EPP
Environmental Policy and Planning is a group within the Department of Urban Studies and Planning School of Architecture and Planning Massachusetts Institute of Technology
SPRING 08
http://web.mit.edu/dusp/epp
Urban Climate Adaptation in South Africa
Urban Sustainability MIT is world renowned for its trailblazing work in information theory, robotics, linguistics, and genetics; however, a new endeavor, undertaken by EPP Professor Judith Layzer, may soon add ‘urban sustainability’ to that list. Over the past year, Professor Layzer has spearheaded several initiatives aimed at facilitating collaboration among the School of Architecture and Planning’s (SA+P) urban sustainability specialists, raising the profile of urban sustainability research within DUSP and SA+P, and increasing opportunities for students to envision and influence the sustainable cities of the future.
Students from DUSP participated in a practicum taught by Professor Carmin on urban climate adaptation. After preparing at MIT, they spent three weeks engaged in fieldwork in Durban, South Africa. The goal of the fieldwork was to develop an online tool that would help officials plan for climate change. Rather than focus on known best practices, the approach the students elected to pursue was to study ongoing activities and innovations taking place in the municipality and then identify how these could readily be extended to respond to anticipated impacts of climate change. Nearly twenty students from 11.949: Sustainability in Action (Boston) students picture 2 spent the semester in five groups, concentrated on a specific sector: buildings and energy, food, transportation, waste, and water.
One such project is the development of a SA+P ‘sustainable
continued on page...2
Inside this Issue
cities’ website that will publicly showcase the diverse work of professors and students. Although it may not
be common
knowledge (yet), SA+P, and DUSP in particular, is home to some of the leading thinkers on urban sustainability issues, including green
buildings,
sustainable
transportation,
sustainable
Incoming EPP Students................................................2 Spring 2008 Projections Seminar Series.........................3 Awards and Recognitions.............................................4
transitions in the developing world, climate adaptation, and sustainable city planning. For example, in EPP, Professor JoAnn
International Mountain Politics and Policy.......................5
Carmin is working with cities in Eastern Europe to plan for the impacts of climate change, while transportation professor Chris Zegras is developing indicators of sustainable transportation. In the Department of Architecture’s Building Technology group, Professor John Fernandez is developing an urban metabolism
EPP Thesis Summaries.................................................6 MUSIC Update............................................................8 New SA+P Faculty.......................................................10
continued on page...3
Fall 2007
Incoming EPP Students Next year we will have 14 new masters students and 3 new doctortal students joining our group. They each bring a unique perspective and we are thrilled to have them. Join us in welcoming them. Manjula Amerasinghe who joins the EPP one year Masters, has a Masters in Environmental Engineering from the Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand and a Bachelors in Civil Engineering from the University of Peradeniya Sri Lanka. She is working as a Project Officer at the Asian Development Bank, Sri Lanka Resident Mission. Linda Ciesielski joins EPP from StoryCorps, a non-profit that collects oral histories featured on NPR. Prior to this, she worked in planning and landscape architecture offices in Oakland, CA, and Portland, OR. She holds a BS in Landscape Architecture from Cornell University. Leanne Farrell has spent this last year learning Portuguese and working in Brazil, as well as traveling around South America. She spent the previous 5 years in Washington, DC, first with various advocacy NGOs focusing on international development and environmental issues, followed by the environmental and social safeguard policy compliance team for the World Bank´s Latin America and Caribbean Region. She received her BA in International Relations from Stanford University. Kimberly Foltz joins EPP from Bikes-not-Bombs in Jamaica Plain. She received her B.A. in Natural Sciences from Evergreen State College. Sarah Hammitt completed her A.B. in Geosciences with a Certificate in Environmental Studies from Princeton University in 2004. Following professional experience in environmental consulting and education, she is currently completing a yearlong fellowship with the International Rescue Committee in Ethiopia where she develops multi-sector proposals and reports for refugees and local communities. Melissa Haeffner joins the PhD program. She earned an MA in sociology from DePaul University with a thesis evaluating the effectiveness of a cross-cultural exchange program linking US and Siberian subalpine watersheds. She has designed and taught environmental sociology courses at her alma mater and has worked with several urban sustainability non-profits on the following issues: transportation policy, watershed research, consumer behavior and lifestyle change, consensus building and fair trade. Melissa’s interest is in looking at the environment as a social issue. Ingrid Heilke earned her B.A. in Environmental Studies and Anthropology. Since then she has spent her time in Central America, Japan and San Francisco. Chris Horne is from Philadelphia. He has a BA in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College (the great books school), and most recentlyhe was taking classes in architecture. At MIT he intends to shift his focus away from design and toward policy and management. Originally from Ohio, Bjorn Jensen joins the MCP program from Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) main office in Philadelphia, where he provided support for property management and information technology. Before that he worked in the global economic justice program of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). He received his BA in International Development from Earlham College in Richmond Indiana.
