AMST 406
Environmental Planning Workshop: Community Project Experience Fall 2023
Division II
Cross-listed ENVI 402
This is not the current course catalog

In this class you apply your education to effect social and environmental change in the Berkshires. Students work in small collaborative groups to address pressing issues facing the region. Class teams partner with community organizations and local & regional governments to work with clients to develop solutions. You will learn while doing and contribute to the community. The field of environmental planning encompasses the built environment, such as housing, zoning, transportation, renewable energy, waste, neighborhood design; the natural environment, such as open space, farmland, habitat and species protection, natural resource protection, air and water pollution and climate change, and the social environment, such as racial zoning, recreation, placemaking, ecojustice, food security, and healthy communities. Skills taught include basic land use planning, GIS mapping, developing and conducting surveys, interview techniques, community-based research, project management, public presentations and professional report-writing. The class culminates in public presentations to the client organizations. The class hours include time for team project work, client meetings and team meetings with the professor. Recent project topics: https://ces.williams.edu/environmental-planning-papers/