Regardless of the course, I teach through an interdisciplinary and comparative lens, drawing heavily from my scholarship on food systems, international planning and evaluation. I apply adult education theories that encourage a move away from traditional lectures through active learning strategies to support multiple learning styles. In each of my courses, students first learn about the history and theories behind the course topic and analyze seminal readings through student-led discussions, structured debates or conversation with peers, groups, and the wider class. I then try to incorporate experience through local partnerships that offer real-world problem solving projects (e.g., Michigan Association of Planners, Washtenaw Food Policy Council); practice-based case studies; hypothetical proposals students develop to address current planning problems; “practitioner profile” interviews students complete with planners and food system activists; or videos, speakers and field trips that bring issues to life. 

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URP 427/527 Foundations of Sustainable Food Systems

I teach this course every fall with two other Sustainable Food Systems Cluster Hires (Andy Jones and Jennifer Blesh). Students enroll in different sections – focused on agro-ecological /environmental, nutrition/public health, and urban planning/policy – to learn the perspectives, theories and values implicit in their disciplinary perspectives. We then teach students to bridge fields and paradigms to holistically address food systems problems. Our pedagogy applies systems thinking and integrates theory and practice through experiential learning and dialogue-based inquiry, such as a final project where students are grouped across fields as well as paired and group discussions, concept mapping exercises, games, case studies, field trips, speakers, video clips and more. 

URP 589: Food Systems Planning

Although I have not taught this course in a number of years, the intention behind the course is to expose students to the inherent complexities of food systems, to unsettle their assumptions about common discourses, and introduce them to socio- politically attuned strategies for analyzing and facilitating more effective food system change. I also expect students to walk away with the analytical skills to understand and tackle other equally complex public problems. The heart of this seminar is a dialogical approach, where I create a space for students from diverse ethnic and class backgrounds to have frank discussions, often about controversial or deeply personal topics. We examine historical and contemporary trends in food systems from environmental, social justice, health and economic perspectives along with emerging innovations, ongoing debates and key challenges for changing policy and practice.

URP 507: Fundamentals of Planning Practice

I taught URP 507 in 2013, 2014, and 2019. My aim with this course is to equip students with rapid appraisal techniques useful for planning practitioners. I focus on basic qualitative methods, other information-gathering techniques, and public engagement tools. The main assignment requires students to develop, implement, analyze and communicate their findings via a survey, interviews/focus groups, structured observations and other methods. We also cover other topics, such as ethics, that are key to planning practice. 

URP 570: Global and Comparative Planning

I aim to expose students in this course to the ethical, logistical, economic, and cultural challenges that planners face in low-income country settings, as well as effective strategies and innovations they can apply.The first part of the course dissects the geopolitics and history that introduced the term “developing” and explains how the concept affects urban planning scholarship and practice. The second part examines the major stakeholders that influence development planning, including global corporations, donors, national governments, non-governmental agencies, and social movements. The remainder of the course centers on key issues cities face (e.g., rapid urbanization; extreme inequality; migration; informal economies; urban insecurity; climate change) and interventions that have been attempted in public space, transportation, housing, health, food systems, service provision, disaster preparedness, and economic development. To bring these issues to life, I incorporate video clips, bring in speakers when possible, and create place-based class assignments. Students must also grapple with complex scenarios through case study exercises partners and I developed through the International Case Study Project. 

URP 524: Program Evaluation for Urban Planning

This course emphasizes qualitative approaches and practical strategies for incorporating evaluation into planners’ daily decision-making under budget, time, data, and political constraints. I cover evaluation history, theories, limitations, methods, and ethics, drawing from practice in the US and other contexts, including my own background as an external program evaluator of educational programs and food systems projects. The major assignment is a field-based project where students work on a tangible topic and learn to adapt evaluation designs to a resource- and politically-constrained institutional environment. In the past, students have worked with Focus HOPE in Detroit, DTE Foundation, Community Development Advocates of Detroit, a United Way mobile food pantry program, and the Michigan Association of Planners, among others.