William Butler

Biography

I found planning almost by accident when I interviewed at the Urban Affairs and Planning program at Virginia Tech. I’m drawn in by a professional field that provides opportunities to come up with innovative responses to global challenges while seeking sustainability, resilience, and justice. I teach courses in environmental planning, food systems planning, collaborative governance, and planning theory.

In terms of research, I started my career with a focus on developing strategies for more effective environmental management by filling in the gaps where government, private and non-profit organizations cannot accomplish what needs to be done on their own. As a result, I have oriented much of my work on improving the theory and practice of collaborative planning and management. Topically, my work spans ecological restoration, forest management, food systems planning, climate adaptation, and planning for sea level rise. My recent work has focused on sea level rise adaptation, climate gentrification, and climate adaptation strategies in marginalized communities. I primarily utilize qualitative research methods including case studies, interviews, observations, and plan content analysis to deeply examine experiences, perspectives, and practices of planners, community leaders, and community members they serve. I seek to develop practice-relevant theories and policy recommendations.

Please see a list of selected publications below or consult my Google Scholar profile for a more complete list with links.

Education

Bachelor of Arts: Guilford College, 1996, French and Economics

Masters: Virginia Tech, 2003, Master of Urban and Regional Planning

PhD: Virginia Tech 2009, Environmental Design and Planning

Selected Publications

Shi, L., Butler, W. H., Holmes, T. T., Ignatowski, J., Milordis, A., Thomas, R., Mahid, Y., & Aldag, A. (2023). Can Florida’s Coast Survive Its Reliance on Development? Fiscal Vulnerability and Funding Woes under Sea Level Rise. Journal of the American Planning Association.

Milordis, A., Butler, W. H., & Holmes, T. T. (2023). What’s Slowing Progress on Climate Change Adaptation?: Evaluating Barriers to Planning for Sea Level Rise in Florida. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 42. doi:10.1007/s11027-023-10083-4

Melix, B., Jackson, A., Butler, W. H., Holmes, T. T., & Uejio, C. (2022). Locating Neighborhood Displacement Risks to Climate Gentrification Pressures in Three Coastal Counties in Florida. Professional Geographer.

Holmes, T. T., & Butler, W. H. (2021). Implementing a Mandate to Plan for Sea Level Rise: Top-down, Bottom-up, and Middle-out Actions in the Tampa Bay Region. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 64(12), 2214-2232.

Butler, W. H., Holmes, T. T., & Lange, Z. (2021). Mandated planning for climate change: Responding to the Peril of Flood Act for sea level rise adaptation in Florida. Journal of the American Planning Association, 87(3), 370-382.

Coleman, K., Butler, W. H., Stern, M., & Beck, S. (2021). “They’re Constantly Cycling Through”: Lessons about Turnover and Collaborative Forest Planning. Journal of Forestry, 119(1), 1-12.

Butler, W., & Schultz, C. (Eds.). (2019). Collaborative Forest Restoration: Challenges and Opportunities of Landscape-Scale Forest Management. Routledge Earthscan. https://www.routledge.com/A-New-Era-for-Collaborative-Forest-Management-Policy-and-Practice-insights/Butler-Schultz/p/book/9781138491274

Reddy, S., Montambault, J., Masuda, Y. J., Gneezy, A., Keenan, E., Butler, W., Fisher, J., & Asah, S. (2017). Advancing Conservation by Understanding and Influencing Human Behavior. Conservation Letters, 10 (2), 248-256.

Butler, W., Deyle, R., & Mutnansky, C. (2016). Low-Regrets Incrementalism: Land Use Planning Adaptation to Accelerating Sea Level Rise in Florida’s Coastal Communities. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 36(3), 319-332.

Vella, K., Butler, W., Sipe, N., Chapin, T., & Murley, J. (2016). Voluntary Collaboration for Adaptive Governance: The Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 36(3), 363-376.

Monroe, A., & Butler, W. H. (2016). Responding to a Policy Mandate to Collaborate: Structuring Collaboration in the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 59 (6), 1054-1072.

Butler, W., Monroe, A., & McCaffrey, S. (2015). Collaborative Implementation for Ecological Restoration on US Public Lands: Implications for Legal Context, Accountability and Adaptive Management. Environmental Management, 55 (3), 564-577.

Goldstein, B. E., Wessells, A. T., Lejano, R. P., & Butler, W. H. (2015). Narrating Resilience: Transforming Cities through Collaborative Storytelling. Urban Studies, 52 (7), 1285-1303.

Butler, W. H. (2013). Collaboration at Arm’s Length?: Navigating Agency Engagement in Landscape-Scale Ecological Restoration Collaboratives. Journal of Forestry, 111(6), 395-403.

Goldstein, B. E., & Butler, W. H. (2010). Expanding the Scope and Impact of Collaborative Planning: Combining Multi-stakeholder Collaboration and Communities of Practice in a Learning Network. Journal of the American Planning Association, 76(2), 238-249.

Butler, W. H., & Goldstein, B. E. (2010). The US Fire Learning Network: Springing a Rigidity Trap through Multi-scalar Collaborative Networks. Ecology and Society, 15(3), 21-34. Retrieved from http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/articles/3437.html