Professor Alan Berger

Associate Professor of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture
aberger@mit.edu

Alan Berger is Associate Professor of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he teaches courses in the department of urban studies and planning. He founded and directs P-REX, The Project for Reclamation Excellence (www.theprex.net), a multi-disciplinary research effort at MIT focusing on the design and reuse of deindustrialized landscapes worldwide. By using low-angle aerial photography, maps, and other graphic evidence, Berger visually reveals evidence and trends of landscape waste throughout the world—from public health hazards such as abandoned mine pits, mountains of slag, and pools of cyanide, to vacant land, landfills, military installations, and places associated with high and low-density urbanization. How these sites are cleansed, valued and considered for adaptive reuse at local and regional scales is Berger's main area of interest. His work emphasizes the link between our consumption of natural resources, and the waste and destruction of landscape, to help us better understand how to proceed with redesigning our wasteful places for future productive uses and more sustainable outcomes. Berger currently serves as a consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Brownfield and Superfund site revitalization in the American landscape.

His book Drosscape: Wasting Land in Urban America, published in 2006, won I.D. Magazine’s 53rd Annual Design Review Silver Medal for Design Distinction, and was named a top 10 planning book of 2007 by Planetizen. His 2002 book, Reclaiming the American West, received the Research Award from the Environmental Design Research Association and Places Magazine, and was named a Colorado Book of the Year by the Center for the Book. His other books include Designing the Reclaimed Landscape, published by Taylor & Francis in January 2008, and co-edited Nansha Coastal City: Landscape and Urbanism in the Pearl River Delta, published in early 2006.

Berger earned his Masters of Landscape Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Fine Arts, where he received its highest awards for design excellence and research: the Faculty Medal and Van Alen Fellowship. He is a Fellow of The American Academy in Rome. He was licensed as a landscape architect in 1992.

Professor JoAnn Carmin
Ph.D, MS
JoAnn Carmin
Charles H. (1951) and Ann E. Spaulding Career Development Professor
Associate Professor of Environmental Policy and Planning
jcarmin@mit.edu

Professor Carmin’s research focuses the societal dimensions of environmental governance. She presently is working on two research projects. In the first, she is studying the how environmental organizations in Central and Eastern Europe have responded to domestic change and transnational pressures since the fall of state-socialism. In the second, she is investigating the influence that NGOs and communities have on corporate decision-making and practices with respect to proposed gold mines. Professor Carmin has received research support from the National Science Foundation, the International Research and Exchanges Board, and the American Council of Learned Societies. In addition to authoring numerous scholarly journal articles and book chapters, she is co-author of Collaborative Environmental Management: What Roles for Government? (Resources for the Future) and co-editor of EU Enlargement and the Environment: Institutional Change and Environmental Policy in Central and Eastern Europe (Routledge) and of a special issue of the journal Mobilization.
jcarmin@mit.edu
Professor Carmin's Personal Website
Professor Carmin's Policy Learning Project
Professor Carmin's Environmental NGO project

Lecturer David Fairman
PhD
fairman@mit.edu

David Fairman has taught negotiation, consensus building and mediation skills for organizational leaders and staff through the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and through national and international organizations including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program, the Sustainability Challenge Foundation, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Capital One, and the American Cancer Society, among many others. He has researched and written numerous academic publications, consulting reports and simulations on negotiation and public consensus building.

Dr. Fairman has been with CBI since 1997. Prior to his work with CBI, Dr. Fairman was a facilitator and trainer in private practice, and a mediator with Endispute, Inc., one of the first private conflict resolution organizations in the U.S. He is a senior mediator on the rosters of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution. He serves on the membership committee of the Alliance for International Conflict Prevention and Resolution, where he was a founding Board member, and he is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Fairman holds a BA from Harvard University and a PhD in political science from MIT.

