1
Introduction to Sustainable Development
GEOG 302
Instructor: Dr. Linda C. Samuels Class Schedule: Tues/Thurs 9:30 – 10:45
[email protected] Classroom: Psychology 306
Office: UA Downtown , 222 Office hrs: Fridays 1-2 p.m./by appt.
The satisfaction of human needs and aspirations is the major objective of development. The essential needs of vast numbers of
people in developing countries – for food, clothing, shelter, jobs – are not being met, and beyond their basic needs these people
have legitimate aspirations for an improved quality of life. A world in which poverty and inequity are endemic will always be prone
to ecological and other crises. Sustainable development requires meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the
opportunity to satisfy their aspirations for a better life.
_ Brundtland, World Commission on Environment and Development
What I do I think about sustainability? Actually, I don’t like the word very much. The reason is that no one, as far as I know, is in
favor of un-sustainability, and so therefore sustainability tends to mean almost anything you want it to mean, and I think we
should be rather more specific than that. The other problem is that sustainability sometimes sounds a bit too passive and static,
and I think throughout history we have transformed our relationship to nature sometimes in good ways sometimes in bad ways.
And I think the question for us is how we are going to transform our relationship to nature in the future.
_David Harvey, interview @http://www.urbanintelligence.org
The right to the city manifests itself as a superior form of rights: right to freedom, to individualization in socialization, to habitat
and to inhabit. The right to the oeuvre, to participation and appropriation (clearly distinct from the right to property), are implied in
the right to the city.
_Henri Lefebvre, the Right to the City
What is sustainable development? What is a sustainable city? Is our best position, as weak and reactive as it is, to be against un-
sustainability? Has the term itself – sustainability – grown impotent? If sustainable development is a process and sustainable
cities the product, how do we gauge the success of our processes and products? How do we then employ that information in the
service of better outcomes? The objectives of this course are 1) to develop meaningful, useful, perceptive and perhaps
unpredictable definitions and parameters to help us determine what a successful sustainable city actually is and how it is
produced (if we can in fact determine either) and 2) to propose thoughtful, rigorous, creative arguments for projects, policies, or
other interventions that would transform our local condition and, perhaps through extension, others like it. This is not only an
exercise in metrics – though metrics may be part of the equation – but also an exercise in negotiation, in education, in
prophesizing, in critical and creative ...
1 Introduction to Sustainable Development GEOG 302 .docx
1. 1
Introduction to Sustainable Development
GEOG 302
Instructor: Dr. Linda C. Samuels Class Schedule: Tues/Thurs
9:30 – 10:45
[email protected] Classroom: Psychology 306
Office: UA Downtown , 222 Office hrs: Fridays 1-2 p.m./by
appt.
The satisfaction of human needs and aspirations is the major
objective of development. The essential needs of vast numbers
of
people in developing countries – for food, clothing, shelter, jobs
– are not being met, and beyond their basic needs these people
have legitimate aspirations for an improved quality of life. A
world in which poverty and inequity are endemic will always
be prone
to ecological and other crises. Sustainable development requires
meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the
opportunity to satisfy their aspirations for a better life.
_ Brundtland, World Commission on Environment and
Development
What I do I think about sustainability? Actually, I don’t like the
word very much. The reason is that no one, as far as I know, is
in
favor of un-sustainability, and so therefore sustainability tends
to mean almost anything you want it to mean, and I think we
2. should be rather more specific than that. The other problem is
that sustainability sometimes sounds a bit too passive and static,
and I think throughout history we have transformed our
relationship to nature sometimes in good ways sometimes in bad
ways.
And I think the question for us is how we are going to transform
our relationship to nature in the future.
_David Harvey, interview
@http://www.urbanintelligence.org
The right to the city manifests itself as a superior form of
rights: right to freedom, to individualization in socialization, to
habitat
and to inhabit. The right to the oeuvre, to participation and
appropriation (clearly distinct from the right to property), are
implied in
the right to the city.
_Henri Lefebvre, the Right to the City
What is sustainable development? What is a sustainable city? Is
our best position, as weak and reactive as it is, to be against un-
sustainability? Has the term itself – sustainability – grown
impotent? If sustainable development is a process and
sustainable
cities the product, how do we gauge the success of our
processes and products? How do we then employ that
information in the
service of better outcomes? The objectives of this course are 1)
to develop meaningful, useful, perceptive and perhaps
unpredictable definitions and parameters to help us determine
what a successful sustainable city actually is and how it is
produced (if we can in fact determine either) and 2) to propose
thoughtful, rigorous, creative arguments for projects, policies,
or
3. other interventions that would transform our local condition
and, perhaps through extension, others like it. This is not only
an
exercise in metrics – though metrics may be part of the equation
– but also an exercise in negotiation, in education, in
prophesizing, in critical and creative thinking.