environmental policy and Planning
Patrick Lynch joins the MCP program after working for Citigroup in New York in Investment Banking and Derivatives Trading. He has experience working on financial strategy for the Power and Financial Institutions sectors. He received his BA in Economics from Harvard. Eric Mackres comes to MIT from working in affordable housing advocacy with the California Housing Consortium. He has previously run campaign offices with the Sierra Club, State PIRGs and the Human Rights Campaign. He is a graduate of Albion College in Michigan. Sarah Madden joins the MCP program from WestEd’s Mathematics, Science, and Technology Program, where she worked on curriculum development and experimental design research studies. She received a BA in Linguistics and a BS in Conservation & Resources Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Evan Paul joins the MCP program from AmericaSpeaks, where he led several major citizen engagement initiatives on New Orleans recovery, climate change, and other policy & planning issues. Prior to AmericaSpeaks, he worked as an environmental campaigner for ForestEthics and the State PIRGs. He received his BA in Political Science from the University of Missouri. Nah Yoon Shin joins the PhD program. She is originally from Seoul, Republic of Korea. She majored in Human Ecology at Yonsei University (B.S.) and City and Regional Planning at Seoul National University (M.C.P). Before coming to MIT, she had worked at Korea Environment Institute for 2 years, participating in international projects such as Seoul Initiative Network on Green Growth and Network of Institutions on Sustainable Development initiated by UNESCAP and UNEP. While working with international agencies, she felt the need to help environmentally vulnerable communities especially in developing countries. As a Fulbright student, she plans to learn and help develop better collaborative planning process to solve both urban and global environment injustice problems at MIT. Alexis Schulman joins the PhD program. She holds a Master in City Planning from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning (’07) and a Bachelor in Science and Engineering from Princeton University. She has worked and researched across a number of environmental fields, including environmental engineering, education, and green urban infrastructure. At MIT, she interned with EPP’s MIT-USGS Science Impact Collaborative (MUSIC), and her master’s thesis examined the varied roles of local ecological knowledge in U.S. resource management. She is currently interested in adaptive ecosystem management. Mia White joins the PhD program. In 2000, she earned a Master of International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, focusing on equity “hot spots” that arise as a consequence of the trading of emissions allowances to control pollution. In the last 8 years, she has worked for several social justice philanthropies researching, writing and grantmaking in community development and democracy building. Mia’s interest is in collaborative approaches to public finance in support of “JustGreen” neighborhoods/cities, and especially, post-disaster (Katrina, others), with a particular focus on the role of race and gender in community development. Jiyang Zhang joins the MCP program from Peking University, China, where he received his bachelor’s degree of Urban and Rural Planning & Resource Management. He has interned at Chinese Academy for Environmental Planning.
Urban Sustainablility continued from page...1
Architecture’s Building Technology group, Professor John Fernandez is developing an urban metabolism tool that tracks the flow of resources through cities to help planners gauge the environmental impact of different urban development strategies. And Professor Layzer, for her part, is currently investigating whether and how urban sustainability planning yields genuine social and environmental benefits.
