Regional Cultures of Conservation

Return to main program page

The Philosophy and Politics of Planning: A Case Study of the Hudson River Valley

Lead Staff: Bruce Jennings, M.A.


Rationale

Planning is a name we give to humans and nature relationships that are studied, organized, and institutionalized in a certain way. Today, with movements such as New Urbanism and awareness of the lack of ecological and energy sustainability that marks most development, there is clear recognition of the failures of suburban sprawl. The planning profession is in a moment of transition and redefinition. Too often planning and planners have been reduced to regulatory functionaries and have had a limited ecological vision. Neither Aldo Leopold’s land ethic nor Wendell Berry’s emphasis on the human need for a sense of place and rootedness have impacted regional plans. This project will explore the hypothesis that the guiding principle of ecological democratic citizenship can enhance the planning process to make it more vital and more oriented toward the essential goals of sustainability and resiliency. The Hudson Valley today is at an environmental and historical crossroads, and provides an excellent region for a case study in developing a new philosophy of planning. Brown fields from the region’s former industrial era line the river awaiting remediation and redevelopment. Suburban and exurban sprawl puts pressure on the biodiversity and sustainability of the region. Economic and environmental values and interests clash in a politicized process of land-use planning.

History and Partners

 The Center has built a network and relationships with individuals and groups who share a broad vision with the Center and who are well positioned to assist in making the project successful.  Together, the Center and collaborators have identified the need for: (1) a vision for the region that reconciles ecological conservation and resilience with economic and social development; (2) a framework for planning and political debate that emphasizes sustainability, relationship to the landscape and watershed, accessibility to the river; and (3) an achievable development approach based on ecosystem health and historical legacy of the region.

Key organizational collaborators will be the Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges and Universities and the Nature Network.  Other cooperating organizations have input into the project and their representatives will assist as collaborators. Key collaborators include: Michele Land (Environmental Consortium and Pace University); Michael Klemens (Cary Institute); Roger Panetta (Fordham University), and Christina Colon (Nature Network). 

Goals and Strategies

The goal of this project is to engage policy makers, advocates, and educators working on the sustainability of the human and natural communities in the Hudson Valley region. To achieve this goal, the project will (1) convene citizens, educators and regional leaders to develop a planning framework grounded in philosophy and ethics and; (2) provide access to information and tools related to land-use planning in the Hudson Valley region.

What’s Next

The project will create a public lecture series on planning, ethics, and sustainability featuring both nationally and regionally prominent thought leaders in the field.  The underlying and unifying theme of these lectures will be how democratic ecological citizenship can be utilized and strengthened in the regional land use and planning process. Following each public lecture there will be an invitational seminar comprised of local and regional policy makers, planners, and conservationists in which the invited speaker will present more specialized material and interact with seminar participants. The speakers will each prepare a written text for publication by the Center in Minding Nature, and additional written materials prepared by Center staff will accompany those commissioned works. The result will be a substantial collection on the ethics and politics of land use planning and conservation both generally and in reference to the New York Metropolitan/Hudson Valley region.

Check back with us soon to see the 2011 calendar of events for this project.

Back to Top