Professor Michael Flaxman
PhD, MCRP
Assistant Professor of Urban Information Systems
mflaxman@mit.edu

Dr. Michael Flaxman is an assistant professor in the Urban Information Systems Group of MIT’s Department of Planning. His primary research interest is in the use of spatial simulation modeling in the planning and design of cities and regions. He is particularly interested in the development of tools for stakeholder-based planning which present evaluative models in context using visual simulation. He has practiced GIS-based planning in 14 countries, including one year as a Fulbright fellow in Canada.

Recent publications include; “Alternative Furtures for the Region of Loreto, Baja California Sur, Mexico” (http://futurosalternativosloreto.org), A sustainable path? Deciding the future of La Paz” Environment. July/Aug 2005, and “A delicate balance: conservation and development scenarios for Panama’s Coiba national park” Environment. June 2005.

Lecturer Herman Karl
PhD, MS
MIT-USGS Science Impact Collaborative Co—Director
hkarl@mit.edu

Herman Karl is a principal scientist in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Science Impact program and co–director of the MIT–USGS Science Impact Collaborative. He studies the role of science and scientists within a collaborative process model that applies a joint fact finding and adaptive management approach to environmental policy and natural resource management decisions. In this model, citizen stewards partner with government to achieve sustainable policies.Among his numerous publications is the book, Beyond the Golden Gate–Oceanography, Geology, Biology and Environmental Issues in the Gulf of the Farallones (USGS Circular 1198, 2002) It has received the Association of Earth Science Editors Outstanding Publication of the Year, the USGS Shoemaker Award for Excellence, and the National Association of Government Communicators Award for Outstanding Achievement. He has served on many committees to render scientific and strategic planning advice, which include the USGS Strategic Planning Team and the Department of the Interior (DOI) 4Cs Partnership and Collaboration Action Team. His leadership, scientific and public service contributions to the USGS and the nation have been acknowledged with several honors including the DOI Superior Service Award.

Professor Judith Layzer
Ph.D., MIT, Political Science, February 1999
Associate Professor of Environmental Policy
jlayzer@mit.edu

Judy Layzer is a political scientist whose research and teaching focus on the roles of science, values, and storytelling in environmental politics, as well as on the effectiveness of different approaches to environmental planning and management.  A current research project investigates how conservative activists have developed a coherent storyline aimed at undermining environmentalism and how conservative ideas have influenced U.S. environmental politics.  A second project examines the nature and results of urban sustainability planning and asks:  do urban sustainability initiatives significantly reduce cities’ ecological footprint?  Which aspects of “green cities” are most effective at reducing cities’ environmental impacts?   

Now in its second edition, Professor Layzer’s book, The Environmental Case: Translating Values Into Policy (CQ Press, 2006) describes 16 prominent cases of environmental policymaking, ranging from local disputes over hazardous waste to national controversies over public lands and international conflicts over global warming.  In Natural Experiments: Ecosystem Management and the Environment (MIT Press, 2008), Layzer aims to explain whether and how ecosystem-based management results in more environmentally beneficial policies and practices than the conventional regulatory approach.  She analyzes seven cases, including the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program, the San Diego Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, the Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan, the California Bay-Delta Program, and the Kissimmee River Restoration.

With Professor JoAnn Carmin, Layzer co-directs the Environmental Policy and Planning group’s Society, Business and the Environment Project.  She also directs the soon-to-be-unveiled Urban Sustainability Project @ MIT (urbansustainability@mit/greencities@mit). 

Lecturer Harvey Michaels
MCP
hgm@mit.edu

Harvey Michaels is Energy Efficiency Lecturer in DUSP as well as a Research Scientist within the MIT Energy Initiative. He has provided leadership and maintained an active practice in the field of energy efficiency for 30 years, and continues to counsel policy leaders, utility executives, and venture investors on energy efficiency technology, policy, and business strategy. Harvey is a frequent speaker on a more efficient and customer-centric energy marketplace, and author of more than 50 papers, studies, and articles.
Harvey has developed two energy efficiency companies; he is founder and former CEO of Nexus Energy Software (1997-2007), a leader in software systems for energy diagnostics and consumer information. Nexus’ energyguide.com site was recognized by Al Gore in An Inconvenient Truth as an important resource for consumers seeking to reduce their home energy use. Nexus is now Aclara Software, a division of ESCO Technologies (NYSE:ESE), a “Smart Grid” system provider. Previously, Harvey was president of XENERGY, an international energy efficiency engineering and planning consultancy. In the 1970’s, Harvey was Chief of Energy Resource Policy for Massachusetts.

