ICPE - Course Curriculum

Topic	Description
Budgeting	Budgeting provides crucial financial benchmarks for the administration of a local government, department and firm, and insures that public services and facilities can be accommodated. This topic provides an overview of the main forms of contemporary budgeting techniques and situations where they are applied.
Citizen Participation	Citizen Participation in the planning process has dramatically changed over the past 50 years from non-existent or limited participation to greater citizen empowerment. This unit presents the goals of citizen participation, provides Sherry Arnstein’s criteria for evaluating citizen participation and presents various techniques for building consensus.
Communication Techniques for Planners	Effective communication is synonymous with effective planning. In the role of presenting information, planning policies and programs to the public and decision makers, planners must communicate in ways that are clear and persuasive. This unit covers effective Communication Techniques that planners can employ in written products and presentations.
Community Development	The decline of the central city and the transformation of post-industrial America engendered a need for Community Development and revitalization. This unit presents the main theories behind Community Development and strategies used to develop effective Community Development programs.
Community Facilities	Community Facilities such as schools and recreational areas serve as important centers of community activity and are used to assess quality of life. This topic includes a discussion of methods for evaluating and providing sufficient Community Facilities.
Economic Development	The economic vitality of a community depends on strategies that promote and enhance economic sustainability and local employment. This unit presents the mains goals of Economic Development and techniques and programs that develop and maintain local economic activity.
Emerging Trends	Planning is not a static profession and must adjust to changes in technology, constituent needs, legislation and the environment. Emerging Trends are presented as they relate to various planning topics.
Energy	With the turmoil in the Middle East, unscrupulous energy trade and severe weather conditions in oil producing regions, energy conservation and development has re-emerged as a crucial planning element. This unit provides basic statistics on U.S. energy consumption and strategies used by the planning profession for conservation and development of energy sources.
Environmental Planning and Policy	Environmental Planning is conducted out of necessity. This unit covers planning for natural resources, techniques for environmental impact analysis and mitigation, and the legislation that guides Environmental Planning and Policy.
Ethics	The American Institute of Certified Planners adopted a new Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct on March 19, 2005. This unit analyzes the major precepts of the new AICP Code of Ethics and associated Advisory Rulings, and presents scenarios for everyday practice.
Exam Preparation Strategies	The key to successful exam preparation is learning a broad base of information in an efficient fashion. This topic covers effective strategies and common pitfalls to avoid in preparing for the AICP Exam.
Fiscal Impact Analysis	As urban growth provides costs and benefits, Fiscal Impact Analysis provides a means of evaluating costs and revenues associated with new development. This unit presents basic concepts behind Fiscal Impact Analysis and shows how this method uses population, employment and economic data as input.
Form-Based Codes	Form-Based Codes consist of sets of development standards that correspond to transects, areas classified based upon prevailing environmental and development characteristics. Using Duany and Palter-Zyberk’s “Smart Code,” this topic shows how Form-Based Codes counteract impacts associated with “sprawl-type” development and how it is implemented at the sector (regional), community and site-specific levels.
General Plan	What is a General Plan and what is it supposed to accomplish? Who are the key participants in the process? This unit explores these issues and provides a fundamental understanding of General Plan principles.
Geographic Information Systems	Geographic Information Systems (GIS) provides powerful mapped and report-related information necessary for effective planning analysis. This topic covers the basic GIS concepts and the GIS process.
Green Building	Green Building implements special building standards and design strategies that conserve energy and natural resources, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This unit provides an overview of the Green Building movement including the LEED® rating system and the certification process of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Growth Management	Growth Management is probably the most misunderstood field in planning over expectations over what is supposed to accomplish. The NIMBY movement views Growth Management in terms of a development moratorium; development interests perceive Growth Management as if it were a development moratorium. This unit clears up misconceptions about growth management and presents Growth Management in terms of comprehensible goals and strategies.
Health Care	While we normally consider Health Care as a function administered through the federal, state, county or private sectors, health care remains an important issue for local government. This unit explores how planners can facilitate health care through identification of clients in their community with special needs, environmental health issues, and the provision of adequate health care facilities.
