional graduates in working with diverse interests at the local level, in
the communities and regions where people live and work. It is at this scale
that planning most directly affects the conditions of everyday life, whether
through urban design, community economic development, or natural resource
enhancement.
Our
fifth challenge is to help our graduates to maintain professional standards in
all circumstances. This requires
several kinds of technical competence and personal skills: technical knowledge;
analytic skills; communications ability; participatory leadership;
sensitivity to others in complex organizational settings; a solid
grasp of professional ethics; sound professional judgement; and a sense of
responsibility.
We believe that
meeting these challenges requires life-long learning rooted in personal
commitment and nourished by superior graduate education. Providing much of this
nourishment is the immediate role and responsibility of the School.
SCARPÕs
CURRENT DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN SUMMARY
The SchoolÕs
Doctoral Program is primarily a research degree. Doctoral students work under the guidance of a Supervisory
Committee consisting of at least four faculty members, at least two of whom are
from SCARP including the Research Supervisor. Students must satisfactorily complete
course work, two comprehensive examinations (theory and substantive), a
research prospectus, a two-year residency, and write and defend a Ph.D. thesis
to qualify for the UBC doctoral degree. Typical programs run 4-5 years.
Students
typically take 15-24 credits of work in the first two academic years including
the following required courses:
The student
selects other appropriate courses in consultation with his/her Supervisory
Committee.
The Program has
been refined in its details in recent years and full information is now
available at http://www.scarp.ubc.ca/phddescrip.htm
'98/'99 '99/'00 '00/'01 '01/'02 '02/'03 '03/'04 Ô04/Õ05 Ô05/06
New enrollment 0 5 0 0 3 6 5 4
Later Withdrew (3) (2)
Graduated 4 5 3 0 0 0 2 1(
through Jan)
The School's
Masters Degree requires the completion of 60 credits of coursework including a
12-credit Thesis or a 6-credit Professional Project.
All students are
required to take the following (Core Courses):
¤
Introduction
to Planning Theory and History (3 credits)
¤
Legal
Context of Planning (3)
¤
Planning
Research: Quantitative Methods and Computer Applications (3)
¤
Planning Research:
Qualitative Methods and Research Design (3)
¤
Omnibus:
Planning for Sustainability (3)
¤
Masters
Professional Project (6) or Masters Thesis (12)
All
students are required to select at least one 3-credit course from 4 of 5 areas
of concentration and from a list of eligible courses provided each year
(Distribution Requirements):
¤
Planning
process and methods
¤
Environment
and natural resources
¤
International
development
¤
Urban
policy and community development
¤
Urban
design
In
addition students may elect up to a maximum of:
¤
6 credits
of Directed Studies
¤
3 credits
of Internship
¤
12 credits
from outside of the School
Full information
on current course offerings and syllabi is available at
http://www.scarp.ubc.ca/courses/courses.htm
'98/'99 '99/'00 '00/'01 '01/'02 '02/'03 '03/'04
Ô04/Õ05
Applied 123 160 121 119 144 218 188
Enrolled 25 29 33 30 36 32 33
Registered 101 103 111 112 119 121 131
Graduated 27 29 25 29 30 23 47
Completions
(no./median months)
Thesis option 27/32 29/40 22/38 17/37 20/31 14/36 28/36
Project option NA NA 3/39 12/27 10/24 9/24 19/26
Budget
from UBC ($) 951K 938K 736K 904K 932K 1031K 1086K
MAJOR
TRANSITIONS SINCE 1999
In
the seven years since the current Director took office SCARP has received
outstanding support from the University and has enhanced its masters program by
major changes including:
Faculty
renewal and expansion:
¤
6 new
continuing faculty members have joined the School, while 2 retired and 1
resigned; there presently are 13 continuing members.
¤
3 of the
new appointments are funded by newly endowed chairs.
¤
2 of the
five new appointees are women.
¤
8 of 14
Adjunct Professors are newly appointed practitioners currently teaching in the
masters program.
Masters
curriculum reforms:
¤
Core
requirements expanded by three additional courses: (i) Planning for
Sustainability, (ii) Planning Research - Quantitative; and (iii) Planning
Research - Qualitative.
¤
Registration
by stream and required courses within streams eliminated.
¤
Distribution
requirements added: At least 1 course from each of 4 areas.
¤
Professional
Project option added as alternative to Thesis.
