> The idea of designing city features that would have a real, dramatic impact on people's every day lives is really compelling to me.
Maybe you might want to go into urban water management? It is done both at an academic level (environmental engineering), governance level (the city's sewer and water supply planning organizations) and private level (e.g. companies building special-purpose solutions for urban water management).
Although you said you want to get rid of programming, keep in mind that your programming capabilities get you miles there. Most stuff is still done in Excel, etc. but the field is getting more and more technical, and cities start to plan and simulate their sewer and water supply systems with sophisticated simulators (e.g. SWMM or Epanet), so your knowledge might be well received.
Maybe you might want to go into urban water management? It is done both at an academic level (environmental engineering), governance level (the city's sewer and water supply planning organizations) and private level (e.g. companies building special-purpose solutions for urban water management).
Although you said you want to get rid of programming, keep in mind that your programming capabilities get you miles there. Most stuff is still done in Excel, etc. but the field is getting more and more technical, and cities start to plan and simulate their sewer and water supply systems with sophisticated simulators (e.g. SWMM or Epanet), so your knowledge might be well received.