Course Schedule and Catalog

Department: College Courses

Meeting: 6:00PM - 6:50PM T (12-JAN-2026 - 24-APR-2026) 

Part of Term: Full Term - No WL Purge

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Course Type: Seminar

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Method of Instruction: Face to Face

Credit Hours: 1

 

Section Max Enrollment: 19

Section Enrolled: 9

Waitlisted: 0 (Max 99) 

Current members of the waitlist have priority for available seats.

Enrollment data as of: 25-NOV-2025 1:39AM

 

 

Final Exam: No Final Exam

 

Description: Environmental planning is the field that focuses on the policies, projects, and land-use decisions related to the rehabilitation, transformation, and preservation of non-human nature in our landscapes, cities, and regions. This broad statement of the field invokes a correspondingly broad array of questions: What “nature” is worth protecting? How can we use the tools we already have to better our interactions with non-human nature? Are cities environmentally beneficial or harmful? Can the pressing environmental issues of our time be addressed effectively on the scale of individual cities? What are the implications of climate change for our answer to all these questions? This course is designed to provide a foundational introduction to the theory and practice of environmental planning. Drawing on examples from a broad literature in the field, we will investigate the social and ecological implications of modernist planning, disaster response, shade trees, green transit, ecovillages, and indigenous solutions, among many other environmental phenomena. The goal is for students to learn to recognize the often-invisible decision-making that underlies the environmental design and planning of our cities, and to become equipped for civic engagement in this area on both a local and global level.