Netherlands: Policy and Planning

Spring 2009

Updated September 24, 2008Professor:John I. GilderbloomSchool of Urban and Public AffairsCollege of Arts and SciencesUniversity of LouisvillePhone: 852-8557E-mail preference: and University:

This course outline will be posted and updated on my website: http://www.louisville.edu/org/sun

Graduate Research Assistants: Matt Hanka, Phone (502) 852-8258/ 296-7759 or

Class Meetings: Will meet mostly every other Friday from 3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. (9 sessions) and another 10 sessions in the Netherlands. Given the unique nature of this class we are trying to go above and beyond what is typically demanded of a graduate course, meeting 20 times instead of the typical14 meetings. We will meet at the School of Urban and Public Affairs, Standard Oil Building, 426 W. Bloom Street, Room 117.

Official Website: http://www.colabr8.com/netherlands
This site will be used to post presentations on books, your class presentation, photographs and discussion of the class.
Office Hours: Thursdays 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. & Saturdays noon to 1:00 p.m. (Call on Saturdays at 608-7567 because we might be on a walking tour) or by appointment.

European Phone Number: My phone number while in Europe March 12 to 22 is 06-55121154 from Holland if from the U.S. you have to dial 011-31 06-55121154

Course Description and Learning Objectives:

In the Spring of 2009, the University of Louisville will present a unique special topics course, “Netherlands: Policy and Planning” This will include a seven day trip to the Netherlands during Spring break from March 14 to March 21.

Amsterdam is known as the “Venice of the North.” Progressives have called Amsterdam an ideal city when measured by the standard of social justice. Holland has what many call a “radical,” “progressive,” “unique” and for some a “sinful” approach to housing, drug laws, transportation, prostitution, crime, brown fields, and urban design. The Netherlands has turned our American urban policy and planning programs upside down and found innovative ways to solve social problems. Many American visitors who come to Holland come away shocked, amazed, impressed and changed forever. Holland is controversial. Indeed, Amsterdam is a laboratory of innovation that provides a national model for the rest of the world. It’s a place where we can honor their successes and learn from their errors in urban policy and planning. Without a doubt, Holland is also the home of world class architecture that is envied around the world. Even the urban landscape of Louisville will soon be dominated by a signature Dutch-designed building on Main Street that will rival the Humana building.

Netherlands: Policy and Planning will examine will examine the “Dutch Model” from a variety of viewpoints: sociological, economical, political, historical, design and planning perspectives. This is a graduate seminar with lots of reading, discussion, debate and experiential learning. This class is unique and different from what many of the classes you have taken here since you will learn planning and policy via: boat, train, bus, bike and walking. It is an experiential approach to teaching. The class will have a number of guest lectures, walking tours, and slide presentations; learning is also designed to be “experiential,” which means seeing, smelling, feeling and interacting with residents, developers and designers. Past student evaluations have given high marks for these out of classroom pedagogical experience. The course will be run as a seminar, so class discussion will be encouraged. As the instructor, I reserve the right to make changes in the organization of the course; this allows the class to be flexible and responsive to the needs of the students and the professors.

Financial Considerations:
All financial expenses related to this class trip are the responsibility of the student. No guarantees of funding assistance from the University can be made. Student fundraising efforts are strongly suggested to offset the cost of speakers, tours, and other academic trip events. Trip Costs: Estimate Range: $1,400 to $1,800 (All prices below are in USD)
Airfare: $500-700 for tickets bought 4-6 six months in advance, $700+ for tickets closer to trip

Hotel: A Single small room at Apple Inn Hotel will run $550-650 for the trip based on current exchange rates, and the number of nights reserved. Doubles or larger rooms will be additional fees. Hotel
charges must be paid in cash upon arrival.

Meals: Complimentary breakfast is provided at the hotel, along with sandwich staples for a packed lunch if students choose to do so. Depending on where students choose to eat, $40-50 per day for meals is
appropriate $350-400 over the length of the trip. We have had several students eating big breakfast, prepare a brown bad lunch and buy food at the local grocery store for around $10 a day.

Tours: Student fundraising is strongly encouraged to help meet the cost of all academic tours, train rides, public transportation, boat tours, bike rides, and walking tours. These transportation costs and speaking
eventsare $250 per student. In the past, students, conduct fund raising events like dinners,comedy caravan, apply for graduate school and department funding that in the past have covered these costs and
sometimes even more.In the past, students have been able to get $500 for travel costs from UofL programs.
So the total minimum cost is about $1,550 to 1,950 depending on how lucky they are to organize fundraisers and plying money from UofL sources. If you are planning to eat well, buy trinkets, books and art
figure another $200 or so.


Teaching Outside: Another kind ofPedagogy

"Travel broadens your horizons and your visualization of what's possible," he said last year in Portico, a University of Michigan magazine. "A picture never ever does what being in a place can do. It provides a feel for history, how architecture evolved, the potential of architecture, and is a source of innumerable ideas." John Bikel, Architect

“To Travel is to live!" Hans Christian Andersen

“Exploration encourages creativity, serendipity, invention… Go without purpose. Go for the going. Get out now. Not just outside but beyond the trap of the programmed electronic age so gently closing around so many people at the end of the century. Escape from the trap of the electronic medium and see it for yourself with your eyes.” John Stilgoe, Harvard

“Hearing something 100 times is still never as good as seeing it once.” – Confucius

“Experiential learning allows us to see up close; touch, smell and observe it provides the foundation for experiencing awe, disgust, exhilaration, and inspiration JG