Healthy Cities and Communities	The Healthy Cities and Communities movement provides a holistic perspective of the relationship between health, disease and the environment; the location of residents and health-related choices have a major impact on the health of the city and community . This unit covers the concept of Health Cities as presented by the World Health Organization and the implementation of Healthy Cities and Communities Programs.
Historic Preservation	The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 provided impetus for planners to preserve structures or sites of historic, architectural or cultural significance. This Unit considers historic preservation tools used by local government and how historic preservation may be implemented in the general plan and zoning process.
Housing	Planners have a primary responsibility of ensuring that their communities have sufficient housing to accommodate every social stratum. This unit covers criteria for evaluating the local housing markets, identifies key participants in the housing market and members of the population with special housing needs, and presents techniques and programs that overcome barriers to affordable housing.
Information Technology	The urban planning field has evolved with advancements in Information Technology. This unit provides an historical account of how Information Technology transformed the planning field and presents various forms of Information Technology used by planners today.
Infrastructure	The provision of adequate infrastructure makes new development a reality and ensures that community goals are met. This unit covers basic forms of critical infrastructure such as roads, water delivery, sewage and solid waste disposal.
Intergovernmental Relations	No local government operates in a vacuum. Due to federal, state and county regulations, overlapping responsibilities and regional issues, local agency planners must develop effective ways to interface with various levels of government. This unit provides strategies to accomplish this goal through Intergovernmental Management and Intersectoral Management approaches.
Land Use Planning	Land Use Planning involves processes that gather relevant information, analyze data and allocate new development in suitable locations. This unit covers theoretical principles and methodologies behind contemporary Land Use Planning.
Law	This unit explores the basic concepts of Land Use Law as it applies to the regulatory functions of planning. This includes an overview of constitutional principles used in deciding legal issues and a presentation of selected landmark law cases. This unit also provides an approach for learning and retaining the basic facts related to these cases.
Negotiation and Coalition Building	Due to increased citizen participation at grass-roots levels, political issues and planning approaches that allow more flexibility, planners have the responsibility of negotiating settlements, building coalitions and resolving conflicts. This unit covers basic theories and approaches behind negotiation and coalition building
New Urbanism	New Urbanism shifts physical planning priorities away from “sprawl-type” development patterns that accommodate automobiles to the human aspects of communities. This unit shows how New Urbanism, relying on the Neighborhood Unit concept, provides development guidelines that promote preservation, better community design and increased civic awareness.
Planning History	Events in Planning History shape planning theory and practice. This unit covers major events and figures that influenced U.S. and world planning history. Historical information is presented and organized in a fashion that allows the exam taker to manage and learn a host of topics efficiently.
Plan-Making	The formulation of plans is difficult to understand unless it is viewed from a comprehensive perspective. It follows that Plan-Making is not so much a field unto itself, as it is a blending and coordination of various planning fields. This unit presents theoretical principles behind Plan-Making and how it integrates related fields of planning.
Planning Theory	Planning Theory did not develop out of an ivory tower, but through a historical experience with real planning issues. This unit provides an overview of the main traditions of planning theory including Synoptic, Incremental, Transactive, Advocacy and Radical and illustrates how planning theory can be applied to everyday practice.
Population and Demographic Analysis	Population and Demographic Analysis provide an information base for estimating and accommodating existing and future community needs. The Study Guide presents main forms of demographic information, analytical tools, techniques for population projections and current population trends.
Program Evaluation	Planners provide assistance to local decision makers in evaluating the effectiveness of public programs. This topic presents various quantitative methods that evaluate and weigh the merits of alternative programs.
Project Management	Whether they work for the public or private sector, planners must implement ambitious and complex projects under crucial deadlines. This topic covers basic project management techniques including the Gantt Chart, PERT and CPM.
Public Finance	Local governments traditionally rely on a variety of tax-based finance methods to fund needed public facilities and services. In an age of fiscal austerity and voter-resistance to new taxes, planners have developed innovative techniques that circumvent raising taxes. The unit considers the implementation of traditional and innovative finance methods.
Quantitative Methods	The most common Quantitative Methods used by planners are basic formulas that do not involve higher mathematics. These techniques have applications to fundamental planning problems. This unit presents various formulas and tools used in basic planning analysis.
