This undergraduate course is designed to provide students with an overview of the policy and legal implications of land development and use, focusing primarily on the environmental implications of public planning, policy-making, and law at the state and local levels. The course is framed around four general topics, each of which will be addressed specifically to environmental issues: the scientific and moral justifications for undertaking private and public land use management; the state and local institutional structures employed for managing land development and use in the U.S., focusing on planning, infrastructure policy, and regulation; the successes and failures of that state and local land management regime and corresponding efforts to reform it; and the ‘wise-use,’ ‘tea party,’ and other popular back-lash responses to land management reforms.

Students will learn the substance of the topics described. They will also learn to read and brief legal cases related to land use law, to read and interpret local master plans, and to read and interpret local zoning codes.

Course Requirements:

Attendance and participation (15%), 2 1-page legal case briefs (10%), 4 short-answer exercises (20%), midterm exam (20%), planning commission meeting summary report (10%), final exam (25%)

Intended Audience:

This course is intended for undergraduate students who are contemplating careers in urban and regional planning, public policy analysis, environmental management, and law. The course should also be useful for environmental science and engineering students seeking a broad understanding of the issues and institutional approaches we take to managing land development and use in the U.S.