ENVI 402
Environmental Planning Workshop: Community Project Experience Fall 2024
Division II
Cross-listed AMST 406

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 & county governments to conduct applied research and to develop solutions. Students will learn experientially and contribute to the community. The field of environmental planning encompasses the built environment (eg: housing, zoning, transportation, renewable energy, waste, neighborhood design), the natural environment (eg: farmland, ecosystems, habitat, natural resources, air and water pollution and climate change), and the social environment (eg: spatial geography, racial zoning, recreation, placemaking, ecojustice, food security, and public health). Skills taught include land use planning, community-based research, basic GIS mapping, developing/conducting surveys, interview technique, project management, public presentations and professional report-writing. The class culminates in presentations to the client organizations. 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/