The purpose of this assessment is to get students familiar with an area of environmental policy and practice.  Students are required to select ONE of the following areas:

1. The regulation of water pollution from coal and coal seam gas projects (you may like to focus on a particular state (as the policy and practice varies) and also compare with other jurisdictions such as USA or Canada)
2. The management of urban soil contamination (in particular focusing on brownfield and greyfield development)
3. Biodiversity protection (with a particular focus on policy instruments such as biobanking and the protections afforded by relevant legislation for threatened species and endangered ecological communities)
4. Managing bushfire risk in urban areas with a particular focus on the environmental impacts that may relate to the protection of vegetation over assets and human health.

Your policy analysis and review must:

• Summarise the history of its development,
• Outline the principle objectives informing the policy
• Identify who is responsible for its implementation
• Provide at least 3 case studies describing its implementation
• Undertake a critical assessment of its effectiveness

Word limit: 2000 words

Value of this assignment: 25%

Due date: 23 March

You will be given a building plan and asked to undertake a number of tasks using your scale ruler, referring to the relevant council LEP and DCP that would form the basis of an initial assessment as undertaken by a DA planner. This task will follow an in-class exercise.

Assessment 3.  Major report and presentation                                                                

This assessment task is worth 35% of your mark and is divided into presentation (10%) and written report (25%). All students must nominate their topic by the end of week 3 or will be allocated a topic by the convenor.

Your presentation should be in Powerpoint or similar format and should be between 7-10 minutes. You will be allocated a date for your presentation by the 4^th week. This will occur in the second part of the semester (after the mid semester break).

Your written report, submitted at the time of your presentation, is to be a maximum of 2000 words and is to be in a format as a briefing paper for a government (Federal, State or Local). The format must contain:

• Title page
• Executive summary
• Table of contents
• Chapter headings (as appropriate)
• References / or footnotes
• Appendices (may be included noting that these are not to form part of your 2000 words and will not be specially marked but may form additional information to support your report)

The executive summary must not exceed 1 page and shall have the following headings:

1. Title (1 line)
2. Purpose (1 sentence)
3. Background
4. Comment (particularly focusing on implications for your organisation)
5. Financial implications
6. Recommendations (if relevant)

Tables, graphs, figures and photos are encouraged.

Referencing may follow normal academic format or you may use footnotes (as typically used in legal publications) or endnotes (as are often used in texts).

A. Sustainability metric tool for public open space.

This task requires you to research and propose an index to measure the sustainability of public open spaces such as a park, natural area or sports field (your tool may cover each of these open space types or all three).

Your evaluation tool should be designed for use in the field (you may develop an Excel, APP or other data base system). It is expected that the utility of your tool would be demonstrated as part of your presentation and also submitted as an accessible file for assessment.

The tool should be applicable for use by state and local government, community and other sectors (you may choose to have a particular focus or user in mind and this should be articulated in your report).

In developing this tool you are to research and provide examples of other public open space or similar sustainability evaluation tools, their merits and use (demonstrating your research and critical review skills).

You should also test the tool and demonstrate how the evaluation criteria is applied in practice (this should include more than 5 locations).

The context of this task is that the state government has requested the development of tool to evaluate the benefit of public open space. This shall include but not be limited to economic value, social significance and environmental benefits.

(note: Your tool can not the same as the one used  in the class tutorial but may draw on it)

B. Green infrastructure.

Green infrastructure is being positioned by environmental agencies as a way to integrate biodiversity into cities and so doing protect valuable species and ecosystems and more broadly connect people with nature.

Your task is to research and develop planning and urban design controls (such as a development control plan (DCP)) for green roofs and green walls or green streets.

Your report and presentation must draw on case studies (evidenced based policy) that highlight what works (no not) and why and how the controls can be practically implemented.

You may choose your ‘client’ from the following:

a city council with a large proportion of high density developments;

a suburban (inner ring) council with controls more relevant to medium to low density development; or

Greater Sydney Commission or Transport for NSW (or other similar government agency) who wish to develop more sustainable controls for the high and medium density around new transport nodes (such as North West Rail link).

C. Sustainable transport and metropolitan bike sharing schemes.

You have been commissioned by the NSW Department of Transport to investigate the merits of introducing a bike-sharing scheme for Sydney. Your task is to:

• Review similar schemes in similar sized cities (research);
• Undertake a SWOT analysis (strength, weakness, opportunity, threat) (critical review); and
• Make recommendations for the introduction of a scheme would have the greatest positive impact on reducing private vehicle use.

Your assessment must consider a social, environmental and economic analysis. This may include costs to implement, infrastructure requirements, social and community values and where possible model the greenhouse savings.

Word limit: 2000 words  

Excluding pictures, figures, diagrams and references

Value of this assignment: 35%

Due date: 11 May 

This is a group assignment (maximum 4 students per group) to prepare a review of environmental factors (REF) that would accompany a development application for a project. This is designed as a practical task to test your application of theory and learning across the semester.  The preparation of an REF is the core business of most environmental consultants and planners.

Details of the development and reference information will be provided in class.

While this is a group project, in effect to lessen your individual work load, as part of your assessment each individual in the group is to identify their contribution to each chapter of the report and the % of their effort that went into each chapter. A signed statement by each of the members of your group is to be provided on the inside font cover of your report. This must clearly articulate the contribution of each individual to the final project. This is necessary in order to assess and grade both individual contribution and the group as a whole (noting that where an individual has clearly demonstrated greater input to the project and or quality they will receive a higher mark than their colleagues).

Ideally your group should nominate who has the major responsibility for key aspects / chapters of the report. You should also nominate and list who is the project leader. He or she will be responsible for coordination and submitting the REF (via turnitin). 

The maximum length of your submission is 40 pages including diagrams, maps, plans, photos, appendix  and references. It is expected that this be formatted in a professional manner as though you were a consultant submitting the REF for development assessment to government or your client.

Page limit: 40

Value of this assignment: 25%

Due date: 1 June

Tutorial attendance, engagement with tutorial materials and class discussions are critical elements of the learning strategy of ENVS818.

This assessment is based on:

• Participation in tutorials (including demonstration that you have read, understand and can critically discuss weekly readings or tasks);
• Attendance and
• General contribution to the learning environment of the lectures and tutorials.