2021 Faculty Courses School of Environment and Society Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Graduate major in Urban Design and Built Environment
Principles of Public Systems Design
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Urban Design and Built Environment
- Instructor(s)
- Tatsurou Sakano
- Class Format
- Lecture
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 3-4 Tue
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- UDE.D471
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2021
- Offered quarter
- 4Q
- Syllabus updated
- Jul 10, 2025
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
In this course students are required to read the theoretical texts on designing public systems. Public interventions are required when voluntary actions to pursue their own interests lead to socially undesirable outcomes. This situation is defined as collective action dilemma by game theory, which provides common research framework in various interdisciplinary social sciences such as Public Economics, Law and Economics, Economics of Organization, Economics of Governance, Political Philosophy and Sociology on Public Affairs.
The aim of this course is to provide the integrative perspective common to various approaches to solve collective action dilemma. By doing so, students are expected to acquire analytical skills to evaluate existing public systems.
Course description and aims
The goals of this course are as following: 1) to define problems of public intervention under the framework of collective action dilemma, and to understand why individual rationality conflicts with social desirability in dealing with first order dilemmas such as public goods provisions, externality, common pool resource problems, and charitable giving; 2) to understand that provision of institution to solve first order dilemmas is itself a collective action dilemma called second order dilemma; 3) to learn theories useful to solve these two level dilemmas such as self-organized collective action theory, property right economic theory, theory of organizational governance, and their application to new public management and quasi market.; and 4) thus, finally, to acquire capability to evaluate and redesign public systems in the real world.
Keywords
self-organized collective action theory, property right economic theory, theory of organizational governance, new public management, quasi market
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
It is required to read the texts assigned before the class. The instructor introduces the ideas behind the texts and class discussion will follow.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction: Collective Action Dilemma and Designing Public Governance | Understand public governance as collective action dilemmas and explain efficiency of public institution and organization |
| Class 2 | Modernistic Concept of Rationality and Bureaucracy | Understand Bureaucracy, the dominant organizing principle of modern society, in relation to modernistic concept of rationality |
| Class 3 | Anti-Taylorism and New Public Management | Understand new public management in the context of anti-Taylorism and design alternate organizational structure to change bureaucracy |
| Class 4 | Efficiency of Quasi-market | Understand theory of quasi-market and apply it to solve public problems |
| Class 5 | Economic Theory of Non Profit Sector | Understand economic theory of non profit sector and apply it to solve public problems |
| Class 6 | Economic theory of ethical bahavior | Understand economic theory of charitable behaviors and explain the influence of altruism on public goods provision |
| Class 7 | Hedonistic and Eudaimonistic design | Understand Hedonism and Eudemonism and explain their influence on institutional design |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
The reading materials are provided before the class.
Reference books, course materials, etc.
Ostrom, E., 2005, Understandig Institutional Diversity, Princeton University
Evaluation methods and criteria
Mini quiz in each class: 40%
Term paper: 60%
Related courses
- CVE.D312 ： Behavioral Theory of Public Systems
- UDE.D409 ： Planning Theory
Prerequisites
None.
Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).
sakano.t.aa[at]m.titech.ac.jp
Office hours
Instructor’s office: West Bldg. 9, Rm 811, Contact by e-mail in advance to schedule an appointment.