Research Methods	Planners conduct research on community related issues and report their findings primarily through forms of descriptive statistics and regression. This unit covers basic concepts for each of these methods and shows how they are used in urban analysis.
Rural and Town Planning	Rural and Town Planning preserves and enhances the rural and natural setting of communities. This unit provides a basic taxonomy for Rural and Town Planning, considers characteristics of the traditional rural town and strategies for preserving rural character and natural resources.
Safety and Hazard Planning	No area is exempt from potential hazards; these hazards take many forms including, fire, flood, severe weather and toxic waste exposure. This unit provides ways to identify and avoid certain hazard-related problems, methods to mitigate hazard potential and planning approaches to post-hazard recovery.
Smart Growth	Smart Growth implements sustainability on the local or regional level; it consists of a comprehensive program of planning measures that counter wasteful land use practices and adverse impacts of sprawl. This topic lists specific Smart Growth practices and shows how Smart Growth fits into the framework of sustainable development. Its relationship to New Urbanism is also presented.
Social Issues	Planners have an ethical obligation to assist and provide more opportunities to the least advantaged of society. In this fashion, social issues permeate every field of planning. This unit shows how planners, regardless of their specialty, can approach planning problems with a social perspective and implement planning methods that address social issues.
Strategic Planning	Following the examples of corporate planning, planners use strategic planning to expeditiously resolve urban issues. The Study Guide takes you through the strategic planning process and illustrates how it can be implemented to address community problems.
Subdivisions	The Subdivision process, originally established to regulate land transactions, has evolved to provide fundamental planning for lot configuration, street networks, buffering, landscaping, infrastructure and open space. This Unit covers basic subdivision practices with an emphasis on site design.
Survey Techniques	Survey Techniques provide crucial citizen input which shapes planning policies and programs. Given limited governmental resources, how can we obtain reliable and sufficient information from our constituents? This topic covers various forms of survey techniques and situations where each technique may be applied.
Sustainable Development	The Sustainable Development movement views planning in a holistic sense and evaluates and promotes development policies based upon satisfaction of environmental, economic and equity issues. This topic summarizes the main principles of Sustainable Development and its relationship with Smart Growth and New Urbanist practices.
Test-taking	This topic provides various strategies for efficient test-taking with consideration of the new computerized format of the AICP Exam. Students are provided with strategies for approaching and analyzing questions and completing the exam in a timely fashion.
Transect Planning	Post-war development is characterized by strict segregation of land uses, destruction of natural resources with asphalt, disincentives for the construction of quality community facilities and prioritization of the automobile in planning. Transect Planning responds to sprawl with a system of guidelines that classify all elements of the urban setting by a scale of intensity of development; this is done to insure that new development is consistent with the prevailing man-made and natural environments. This unit covers basic Transect Planning principles.
Transportation Planning	Transportation Planning has evolved from an emphasis on efficiency to environmental and equity considerations. This unit explores Transportation Planning methodology, key forms of transportation planning legislation and full gamut of issues faced by contemporary planners.
Urban Design	Urban Design expresses the values of society through physical planning. Effective Urban Design also includes practices that make a city distinctive. This unit covers various schools of urban design, principles of imageability and recommended urban design practices.
Urban Economics	Economic principles that apply to industries and firms also apply to urban areas. Urban Economics provides a theoretical framework for planning programs that maintain and enhance a community’s economic vitality. This unit illustrates how economic principles are applied to urban planning and analytical tools used to assess the urban or regional economy.
U.S.G.S. Mapping	The U.S. Geological Survey Quadrangle sheet is a fundamental information resource and tool for physical planning. This topic covers basic U.S.G.S. units of measurement and applications.
Visioning	Goal setting is a primary step in the plan-making process; planning is also future oriented. Visioning is a tool that accomplishes both of these requisites by obtaining consensus on desirable future outcomes. This topic covers basic steps in the visioning process and illustrates its role in plan-making and citizen participation.
Zoning	Conventional Zoning is a blend of traditional and innovative practices. This unit covers the historical development of zoning, how it is implemented at various government levels, components of a zoning ordinance, and traditional and innovative zoning methods used by planners today.