11.601
Theory and Practice of Environmental Planning
Required introductory subject for graduate students pursuing the Environmental Planning Certificate. Strongly suggested for MCP students pursuing EPP as their specialization. Also open to other graduate students interested in environmental justice, environmental ethics, environmental dispute resolution, and techniques of environmental problem-solving. Taught comparatively, with numerous references to examples from around the world. Four major areas of focus: national environmental policymaking, environmental ethics, environmental forecasting and analysis techniques, and strategies for collaborative decision-making.
Fall 2016 · Introduction to Environmental Policy and Planning
Topics
- Introduction
- Introduction to Unit 1
- The Policy-Making Process
- Policy Evaluation
- Comparative Policy Analysis
- A Theory of Environmental Planning and Policy-Making
- Environmental Ethics
- Utilitarianism vs. Deep Ecology
- Sustainability vs. Economic Growth
- Scientific Expertise vs. Indigenous Knowledge
- Environmental Analysis: Science, Policy, and Politics in Environmental Decision-Making
- Environmental Impact Assessment
- Cost-Benefit Analysis
- Risk Assessment
- Humboldt Game Simulation Role Play
- Ecosystem Services Analysis
- Simulation and Modeling
- Scenario Planning
- Public Participation and Group Decision-Making
- Public Participation Timelines
- Collaborative Decision-Making
- Consensus Building and Dispute Resolution
- Politics, Power, and Theories of Collective Action
Readings
- [COH] = Cohen, Steven. Understanding Environmental Policy . Columbia University Press, 2014. ISBN: 9780231167758.
- [HOW] = Howlett, Michael, Michael Ramesh, and Anthony Perl. Studying Public Policy: Policy Cycles and Policy Subsystems . 3rd ed. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780195428025.
- [JAR] = Des Jardins, Joseph. Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosphy . 4th ed. Wadsworth Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9780534520847.
- [SUS] = Susskind, Lawrence E., and Jeffrey L. Cruikshank. Breaking Roberts Rules: The New Way to Run Your Meeting, Build Consensus, and Get Results . Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780195308365.
- Optional Reading
- Chapter 1 in Ostrom, Elinor. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action . Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9781107569782.
- [HOW] Chapter 4 “Agenda Setting”, Chapter 5 “Policy Formulation”, Chapter 6 “Public Policy Decision-Making”
- [HOW] Chapter 8 “Policy Evaluation”
- Chapter 1 in Keeley, James, and Ian Scoones. Understanding Environmental Policy Processes: Cases from Africa . Routledge, 2014. ISBN: 9781853839757.
- Susskind, Larry. “The Environment and Environmentalism.” Pages 74-81 in Birch, Eugenie, Gary Hack, Paul Sedway, and Mitchell Silver. Local Planning: Contemporary Principles and Practice . ICMA Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780873261487.
- [JAR] Chapter 2 “Ethical Theory and the Environment” and Chapter 12 “Pluralism, Pragmatism, and Sustainability.”
- [JAR] Chapter 3 “Ethics and Economics”, Chapter 5 “Responsibilities to the Natural World”, Chapter 6 “Biocentric Ethics and the Inherent Value of Life”, Chapter 9 “Deep Ecology.”
- Introduction in Daly, Herman E. Beyond Growth: The Economics of Sustainable Development . Beacon Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780807047095.
- Chapters 4 and 8 in Fischer, Frank. Citizens, Experts, and the Environment: The Politics of Local Knowledge . Duke University Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780822326229.
- Chapter 1 in Layzer, Judith A. The Environmental Case: Translating Values into Policy . CQ Press, 2015. ISBN: 9781452239897.
- Skim Chapter 3, read Chapter 4 in Susskind, Lawrence, Ravi K. Jain, and Andrew O. Martyniuk. Better Environmental Policy Studies: How to Design and Conduct More Effective Analyses . Island Press, 2001. ISBN: 9781559638715.
- Susskind, Lawrence E., and Louise Dunlap. “The Importance of Non-Objective Judgments in Environmental Impact Assessments.” Environmental Impact Assessment Review 2, no. 4 (1981): 335-366.
