City Planner, Mediator, and MIT Professor

Teaching and Research

Current Courses

Professor Susskind is founder of and head of the Environmental Policy Group in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT. He currently teaches six subjects. These are briefly described below with links to the relevant home pages, where appropriate

Doctoral Advisees

Since 1979, Professor Susskind has supervised more than seventy doctoral candidates.

They are presented here, by year of graduation, with dissertation title. (Year: Advisee: Dissertation Title). Click on any year to display the graduating doctoral students and their thesis, or scroll down the complete list.

TBD
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
1988
1987
1986
1985
1984
1983
1982
1981
1980
1979

2024

Turner, Andre

Dissertation

TBD

Cano, Lidia

Dissertation

TBD

Finkelstein, Aria

Dissertation

TBD

2023

Preis, Benjamin

Dissertation

TBD

2022

Chandra, Shekhar

Dissertation

State, Street, and Public Goods: A Theory of
Misgovernance

Chun, Jungwoo

Dissertation

TBD

2021

deSouza, Priyanka

Dissertation

Making Air Quality Count: Low-cost sensors,
Public Health and Urban Planning

2020

Beck, Andrea

Dissertation

Water Operator Partnerships : utility reform
and the struggle for alternatives to
privatization

2019

Gordon, Jessica

Dissertation

TBD

Zaerpoor, Yasmin

Dissertation

In Pursuit of the Common Good:
Overcoming Barriers to Collective Action
through Transboundary Water Negotiation
along the Blue Nile

2018

Falco, Greg

Dissertation

Cybersecurity for urban critical infrastructure

Smith, Christopher

Dissertation

Enhancing trust in US nuclear waste
management institutions

Schulman, Alexis

Bridging the divide : incorporating local
ecological knowledge into U.S. natural
resource management

2017

Kim, Ella

Dissertation

Frames and Games: Testing a Public Health
Orientation to Climate Adaptation Planning

2016

Heber-Dunning, Kelly

Dissertation

Resilient Coasts, Resilient Communities:
Grassroots versus Top Down Management
of Coral Reefs in Southeast Asia

2015

Rumore, Danya

Dissertation

Helping Coastal Communities Anticipate
and Manage Climate Change Risks
Through Role-Play Simulations

Verdini Trejo, Bruno

Dissertation

Charting New Territories Together: Laying
the Foundations for Mutual Gains in United
States – Mexico Water and Energy
Negotiations

Stokes, Leah

Dissertation

Power Politics: Renewable Energy Policy
Change in US States

Schenk, Todd

Dissertation

Institutionalizing Uncertainty: Exploring How
Infrastructure Stakeholders Can
Collaboratively Prepare for Uncertain
Climate Futures

2014

Marantz, Nicholas

Dissertation

Planning by Contract? Negotiated
Regulation in Urban Development

2013

Dutta-Kohler, Madhu

Dissertation

Making Climate Adaptation Work :
Strategies for Resource Constrained South
Asian Mega-Cities

van Maasakkers, Tijs

Dissertation

rading Places : The Development of
Markets for Ecosystem Services in the
United States

2012

Anguelovski, Isabelle

Dissertation

Neighborhood and Refuge: Environmental
Justice and Community Reconstruction in
Boston, Barcelona and Havana

Araujo, Kathy

Dissertation

Decarbonizing Shifts: Dynamic Conversions
in the Sectoral Energy Balances of Four
Prime Mover Energy Countries

2011

Ashcraft, Catherine

Dissertation

Adaptive Governance of Contested Rivers:
A Political Journey into the Uncertain

2010

Beaudry, Kock

Dissertation

Addressing Agricultural Salinity in the
American West: Harnessing Behavioral
Diversity to Institutional Design

2009

Odeh, Nancy

Dissertation

Towards Improved Partnerships in the
Water Sector in the Middle East: A Case
Study of Partnerships in Jordan’s Water Sector

