Urban & Environmental Planning

Daphne Spain — Department Chair

ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT

Students in the Planning program develop the understanding, sensitivity, and skills necessary to pursue professional careers in a variety of public, private, and nonprofit roles. The Department values environments where countrysides are productive and appropriately protected, where cities have vital centers and efficient means of movement, and where neighborhoods offer opportunities for all to live affordably and safely. The curriculum introduces students to the theories of planning, methods of analysis, effective means of communication, planning processes, and creative strategies for implementation. Choosing a Career In Urban Planning - the 28-page 2008 version of this brochure, is now posted here and can be viewed and printed.

One of the distinctive features of the program is a strong concern for community sustainability. While the topic is addressed in specific courses with that title, the concept of sustainability provides an underlying framework throughout the curriculum. Our goals are similar to those of the American Planning Association's Guide to Planning for Sustainability. The title of our department is Urban and Environmental Planning. We believe it is necessary to consider both the urban and environmental aspects of a setting to address its issues, problems, and opportunities. We are as much concerned with the economy and issues of equity as we are with the environment, and find it more useful to emphasize linkages than distinctions. We hope to inspire our students to have the same enthusiasm we feel for addressing the planning needs of sustainable communities.

The Department is built on a distinguished faculty and excellent students. Many of the faculty are engaged in current professional and civic work in addition to pioneering research and publications. A number of part-time faculty who are active full-time professionals also contribute to the course offerings. The Institute for Environmental Negotiation works closely with the Department and frequently involves faculty and students in research projects.

DEGREES

The Department offers two degrees. In addition to a four-year Bachelor’s and a two-year Master’s of Urban and Environmental Planning, the Department offers a Minor for students throughout the University and a certificate in Historic Preservation. There are also a number of dual degree opportunities within the Master’s program.

The Institute for Environmental Negotiation (IEN)

Negotiation, mediation, and other interactive and collaborative problem solving approaches are increasingly important in planning, policy making and in the resolution of development controversies. The Institute for Environmental Negotiation of the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning is a major resource for the acquisition of these conflict resolution skills.

The Institute sponsors visiting mediation practitioners, offers courses in negotiation skills and public involvement, and provides training opportunities through internships. The Mediator, newsletter of the institute, is also available online.

NEWS AND EVENTS

October 23, 2009

Sustainable and Green Cities Are Focus of Film by Planning Professor Timothy Beatley

{by Jane Ford, UVa News Services] For University of Virginia planning professor Timothy Beatley, cities are not just about buildings, roads and transportation. They are about building and sustaining community. An expert on sustainable and green cities, Beatley is the author of numerous books, including "Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities," "Native to Nowhere: Sustaining Home and Community in a Global Age" and "The Ecology of Place: Planning for Environment, Economy, and Community," coauthored with Kristy Manning. Beatley recently turned to film to express his work. He collaborated with Boulder, Colo.-based filmmaker Chuck Davis to write and direct "The Nature of Cities," a one-hour exploration of nature found – and designed – within cities. "The Nature of Cities" will have a Richmond premiere on Oct. 29 at 4:30 p.m. at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden's Massie Auditorium. The screening is free and open to the public, and is being shown as part of the symposium "Timeless Design in a Sustainable World: The Charles F. Gillette Forum." "'The Nature of Cities' is about the work of green urbanism," said Davis, who met Beatley in Sun Valley, Idaho, at a sustainability conference where they both presented their work. Davis had just completed a film about people working to face the challenges of climate change and was looking for a new project. After talking with Beatley, Davis was convinced he wanted to make a film exploring nature in urban spaces through projects that show how the built environment and nature can work together to sustain and rejuvenate life.