- Chapter 2 in Sagoff, Mark. The Economy of the Earth: Philosophy, Law, and the Environment . Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780521687133.
- “Executive Summary”, “Box 3.1”, and Chapter 18 in Pearce, David, Giles Atkinson, and Susana Mourato. Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Environment: Recent Developments . Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2006. ISBN: 9789264010048.
- Tietenberg, Thomas. “Economic Instruments for Environmental Regulation” in Robert Stavins (ed). Economics of the Environment . W.W. Norton & Co. (2000). ISBN: 9780393913408.
- Chapter 4 “Negotiating Risk, Expertise, and Near-Advocacy” in Callison, Candis. How Climate Change Comes to Matter: the Communal Life of Facts . Duke University Press, 2014. ISBN: 9780822357872.
- Chapters 1 and 2 in Cather, David A. and Mark S. Dorfman. Introduction to Risk Management and Insurance . Prentice Hall (2007). ISBN: 9780131394124.
- Skim chapters 1-3 in Schwing, Richard C., and Walter A. Albers. Societal Risk Assessment: How Safe is Safe Enough? . Springer, 1980. ISBN: 9780306405549.
- Simmons, Craig. “Ecological Footprint Analysis: A Useful Method for Exploring the Interaction Between Lifestyles and the Built Environment” in Deakin, Mark, Gordon Mitchell, Peter Nijkamp, and Ron Vreeker, eds. Sustainable Urban Development Routledge, 2007. ISBN: 9780415322171.
- Costanza, Robert, and Matthias Ruth. “Using Dynamic Modeling to Scope Environmental Problems and Build Consensus.” Environmental Management 22, no. 2 (1998): 183-195.
- Table: The Tasks of a Mediator, page 142-143 in Susskind, Lawrence, and Jeffrey L. Cruikshank. Breaking the Impasse: Consensual Approaches to Resolving Public Disputes . Basic Books, 1987. ISBN: 9780465007509.
- Chapter 1 in Shapiro, Ian. The State of Democratic Theory . Princeton University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780691115474.
- Chapter 2 in in Susskind, Lawrence, and Jeffrey L. Cruikshank. Breaking the Impasse: Consensual Approaches to Resolving Public Disputes . Basic Books, 1987. ISBN: 9780465007509.
- Table: A Review of Public Participation and Consultation in Abelson, Julia, Pierre-Gerlier Forest, John Eyles, Patricia Smith, Elisabeth Martin, and Francois-Pierre Gauvin. “Deliberations About Deliberative Methods: Issues in the Design and Evaluation of Public Participation Processes.” Social Science & Medicine 57, no. 2 (2003): 239-251.
- Luskin, Robert C., James S. Fishkin, and Dennis L. Plane. “Deliberative Polling and Policy Outcomes: Electric Utility Issues in Texas.” In Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, vol. 4, p. 1999. 1999.
- Chapter 2, skim Chatper 3 in Wondolleck, Julia M., and Steven Lewis Yaffee. Making Collaboration Work: Lessons from Innovation in Natural Resource Managment . Island Press, 2000. ISBN: 9781559634625.
- Chapters 2 and 6 in Ostrom, Elinor. Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action . Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN: 9781107569782.
- Pages 124-168 in Axelrod, Robert M. The Evolution of Cooperation . Basic Nooks, 1984. ISBN: 9780465005642.
- Chapter 1 in Susskind, Lawrence, Paul Levy, and Jennifer Thomas-Larmer. Negotiating Environmental Agreements: How To Avoid Escalating Confrontation Needless Costs And Unnecessary Litigation . Island Press, 1999. ISBN: 9781559636339.
- Environmental Problem-Solving (Susskind et. al, 2017, Anthem Press), a video-enhanced eBook, provides students with full access to all the assigned readings, faculty commentary on the readings, and examples of the best student performance on course assignments in previous years.
- Susskind, Larry, Bruno Verdini, et al. Environmental Problem-Solving: A Video-Enhanced Self Instructional e-Book from MIT . Anthem Press, 2017.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: None G (Fall) 3-0-9 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2016
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.