Lancaster County's (PA) farmland protection program has helped prevent suburban growth from infringing on farmland

Advisor: John Keene

Penn's concentration in Environmental Planning and Growth Management blends consideration of current problems with technical training. It expresses how society's increased dependence on technology has improved amenities, quality of life, and security while threatening the sustainability of human settlement. It demonstrates how burgeoning growth, recognition of the need to set aside agricultural and ecologically significant land, the shortage of affordable housing, and the revitalization of older industrial cities have combined to expose the frailties of traditional techniques for controlling land uses. It surveys innovative approaches to address these issues: public facilities investment, urban growth boundaries, inclusionary zoning, transferable development rights, and impact fees. Students taking this concentration find employment in local, county, state, and federal planning agencies as well as in consulting firms and nonprofit organizations

Goals

-To provide integrated professional education in the fields of growth management and environmental planning.
-To provide knowledge and skills necessary to understand the interaction between natural conditions and processes and urban development.
-To provide jurisdiction-wide understanding of the economic, social, and legal issues involved in managing growth and planning for conservation of the environment.
-To provide the technical skills necessary to carry out growth management and environmental planning.

Requirements

Students complete four of the following courses, including at least two foundation courses and two elective courses chosen from the complete list.

Foundation Courses
CPLN 554 Environmental Management and Evaluation
CPLN 725 Innovations in Growth Management
CPLN 764 Issues in Environmental Planning
CPLN 765 Environmental Law: Selected Issues

Elective Courses
CPLN 542 Sustainable Suburbs
CPLN 585 Land Use Planning: Principles and Practice
CPLN 642 Real Estate Finance and Urban Planning
CPLN 648 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
CPLN 661 Site Planning
CPLN 662 Metropolitan Regional Planning
CPLN 666 Geographic Information Systems for Planners
CPLN 671 Sustainable Development in Cities and Regions
CPLN 719 Environmental Planning in Cities
GEOL 511 Geology of Soils
GEOL 530 Hydrogeology
LARP 514 Introduction to Limnology
LARP 749 Restoration Ecology
REAL 804 Law of Real Estate Finance and Development