Lecturer Joanthan Raab
PhD, MS
raab@mit.edu

Jonathan Raab is President of Raab Associates Ltd -- an independent energy and regulatory consulting and dispute resolution firm in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Raab is also a senior consultant with the Consensus Building Institute, Inc. in Cambridge. Dr. Raab recently published a seminal book, Using Consensus Building to Improve Utility Regulation (ACEEE: Washington, D.C, 320 pages, foreword by Susan Tierney). He has worked as a consultant and dispute resolution specialist on a wide range of issues for many public utility commissions including the states of Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Prior to starting Raab Associates, Dr. Raab was the Assistant Director of the Electric Power Division at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities. Dr. Raab has a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Energy and Environmental Policy, and Resource Economics), an M.S. from Stanford University’s Civil Engineering Department (Infrastructure Planning and Management), and an A.B. (distinction) in Social Sciences also from Stanford. He has taught courses at the University of Oregon, Stanford, UMass (Boston) and MIT.

Professor Lawrence Susskind
PhD, MCP
Ford Professor of Urban Studies and Environmental Planning
susskind@mit.edu

Lawrence Susskind has served in a variety of roles in the DUSP over the past 35 years, including as Head of the Department. He is currently Director of the Environmental Policy and Planning Group. He is Founder of the Consensus Building Institute (a Cambridge-based, not-for-profit) that provides environmental mediation services around the world. CBI is currently involved with a wide range of resource management disputes including the mediation of Bedouin land claims in Israel, air quality management in Mexico City, and strategies for resolving facility siting disputes in Korea. Professor Susskind was one of the founders of the interuniversity Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, where he co-directs the MIT-Harvard Public Disputes Program.
His research interests focus on growth management in the Boston metropolitan area, autonomy for indigenous peoples around the world who want to manage their own lands and natural resources, negotiation of water and other multilateral treaties, the siting of alternative energy production facilities, and the resolution of science-intensive policy disputes. Professor Susskind is the author or co-author of fifteen books including, most recently, Breaking Robert’s Rules,(Oxford, 2006), Dealing with An Angry Public (Free Press, 1995), Negotiating Environmental Agreements (Island Press, 2001); Transboundary Environmental Negotiations (Jossey-Bass, 2003), and Better Environmental Policy Studies (Island Press, 2001).

Professor Terry Szold
MRP
Adjunct Associate Professor of Land Use Planning
tsszold@mit.edu

Terry Szold, a land use planning consultant and member of the City Design and Development (CDD) faculty, is the principal of Community Planning Solutions (CPS), in Andover, MA, and serves as the Department's practitioner and educator in land use and growth management. Her areas of specialization and interest include the use and preparation of smart growth zoning techniques, development agreements, comprehensive plans and growth management strategies, and land use law and regulation. She is the recipient of the 1996 Faye Seigfriedt Award from the Massachusetts Chapter of the APA, and received an "Outstanding Community Leadership Award" from the North Suburban Chamber of Commerce for her work in promoting economic development in areas North of Boston. Her recent work includes growth management and regulatory programs for Guilford, CT, Lincoln and Wellesley, MA, and Bedford, NH.

Professor Eran Ben-Joseph
PhD
Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning
ebj@mit.edu

Eran Ben-Joseph, a faculty member in DUSP's City and Design Development (CDD) Group, graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and from Chiba National University of Japan. His interests include urban and physical design, standards and regulations, site and landscape planning and urban simulation.  His recent books are The Code of the City: Standards and the Hidden Language of Place Making (MIT Press, 2005), the anthology Regulating Place: Standards and the Shaping of Urban America (with Terry Szold, Routledge 2005). He is the founding principal of BNBJ, a planning firm in Tel-Aviv, Israel, and E. Ben-Joseph Consultants of Acton, Ma. He previously taught at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and has led national and international multi-disciplinary projects in Singapore, Barcelona, and Washington DC among other places.  He is the recent recipient of the Wade Award for his work on Representation of Places - a collaboration project with MIT Media Lab as well as MIT's Graduate Teaching Award.