¤
Each
supervising faculty member offers an advising seminar to support his/her
second-year students in undertaking their Professional Projects or Theses.
¤
Significant
further additions and revisions have been made each year to course offerings
(e.g. in 2003-Ô4 there were 15 new or significantly revised courses since
2002-Ô3).
¤
Draft
Guidelines for 7 Areas of Concentration were developed and introduced in 2005.
New
space and equipment:
¤
The Urban
Design Lab in Lasserre and the classroom, lab, library, and office space in the
West Mall Annex (WMA) have been expanded and renovated.
¤
The Centre
for Human Settlements (CHS) has been relocated to the WMA bringing all the
faculty, staff and students together in two close-by buildings.
¤
New
computing hardware and software has been installed as part of the renovations
and four new specialized computer labs have been established: Urban Design, Cosmopolis
Participatory Planning, Bombardier Transportation Planning, CRC Urban
Sustainability and Disaster Planning.
Governance
reforms
¤
Faculty,
staff and students now work together in the governance of the School.
¤
A School
Management Committee (including all faculty, Administrator of School and
Administrator of CHS, 1 research staff rep., 3 masters and 1 doctoral student
reps) meets each month to address the breadth of governance issues; meetings
limited to faculty are held only as necessary to address promotion and tenure
decisions and issues relating to individual students or staff.
¤
Students
participate in all committees and task forces, including those established for
hiring, admissions, and consideration of program changes (e.g. introduction of
Professional Project; course evaluation forms; planning methods curriculum
etc); exception is Promotion and Tenure committees.
¤
The
Planning Students Association (PSA) meets bi-weekly during term-time and the
Director of the School has been invited to attend all sessions except when
there is a desire for a students-only discussion.
¤
Two
Associate Director positions were established one with responsibility for the
PhD Program (Leonie Sandercock) and the other for the Masters Program (not yet
filled).
Research
expansion and achievements
¤
Individually
and in groups SCARP faculty continue to advance and expand diverse research
agendas, and their great success is recognized in new funding and other ways
(e.g. it is remarkable that four of the SCARP faculty are presently members of
the Editorial Boards for North Americas two foremost planning journals: Journal
of American Planning Association (2), Journal of Planning Education and
Research (2).
¤
Researchers
associated with CHS brought to conclusion major programs of capacity building
and research, focusing in particular on community-based planning and poverty
reduction and including large projects in Vietnam and Brazil, that are
attracting further funding for advancing their findings. Other new funding
obtained recently (e.g. the SSHRC funding for the EMERGENCE and CHILD projects
and varied projects associated with the Transportation and Disaster Research
Laboratories), is diversifying the research and providing present and future
students with new learning opportunities, as elaborated further below.
Enhanced
collaboration with profession
¤
Each year a
SCARP student is elected to serve on the Council of the Planning Institute of
B.C. (PIBC) providing for continuing liaison between the School and Institute.
¤
PIBC and
SCARP have each created a fellowship to support two students presenting papers
at the annual PIBC Conference.
¤
Each
September the PIBC Council holds its meeting at SCARP and this is combined with
an evening open house for practitioners and students to meet and explore opportunities
for collaboration including mentoring and internships.
¤
Currently 8
members of the PIBC/CIP are appointed as SCARP Adjunct Faculty and are teaching
courses in the School and numerous others contribute guest lectures; three
faculty are presently members of PIBC/CIP; one faculty and 2 adjuncts are
members of AICP.
¤
The SCARP
Director has been a member of the PIBC Education Committee for the last seven
years, assisting in the development of the proposal for a Continuing
Professional Development requirement adopted in 2003 and offering a new
intensive course for experienced planning practitioners wishing to complete the
requirements for membership in the Institute.
¤
Each year
the School offers two or three community-based courses working with local practitioners
and community members (e.g. Squamish and Nanaimo presently).
¤
PlanTalk
was introduced four years ago and is a downtown seminar series on topical
planning issues organized by recent SCARP alumni and present students to foster
discussion among practitioners, students and faculty.
¤
SCARP
students are developing the Planners for Tomorrow initiative as input to the
World Planners Congress and World Urban Forum in June 2006.
DISTINCTIVE
PROGRAM: SUSTAINABILITY & DEMOCRATIZATION
SCARP
has a distinctive masters degree program focused on sustainability through the
democratization of planning. While fully meeting the accreditation requirements
of the U.S. Planning Accreditation Board and the Canadian Institute of
Planners, the SCARP program is further distinguished by its emphasis on (i)
integration, (ii) diversity, and (iii) learning-by-doing.
Integration
SCARP
has long emphasized an integrated approach to planning and since the early
1990s this has been explicitly recognized in the focus on sustainability planning
in all of its interrelated environmental, economic and social dimensions.
Consistent with this individual SCARP courses are highly interdisciplinary and
characterized, in varying ways and degrees, by integration across essential
component learning objectives of the planning curriculum, including:
¤
Theory and
practice
¤
Process and
substance
¤
Substantive
fields
¤
Methods:
quantitative and qualitative, including design
¤
People,
communication and group skills
Diversity
Within
the overall focus on sustainability planning and democratization the SCARP
program is greatly enriched by a diversity of perspectives and capacities among
its faculty, students and staff. Differing and evolving views on what
constitutes sustainability planning and the role of democratization in its
pursuit create healthy tensions and stimulate debate (e.g. see statements by
faculty members linked from their bios http://www.scarp.ubc.ca/fullfac.htm
). Three critical dimensions of the program's diversity are:
¤
Faculty: the regular and adjunct faculty bring
to the program an exceptional diversity of backgrounds, education, research and
professional practice experience that is highly interdisciplinary; span the
breadth of environmental, economic and social dimensions of sustainability
planning; and who are actively engaged from the local to the international
level, in both developed and developing countries.
¤
Students: the School admits students from the
complete spectrum of undergraduate fields and most entrants have had rich work
experience both at home and abroad before pursuing graduate studies in planning
(reflected in an average entry-age of 26-28) and the program attracts
applications from across Canada and around the world; a major strength of
SCARP's program is the immense learning that results from the diverse
contributions of its students and the vibrant community they build and foster.
¤
Alumni: SCARP's masters graduates pursue
planning careers in an increasingly diverse array of jobs in government,
business, civil society and educational organizations from the local to the
international level; while initial employment is often related to the focus of
their SCARP studies and may well develop from connections made while conducting
internships and research, alumni tend to move quickly both up the hierarchy
with experience and laterally into new substantive areas as they learn on the
job.
Learning-by-doing
SCARP's masters
program is strongly influenced by a belief that learning-by-doing is critically
important in both planning education and practice. It is fundamental to
progressive and reflective practice. Within the masters program increasing
efforts have been made in recent years to enhance learning by more closely
integrating teaching, research, capacity building, professional practice and
service activities. CHS provides leadership and facilitates initiatives by
bringing together faculty, students, staff and diverse other collaborators to
obtain external funding and carry out projects across the breadth of the
School's interests and capabilities in sustainability planning and
democratization. Over the last few years the School has shaped and capitalized
on learning opportunities around faculty and student activities from the local
to the international level, working with communities and stakeholders on every
continent, and integrating these into the masters program (e.g. from University
Town and South East False Creek locally to San Paulo in Brazil and numerous
communities in Vietnam). In undertaking these activities the School delivers on
its belief that students should be of service to the community and model global
citizenship as they learn:
¤
Courses: Most courses incorporate problem-based
learning; assignments, both individual and group, that involve defining
planning problems and seeking solutions, often involve stakeholders, in real
situations with clients, and give experience in meeting the challenges of
progressive planning practice (including pro and cons of top-down, bottom-up); learning-by-doing
is integrated into coursework as opposed to not only in special workshops.
¤
Internships: About two-thirds of students elect to
take an Internship, with opportunities being taken-up around the world, and are
encouraged to design these as a way into exploring and shaping Project or
Thesis research topics and potential employment.
¤
Professional
Projects and Theses: All
Professional Projects and Theses contain a significant element of
learning-by-doing; often topics are related to the research, capacity building,
professional practice and service activities of faculty; the Professional
Project requires identification of a real or explicitly assumed client; and
many Theses involve case studies that involve some degree of participatory
research activity.
MAJOR
TRANSITIONS UNDERWAY
The
arrival of four new faculty members during the last three years and the new
research resources and capacities associated with each of them, enable the
School to enhance its Masters Program in major ways that will increasingly come
into operation through additional courses and research opportunities,
including:
¤
Substantive: land use, transportation, design,
disaster management.