on
campuses
(http://web.mit.edu/dusp/green/work-bike/
Home.html), and a plan to convert targeted impervious areas of Boston to greenspace to improve water quality and groundwater recharge and simultaneously kickstart a green jobs program for low income residents. Students presented their projects at two charrettes, one with twenty Boston and Massachusettes based experts, the other (held on May 13th) with a packed room of MIT students and faculty. All work from the semester will be available online by this summer and will
In addition to raising the public profile of this work, the website
serve as a resource base for future classes to enhance and
will also promote collaboration among these sustainability
build upon. For more information, contact Professor Judith
experts within the School’s five departments by providing up-to-
Layzer: Jlayzer@mit.edu
date information on SA+P based urban sustainability research, projects, and classes. The website is currently in development and a prototype will be available by the summer. In addition to the website, another important piece of the sustainable cities initiative is the new course “Sustainability in Action (Boston), ” a multidisciplinary effort to translate the concept of sustainability into practice using Boston as a case. Taught for the first time this spring by Professor Layzer and
Spring 2008 Projections Seminar and Film Series
HCED Professor Xav Briggs, the course mixed the collaborative and creative qualities of a graduate seminar with the hands-on,
During the Spring 2008, Isabelle Anguelovski and Anna
substantive experience of practicum. Nearly twenty Masters
Brand, two second-year PhD students in DUSP, organized a
students spent the semester in five groups, concentrated on
seminar and film series on “Justice, Equity, and Sustainability:
a specific sector: buildings and energy, food, transportation,
A Trandisciplinary Perspective” to support the publication
waste, and water. Each team had a designated ‘equity’
of Volume 8 of Projections on the same theme, which they
member to ensure that equity concerns were integrated into
are currently co-editing with Rachel Healy, a third-year Phd
the visioning process.
Student in the Department. The series was co-sponsored by the Environmental Policy and Planning Group and the Department of
The final projects and recommendations include a compost
Urban Studies and Planning. The bi-monthly talks emphasized
program for Boston residents, a suite of projects to encourage
how environmental and social degradation are closely coupled
local food consumption and availability, a plan for energy
to power inequity, thus requiring any building and rebuilding
efficient retrofits in foreclosed homes, a website and information
sustainable communities and places to take place on a just
video advocating the potential benefits of work-bike transport
and equitable foundation. Scholars from universities across New England presented their recent research, showing how, within and between rural and urban communities and places in developed and developing nations, achieving sustainable development requires putting equity rights at the center of planning and implementation. In addition to the speakers series, Isabelle and Anna organized one Wednesday night per month a documentary or a full-feature movie screening on a theme related to Justice, Planning, and Sustainability. Each movie was introduced by a short presentation and followed-up by a discussion with a faculty moderator. For example, Prof. Saleem Ali from the University of Vermont and an alumni of the Department, discussed the impacts of mining extraction on the livelihoods, natural resources, and culture of indigenous
Above: Work-bikes like this one made by the New Amsterdam Project are capable of carrying hundreds of pounds of cargo and could be used to transport cargo on college campuses
people.
Fall 2007
Awards and Recognition Isabelle Anguelovski, a second
Urban Climate Adaptation in South Africa
was
continued from page...1
selected as a 2008-2009 member of
To build the tool, students interviewed fifty public officials
the Martin Family Society of Fellows
and agency representatives. This included the Deputy Mayor
for
Society
and individuals at all levels of agencies, including water
supports and connects MIT’s top
and sanitation, coastal management, health, agriculture,
graduate students in environmental
solid waste, housing, emergency management, economic
studies and fosters opportunities for
development, and, of course, planning. They also visited a
multi-disciplinary cooperation.
variety of field sites from community gardens, to reservoirs and
year
EPP
doctoral
Sustainability.
student,
The
water pumping stations to former townships so that they could Marisa Arpels received Honorable Mention for Outstanding MCP Thesis. JoAnn Carmin was awarded a Contemplative Practice Fellowship from the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society - for the Urban Climate Vulnerability, Adaptation, and Justice Practicum she will offer in spring 2009. Students enrolled in this course will develop tools to assist planners and public officials prepare their cities for the impacts of global climate change. Ronilda Co received the William Emerson Travel Award.
experience professional challenges and learn about innovations taking place throughout the municipality firsthand. The practicum client was Dr. Debra Roberts, Head of the Environmental
Management
Department
in
eThekwini
Municipality. The students created a preliminary framework for the online tool and drafted an accompanying manual. They also wrote a report summarizing their findings about how climate adaptation could be mainstreamed in the municipality. The tool, manual, and report were presented to Dr. Roberts and members of her staff. The expectation is that the course will be offered again so that students can further develop the web tool
Madhu Dutta-Koehler, a doctoral student in DUSP and an
while learning about planning for climate change. In addition
EPP affiliate, also received an Emerson Travel Grant for her
to returning to South Africa, the vision is that the practicum
first year doctoral paper research which looks at managing
will be held in different countries so that the tool ultimately
urban growth and energy demand in India.
can be a resource for municipalities around the world that are
Rachel Healy, a third year EPP doctoral student, was awarded
seeking to proactively engage in climate adaptation activities.