Professor Anne Whiston Spirn
MLA
Professor of Landscape Architecture and Planning
spirn@mit.edu

Anne Spirn has worked in inner–city neighborhoods on the design of community space and landscape. She is a member of the CDD faculty and director of the West Philadelphia Landscape Project — integrating teaching, research, and community service — cited as a “Model of Best Practice” at a White House summit in March 1999. She has received numerous fellowships and has been honored by the Philadelphia School District for the Mill Creek Project, a collaboration with inner city teachers and students. She received the prestigious International Cosmos Prize for a lifetime of research contributing to the “harmonous co-existence of nature and mankind.” Before coming to MIT, she taught at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. Professor Spirn worked at Wallace McHarg Roberts and Todd on diverse projects, including Woodlands New Community in Houston, the Toronto Central Waterfront, and a comprehensive plan for Sanibel, FL. Her books include The Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design, (1985) which won the President's Award of Excellence from the American Society and The Language of Landscape (Thomson-Shore, Inc. 1998).

Professor Chris Zegras
PhD, MCP , MS
Assistant Professor of Transportation Planning
czegras@mit.edu

Prof. Zegras teaches courses in urban transportation planning, statistics, and land use-transportation planning and he has also co-taught urban design and planning studios and practica in Mexico City, Beijing and Santiago de Chile. His research interests include the influence of the built environment on individual travel behavior, transportation infrastructure and system financing, developing indicators of sustainable transportation, and mitigating transportation greenhouse gas emissions. On these and other related topics, he has consulted widely, including for the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Canadian, German, US, and Peruvian Governments, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and the United Nations Center for Regional Development. Prior to coming to DUSP, Zegras worked for MIT’s Laboratory for Energy and the Environment and for the International Institute for Energy Conservation in Washington, DC and Santiago de Chile. He has published articles in Energy Policy, Transportation Research Record, Journal of Urban Planning and Development, and Transport Policy and co-edited the book, From Understanding to Action: Sustainable Urban Development in Medium-Sized Cities in Africa and Latin America (Springer, 2004). He currently leads the Transportation Systems Focus Area of the MIT-Portugal Program, a multi-year research and education collaborative between MIT and several Portuguese Universities.

Professor Nicholas Ashford
PhD, JD
Professor of Technology and Policy, School of Engineering
nashford@mit.edu

Nicholas Ashford is a member of the faculty for the Technology and Law Program within MIT’s School of Engineering. His research interests include regulatory law and economics; design of government policies for encouraging technological innovation and improvements in health, safety and environmental quality; pollution prevention and cleaner, safer production; the effects of liability in improving product and process safety; the consequences of low-level exposure to chemicals; sustainability, trade and environment; labor’s participation in technological change; and environmental justice. He has developed methods for decision-making in the regulation of chemicals and has investigated the effects of regulation on technological innovation in many industries. His research activities include work for the UN Environment Programme, the OECD, the European Union, and various U.S. regulatory agencies.

Professor Kenneth Oye
PhD, MS
Associate Professor of Political Science
oye@mit.edu

Kenneth Oye is a member of MIT’s Center for International Studies and is now forming a Political Economy and Technology Policy Program within the Center. He works in the fields of American foreign policy, international political economy, international relations theory, and technology policy. He has edited and contributed to a series of four volumes on U.S. foreign policy. He is author of Economic Discrimination and Political Exchange: Bilateralism and Regionalism in the 1930’s and 1980’s (Princeton University Press, 1993) and editor of Cooperation Under Anarchy (Princeton University Press, 1986). He has served on the faculties of Harvard, University of California, Princeton, and Swarthmore, and has been a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution.