Courses
PLAN 641: Ecology and Land Use Planning
PLAN 704: Theory of Planning I
PLAN 740: Land Use and Environmental Policy
PLAN 741: Land Use and Environmental Planning
Research and professional activities
Dr. Berke is Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning. He is Deputy Director of the Institute for the Environment (IE), Director of the Center for Sustainable Community Design of IE, and Adjunct Professor in the Curriculum of Ecology at the University of North Carolina. He is currently a Collaborative Research Scholar of the International Global Change Institute in New Zealand.
The central focus of his research is to develop a deeper understanding of the connections between human settlements and the natural environment. His research seeks to explore the causes of land use decisions and their consequences on the environmental, social, and economic systems of human settlements. His ultimate goal is to seek solutions to complex urban development problems that enhance the transition to sustainable communities.
Curriculum Vitae
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Current research
Berke’s current research projects address domestic and international issues in the areas of environmental impacts of urbanization, land use planning, natural hazard mitigation, environmental justice, and sustainable development. His research has been supported by the United Nations Division of Humanitarian Affairs, U.S. National Science Foundation, New Zealand Foundation for Research Science and Technology, Federal Emergency Management Agency, North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute, and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. He is a co-recipient of the 2001 Best Article Award and 2000 Honorable Mention Best Article Award from the American Planning Association.
Since 1990, Dr. Berke has presented seminars at 12 universities throughout the United States, and lectured in Belgium, Canada, China, Ecuador, England, France, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Thailand, Switzerland, and Taiwan. He is currently a member of the Science and Engineering Board for 2012 Update of Louisiana’s Master Plan for Coastal Protection and Restoration. Between 2003 and 2005 he was a member of the National Research Council’s Committee on Disaster Research and the Social Sciences, and between 1995 and 2002 he was a Faculty Fellow of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. In 1993, he was a Senior Fulbright Scholar, Centre for Environmental and Resource Studies, University of Waikato, New Zealand. He has also served as a consultant on land use and environmental planning to state and local governments, served as a Hazard Mitigation Specialist for the Federal Emergency Management, and consultant to international disaster relief organizations.
He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Planning Association, Journal of Architecture and Planning Research, and International Reveiw of Civil Engineering. He was Editor of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium Research Newsletter between 1986 and 1990.
Following is a Summary of Recent and Ongoing Research Projects:
+ New Urban Development and Natural Hazard Mitigation
+ Coastal Ecosystem Degradation and Tsunami Mitigation in Thailand
+ Development of a Framework for Transforming Eastern North Carolina to a Sustainable Future
+ Equitable Provision of Ecosystem Services in North Carolina's Triangle Region
+ Analysis of Federal Mitigation Policy: Mitigation Plans, Expenditures, Civic Engagement, and Local Capability
Students currently supported by Dr. Berke's research funding
Selected publications
Recent Articles
Berke, Philip, Danielle Spurlock, George Hess, and Larry Band. 2013. Local Comprehensive Plan Quality and Regional Ecosystem Protection: The Case of the Jordan Lake Watershed, North Carolina, U.S.A., Land Use Policy (forthcoming)
Berke, Philip and Ward Lyles. 2013 Public Risks and the Challenges to Climate Adaptation: A Proposed Framework for Planning in the Age of Uncertainty. Cityscape (forthcoming)
Berke, Philip, Gavin Smith and Ward Lyles. 2012. Planning for Resiliency: An Evaluation of State Hazard Mitigation Plans under the Disaster Mitigation Act. Natural Hazards Review 13(2): 139-149.
Berke, Philip and Bruce Galvovic. 2012. Ecosystem Services and Disaster Resiliency. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 30(2): 182-197.
Horney, Jennifer, Ashley Naimi, Ward Lyles, Matt Simon, David Salvesen, Philip Berke. 2012. Assessing the Relationship between Hazard Mitigation Plan Quality and Rural Status in a Cohort of 59 Counties from 3 States in the Southern United States. Challenges 3(2): 183-193.
Smith, Gavin, Ward Lyles, and Philip Berke. 2012. The Role of the State in Building Local Capacity and Commitment for Hazard Mitigation Planning, International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters (forthcoming)
Berke, Philip, John Cooper, David Salvesen, Danielle Spurlock and Christina Rausch. 2011. Building Capacity for Disaster Resiliency in Six Disadvantaged Communities, Sustainability 3(1): 1-20.
Horney, Jen, Pia McDonald, M. Willigen, Philip Berke, and Jay Kaufman. 2010. Individual Actual or Perceived Property Flood Risk: Did It Predict Evacuation from Hurricane Isabel in North Carolina, 2003? Risk Analysis, 30 (3): 501-511.
Stevens, Mark, Philip Berke, and Yan Song. 2010. Creating Disaster-resilient Communities: Evaluating the Promise and Performance of New Urbanism. Landscape and Urban Planning 94 (2): 105-115 -2010 Featured article in Landscape Architecture, May 2010.
Stevens, Mark, Philip Berke, and Yan Song. 2010. Public Participation in Local Government Review of Development Proposals in Hazardous Locations: Does it Matter, and What Do Local Government Planners Have to Do With it? Environmental Management, 45 (2): 320-335.
Stevens, Mark, Philip Berke, and Yan Song. 2010. High-density Developments in High-risk Locations: Why do New Urbanist Developments Locate Built Structures Inside the Floodplain? Natural Hazards Review 53(3): 605-629.
Berke, Philip, John Cooper, David Salvesen, Danielle Spurlock and Christina Rausch. 2010. Disaster Plans: Challenges and Choices to Build the Resiliency of Vulnerable Populations. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters 28(3): 368-394.
Berke, Philip and David Godschalk. 2009. Searching for the Good Plan: A Meta-Analysis of Plan Quality Studies, Journal of Planning Literature, 23 (3): 227-240. -2009 Featured Article in Planning Magazine, March 2009.
Berke, Philip. 2009. Integrating Bio-conservation and Land Use Planning: A Grand Challenge for the Twentieth First Century, Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, 10 (3): 407-434.
Song, Yan, Philip Berke, and Mark Stevens. 2009. Smart Developments in Dangerous Locations? A Reality Check of Existing New Urbanism Developments, International Emergencies and Mass Disasters, 7 (1): 1-25.
Berke, Philip, Yan Song, and Mark Stevens. 2009. Integrating Hazard Mitigation into New Urban and Conventional Developments, Journal of Planning Education and Research, 28 (4): 441-455.
Books
Berke, Philip, David Godschalk, and Edward Kaiser, with Daniel Rodríguez. 2006. Urban Land Use Planning, 5th Edition, University of Illinois Press, Chicago.
Ericksen, Neil, Philip Berke, and Jan Crawford. 2004. Plan-making for Sustainability: The New Zealand Experience, Ashgate Publishers, London.
Godschalk, David, Timothy Beatley, Philip Berke, David Brower and Edward Kaiser. 1999. Natural Hazard Mitigation: Recasting Disaster Policy and Planning, Island Press, Washington, D.C.
Berke, Philip and Timothy Beatley. 1997. After the Disaster: Linking Recovery to Sustainable Development in the Caribbean, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.