2008

Eigen, Zev

Dissertation

A Behavioral Theory of Contract

2007

Macey, Gregg

Dissertation

Sheltering in Place: The Limits to Integrative
Bargaining Following Industrial Accidents

Nielsen, Erik

Dissertation

Networked Governance: China’s Changing
Approach to Transboundary Environmental
Management

Rosan, Christina

Dissertation

Metropolitan Governance and Local Land
Use Planning in Boston, Denver, and
Portland

2006

Kohler, Pia

Dissertation

Towards a Global Consensus on Matters of
Science: How process and membership can
generate valid and sustainable science
advice in multilateral environmental treaty
negotiations

Kim, Dong Young

Dissertation

The Politics of Consensus Building: The
Case of Diesel Passenger Cars and Urban
Air Quality Management in South Korea

Matsuura, Masahiro

Dissertation

Localizing Public Dispute Resolution In
Japan: lessons from experiments with
deliberative policy-making

2005

Fuller, Boyd

Dissertation

Trading zones: cooperating for water
resource and ecosystem management
when stakeholders have apparently
irreconcilable differences

Flores Montalvo, Andres

Dissertation

Private vs. Public Ownership of Power
Generation in Mexico: Should
Environmental Policymakers Care?

Mostashari, Ali

Dissertation

Stakeholder-assisted modeling and policy
design for engineering systems

2004

Blockhus, Jill

Dissertation

The Potential for Trickle Up: How Local
Actors’ Experiments Influence National
Forest Policy Planning

Martinez, Janet

Dissertation

International Dispute Settlement system
Design: Analyzing the Experience of the
World Trade Organization

Sewell, Granville

Dissertation

Conflicting Beliefs: Actors, Coalitions and
the Framework Convention on Climate
Change

2003

Rossi, Mark

Dissertation

Greening the Invisible Hand: How
Environmental Non-Governmental
Organizations Succeed and Fail in
Technology Change

2002

Corburn, Jason

Dissertation

Street Science: The Fusing of Local and
Professional Knowledge in Environmental
Policy

2001

Ali, Saleem

Dissertation

Environmental resistance and Aboriginal
development : a comparative study of
mining ventures in the United States and
Canada

Najam, Adil

Dissertation

Getting Beyond The Lowest Common
Denominator: Developing Countries In
Global Environmental Negotiations

2000

Long Martello, Marybeth

Dissertation

Grains of Truth: Science and the Evolution
of International Desertification Policy Making

Merrigan, Kathleen

Dissertation

Negotiating Identity Within the Sustainable
Agriculture Advocacy Coalition

Oliveira, Jose Antonio

Dissertation

Implementing Environmental Policies in
Developing Countries: Responding to the
Environmental Impacts of Tourism
Development by Creating Environmentally
Protected Areas in Bahia, Brazil

1999

Gutner, Tamar

Dissertation

Banking on the Environment: Multilateral
Development Banks and Environmental
Policy Making in Central and Eastern
Europe

1998

Beattie, Robert

Dissertation

Common ground: Sustainable Development
Conflicts in the Northern Forest of New
England and New York

Laws, David

Dissertation

Planning in the Shadow of the Future:
Intergenerational Ethics in Environmental
Decision-making

Sandford, Rosemary

Dissertation

A Comparative Study of Global
Environmental Treaty Secretariats: Their
Roles and Influence in Treaty
Implementation

Fairman, David

Dissertation

Reforming Natural Resource Policies in
Developing Countries: The Politics of Forest
Policy Reform in Southeast Asia

1997

Kaufmann, Joanne

Dissertation

Beyond the Blue Horizon: The Role of
Industry in Global Environmental Politics

1996

1995

Dolin, Eric

Dissertation

Remedial Adjudication in Environmental
Institution Cases: Lessons from Boston
Harbor

1994

1993

Babbit, Eileen

Dissertation

Beyond Neutrality: The Use of Leverage by
Powerful States as Mediators in
International Conflict

1992

Marina, Alberti

Dissertation

Minimization of Hazarduous Waste in
Western Europe Policy: Implementation and
Harmonization

