Consultant for environmental and infrastructure planning

Environmental and infrastructure planning consultants work at the interface of environmental planning, spatial planning and infrastructure planning.

On the one hand, the work is to be distinguished from the concrete technical planning for specific infrastructure projects. On the other hand, the detailed design of urban land use plans or spatial development plans in spatial planning is not the core of the tasks. Consultants work on the realisation of sustainable solutions for various clients such as ministries and municipalities, but also regional councils, state offices and donor organisations. When optimising the technical design, the consultants take into account planning and environmental constraints, such as climate change, nature conservation, or existential and risk prevention. Planners and authorities are supported in planning processes with diverse, but also specialised expertise and process competence.

In addition to the technical processing of tasks, the focus is primarily on working with people and managing planning, approval and implementation processes. For the technical design or necessary detailed knowledge of certain specialist areas, which may not be represented in the consultancy company, experts with corresponding specialisation, e.g. offices for hydraulic engineering or energy technology, are involved in the form of a subcontract. Possible topics of the projects are the energy transition, climate change, global change, environmental pollution or resource conservation.

Dr.-Ing. Peter Heiland (INFRASTRUKTUR & UMWELT Professor Böhm und Partner)

"We often find the best solutions when we think and plan systemically, i.e. work beyond single subject competences and in a networked way. We expect people entering the profession not to hide behind their area of expertise or consider it more important than others."

The focus of daily work is on working at the desk and collaborating with colleagues in the meeting room, at the flipchart or online. Concepts are elaborated and developed together with others. In addition, research and the regular use of new expertise for projects, presentations and strategies is an important component.

In addition, the daily work consists of external appointments of various kinds. These include appointments with clients, workshops, seminars and external project meetings. Depending on the project, these appointments take place at the office, at municipalities, nationwide and internationally.

As a rule, the consultants work on several projects at the same time on a wide variety of topics over a long period of time. Each project is assigned a correspondingly diverse and interdisciplinary project team, depending on the task at hand. The project team is made up of people with different horizons of experience and professional specialisations.

The daily work is very varied and dynamic. It requires interested people to familiarise themselves with new topics again and again. Due to the main interface work and the coordination of participation processes, a large part of the work consists of working with people in addition to the technical processing of technical tasks. Interested persons should not only have sound technical knowledge in at least one relevant subject area, but also enjoy giving presentations or moderating discussions and be interested in communication and networking. At the same time, report writing is an important task that interested persons should enjoy.

Professionally, in-depth expertise in a personal area of interest is expected to be brought into the degree programme and further developed with increasing, new expertise. At the same time, openness to interdisciplinary cooperation must be maintained.

In summary, the following key competences are essential in addition to subject-specific competences:

- interest in research activities and in writing reports

- linguistic competence in German and English

- enjoyment of communication and cooperation with different actors

- openness to new topics.

The Bachelor's programme offers the opportunity to acquire basic knowledge, but also specialised knowledge in certain areas. In addition to the main subject areas that can be acquired in the respective modules, legal backgrounds such as planning law are also advantageous. Economic basics and sociological topics complementary to planning are also useful. Attention should be paid to secure planning methodological basics, including planning and evaluation procedures, as well as an understanding of spatial infrastructure systems. Due to the primary interface work as a consultant, an interdisciplinary understanding is valuable in order to enable efficient communication with various stakeholders in later professional life. The interdisciplinary focal points can be used for this purpose, for example.

Example modules at the department for the development of basic knowledge are:

- Planning, building, land and environmental law

- Basics of spatial planning

However, many other study programmes also contribute to the above-mentioned goals.

The Master's programme offers students the opportunity to acquire in-depth specialist knowledge in a subject area that forms a good basis for entering professional life as a consultant. The department offers in-depth modules in spatial planning.

  • Infrastructure Planning
  • environmental planning

In addition to deepening specialised knowledge in a chosen focus of interest, the Master's programme also offers opportunities for interdisciplinary further education with different seminars and module units.