a Summer Study Grant from the Center for International Studies at MIT. She will use the grant to work on her dissertation research which looks at the presence of environmental sustainability mandates in international development agencies and the ways these mandates are being integrated into agency programs and practices. Kristina Katich, a first year EPP MCP student, received an Emerson Travel Grant to support her thesis research on the interactions between poverty and the environment in the Dominican Republic. Judy Layzer received the Excellence in Advising. This award is given to a faculty member who the students consider to be an exemplary advisor. Molly Mowery received the Mary Fran Myers Scholarship Award. Julianne Siegel was award the Environmental Planning Certificate. Beth Williams was award the O. Robert Simha Prize.
environmental policy and Planning
Top: Tijs van Maasakkers working with water inspectors in South Africa. Bottom: Todd Schenk and Nathan Lemphers meeting with South African park officials.
EPP Post-Doctoral Fellow Studies International Mountain Policy and Politics Gilles Rudaz PhD, MS Postdoctoral scholar Mountains have been envisioned in a number of ways. They are depicted as places of recreation, locations for human residence, and a storehouse of biological and cultural diversity. However, mountains rarely are the object of specific policy. EPP post-doctoral fellow, Gilles Rudaz, believes that this needs to change. Rather than treating these places in an undifferentiated manner, and allowing their
is a struggle to find a balanced path between environmental protection and socio-economic development. These two highly competing policy orientations often lead to clashes among stakeholders. Through power strategies, these groups try to impose their visions, rooted in their perceptions of these places, on the modes of management that they want to see followed. The result is that a tension often emerges between nature and environmental preservation and the self-determination of communities. Indeed, in many cases, mountains communities are excluded from the planning and decision making processes that affect their existence.
water, timber, and mineral resources to be exploited mainly for
Rudaz received the prestigious fellowship for advanced
the benefits of lowlands, Rudaz works to advance policies that
researcher from the Swiss National Science Foundation so
will promote the protection of mountain areas and mountain
that he could spend two years in residence in EPP under the
people.
mentorship of Professor JoAnn Carmin, pursuing his research on mountain policy. Over the past year, he has been studying the identities of mountain peoples,
the
different are and
ways
that
interpretations
shaping
perceptions
tensions
emerging
among different stakeholder groups, and the potential for achieving a more robust mountain policy. He gave a
talk
on
transnational
mountain women’s networks at the University of Geneva (Switzerland) and one on mountains
of
Europe
at
the Annual Meeting of the Association High mountain pasture chalets and ski lift near Grosse Scheidegg, Bernese Alps, Switzerland.
Rudaz acknowledges that some progress has been made regarding the recognition of mountain specificity being placed on political agendas. For instance, at the national level, some countries, such as Kyrgyzstan (2002) and Algeria (2004), have recently created mountain laws. In the cross border arena, the Alpine Convention has inspired initiatives throughout the world, including in the Carpathians, Balkans, and Caucasus. Internationally, a specific chapter is devoted to mountains in Agenda 21 and the year 2002 was proclaimed International Year of Mountains.
of
Geographers.
American He
also
participated in the General Assembly of Euromontanathe European Association for Mountain Regions, held in Romania. His reflections led to two papers, both of which are forthcoming, one book chapter on mountain communities in Denis Cosgrove & Veronica della Dora’s book High Places: Cultural Geographies of Mountains and Ice and one article co-authored with Professor Bernard Debarbieux on transnational partnerships between mountain communities in Cultural Geographies. Rudaz is currently completing an article on transnational mountain women networks and one on mountains as a global issue. In the upcoming year, he will
Despite the gains that have been made, Rudaz suggests that
continue with his current research, while writing scholarly
mountain policy still remain low on political agendas and there
papers and giving talks.
Fall 2007
EPP Thesis Summaries Using Climate Policies and Carbon Markets to Save Tropical Forests: The Case of Costa Rica by Marisa Arpels Chad Galloway
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, advocates for forest conservation thought that climate change could provide a lever to motivate developing countries to reduce deforestation. Fifteen years after the first climate change convention, however, global emissions from deforestation have increased. This thesis uses Costa Rica as a case study to examine how the international climate policies and markets have attempted to address greenhouse gas emissions from tropical deforestation. I argue that, to date, international climate regime has failed to provide effective incentives to Costa Rica to finance its forestry reforms because of political decisions that favor forest protection in developed over developing countries. To be effective, the international climate regime needs to generate a substantial financial investment for avoided deforestation in developing countries and to develop flexible policies that build capacity, promote sustainable forestry practices, and reward early reformers.
