Planning and Environmental Impact Assessment

This course will examine legislation, policy and case law relevant to strategic environmental land-use planning, the control of development and environmental risk assessment. The course will take a thematic and comparative approach to planning policy and law in multiple jurisdictions. The role, powers and functions of different levels of governments in planning and EIA will be examined with case studies and examples used to illustrate current environmental land-use planning problems. The course content falls into three broad inter-related topics: land-use planning policy and context, strategic planning and development control. Embedded within each of these topics will be an examination of theories of environmental decision-making including the use of expertise and science in environmental decision-making; treatment of uncertainty and ‘regulatory science’ in risk regulatory contexts; standards of preventive and precautionary regulation; and, relevant case law on standards of science relevant to domestic and international risk regulation contexts. Also within each topic the role of the community, proponents, federal and state governments, the courts and tribunals in environmental land-use planning outcomes will be examined. The course will provide the opportunity for students to further develop research skills, to engage with others in an online learning environment and to improve their analytical and written communication skills.