Public Policy and Environmental Ethics for Sustainable Communities

This course will look at environmental and development policies at the municipal, state and federal levels to build an understanding of the broad spectrum of influences on the built environment and how each level of regulation can impact the design process. Students will develop an understanding of public policy and effective community organization through the investigation of case studies at a range of scales across geographies. The course will provide an overview of the policy development process, from the early stages of creating legislation through administrative rule-making. It will also study the impacts of policies, both the positive benefits and the unintended consequences. The relationship between policy and design will be closely studied, with an emphasis on using design processes to inform and improve policy making and implementation at all levels of government and, where appropriate, private enterprise.