Simulating some of the travel impacts of transit station parking Jess Burgess This thesis looks into the travel impacts of parking services at commuter rail stations in the Boston region. Beginning with the premise that station parking is neither a one-sizefits-all solution, nor a policy failure, but rather a land-use/ policy option that in under certain policy and development conditions may produce a very favorable set of benefits, for local communities and the larger region. The project aims to identify the conditions under which transit station parking is most able to deliver benefits, and where other land-use alternatives are better suited to local and regional goals.
Free, Prior and Informend Consent: (FPIC): Does it give indigenous peoples more control over the development of their lands in the Philippines? Roni Co The 1998 Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) grants indigenous peoples (IPs) in the Philippines the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) with regard to development projects undertaken on their ancestral lands. My thesis explores whether the current practice of generating such consent guarantees indigenous peoples the control over development, particularly in relation to mining, that such procedures were designed to ensure. Two case studies involving the Mamanwa and the Manobo tribes in Region XIII of Mindanao suggest that the government agencies involved failed to follow the rules set out in the officially approved guidelines that govern the conduct of the FPIC process. The 1998 Indigenous Peoples Rights Act (IPRA) grants indigenous peoples (IPs) in the Philippines the right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) with regard to development projects undertaken on
environmental policy and Planning
their ancestral lands. My thesis explores whether the current practice of generating such consent guarantees indigenous peoples the control over development, particularly in relation to mining, that such procedures were designed to ensure. Two case studies involving the Mamanwa and the Manobo tribes in Region XIII of Mindanao suggest that the government agencies involved failed to follow the rules set out in the officially approved guidelines that govern the conduct of the FPIC process. How Green Was My Electricity? Designing Incentives to Cooptimize Waste Management and Energy Development in New England by Walker Larsen Waste management is a complex issue, often out of sight and mind, but with the potential for significant negative environmental, social, and economic impacts. Electricity resource planning is equally complex and can potentially lead to equally negative consequences when done poorly. This is especially so within New England, the geographic boundary of this thesis due to significant physical constraints on land and electricity resources. Historically these two processes have been dealt with nationally as very separate issues. However, there has been recent acknowledgement within both public and private camps regarding the potential overlaps of waste management and energy development, which includes electricity resource planning. This thesis has endeavored to analyze the current state of waste management and energy development policy to further expose the potential benefits of increased coordination. With this accomplished, the thesis further provides policy recommendations designed to cooptimize waste management and energy development to decrease dependence on landfill disposal and increase the installed capacity of non-fossil fuel-based electricity resources in New England. The author believes substantial environmental, economic, and social benefits can be gained through increased waste management and energy development coordination, and that this thesis will move decisionmakers and citizens alike to take action.
Environmental Restoration in Boundaries and Interventions.
the
Atchafalaya
Basin:
Tijs van Maasakkers The Atchafalaya River is a 135-mile long river in Louisiana. This makes it the largest distributary of the Mississippi. In this thesis, I will review the ways in which the Atchafalaya Basin is described as a complex system by the two agencies that are responsible for its management, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. Different stakeholders understand and construct the Basin in a variety of ways. My question is how the different views of the Basin impact the environmental restoration and management of the Basin. I answer this question by describing how the agencies transform elements of the Basin into maps, plans and management activities by using science, aerial photography, and long-time residents of the Basin. I will argue that a central aspect of successful environmental restoration is that communication among different stakeholders must create a shared discourse to frame the main issues in the Basin. In the Atchafalaya Basin, this means that environmental restoration cannot be successful without some level of consensus among the stakeholders about what the Atchafalaya Basin is, how it has developed and which environmental qualities are present in the Basin today and which ones need to be restored.
THE ROAD STILL NOT TAKEN: Distributed generation in Massachusetts Luis Montoya In order to address rising energy costs and global climate change, Massachusetts has adopted greenhouse gas reduction goals and implemented programs and policies to promote the clean and efficient use of energy. Despite these efforts, however, the rate of development of distributed generation (DG) in the state pales in comparison to that of traditional centralized generation facilitates. This thesis argues that absent targeted policy interventions to change the incentive structure of electricity generation and consumption, DG cannot fulfill its potential as a significant means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts. Case studies of DG projects in Massachusetts are used to illustrate the variety of barriers facing potential DG customers in the state and how public policy interventions can address those barriers.
