All Food Systems Courses
Public Speaking, Communication, and Influence for Planners
New
Planners regularly present complex information to decision-makers, community members and project teams, yet many early-career planners receive little training in how to communicate ideas clearly, persuasively and confidently. This course helps planners strengthen their professional voice by developing skills in storytelling, public speaking and persuasive communication.
Own Your Worth: Salary Negotiation & Strategic Career Growth for Planners
New
This course equips new planners with practical strategies to navigate compensation conversations, build a professional portfolio, and plan their long-term career growth.
The First Five Years: A Practical Land Use Toolbox for New Planners
This practical course offers an essential "land use toolbox" for early-career planners working in both the public and private sectors that outlines how core planning processes, from permits and development reviews to public meetings and everyday counter interactions, actually work in practice.
US Disability Access Laws for Planners
Explore the key disability rights laws that shape planners' work — including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Architectural Barriers Act, the Fair Housing Act and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 — to understand their core provisions.
Zoning Code Reform: Legal and Practical Considerations When Making “Quick Fixes” to Your Zoning Code
This course helps both public and private sector planners update and streamline their Zoning Code Standards of Review using legally sound best planning practices.
Federal Takings Law: Balancing Private Property Rights With the Public Interest, Part II
This course explores how the U.S. Constitution and federal takings law influence local planning, helping planners understand property rights, key court decisions, and strategies for advancing the public interest while remaining legally compliant.
Federal Takings Law: Balancing Private Property Rights with the Public Interest
This course explores how the U.S. Constitution and federal takings law shape local planning, helping planners understand property rights, recognize legal risks, and advance the public interest within constitutional limits.
U.S. Housing Policy: What Every Planner Needs to Know
Planners play an essential role in understanding and addressing the regulatory, social, and economic barriers to affordable housing. This course offers an overview of U.S. housing policy from its historical roots to modern challenges and solutions.
Roadways for People, Part 1
Using Portland's I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project as a central case study, Lynn Peterson and co-instructor Elizabeth Doerr explore why and how we need a more inclusive, people-centered transportation planning process.
Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix it
Nolan Gray presents the complex history of zoning regulation, showing how major legislative decisions led to the country's current state of car reliance, sprawl, and inequity. Now, zoning reform is in the air. But why stop at mere reform?
Building Bad, Part 1: How Architectural Utility is Constrained by Politics
Discover the theory of “Building Bad”: an examination of the costs and benefits that can limit the functionality of buildings in exchange for profits.
Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design
This course discusses crime as an environmental justice issue and reviews techniques that successfully reduce crime and make communities safer and healthier through Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) theory.
Lighting Regulations and Dark Sky Places
Learn best practices for crafting lighting regulations and dark sky designations that protect night skies and improve environmental and public health.
Prospects for Zoning Reform
Catch up on the contemporary policy debates about zoning reform in the United States by learning from one of the nation’s leading voices on the subject, Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Jenny Schuetz.
Right-Sizing Zoning for Better Outcomes
Using elements of the built environment that contribute to a community’s unique sense of place and examples from across the United States, this course explores how to realign zoning with the goals and policies adopted in community plans.
Controlling Rents
This course introduces planners to the debate surrounding rent control, discussing both what rent control is able to accomplish, and where it often has unintended consequences.
A Brief History of Immigration and Planning
This course discusses the relationship among immigration, space, and planning, providing an overview of key figures, dates, and events related to immigration policies and practices in this country.
Race, Space, and Planning
This course discusses the relationship among race, space and planning, providing an overview of key dates and events relating to systemic racism in the United States.
Planning for Racial Equity
This course introduces the concept of racial equity analysis in land use planning, the motives and rationales behind such analyses, and provides guidance for conducting analysis and review.
Resilience Planning for Wildfires
This course explores the history of wildfire management, the factors that increase the threat of wildfires, and how communities can incorporate resilience thinking to plan for wildfires.