Resources

2019. Author: Marian Swain. Large-scale energy infrastructure projects often spark controversy over possible negative impacts on the environment, the local economy, or abutting properties. The transition to clean energy is exacerbating these conflicts, since it requires a substantial build-out of new energy infrastructure. In this thesis, I use a case study analysis of recent electricity transmission and offshore wind projects in New England to examine the key sources of stakeholder opposition...

2007. Author: Sharlene Leurig. Brownfields are abandoned or underused land whose redevelopment is complicated by the presence or perception of contamination. Nationally the United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates the number of brownfields to be more than half a million. As of 2002, the EPA requires states and tribal governments to inventory brownfields within their boundaries in order to receive federal funding for brownfield response programs; municipalities and regional...

2007. Author: Christina Rosan. Metropolitan areas across the U.S. are characterized by sprawling development which uses larger amounts of open space than necessary, leads to the inefficient use of energy and water, increases social inequality, and causes a variety of other negative externalities. One way to prevent this type of development is to promote coordinated land use planning at the metropolitan scale. Metropolitan coordination is a challenge, however, in a country where most land use...

2010. Author: Christopher Horne. Mixed-use planning is now a standard practice in city design and development. It is believed to support diverse and mutually reinforcing elements within a neighborhood. Agricultural landscapes present an analogous opportunity for mixed-use planning in order to capitalize on the synergies between food production, economic development, water management, biodiversity, energy production, and cultural preservation. This thesis develops a model specifically for...

Most public policy questions are complicated by the presence of multiple stakeholders with differing interests and perspectives. For example, a proposal to build a new gas-fired power plant may be championed by a utility; supported by certain business interests eager for the construction contracts and cheap energy; tentatively supported by labor groups, provided they can get certain provisions for workers; strongly opposed by environmentalists due to the foreseen pollution and environmental...

2009. Authors: L. Susskind and Crump, L. Edited by Professors Lawrence E. Susskind and Larry Crump, this collection makes a strong case for how and why multiparty negotiation should be treated as a distinct field of study. The editors argue that multiparty negotiations exhibit at least three features that distinguish them from two-party negotiations: coalitional behavior, demanding process management requirements, and highly complex analytical challenges for each stakeholders (including shifting...

2020. Urban Affairs Review. Authors: B. Preis and Susskind, L. As governments have digitized their operations, they have opened themselves to cyberattacks, resulting in harmful disruptions to government services. The scholarly world has been slow to pick up on this growing risk. Professional associations have conducted studies of their own, and produced recommendations, but few scholars have looked closely at cybersecurity practices at the municipal level. The interconnectedness of local...

2011. Author: Isabelle Anguelovski. Environmental Justice (EJ) scholarship has revealed that communities of color and low-income neighborhoods have been disproportionally affected by 'brown' contaminating facilities and excluded from decision-making on their land, and that residents have used a variety of strategies to address such injustices (Bullard 1990, Agyeman 2003, Susskind and Macey 2004, Corburn, 2005, Pellow and Brulle 2005, Schlosberg 2007). However, traditional EJ literature tends to...

2008. Author: Kara Reeve. The unequal distribution of climate change impacts exploits the existing vulnerabilities of developing nations. This inequity, coupled with an inadequate, climate mitigation-focused response, has prompted a growing movement of global civil society actors demanding climate justice. In particular, transnational, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have now developed climate change campaigns that focus on both climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, little...

2018. Author: Griffin Smith. Since 2000, Malaysia's GDP has risen by 264.4% and its population by 30.4%. The government has strongly pushed economic growth and development and aims to reach high-income status by 2020. At the same time, Malaysia has publicly committed to reduce its carbon intensity on a GDP basis by up to 45%. The outcome of this tension between Malaysia's development ambitions and its climate change goals may foreshadow the carbon trajectory for much of the rest of the...

Authors: MIT Students in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, under the supervision of Professor Lawrence Susskind and Dr. Herman Karl. Shellfish Wind Associates has submitted a proposal to develop offshore wind farms in Dakota Shoal, and the Federal Permitting Agency (FPA) is reviewing the controversial proposal. A group of relevant stakeholders has been meeting to discuss the recently submitted draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and this is the third meeting convened by the...

2022. Author: P. McAteer. Pathways to Action takes a strategic approach to accelerating action on climate change. It outlines key challenges for governments and industries, and provides four pathways with practical examples and illustrations for each. The book acknowledges that not all opportunities are created equal, and that misinformation and mistrust are barriers that must be overcome. It examines the role of keystone organizations and how leaders in such organizations can create outsized...