Sustainable Urban Development at the Project Level: Evaluation methods applied to the case of Willets Point, Queens by Siobhan Watson Citywide sustainability planning creates a vision of how environmental concerns will shape development, but the way these plans are incorporated into individual development projects may say a great deal about how that vision will be achieved in practice. I propose a system for evaluating the extent to which individual urban development projects contribute to sustainability and use it to evaluate the proposed redevelopment of Willets Point, Queens.
Mending Split Incentives: Overcoming Barriers to Energy Efficiency for Rental Housing Beth Williams
Lou Angeli
FLAMES IN THE WUI: How the Colorado Front Range is Managing Its Wildfire Risk in the Wildland-Urban Interface Molly Mowery
Exploding growth along the Colorado Front Range has expanded the wildland-urban interface他the area where homes and vegetation mix. This area, known as the WUI, is also at high risk to wildfires. Wildfire risk is based on both natural conditions, such as invasive species and climate change, and human development decisions that allow continued growth in fire-prone areas. Six counties along the Front Range are reviewed for their current approaches to wildfire mitigation---how they can reduce the impacts of wildfire throughout their communities. These mitigation approaches are effective but do not tackle important aspects of the wildfire problem, including who pays and how risks continue to increase. These issues raise significant questions about the continued WUI growth, and call for stronger policies that incorporate the full costs of protection into local jurisdictional budgets and address growth management in the WUI.
Energy efficiency is widely recognized as one of the best strategies we have for combating climate change and other energy-related problems. Energy efficiency implementation has been slow, however, due to a number of practical barriers. Few building sectors face higher hurdles to energy efficiency than rental housing: the split incentive problem, which reduces incentives for energy efficiency when the renter pays the energy bills but the landlord bears the cost of installing the measures, has made efficiency implementation for rental housing exceedingly difficult. In this thesis I ask: aside from the split incentive problem, what are the major barriers to investment in energy efficiency for rental housing? How well do existing policies and programs address these barriers? And finally, what strategies should we begin to implement now to facilitate rental housing efficiency in the future? I describe a handful of barriers, from split incentives to transaction costs, that limit energy efficiency for rental housing. Some of these barriers are specific to the sector, while others are more general but have a major impact. Existing policies and efficiency programs do not adequately address most of these barriers. While there is no silver bullet solution to energy efficiency for rental housing, I identify policy options that can be implemented at the federal, state, and local levels, several of which address multiple barriers. Policy packages must be tailored to the conditions of local rental housing markets, and local energy initiatives hold great promise as part of the solution. Coordinated Offshore Wind Networks by Mimi Zhang
Nuisance Wildlife In Conflict Julianne Siegel Dave Test
Is there a connection between how a community selects a nuisance wildlife management tactic and the tactic that that community selects? In this thesis I examine the link between the public process and wildlife management by looking at Canada geese in Massachusetts cities and towns. Through reflection on existing policy, management techniques and critical stakeholders, I explore the value of humane management and the changing relationship between humans and our wild neighbors.
The fluctuation and unpredictability of wind speeds makes wind energy a difficult and costly resource to integrate with the electricity grid. Wind patterns vary by geographic location, and wind power output fluctuation could be significantly decreased by siting and interconnecting multiple wind farms in areas with complementing wind resources. This thesis explores the feasibility of creating such a network for the East Coast of the United States. Is the required technology available? Is this idea cost effective, and if not, what needs to happen to make it cost effective? And of course, creating a truly effective network would require coordination of many fronts. Sites must be identified and approved with respect to wind patterns of other sites and transmission infrastructure must be expanded. What needs to happen in the policy and planning area in order to facilitate such development? This thesis is still very much a work in progress.
Fall 2007
MUSIC Update USGS Global Change Program Funds MUSIC Internships USGS has committed to fund the MUSIC internship program for the next several years. This included $100,000 to DUSP this spring so that we could make internship offers to four incoming MCP students. Funding from the USGS Global Change Program will enable MUSIC to support eight MCP students each year. In conjunction with USGS scientists, MIT faculty, and practitioners, interns will develop and test a variety of stakeholder engagement processes that we hope will result in
On April 15, MUSIC hosted a workshop, “Developing a Vision: Incorporating Ecosystem Services into Decision Making,” at MIT concurrent with the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting. This is the first of three national workshops organized by the USGS on different aspects of ecosystem services. The workshop focused on developing a vision for a world in which ecosystem service information is used routinely and effectively in conservation, resource management, and development decisions.
on-the-ground changes in practice. This work should produce a series of working papers advancing best practice as well as journal articles advancing theory.
