Judith Layzer
Associate Professor of Environmental Policy
Room 9-328
Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA 02139
Email: jlayzer@mit.edu
Tel: (617) 253-5196
Current Research
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).
Selected Publications
Natural Experiments: Ecosystem Management and the Environment, MIT Press, 2008.
The Environmental Case: Translating Values into Policy, 2nd ed., CQ Press, 2006.
"Fish Stories: Science, Advocacy, and Policy Change in New England Fishery Management," Policy Studies Journal, v.34, no.1, 59-80.
Recent Classes
11.002J Making Public Policy Fall 09
11.007 Public Policy Disputes Spring
11.162 Politics of Energy and the Environment Spring 10
11.373 Science, Politics and Environmental Policy Fall 09
11.376 Sustainability in Action Spring 10
Recent Awards
Additional Information
• 2007-11-04 15:27:07 •
