Spatial Problems and Spatial Policies

 

Course structure

This course lasts 10 weeks, is offered twice a year, and is worth 10 EC (European Credits), which is the equivalent of approximately 280 hours of study. The course is offered in two versions: a tutorial version (for undergraduate or Bachelor's students) and a seminar version (for postgraduate or Master's students).  

Course components

The course has lectures (see course lecture information below), tutorials (for undergraduate students), seminars (for graduate students), excursions, and a concluding presentation session.  

Course timetable 

• Spring term in 2011/2012: February 6, 2012 - April 27, 2012
• Autumn term in 2012/2013: August 29, 2012 - November 9, 2012
• Spring term in 2012/2013: January 31, 2013 - April 12, 2013

 

Course lectures and excursions

The course includes lectures on "Population Dynamics", "Physical Geography", "Regional Economy", "Cities", "Rural Areas", "International Relations", "(Un)Employment and Labour Market", "Physical Planning", "Housing", "Agriculture", "Water Management", "Regional Planning", "Cultural Geography", "Transportation and Mobility", "Randstad Holland and the Green Heart", "Death and Space" and "Firms and Entrepreneurship". Most lectures will be scheduled on Monday and Wednesday afternoon.

The course includes a series of excursions, including

• a one day excursion (7 hours) (by bus) to and through the 'suburbs' of the City of Groningen and parts of the Province of Groningen (for example, the "Blue City" project) (week 1);
• a walking tour (2 hours) of the inner city of the City of Groningen;
• a bicycle tour (4 hours) 'Bicycle infrastructure in the Netherlands';
• a one day excursion (11 hours) (by bus) entitled "The Dutch Manscape: Dutch Water Management' (a tour of the 'Zuyder Zee project': land reclamations and water defense systems) (in cooperation with ESN Groningen);
• a one day excursion (14 hours, dinner included) (by bus) entitled: "The Dutch Manscape: Randstad Holland and the Green Heart' (in cooperation with ESN Groningen);
• an afternoon excursion (2 hours) (by bicycle) 'Death and space'. 

The philosophy of the course

The fundamental strengths and weaknesses of the course "Spatial Problems and Spatial Policies: The Dutch Experience", and student experiences in the course, stem from the same two intrinsic characteristics. These are first that students bring with them a wide variety of different educational cultural backgrounds and have reached different levels of attainment in varied academic skills and disciplines. This is the case with any group of students but is clearly particularly marked with students who come from different educational systems at varied stages in their educational career, and are in Groningen for different purposes and lengths of time. Secondly, foreign students are by definition unfamiliar with the City of Groningen, The Netherlands, and possibly even Europe. The resulting 'culture shock' in all its dimensions presents students with the task of rapidly eliminating a deficit in fundamental knowledge, but equally presents them with a unique opportunity to view our situation through their own perspectives and, even more important in the long run, to use the foreignness of their experience in Groningen to place their home situation in a new context, confronting hitherto unacknowledged assumptions.

The course has been constructed not merely to bypass and accommodate these characteristics as weaknesses but equally to exploit them as strengths. The comparative approach will therefore never be far from the surface in all topics handled. The Dutch case is being used not as an end in itself but as the common yardstick against which one can place own individual experiences.

There are many possible approaches to the study of planning but that adopted here is problem oriented: planning is thus seen as a problem solving operation. In part this may be dictated by the two different but related types of academic disciplines represented among contributors, and the course can roughly be divided into two parts:

1. The first half is dominated by geographers and demographers interested in describing spatial patterns and the processes that cause and influence them. From such patterns problems, whether economic, social, political or demographic, can be identified and delineated.
2. The second half of the course is given principally by contributors interested more directly in intervention, whether through influencing the public or private actors. This should be an analysis of solutions through policy.

Course requirements

The course "Spatial Problems and Spatial Policies: The Dutch Experience" is available for two groups of students: bachelor (undergraduate) students, and master (graduate) students. For exchange students originating from universities without the separation between bachelor and master programs, an assessment of their level will be made in the "Academic and social introduction week" by means of a personal intake meeting with the course coordinator. In general, students are required to have completed the equivalent of at least one full year of academic studies in Geography, Planning, Urban Studies or a related programme.

The requirements for the tutorial version of the course are:

• preparation (advance reading), attendance and participation in course lectures
• participation and attendance of tutorial meetings; the tutorials will link the various lectures and give participants options to reflect on the course contents.
• 2 papers (one "local essay" and one "supervised paper")
• excursion participation
• written examination reflecting the lectures and the accompanying reading materials

The requirements for the seminar version of the course are:

• preparation (advance reading), attendance and participation in course lectures
• participation and attendance of seminar meetings; the seminars require active participation. In each seminar, participants present and discuss paper intentions, outlines or findings.
• excursion participation
• 3 papers (one "local paper", one 'comparative planning' paper, one "supervised paper" free of choice)  

Course grading

For the tutorial version, the end mark is a composite mark reflecting the written exam (50% of end mark), the supervised paper (30% of end mark) and the local paper (20% of the end mark). A participation mark can enter the end mark as well.

For the seminar version, the end mark is a composite mark reflecting the marks on the three papers (20%, 25%, 30%) as well as seminar participation (25%). 

Grades are expressed in terms of the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS).  

Course fee

The fee for this course is 105 Euro per participant (2012/2013). This fee covers the costs of the bus excursions (including dinners) and course materials. There are no additional fees for books or excursions.    

More information

Paul van Steen, p.j.m.van.steen@rug.nl