Resiliency, Health & Built Environment

Catalog description

Overnight field trips required Aug 20-21, 2020 and Aug 24-25, 2020. Additional fees apply. Healthy resilient communities are successful outcomes of built places. This course is designed for MES students to build area expertise through lectures, on-site visits and real time simulations. Students will travel to New York City and Washington DC to learn about these topics and observe current practices first hand. Through the design and synthesis of place, including educational and health facilities, and the workplace, the class will investigate the impact of Social Determinants of Health and sustainability. They will also integrate resiliency planning to address impacts of sea level rise, severe heat and different climate and environmental conditions affecting the built environment. Course work covers design and planning theory that intersects with diseases, mental health, climate action and their inter-connectivity. Case studies, seminars and tours of projects and health departments will bring to focus how the built environment can be a culprit and a solution.