¤
Methodological: quantitative, computer based, design
¤
Skills: ICTs
CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES AHEAD
Since
the present Director was appointed in 1999 the School has undergone a major
transition, one that is continuing. Unprecedented support from the University
for restoring and enhancing the School's faculty and facilities and the new
external resources that this has helped to attract have drawn attention to
SCARP both on and off campus. At UBC it is seen as a unit exemplifying the
pursuit of the University's TREK 2010 vision. Among planning academics and
practitioners it is increasingly acknowledged as one of the premier planning
schools in North America focusing on the implementation of sustainability
planning. Looking ahead the School faces a number of challenges and
opportunities as it seeks to capitalize on all that it has built in recent times:
¤
Uncertain
external environment:
While the recent adoption of TREK 2010 positions the School to make even
stronger contributions to UBC in the upcoming years, major changes among the
senior administrators of the University introduce uncertainty as to whether the
strategic directions will shift Ð notably a new Provost and a new Vice
President Research took office last year and at the end of this year the
President and the Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies are stepping down. In addition the change in the Federal
Government creates uncertainties about the extent to which the unprecedented
plans for expanding funds for cities and universities will be implemented. To
the extent the emphases in the UBC and Federal Government agendas continue the
School is exceptionally well positioned to capitalize on them.
¤
Faculty
renewal and development:
In coming years with the expected high rates of retirement everywhere it has to
be anticipated that there will be increasing competition both to retain and
hire new faculty. SCARP has one
faculty member reaching 65 in each of the next four years and then a gap of
three years before again having one person reach 65 in each of the following
four years. While it is widely
expected that the current policy of compulsory retirement at 65 will be
eliminated it is unclear what policies will replace it. At the very least the SchoolÕs
strategizing with regard to succession planning is going to become more complex
and likely uncertain. However, based on recent experience the School can do a
great deal to meet the increasingly competitive challenges in the market for
new hires by continuing to build a strong community of faculty, staff and
students and program of activities that encourages faculty to stay and new
people to come. It can also continue to seek endowment funding for faculty
positions so as to enhance its control over future hiring options.
¤
Program
development: The
School's program has been developing steadily throughout recent years
incorporating new ideas about curriculum and pedagogy, expanding the teaching
program with new faculty expertise, and taking up opportunities for new
research initiatives as they arise.
The revisions in the masters degree curriculum made this year have
enabled recommendations from the accreditation reviews to be considered and
responded to. With a new Director
taking over, the recently appointed new faculty members now having had time to
become familiar with the School, and the significant uncertainties ahead about
opportunities and challenges, it will be an appropriate in the coming year to
reassess SCARPÕs Vision, Mission, Goal and Program and future development
priorities.
¤
Student
support: Rapidly
increasing fees in the last couple of years have heightened the need for
greater financial support for students. The immediate challenge for the School
is to ensure that it supports its students in submitting strong applications to
the continuing (e.g., SSHRC and University Graduate Fellowships) and the
significant array of newly emerging opportunities (e.g. masters fellowships
from SSHRC). At the same time faculty members need to capitalize on the
expanding opportunities to support students from grant and contract funding
that are increasingly becoming available (e.g. through the expanding and liberalizing
conditions for SSHRC research funding). This issue was the focus of a SCARP
task force a couple of years ago and is a challenge to be given continuing
priority.
¤
Administrative
budgets: Funds provided
through university budgets for the office staff and expenses associated with
the teaching program are relatively small, declining in real terms and the
likelihood of significant increases in coming years is not good. The major
opportunity for meeting a continuing short-fall is to increase the funding
brought into the School through grants and contracts.
¤
Professional
development: There is a
growing demand for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) as practitioners
see the need for additional and new knowledge and skills. This has been
heightened in B.C. as a result of the Planning Institute of B.C. adopting two
years ago requirements for its members to meet CPD requirements on an annual
basis. The challenge for the School is to identify its comparative advantage in
meeting these demands. More fundamentally consideration needs to be given to
the design and content of a 2-year masters program when it is conceived as the
foundation for a career-long process of CPD and possibly one component of joint
degrees. These are questions to be incorporated into the Program Development
task.
Given the
potentials the School has built since 1999 and the further advancements in
process, SCARP is uniquely well-placed to pursue its Vision and Goal and to
exploit the opportunities in prospect, including not only diverse new funding
but also events such as the World Urban Forum in Vancouver in 2006, UBC's
Centenary in 2008, and the Winter Olympics in 2010.