Teaching and advising

Teaching Portfolio

PLAN 1900 Sustainable Cities (Spring): This course provides a comprehensive overview of critical current issues and trends that are impacting the urban environments, and their relationship to the natural environment at global and local scales. The purpose of the course is to craft a global and broad understanding of issues in planning for sustainable urban environments. This class counts towards satisfying foundations requirements.

PLAN 3020 Environmental Planning (Fall): This course is intended as a broad introduction to the field of environmental planning in the United States. In this course we will survey the territory of environmental planning and management: the actors involved, what they do, and fundamentally how to plan for the environment. At the end of this course, students should have a working knowledge of the key concepts and framework of the environmental planning field. Students will be familiar with basic theories, public policy, and seminal case studies. Finally, students will be capable of analyzing planning issues by applying a variety of environmental methods.

PLAN 4055/6055 Coastal Planning and Management (Spring): Coastal areas in the US are under intense development and natural pressure. This course integrates physical, social, and economic principles underpinning contemporary coastal management practices. In this course, students will learn about the competing interests of coastal zone stakeholders, environmentalists, and major industries, including land development, tourism, recreation, and natural resource extraction. Concepts of conservation, preservation, and sustainability related to coastal regions will be discussed. Students will learn the dominant coastal physical processes as a basis for understanding coastal zone management practices. Coastal zone management practices and policies will be considered at multiple spatial scales (i.e. international, federal, state, regional and local) with a focus on the U.S. Coastal Zone Management Act and the North Carolina Coastal Area Management Act.

PLAN 4096 Planning Studio (Fall): The planning studio introduces students to the fundamental knowledge and technical skills used by urban planners to research, create, analyze and implement plans and projects for the built environment. The studio builds the work of PLAN 3022 (History and Theory of Planning) and PLAN 3051 (Introduction to GIS), which introduce students to both the fundamentals of plan making, as well as the spatial analysis and representation techniques to communicate planning analysis and ideas. During this studio, students will be exposed to a wide range of planning approaches, current planning issues, and physical elements of the urban environment through hands-on studio projects. Students will learn the importance of creative ideas, rigorous observation and research to support ideas, and strategic thinking to affect change that balances multiple interests in complicated settings. Through the studio format, the ability to communicate creative ideas will be developed, using graphic, analytic and oral presentation skills to form a cohesive argument.

HNRS 2013 Along the AT: Experiences and Reflections on the Appalachian Trail (Spring): The purpose of this writing intensive course is for students to gain a greater understanding of place and how the interpretation and understanding of place can become an instigator for both personal growth and collective action. Through a series of readings, writing assignments, guest lectures and outdoor activities, students will understand how hiking the Appalachian Trail impacts those who have hiked it. Students should plan on participating in one weekend pre-AT hike and a 4-day section hike on the Appalachian Trail over Easter break. This class will offer Social Sciences credit and count towards satisfying the Writing Intensive requirement.

Courses taught previously include a combination of graduate lectures, seminars, and distance learning course, including: Fundamentals of Environmental Planning (distance), Introduction to Urban Studies (lecture), American City Planning (lecture), Theory and Practice of Planning (Seminar), and Coastal Zone Planning and Management (seminar).

If you are interested in working with me as a graduate student or majoring in planning as an undergraduate, please feel free to contact me: bircht@ecu.edu.