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PLAN 620 – Department of Urban & Regional Planning
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
Spring 2013
PLAN 620
Environmental Planning and Policy - DRAFT
Spring 2013
Wednesdays 9 am-11:45 am
Saunders 116
Daniele Spirandelli
Assistant Professor
[email protected]
Office Hours: Wednesdays 1 – 3pm or by appointment, Saunders 107c
Course Description:
This course provides an overview of the current state of the knowledge regarding
urbanization and environmental change, including climate change, the transformation of
landscapes, altered hydrological processes, and the loss of biodiversity. This course will
explore planning strategies and policy tools designed to minimize the environmental
impacts of urban patterns, human behaviors and decisions, and highlight innovative
approaches used in environmental decision making and plan-making. We will use
Hawaii as our case study for examining the topics while assessing the degree to which the
science, programs and tools can be generalized to other locations. This course employs a
wide variety of formats to engage students in the material, including lectures, guest
speakers, small group discussions, field trips, student response pieces and activities (both
in and out of class) such as a student led debate, and a final case study project and
presentation.
Student Learning Outcomes:
On completing the course students should be able to:
• Describe the history of environmental planning and the major environmental
issues facing Hawaii, the nation and the world
• Understand the key driving forces and policy trends effecting approaches to
planning the environment
• Understand the basic science behind how urbanization effects ecosystem
processes and functions
• Link theory to the practice of environmental planning and know a set of tools and
methods used in environmental assessment, analysis and management
• Learn to critically assess and summarize scientific research and reports for the
purpose of planning
Course Requirements:
Final Research Project/Presentation: 40%
Use one of the conceptual frameworks (or adopt one of your own, but must explicitly
address a coupled human-ecological system) to frame an environmental problem of
your choice – can elaborate upon one of the themes discussed in class or can address
one of your own selection. Your paper must incorporate a substantial summary of the
literature – i.e. what do we know about the topic? Where are there contradictions or
gaps in the literature? What are the implications for environmental planning and what
are some strategies or tools that might address the problem? You must draw from
major peer-reviewed journals – including JPER and JAPA, but you may also draw
from Ecosystems, Urban Ecosystems, Landscape Ecology, or some other relevant
journal. You will be expected to hand in a topic proposal with an annotated
bibliography and formally present your study to the class. The project grade will be
broken up in the following manner:
Topic proposal/annotated bibliography:
Final presentation:
Final paper:
10%
10%
20%
In-class Literature Summary: 25%
Each student will be responsible for preparing and presenting a formal summary of an
article from the week’s readings. Students will sign up for a class reading at the
beginning of the term and will be expected to distribute a written summary of the
article to the rest of the class and lead a discussion around it. Guidelines on how to
write an article summary will be made available on Laulima.
Assignments: 20%
• Policy brief on a current/local environmental issue
• Calculate your ecological footprint
• Prepare for & participate in class debate
Participation: 15%
Students come to class prepared to participate, ask questions, lead discussions and
give presentations based on the readings, individual and group assignments.
PLAN 620 – Department of Urban & Regional Planning
UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII
Spring 2013
Course Outline (Draft – subject to change)
Date
Topic
Lectures/Readings
Jan 9
Syllabus
Rationales for Environmental Planning/Policy
UH Online
History of Environmental Planning
Journal/Laulima
Conceptual Frameworks
Jan 16
Integrating
Urbanization and Global Environmental Change
humanCoupled human-natural systems & regional landscape
environmental
change science
systems
Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems
Urban Ecology
Urban Systems
Jan 23
Urban
Urban Flows, foot print analysis, urban ecological
Metabolism
services
Environmental Impact Assessment &
Environmental Impact Statements – the role &
limitations of the environmental review process (Scott
Glenn, Environmental Planner, to be confirmed)
Jan 30
Field trip
Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant
Urban Patterns and Ecosystem Processes
Feb 6
Urban Climate
Atmospheric processes
Greenhouse Gas Regulations – Hawaii climate
change solutions/policies.
Environmental Taxes/Cap-and-Trade
Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative
(Makena Coffman – confirmed)
Feb 13
Urban Hydrology
Urban drainage
Water supply, wastewater
Ala Wai Watershed Project (Cindy Barger, USACE –
confirmed)
New Honolulu Stormwater regulations: (Gerald
Takayesu - confirmed)
Feb 20
Hawai’i
Biodiversity
Biodiversity and conservation planning
The Nature Conservancy Eco-region planning
(Sam Gon, The Nature Conservancy – confirmed)
Feb 27
Urban Geology
Urban Soils
Role of Soils in nutrient dynamics
Hawaii sedimentation processes (Speaker - to be
confirmed)
Mar 6
Urban Coasts
Coastal Processes and ecosystems
Coral Reefs
Coastal erosion - Dolan Eversole, Sea Grant College
Program (confirmed)
Mar 13
Urban Forests
Forest ecosystem services:
Carbon stocks
Water capture
Habitat
Mar 20
Urban Ecological
Design &
Planning
Green Infrastructure
Buffers
Lauren Roth – Roth Ecological Design – to be
confirmed
Mar 27
SPRING BREAK
April 3
Science,
Uncertainty, and
Environmental
policy-making
Long-range planning
Uncertainty & adapting to climate change
(Kem Lowery – to be confirmed)
Webinar – CA. Climate Adaptation
http://www.cailg.org/SCLN/ClimateAdaptationWebinar
April 10
Evidence-based
planning and
policy-making
What is evidence based planning?
Best Available Science
Ecosystem-based Management
(Speaker – to be confirmed)
April 17
Community
based Env.
planning
April 24
May 1
May 7
Trade-offs of ecosystem services
Community values
Local culture & knowledge
InVEST & Kamehameha Schools
Student Presentations
Student Presentations
Final Term Paper due by noon.
Via email AND a hardcopy in instructor’s DURP box.