Carissa Slotterback

Linking People and Technology for Environmental Systems Planning
Carissa Slotterback
Associate Professor, Urban and Regional Planning Program, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota

Modeling, visualization, and planning support technologies offer great potential to improve our understanding of the complex and dynamic environmental systems around us. They offer particular promise in helping planners and policymakers make better decisions about environmental impacts, informed by the best available scientific knowledge. At the same time, we cannot ignore the significant knowledge that people, in the places where we plan and develop policy, bring to the table. Innovative approaches to applying technology in environmental systems planning necessarily engage deeply with people and place. Drawing insights from a recent technology-supported collaborative planning process in Minnesota, the presentation will highlight how we can better link people and technology to build consensus and achieve better environmental outcomes. Efforts to integrate scientific knowledge with expertise from key stakeholders will be shared, as well as strategies for planning that are environmentally beneficial, economically viable, and community-supported.

The Lectures in Planning Series (LiPS) is an initiative of the Urban Planning program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

All lectures are free and open to the public; refreshments are provided. For more information or to make program suggestions, email lipscolumbiaplanning@gmail.com.