Sustainable Cities 1: Theories and Concepts

Transcription

1 Sustainable Cities 1: Theories and Concepts GEOG 1615 (for students at the Johnstown campus); URBNST 1613 (for students at the Oakland campus) Study period: May (including the follow-up course Sustainable Cities 2) Location: Amsterdam, the Netherlands Number of credits: 3 Grading: Letter grade only Instructor: Ola Johansson, Ph.D. Professor of Geography, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Johnstown campus office: 108A Krebs Hall johans@pitt.edu Office phone: (814) Office hours during fall semester 2016: MWF pm, TuTh 9-noon During the spring semester 2017 I m on sabbatical leave; please contact me via Course Description: You may think of cities as engines of pollution and where excessive consumption of scarce resources takes place; however, cities may also be part of the solution to our environmental problems. This undergraduate course is designed to familiarize the student with the concept of sustainability and how it applies in the context of cities; specifically cities in Europe and Amsterdam in particular. The idea of sustainable cities provides a framework for interdisciplinary planning of contemporary cities. We will explore sustainability and urban design in both a global and local context by focusing on the processes that shape the form and function of the built environment. Technological, social, and cultural innovations for sustainable cities will be demonstrated during the course. Through lectures and field visits in Amsterdam, we will explore the theory and practice of urban sustainability, including the history and philosophy of sustainability, ecological footprints, green buildings, alternative energy, innovative transportation solutions, and waste/water management. This constitutes an effort to build better places that are more livable, more equitable, more energy efficient and ecologically sound, and more prosperous for all. Course Format: This is a 3-credit study abroad course offered by the University of Pittsburgh system. The course is taught in the city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The duration of Sustainable Cities 1 and 2 is from May 1-29, This compressed study schedule means that most days will be dedicated to intense study. In addition to classroom time, many days will include field trips to various sites in Amsterdam that illustrate the city s effort to be sustainable. Some of

2 the field trips will be arranged by the Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE), an organization that provides on-the-ground support for us in Amsterdam. Other field trips will be organized by the course instructor. See course schedule below for further details. A typical daily schedule includes lectures in the morning, which is followed by field trips to places in the city that exemplify real world applications of the concepts we have discussed in class. The field sites will be accessed either via public transit or by vehicles that takes us directly to the sites. The course participants may come from many different academic backgrounds. Because of this potential diversity, there is no prerequisite for the course. But due to the relatively specialized course content, the course corresponds to an upper-level undergraduate course. Initial course readings will be designed so everybody is on the same page. The goal is that many of the course participants should be able to use this course as an elective in their major, although students whose area of study does not focus on urban/environmental/international issues are also encouraged to enroll in the course. Before and after the trip: An initial course meeting will be held on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown on DATE TDB. If you are a Pitt student on the Oakland campus, a live feed will be transmitted to a location on the Oakland campus. (If you are neither a Pitt-Oakland nor a Pitt-Johnstown student, the instructor will communicate with you personally in lieu of this initial meeting.) You will be asked to read material and hand in some assignments before the actual trip takes place in May. This is to familiarize yourself with the sustainable city concept, the city of Amsterdam, and some of the research that you will conduct while in Amsterdam. At the time of the initial course meeting, a Courseweb page will be activated online where you can access course information and submit homework assignments. Textbook and other readings: Wheeler, S.M. and Beatley, T., eds The Sustainable Urban Development Reader. 3 rd Ed. Routledge. Additional articles will be assigned. See reading list below. Note: You must purchase the text in advance. It is available via amazon.com or other online booksellers. Additional readings may be assigned and posted on the Courseweb. For example, articles specifically on Amsterdam are likely to be assigned. Evaluation: At the end of the course, there will be a final exam. It will cover the material in the readings and the lectures. The exam format will be essay questions.

3 You will also write reflection papers for each field visit. Those papers should consist of background material based on theories and concepts that have discussed in lecture, as well as your impressions from the field visit and how the field experience connects with the class material. Each paper should be 2-3 pages. You will also write a paper, which should be designed as a proposal for the research that you plan to conduct during the second segment of the program (see Sustainable Cities 2 syllabus). The topic of the proposal is for you to determine. Your course grade will be determined as follows: Exam: 50% Reflection papers 35% Research proposal 15% Note: All course meetings, lectures, field trips, papers, and the exam are required. Obviously, there could be legitimate reasons (e.g., illness) why you have to be absent at some point, but any potential absence have to be approved by the instructor. The course schedule below is tentative, but includes site visits/guest speakers/activities that CIEE has scheduled. Weekly readings are listed by chapter in The Sustainable Urban Development Reader (abbreviated ) or by author (see readings list below). Course schedule: Lectures/Readings Field trips/guest speakers Predeparture readings Sustainability concepts Towards Sustainable Development, in The Metabolism of Cities, in What is an Ecological Footprint, in Newman and Matan 2013 Karlenzig 2008 Week 1 Urban ecology: Water, waste, recycling Biophilic Cities, in Beatley 2011 Girardet 2015 Transportation Transit and the Metropolis, in Cycling for Everyone, in Beatley 2000 Guided walking tour of Amsterdam neighborhoods Guest speaker from the local government Visit waste management plant