“Amsterdam is the great liberal experiment in Europe. No part of the city announces that liberalism as boldly as the red light district, where in the Oudekerkrsplein—there coexists the Old Church (possibly the oldest building in Amsterdam, believed to be consecrated by the Bishop of Utrecht in 1306), all the prostitutes in their doorways and windows, and a kindergarten. What other city in the world would believe in the hopeful coexistence of religion, prostitution and early childhood education?…But it is both brave and original of the Dutch to celebrate human differences.” John Irving November 2005

Grading

The four areas below are of equal weight and will be averaged out with a letter grade assigned to each area. The assignments will each be assigned a letter grade and a weighted average (using the weights listed above) will be used to calculate a final grade. The letter grades will be translated into numerical equivalents for the purposes of calculating the final grade: A+ = 4.3, A = 4.0, A– = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, B = 3.0, B– = 2.7, etc. These grades will be consolidated and averaged for a final letter grade:

1.  CLASS PARTICIPATION (25%) Since the course is designed as a seminar, it is expected that students come prepared to discuss the assigned readings of the week and if possible introduce relevant current events into class discussion. Each student will also be responsible for presenting an assigned reading that summarizes the main points and stimulates a discussion. We want you to come to all classes. All classes are interesting, important and thought provoking. If you are sick, have a family emergency, a boss that is making you work on Friday afternoon its OK to miss one session. Your letter grade will be based averaged out based on your (1) Attendance and ACTIVE PARTICIPATION (questions, comments, etc…) (2) Assigned Readings Presentation (a letter grade will be issued based on the quality of your presentation)

2.  MIDTERM (25%)—turn in first half of experiential journal Experiential Learning Journal: Reflections on what you saw, reactions,and analysis of field trips, class presentations and assigned readings. Throughout the class I will pose questions for you to answer in your journals. Students have found these journals to be exciting, creative, fun and challenging. It must be typed. We encourage students to use their cameras as part of this journal. This journal is due on March 30—one week after you get home from Holland. I guarantee you will keep this journal for the rest of your life.

3.  PROJECT (25%)—the project must focus on the Netherlands: Policy and Planning. Ideally it could be a comparative study or case study of policy or planning in the Netherlands. You can compare Dutch planning and policy to Louisville, Kentucky or the United States. This paper should be 15 to 25 pages in length with references. As part of this paper, we expect a professional class presentation that uses power-point or other audio visual aids. This presentation will be public with fellow faculty and students invited to attend. The project may either be an individual or two-student effort. Students must turn in a one-page proposal to the instructor by February 3 and you will have my approval by February 17. Your grade will be based on the quality of your presentation (50%) and the quality of your paper (50%), with a letter grade reflecting both components. The presentations are done on April 13.

4.  FINAL (25%)—I will pose several questions for you to answer related to your readings, student presentations and lectures. It will be a take home exam.

The following books and reports are required reading:
1. Beatley, Timothy.1999. Green Urbanism: Learning from Europe. Washington D.C.: Island Press.
2. Buruma, Ian. 2006. Murder in Amsterdam. New York: Penguin Press.
3. Deben, Leon and Heinemememjier, Willem, Editors. 2001. Understanding Amsterdam: Essays in Economic Vitality, City Life, and Urban Form. Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis.
4. Koekebekkerm, Olof. 2004. Westergasfabriek Culture Park:
Transformation of a Former Industrial Site in Amsterdam. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers.
5. Stilgoe, John R. 1999. Outside Lies the Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places. New York: Walker and Co.
6. Netherlands: Policy and Planning Reader * a compilation of assorted articles about the Netherlands. The professor makes not profit on this book of readings which are being readied as a edited volume.
If Idid make a return on this book or any of the five books. I would return the money made to each student in the class.I do not have students read my books so that I make money! Never have, never will.
So I don*t have a conflict of interest.

The following books and reports are recommended reading:

1 Lonely Planet Amsterdam by Andrew Bender (this book provides a good history of Amsterdam, social policy; self guided walking tours, architecture, transportation and planning. It is also a good guide to tourist guide of restaurants and do’s and dont’s. There are other tourist books as well and its fun to swap differences in terms of what is good and bad in terms of restaurants and so on

2- Architectural Map by KAART (this might be hard to find in the U.S. but we can pick it up in Amsterdam)

3 -Amsterdam Human Capital by Willem Salet and Sako Musterd

4 -One Hundred years of Public Land Leasing in the Netherlands by Barrie Needham

5 - in Leasing Public Land: Policy Debates and International Experiences edited by Steven Bourassa and Yu-Hung Hong; Cambridge, MA Lincoln Land Institute

6 -“European Housing in the Postwar Period: Some Lessons for the U.S from Rethinking Rental Housing by John Gilderbloom and Richard Appelbaum, 1988 (Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press).

7 -Writing Journal

8 -Outside Lies the Magic: Regaining History and Awareness in Everyday Places by John R. Stilgoe ( New York, New York: Walker and company

Suggested Movies:
Globe Trekker: Netherlands (available via Netflix), this gives an overview of Amsterdam’s unique policies on art, squatters, movement, transportation, historic preservation drugs, and prostitution,
Sex, Drugs and Democracy This is an excellent unrated documentary (nudity and drugs are shown) of social policy in Holland from legalized soft drugs like pot and hash, legalized prostitution, and the right to die. Also featured in this film is a member of my large Dutch family, Hanake Gelderblom (that is how my name was originally spelled in the Netherlands)
Green Plans and the Netherlands

Netherlands: City on the Water

Course Outline:

Sessions One & Two:
Two Planning meetings will take place prior to the start of the class to ensure U of L required travel forms are distributed and collected in a timely manner, as well as information about international travel
requirements and trip fund-raising efforts.