Sustainability and the Built Environment

Catalog description

In 1983 the World Commission on Environment and Development (aka the Bruntland Commission) was convened to address the growing concerns about environmental degradation in response to escalating human development. From that came the call to switch the world policy focus toward a more sustainable future. Sustainable development is commonly described as efforts to meet the needs of our present generation while taking the needs of the future generation into consideration. The concept appears simple. Yet, the challenge lies in how we get there. What does it mean to meet the needs of our present generation without compromising the future? How do we define those needs? In this course we will wrestle with some challenging issues (e.g. the growing climate crisis, increasing global inequality) in the context of sustainability with the intent to guide student thinking about what a sustainable future might look like for individuals, communities, and the world.