URBS417 - CITIES & SUSTAINABILITY

Cities and Sustainability endeavors to expose students to the methods of implementing environmentally sustainable policies in big cities across the United States. The course will begin with an overview of the various tools at the disposal of American municipalities, exploring the various ways that policies are adopted and then implemented. The course will also review sustainable development and trasnportation policy as well as agency management. Students will be given the tools to provide political, economic, and critical analysis of different sustainable policy initiatives across the United States through a case study approach. This course is geared towards providing advocates with the tools they need to promote sustainable policies. Student work will be both project and response driven. Students will work in teams of four to choose a major American city to study and propose a policy, project, or initiative that enhances the sustainability of that city. As they learn about green policies across the US they will apply these lessons in their projects, writing short weekly reports in which they will integrate the weekly readings with the work they must complete for their own group project. Thus students will begin to do comparative studies and apply readings in a practical manner.