October 21, 2009

Faculty to be Featured in Sustainable World Symposium

Timeless Design in a Sustainable World

TIMELESS DESIGN IN A SUSTAINABLE WORLD – at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, Richmond Wed and Thurs, October 28-29. This two-day symposium will feature our own Thomas Woltz, ASLA, of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architecture Firm, Charlottesville, VA as well as Douglas Reed, FASLA, of Reed Hilderbrand Associates, Watertown, MA. AND will showcase the Richmond premiere of Prof. Timothy Beatley’s documentary, The Nature of Cities. The cost for the event is $70 for Wednesday only ($35 for students); $95 for Thursday only ($48 for students); and $130 for both days ($65 for students). The fee includes dinner Wednesday and/or lunch Thursday. Event description: If one legacy of the 20th century is its architectural prowess, might the 21st century be devoted to developing exquisite green spaces between the buildings where we live, work, and play? All around the world, growing urban populations are seeking communal spaces—parks, squares, plazas, piazzas, greenways and gardens—as essential components of daily life, places of respite and reflection, recreation, and celebration. This symposium will examine timeless principles of design—whether applied to the creation of a residential garden or a public space—that connect us to the natural world and in so doing, fulfill man’s innate desire for association with other living things. The symposium honors the legacy of Charles F. Gillette, a leader in the field of landscape architecture, by engaging the public in a conversation about the importance of landscape design and the value of Gillette’s ideals of elegance, superb craftsmanship, and seamless blending of architecture and garden. For the itinerary and online registration visit the symposium's website.

October 20, 2009

Planning Student Authors Article for New Planner Magazine

The New Planner (APA members only)

Benjamin H. Chrisinger, fourth-year Urban and Environmental Planning student is the author of, "Expanding the Academic Menu - Today's Planning Students Have an Appetite for Food Systems" published in the American Planning Association's "The New Planner" online magazine. Access to the magazine is restricted to APA members, but the first paragraph of the article is included below: "At colleges and universities across the country, students are putting their shovels into soil, laying out beds and rows, sowing seeds, mixing compost, and making statements about food. In Virginia alone, three public institutions started student gardens during the past academic year. Though they differ in size, scope, and style, all student gardens seem to make a point of saying 'our food doesn't come from the grocery store.'"

October 15, 2009

4th Annual 100-Mile Thanksgiving

The fourth-annual gathering of some dedicated UVA foodies. By Andrew Jenner [Edible Blue Ridge Magazine] To Dana Smith, the meal had all the appearances of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, and in most ways, it was just that—turkey, pies, sweet potatoes, and eggnog, spread across several tables. But this Thanksgiving meal satisfied on a deeper level: Nearly everything had been grown, made, brewed, or otherwise concocted within 100 miles of Charlottesville. Filling a church fellowship hall were dozens of happily chatting students, faculty, friends, and family of the UVA department of urban and environmental planning. As the crowd worked its way down the buffet line, guests read and discussed the recipe cards that sat beside each dish, explaining where the ingredients had come from. Then, while seated to eat in smaller groups, they continued to parse the most adventuresome and tastiest of the 100-mile dishes, each of which was prepared by someone in attendance. Tim Beatley, a renowned professor of sustainable communities, introduced the 100-mile Thanksgiving idea to his department in 2006, after meeting Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon, writers from Vancouver who popularized the concept in their book The 100-mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating. [for complete article, follow link in headline]

September 25, 2009

Virginia Natural Resources Institute Holds Annual Meeting (NBC-TV)

Institute for Environmental Negotiation

[From WVIR-TV NBC) Environmental advocates from across Virginia and parts of the southeastern United States are meeting in Madison County this week for the Virginia Natural Resources Leadership Institute. They are working on different ways of looking at environmental issues, and how to enlighten local and state governments that make the development decisions impacting natural resources. Organizers hope institute students follow in institute alumni footsteps and find environmental solutions. "We can't solve these problems alone. And the cost to us as everyday citizens, the cost to local governments, to state and federal governments is too much. So we have to find ways to work through these problems together instead of always being at loggerheads and pointing fingers of blame," said Tanya Denckla Cobb with the UVA Institute for Environmental Negotiation. This is the 10th year of the institute. The Madison Leg Institute goes through Friday. Students will meet several times throughout the year to look at environmental issues in other parts of the state.