Ethics in the Built Environment

Catalog description

Ethics is fundamentally a system of shared principles, and as such requires active discussion. These discussions can happen at the scale of a profession, an industry association, or an individual firm--but too often we are more comfortable using only the language of business or economics in a business setting, and so avoid ethical or values-based discussions. And yet, any group of professionals is hired both for their skill and for their judgment. This course will evaluate ethical and public policy dilemmas in the built environment, building a fluency with this language in a professional context. We will identify genuine moral dilemmas in current professional practice and connect them to underlying professional values. In doing so, we will consider the effects of decisions nominally made by senior practitioners and principals; but we will also emphasize opportunities for more junior professionals to instigate a discussion of professional ethics in their own firm or professional setting.