4 Hurd and Hurd 2010 Wheeler 2013c Guest speaker from Milieu Centraal Week 2 Climate change and cities Towards Low Carbon Urbanism, in The Urbanization of Climate Change, in Ostergaard and Lund 2010 Calthorpe 2011 Urban design and land use Compactness vs Sprawl, in Physical Activity, Sprawl and Health, in Lehmann 2010b Owen 2009 Wheeler 2013b Energy Lehmann 2010a Wheeler 2013a Green housing Principles of Green Architecture, in Moretti 2012 The Ten Commandments of Cost- Effective Green Building Design, in Urban Sustainability at the Building and Site Scale, in Pickerill 2011 Wheeler 2013d The food system Vitiello 2008 Sustainable economic development and planning Planning for Sustainability in European Cities, in Canal tour of Amsterdam Visit to water cycle research institute Visit to IJburg a green neighborhood Visit to NDSM wharf port redevelopment

5 Urban Sustainability at the Neighborhood and District Scale, in Urban Sustainability at the City and Regions Scale, in Yaro and Kooris 2008 Codato, et al Readings: Beatley, T Bicycles: Low-Tech Ecological Mobility. In Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities. Island Press. Beatley, T Biophilic Urban Design and Planning. In Biophilic Cities. Island Press. Calthorpe, P Urbanism and Climate Change. In Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change. Island Press. Codato, G. et al Sustainable Development in Traditional Harbor Communities. In Urban Sustainability: A Global Perspective. Michigan State Univ. Press. Gaines, J. and Jager, S Decrease Energy, Increase Technology. In A Manifesto for Sustainable Cities. Albert Speer Verlag. Garvin, A Greening Cities: A Public Realms Approach. In E. Birch and S. Wachter, eds. Growing Greener Cities: Urban Sustainability in the Twenty-First Century. University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia. Girardet, H Ecopolis: The Regenerative City (p ). In Creating Regenerative Cities. Routledge: New York. Hurd A.P. and Hurd, A Regional Transportation. In The Carbon Efficient City. University of Washington Press. Karlenzig, W What Makes Today s Cities Green? (p ). In E. Birch and S. Wachter, eds. Growing Greener Cities: Urban Sustainability in the Twenty-First Century. University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia. Lehmann, S. 2010a. Transformation: City as Powerstation and Productive Urban Landscape. In The Principles of Green Urbanism. Earthscan. Lehmann, S. 2010a. Density and Compact Communities. In The Principles of Green Urbanism. Earthscan.

6 Moretti, M Venice: Balancing Antiquity and Sustainability. In Green Cities of Europe. Island Press. Newman, P. and Matan, A What is Green Urbanism? (p. 7-36). In Green Urbanism in Asia: The Emerging Green Tigers. World Scientific: Singapore. Ostergard, P. and Lund, H Climate Change Mitigation from a Bottom-Up Community Approach. In Sustainable Communities Design Handbook. Butterworth-Heineman. Owen, D. More Like Manhattan. In Green Metropolis. Riverhead Books. Vitiello, D Growing Edible Cities. In E. Birch and S. Wachter, eds. Growing Greener Cities: Urban Sustainability in the Twenty-First Century. University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia. Pickerill, J Building Livable Cities. In Cities and Low Carbon Transitions. Routledge. Vojnovic, I. and Darden, J The Colors That Shaped a City. In Urban Sustainability: A Global Perspective. Michigan State Univ. Press. Wheeler, S. 2013a. Energy and Material Use. In Planning for Sustainability: Creating Livable, Equitable and Ecological Communities. 2 nd Edition. Routledge: New York. Wheeler, S. 2013b. Land Use and Urban Growth. In Planning for Sustainability: Creating Livable, Equitable and Ecological Communities. 2 nd Edition. Routledge: New York. Wheeler, S. 2013c. Transportation. In Planning for Sustainability: Creating Livable, Equitable and Ecological Communities. 2 nd Edition. Routledge: New York. Wheeler, S. 2013d. Green Architecture and Building. In Planning for Sustainability: Creating Livable, Equitable and Ecological Communities. 2 nd Edition. Routledge: New York. Yaro, R. and Kooris, D Growing Greener Regions. In E. Birch and S. Wachter, eds. Growing Greener Cities: Urban Sustainability in the Twenty-First Century. University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia.

7 Academic Integrity Cheating/plagiarism will not be tolerated. Students suspected of violating the University of Pittsburgh Policy on Academic Integrity, from the February 1974 Senate Committee on Tenure and Academic Freedom reported to the Senate Council, will be required to participate in the outlined procedural process as initiated by the instructor. A minimum sanction of a zero score for the quiz or exam will be imposed. Disability Resources If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and the Office of Disability Resources and Services, 140 William Pitt Union, / (Fax), as early as possible in the term. Disability Resources and Services will verify your disability and determine reasonable accommodations for this course. For more information, visit Communications Each student is issued a University address (username@pitt.edu) upon admittance. This address may be used by the University for official communication with students. Students are expected to read sent to this account on a regular basis. Failure to read and react to University communications in a timely manner does not absolve the student from knowing and complying with the content of the communications. The University provides an forwarding service that allows students to read their via other service providers (e.g., Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo). Students that choose to forward their from their pitt.edu address to another address do so at their own risk. If is lost as a result of forwarding, it does not absolve the student from responding to official communications sent to their University address. To forward sent to your University account, go to log into your account, click on Edit Forwarding Addresses, and follow the instructions on the page. Be sure to log out of your account when you have finished.