Instructor:
Tim Duane

Seminar (CCN: 48620) MW 9:30 – 11:00 214B Wurster Hall

Units: 3

A review of the techniques used in environmental planning, and evaluation of alternative means of implementation in varying environmental and political circumstances. The class will examine and critique the established processes of environmental planning and its resulting plans. Lectures and discussion will address recurrent planning problems, such as the limitations of available data, legal and political constraints on plans, and conflicts among specialists. We will also explore how the field of environmental planning and its institutional context are evolving after more than three decades of formal practice. How useful are the rational-comprehensive methods and principles of Ian McHarg’s “Design with Nature” today, and what can explain their limited application to date? Is environmental planning a “rational” process, or does it involve social and political considerations that are difficult to quantify or model with the technical “expertise” of most environmental planners? How does the institutional context of environmental planning affect modeling and plan implementation? How can we “reform” environmental planning institutions to learn from the past 30 years? What is the role of environmental planners—as technicians, facilitators, storytellers, or some combination? These are pressing issues in the field.

The course will include a mix of theoretical ideas, methods of environmental planning, and development of an understanding of the dominant social and institutional processes of modern environmental planning. The rest of our time will be spent grappling with several real-world cases. The real-world cases have different social and institutional contexts and outcomes. Two of the cases complement projects we will work on in LAEP 205. Our goal is to develop a more general understanding of the process of environmental planning through these case studies:

Readings:

· Gunderson, Lance H. and C.S. Holling (eds.), 2002. Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in Human and Natural Systems. Washington: Island Press. ISBN 1-55963-857-5 (paper). You can order it directly from Island by calling 1-800-828-1302.

· Duane, Timothy P. 1999. Shaping the Sierra: Nature, Culture, and Conflict in the Changing West. Berkeley: University of California Press (available on remainder for $10-12 or in paper for $29.95; I won’t get a cent of royalties from your purchase)