Sustainability

The sustainability track is supervised by Dr. Jose Maria Cardoso da Silva of the College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Geography and Sustainable Development. Students who select the track in sustainability must take GEG 661 - Urban Geography I, as well as 9 additional credits in sustainability from the list below:

• GEG 661 - Urban Geography I

  An introduction to the essential elements about the growth and development of cities. Review the challenges of urbanization and urban sustainability in the contemporary period. This course is required for all students who select the track in sustainability.

• ARC 626 - Landscape Arch Design II

  Analysis and design of landscape spaces. Topics include ecological principles, landforms and plant materials.

• ARC 628 - Historic Preservation

  Basic design principles for the rehabilitation of historic buildings and districts. Evaluating character-defining details; significance analysis; context of setting issues within historic districts; applying the Secretary of the Interior's standards for rehabilitation.

• ARC 640 - Tropical Architecture

  A discussion of tropical architecture and the theme of tropicalism. Research, analysis and documentation in drawing of selected case studies.

• ARC 641 - Seminar on Town Design

  Introduction to the lexicon of urbanism; analytical presentations of the concepts of: region, town, neigborhood, corridor, district, and building type; interdisciplinary presentations, review, and criticism of current town and urban design projects.

• ARC 685 - Special Problems

  Group or individual investigations of significant architectural issues, offered by special arrangement only.

• ARC 690 - History of Cities

  Historical overview of the origin and development of cities around the world. Emphasis on intentional form of settlements (the ideal) as well as response to economic and political imperatives such as trade and defense (the real).

• GEG 643 - Population, Sustainability, and Media

  Explores opposing views of population growth and environmental sustainability through the media and cinema: contrasts "doomsters" who believe population growth and resource consumption threaten human survival, and pro-growth "boomsters" who believe human ingenuity and technology will continue to allow humankind to prosper.

• GEG 693 - Geographic Information Systems II

  An introduction to spatial analysis, which consists of techniques for analyzing patterns of and interrelationships between spatial data. Topics include vector polygon editing and topology, integration of raster and vector data, surface analysis and 30 analysis, suitability mapping, spatial modeling and multi-criteria evaluations.

• GEG 692 - Remote Sensing of the Environment

  Theory and techniques of environmental remote sensing and imagery interpretation for earth resources monitoring and management.

• GEG 681 - Spatial Data Analysis II

  Social and environmental science applications of spatial statistical analysis illustrated with data and numerical (simulation experiments) examples employing interactive software. This course's focus is on spatial auto correlation.

• GEG 636 - Sustainable Food Systems

  The intricacies of global geographies of major food systems, how these systems have come to be and where major food types produced, why and where the major demand centers are. It also examines what the future implication for food is through exploration and evaluation of a range of visions for a safe, sustainable food system.

• GEG 612 - Health Applications of Geographic Information Systems

  Ideas from a broad range of geospatial health subjects, and hands-on exercises to help students to better process spatial data and use them for specific analyses that address issues related to health.

• GEG 648 - Climate Change and Public Health

  The mechanisms by which climate change adversely affects human health and the policy options for mitigating our exposure.

• IGS 644 - Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability

  The concepts of environmental sustainability and energy security will be explored. The importance of energy and the mitigation of climate change in formulation of country strategies, advancement of national interests and shaping of the international system will be stressed.

• IGS 647 - Disaster Relief and Humanitarian Aid

  This course examines the management of disasters from natural causes. It is focused primarily on the theory and practice of response. At the center of this investigation is a difficult question: how to help? The answers are not obvious. Through the vocabularies of practicioners and frameworks offered by academic literature, we will explore the ways in which responders respond, the lessons learned and the best practices that have emerged in the field of disaster response and humanitarian intervention.