The course enhances students’ understanding of global cities as engines of capital accumulation as well as environmental sacrifice zones. It introduces students to recent debates over sustainable development and sustainable urbanism which are reshaping and broadening the discourse around cities and the attendant policies and outcomes. Students will learn that sustainable use of natural resources involves social justice, economic development, and environmental concerns. Students will be led away from narrowerconceptions of urban environmentalism, toward more consideration for the future, greater integration of social and economic goals with environmental and ecological objectives, and hence a fundamental rethinking of how cities should be theorized, planned and managed.
Course Objectives
Critically assess the evolution of the concept of urban sustainability and its key elements
Explain technological and theoretical models of human-nature interaction.
Envision possibilities for using the sustainability index (ecological footprints, social capital)
Explore the concepts of green economy and other initiatives (e.g., health, housing, transport)
Course Delivery
Lecture, (discussion of readings; presentation of cases),