Ongoing MUSIC Projects
Future Projects Focus on Climate Change and Ecosystem
Maine: Nearshore Ecosystems—Reforming Management by
Services
Integrating Local Knowledge and Science
MUSIC hosted the first meeting of the Global Climate Change
Two MUSIC interns are documenting lessons learned from
Collaborative (G3C) March 4, 5, and 6 at MIT.
Conference
four small community-based management organizations (in
attendees came from the U.S., Great Britain, Sweden, Israel,
Maine and New Brunswick) who have successfully engaged
Palestinian Occupied Territories, Australian, the Netherlands,
local resource users in their environmental management
and India.
initiatives. The project will expand to develop adaptive
Kirk Emerson, Director, U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution, and Patrick Field, Managing Director, Consensus
strategies for planners and natural resource managers to prepare for the impacts of climate change.
Building Institute, facilitated the conference. Participants decided upon a set of inaugural projects.
Connecticut River Valley: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Students in 11.375, “Workshop on Collaborative Adaptive
and The Nature Conservancy
Management—Planning for the Impacts of Climate Change,”
The US Army Corps of Engineers is working with the Nature
are helping to design the research template for three of these
Conservancy to address the operations and management
projects which are focused on adaptation aimed at protecting
practices of certain dams to ensure more natural river flow-
coastal and marine systems.
These are: 1) Sundarbans—
regimes. MUSIC interns are now working on a comparison of
Building Adaptive Approaches to Sustaining Livelihoods and
public participation strategies used by the Army Corps and TNC.
the Mangrove Ecosystem with the Anudip Foundation, India
The end-goal is to help design a joint planning process that will
and UNESCO, 2) Building Adaptive Capacity in Nearshore
allow the Corps and TNC to collaborate more effectively.
Ecosystems in Maine, with Environmental Policy Design and Quebec-Labrador Foundation, and 3) Climate Change Impacts on Pacific Marine Systems with the University of British Columbia and the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystem Cooperative Research Centre, Tasmania.
Cooperative Sagebrush Initiative (CSI) in the Western United States The purpose of CSI is to restore and preserve the sagebrush
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological
ecosystem over eleven states at the same time allowing for
Survey are supporting a MUSIC doctoral researcher for four
development of oil and gas resources in the area. MUSIC is
years to investigate the impacts of climate change on the the
working with CSI partners that include Environmental Defense,
Everglades. This research will mesh with ongoing research in the
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey,
Atchafalaya Basin and Lower Mississippi Valley in cooperation
private landowners, Encana USA and several other energy
with the USGS National Wetlands Researcher Center.
companies to design a conservation credit trading system.
environmental policy and Planning
New SA+P Faculty Collaborative Modeling of Social and Biophysical Systems Beaudry Kock, a DUSP doctoral student serving as Assistant Director of MUSIC and an intern at the Bureau of Reclamation, is helping to design an integrated modeling approach to water
Two new faculty joining the School of Architecture and Planning will contribute to the range of courses being offered that will be of interest to EPP students. We are pleased to welcome Professor Alan Berger and Professor Wescoat to DUSP.
management in the Arkansas basin of Colorado. He’s pursuing an approach, which emphasizes collaboration with and among local and regional stakeholders to develop a more scientifically and socially credible computer modeling tool. In conjunction with the Tufts Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, MUSIC doctoral researchers and faculty are preparing a proposal to support the creation of a systems dynamics Collaboration Software Platform, which will enable resource management agencies to formulate collaborative planning processes that balance science and politics in site-specific resource management efforts.
Washington State: The Bureau of Relcamation’s Odessa Subarea Special Study
Alan Berger’s main area of interest focuses on landscape and urbanization. From abandoned mine pits, mountains of slag and pools of cyanide, to vacant land, landfills, military installations, infrastructure networks, and places associated with lowdensity urbanization, Berger’s research and practice discovers new ways to see, measure, and act on highly disturbed sites and landscape systems earmarked for adaptive reuse by society. His work emphasizes the link between our consumption of natural resources, and the waste and destruction of landscape at regional and local scales. Alan’s recent publications include: Designing the Reclaimed Landscape, January 1, 2008, London: Taylor & Francis; Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban America, Princeton Architectural Press, April 2006; Nansha Coastal City: Landscape and Urbanism in the Pearl River Delta Alan Berger and Margaret Crawford, eds., Harvard University Graduate School of Design, 2006; Reclaiming the American West, 2002, Princeton Architectural Press.
