Environmental Management and Policy

This course covers the fundamentals of environmental planning and practice, including water supply, air quality, waste treatment, recycling, the protection of farmland, open spaces, wetlands and sensitive coastal habitats as well as best practices in transportation, energy, urban planning and design. How does land use planning work? Who plans? Why, when and how are environmental impact assessments and environmental reviews performed and by whom? How do public authorities, planners, developers, and concerned citizens negotiate intricate land use conflicts, especially in the case of major new infrastructures such as rail corridors, freeways, (air)port expansions or larger, master planned communities?

This interdisciplinary policy course examines the prevention and management of threats to human health caused by interacting environmental conditions and social forces. Major topics in this course include air and water pollution control, toxic substances control, climate change and environmental health, disease control, pandemics, public health emergency management, and public health leadership. This course covers public and environmental health policies at the community, national, and international levels.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

More than half of the world’s 7 billion people live in cities. Urban societies need to find ways to reduce their negative environmental impacts on the Earth’s eco-system. This course focuses on the analysis of urban development patterns in North America and Europe. Students will learn how to create and plan for human settlements that are less carbon-intensive, more ecologically responsible, and more socially sound. Via a variety of case studies, students will be introduced to sustainability concepts such as ecological urbanism, green building certification (LEED), smart growth, transit-oriented development and suburban retrofitting.

Between 2000 and 2030, the urban populations of the developing regions in the Global South will double from 2 to 4 billion people, accounting for the vast majority of urban growth on this planet. Taking a comparative view of urbanization and development, this course focuses on a select number of mega-cities in the Global South where millions of urban dwellers lack adequate shelter and access to clean water, sanitation and other basic infrastructure. What are the causes and environmental consequences of rapid urbanization and urban expansion in cities as diverse as Rio de Janeiro, Nairobi, Lagos, Mumbai or Chongqing? What strategies, programs and policies exist that can steer future urban development in a more environmentally sustainable direction?

This course examines the role of environmental movements in the development of policies for environmental protection and on the role of nongovernmental organizations in environmental politics and policy more generally.

Environmental policies are social actions designed to protect the environment. This course examines the processes and consequences of policies for environmental protection. This course also examines the roles of leadership, laws, and organizations in environmental protection.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

Environmental law plays a critical role in the practice of environmental protection. This course provides a general introduction to environmental laws and legal processes at the national and international levels.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

This course focuses on case studies of the development and management of policies for environmental protection. These case studies allow a detailed examination of the practical challenges facing environmental managers and leaders today, and an examination of the possibilities for new approaches to environmental management and policy in the future.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

This course examines the processes and consequences of policies for environmental protection in an international and comparative context. The course focuses on the role of institutional processes, government organizations, and nongovernmental organizations in environmental politics and policy across the world.

This course satisfies the advanced writing skills course requirement.

A full and deep understanding of our complex relationships with the natural environment also requires sophisticated and advanced knowledge of the different and specific ways in which our human settlements evolved over the course of history. This course provides a critical introduction to the interdisciplinary world of urban planning. Most of the cities, towns or neighborhoods we encounter did not simply “happen” – they were formally founded and planned by someone. Many of the world’s most famous cities were carefully laid out in relationship to their natural surroundings. And even haphazardly placed self-built homes still require access to public infrastructures and social institutions such water, sewer and power lines, roads, schools or hospitals. We will start of learning about the history and theory of planning as it was and is practiced in the United States but we will then soon expand our perspective to look at urban planning and built environment issues through a global lens. Which cities were or are global leaders in the world of city building and urban design? What are the most important issues and topics for planning practitioners right now? What do planners do when they “plan”? How do we justify planning? How do we define the public interest the profession purports to serve? What are the key conflicts and ethical dilemmas? How does the global threat of climate change and sea level rise change the way we plan and manage cities?