Raab, Jonathan

Dissertation

Consensus-Building in Electric Utility
Regulation

1991

Konkel, Steven

Dissertation

Using Joint Fact-Finding To Resolve
Disputes Over Cleanup Of Hazardous
Waste Sites

Pokharel, Jagadish

Dissertation

Chandra Environmental Resource
Negotiation between Asymmetrically
Powerful Nations: Power of the Weaker Nations

1990

Andrews, Clinton James

Dissertation

Improving the Analytics of Open Planning
Process: Scenario-based Multiple Attribute
Tradeoff Analysis for Regional Electric
Power Planning

Gamman, John

Dissertation

Environmental Policy Implementation in
Developing Countries

1989

McCreary, Scott

Dissertation

Resolving Science-Intensive Public Policy
Disputes: Lessons from the New York Bright
Initiative

1988

Ozawa, Connie

Dissertation

Consensual Approaches and the Role of
Science in Public Decision Making

1987

1986

Horan, Cynthia

Dissertation

Empty Coffers: Tax Reform and Politics in
Boston and New York

Kim, Karl

Dissertation

Urban Infrastructure: The Role of Long-term
Municipal Borrowing

1985

1984

Elliott, Michael

Dissertation

Coping with Conflicting Perceptions of Risk
in Hazarduous Waste Facility Siting
Disputes

Horberry, John

Dissertation

Development Assistance and the
Environment: A Question of Accountability

1983

1982

Perry, Charles

Dissertation

State growth management: prospects for
consensus-oriented land use planning and
conflict resolution

1981

1980

Polk, William Gastion

Dissertation

The National Rural Cable TV Development
Task Force: A Case Study of a “Coordinative
Approach” to Federal Policy and Program
Implementation

Wondolleck, Julia

Dissertation

Oil and Gas and the Public Lands: Conflict
and Resolution

1979

Yaffe, Stephen Lewis

Dissertation

Prohibitive Policy and the Implementation of
the Endangered Species Act

Research Interests

Professor Susskind has pursued several broad research themes over the past several decades: the mediation of public disputes (particularly land use and environmental disputes), global environmental treatymaking, public involvement in governmental decision-making (particularly science-intensive policy disputes), environmental technology innovation and ways that the interests of indigenous peoples can be served in resource management disputes.

His work in the public disputes field includes studies of the effectiveness of mediation; the dynamics of multi-party, multi-issue negotiation, the ethics of public dispute resolution, and cross-cultural obstacles to transferring public dispute mediation strategies from the United States to other parts of the world. For more on his work in this area see web.mit.edu/publicdisputes.

With regard to global environmental treaty-making, his work has focused on the role of science and scientists in the treatymaking process, the expanding role of non-governmental interests in treaty-making, the relationship between informal (Track II) diplomacy and the formal processes of treaty-making, and the difficulties of enforcing transboundary environmental agreements.

In the area of public involvement in governmental decision-making his emphasis has been on the tactics and strategies of collaborative decision-making (especially joint fact finding and integrated assessment), the obstacles to expanding deliberative democracy, alternatives to Robert’s Rules of Order and majority rule in group decision-making, facility siting and land use disputes, and the use of interactive technologies to expand public participation. For more on his work in this area see scienceimpact.mit.edu

Under the heading of environmental technology innovation, Professor Susskind focuses on what he called public entrepreneurship networks — the complex web of individuals and institutions needed to harmonize efforts for “green” innovation to be successful at the community or regional scale.

New Research Directions

In the past few years, Professor Susskind’s research has focused, in addition, on (1) entrepreneurial negotiations; (2) ways of building consensus on local, state and national adaptive responses to the likely impacts of climate change (scienceimpact.mit.edu); (3) strategies for encouraging greater reliance on renewable energy, and (4) water diplomacy (www.waterdiplomacy.org); (4) cybersecurity for critical urban infrastructure; (5) siting of renewable energy facilities in the United States; and (6) science diplomacy.