The study is exploring alternatives to groundwater-use for a range of agricultural, residential, and commercial uses in Eastern Washington. In general, we are trying to help the study manager figure out the most productive ways of involving stakeholders, particularly when, where and how to organize public meetings.
Louisiana: USGS and the Management of the Atchafalaya Basin In collaboration with the USGS National Wetlands Research Center, MUSIC interns have prepared and presented an analysis of how various kinds of scientific information have been used in preparing plans for the Atchafalaya Basin, the largest contiguous cypress-swamp in the United States. MUSIC interns are working with the agencies and scientists to generate a more effective joint fact-finding and public engagement strategy that can increase the value of the research that is done.
Massachusetts: Permitting Process for Offshore Wind Farms Two MUSIC interns have been working to document the changing regulatory framework for the siting of off shore wind
James L. Wescoat, Jr. earned his Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from Louisiana State University and practiced landscape architecture in the U.S. and Middle East before returning to graduate study in geography at the University of Chicago with an emphasis on water resources. He has taught courses on landscape research, geographic theory, and water policy at the University of Chicago, the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research has concentrated on water systems in South Asia and the US from the site to river basin scales. For the greater part of his career, Professor Wescoat has focused on small-scale historical waterworks of Mughal gardens and cities in India and Pakistan. He led the Smithsonian Institution’s project titled, “Garden, City, and Empire: The Historical Geography of Mughal Lahore,” which won awards from the Government of Pakistan, the Punjab Government, and the American Society of Landscape Architects. More recently, he has organized a garden and waterworks conservation workshop at the Nagaur palace-garden complex in Rajasthan for the Mehrangarh Museum Trust; and a workshop on the “Three Shalamar Baghs of Delhi, Lahore, and Srinagar” with colleagues from those cities. At the larger scale, Professor Wescoat has conducted water policy research in the Colorado, Indus, Ganges, and Great Lakes basins, including the history and comparative study of multilateral water agreements. He led an NSF-funded project on “Water and Poverty in Colorado,” and in 2003, published Water for Life: Water Management and Environmental Policy with geographer Gilbert F. White (Cambridge University Press).
farms in the United States as a result of the 2005 National Energy Policy Act. A European Wind Energy Company called Blue H Group is providing funds for this activity.
Fall 2007
EPP Group Faculty and Affiliated Faculty
EP Certificate Program For students in the Department of Urban Studies and
EPP Group Faculty
Planning, EPP offers a certificate in Environmental
Lawrence Susskind, Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, Head of EPP and Co-Director of the MIT-USGS Science Impact Collaborative (MUSIC)
Planning. The number of students that can enroll is limited,
JoAnn Carmin, Spaulding Career Development Associate Professor of Environmental Policy and Planning Judith Layzer, Linde Career Development Associate Professor of Environmental Policy
but there are slots open. If you are interested in applying for the Certificate Program contact EPP at (epprequest@ mit.edu).
EPP Group
Charles Curtin, Lecturer in Landscape Analysis David Fairman, Lecturer in Sustainable Development Herman Karl, Lecture in Natural Resource Management, CoDirector of MUSIC Harvey Michaels, Lecturer in Energy Efficiency Dave Mattson, Lecturer in Environmental Leadership Jonathan Raab, Lecturer in Energy Policy
Department of Urban Studies and Planning Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Ave, 9-312 Cambridge, MA 02139 email: epprequest@mit.edu website: http://web.mit.edu/dusp/epp/ phone: 617.253.1509 fax: 617.253.7402
Affiliated Faculty from DUSP and other departments within MIT Nicholas Ashford, Professor of Technology and Director of the Technology and Law Program Eran Ben Joseph, Associate Professor of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture Alan Berger,
Associate Professor of Urban Design and
Landscape Architecture Michael Flaxman, Assistant Professor of Urban Technologies and Information Systems Kenneth Oye, Associate Professor of Political Science Anne Spirn, Professor of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning James Wescoat, Aga Kahn Professor of Architecture Chris Zegras, Ford Career Development Assistant Professor of Transportation and Urban Planning
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environmental policy and Planning