Human activity has a dominant and cumulative effect on climate and the environment. Examples include land development patterns that cause environmental damage, ecosystem disturbances, as well as material and energy consumption. These patterns contribute to climate change and worsen the frequency and scale of natural disasters (e.g., floods, fires, hurricanes, heat waves) both locally and globally.

Humans in cities experience declining and gentrifying neighborhoods, food deserts, unequal environmental quality, and varying access to parks and green infrastructure. Plants and animals in cities face habitat disruption which can lead to species endangerment and extinction.

Students pursuing this concentration acquire:

  • knowledge of land use models that seek to “design with nature” including:
    • transitional towns, densification efforts, eco-cities, green urbanism, ecologically informed landscaping, renewable energy districts, and microgrids
  • ability to develop plans and policies designed to protect, preserve, and regenerate ecosystems
  • techniques to promote sustainable, just, ecologically sound, and health-supportive environments for all

Planning courses

  • The Land Development Process
  • Environmental Policy
  • Designing Sustainable and Healthy Cities
  • Transportation, Urban Form, and Sustainability
  • Planning for Disaster Mitigation and Recovery
  • Informatics for Sustainable Systems
  • Environmental Economics and Policy
  • Sustainable Development: The Kerala Experience

Geography and Sustainability Sciences courses

  • Ecosystem Services: Human Dependence on Natural Systems
  • Urban Ecology
  • Introduction to Environmental Remote Sensing
  • Hazards and Society
  • Health and Environment: GIS Applications
  • Sustainability as a System Science

Civil and Environmental Engineering courses

  • Resilient Infrastructure Emergency Response
  • Sustainable Systems
  • Solid and Hazardous Wastes
  • Air Pollution Control Technology
  • Politics of FEWS (Food, Energy and Water resources)

Other courses

  • Integrated Watershed Analysis
  • Risk Communication
  • Global Environmental Health
  • Global Water and Health