The content of the course will be presented in three parts –
history, elements and actions. A very brief history reviews the
origins
of sustainable development thinking and sets up the complicated
but critical triangle of conflicts in sustainable development
debates: the property conflict, the resource conflict, and the
development conflict. The elements consist of the components
that
make up the sustainability knowledge set: environmental
(climate, water, energy, ecology); urban design and planning
(growth
patterns, transportation, density, infrastructure); social equity
(public space, private rights, food justice, social justice), and
economics (ecological capitalism, social entrepreneurship,
creative capitalism, green industry). These are the categories
you will
use to develop working groups towards your final proposals.
The last section, actions, covers the most current efforts or
2
instigations in the creation of sustainable cities – utopias,
disasters and resilience, smart infrastructure, innovation
districts,
creative class cities, smart growth and walkability, green
buildings, and guerrilla urbanism. The first section is intended
to place
4. you in the intellectual framework of sustainable development,
the second is intended to give you necessary ammunition, and
the
third, coincident with proposal development, is intended to
encourage creative thinking through the study of current or
speculative proposals.
Objectives
Our objective is to develop the latest definitions, the strongest
and most rigorous arguments, and the most creative visions for
the next generation sustainable city. Like any introductory
course, though, the intention is to provide breadth more than
depth,
creating an awareness of the wide range of issues, resources,
and research germane to the sustainable development discourse.
To be successful in the larger tasks of the semester, your
research will need to go above and beyond the readings and
resources I
supply. It is up to the individual student and his/her teams and
partners to pursue further those topics that pique your interest.
What information is out there in wired magazine, on nextcity
blog, or in Atlantic Cities newsfeed that has yet to make it into
a
book or a film? What do you bring to our challenge from other
courses and other experts?
Weekly assignments are short exercises intended to track your
participation and engagement with the readings, links, and
lectures. Intermediate writing and projects are intended to push
you to be a more critical, rigorous, and synthetic thinker and
writer. The final projects – a culmination of your work of the
semester – will ideally be developed enough to present to local
stakeholders in the ultimate aim of influencing their decision-
making regarding the future of our region.
Method
5. Course content will be divided into the three parts mentioned in
the introduction; within those parts is a series of themes as
indicated in the following schedule. Class time will be a
combination of lecture, discussion, work session, and
interactive
exercises. Please come prepared! Weekly readings, lectures and
links will be complemented by a film series that expands on the
content of the themes. Using those films as instigators, you will
be asked to think and write critically about sustainability issues
that spark your interest, synthesizing information from class
lectures, readings, and discussion to develop compelling,
substantiated positions in your essays. Your two projects ask
that you take that information a step further and apply it to your
evaluation of a case study city first, then to Tucson.
Assignments
Readings:
All required reading should be done prior to the class time for
which they are assigned. Supplemental readings are optional but
suggested for those who have expanded interest in a particular
subject or who need more information on a topic to be fully
prepared. Relevant links on the Sustainable City Project
facebook page and Geog 302 D2L site not indicated as required
are for
your use in developing your assignments, expanding your
general knowledge, and engaging more thoroughly in
sustainability
issues at large.
One text is required for the class, The Sustainable Urban
Development Reader edited by Wheeler and Beatley. A second
text is
highly recommended, Walkable City, by Jeff Speck. Though we
will likely not read the entire text in class, it is worth
purchasing as
a reference. Most other readings will be available via D2L, in
6. the library, or downloadable through a digital source. Reading
assignments may be added or revised at the instructors’
discretion. You will be notified of those changes as soon as
possible via
D2L or in the class time prior.
To encourage you to read carefully and participate in class
discussions, you will have a brief assignment (no more than one
page)
due each class period relating to the readings. If an alternative
assignment is not given, you will turn in three questions that
emerge during your reading of that class period’s material. If
there are multiple readings, be sure to distribute your questions
across the readings to critically engage the range of content.
They might range from simple questions about terminology to
3
complex questions about how certain ideas relate to current
news events. These will be turned in at the beginning of class.
Please
put your name, date, and bibliography of the readings at the top
of the page. You will sign and date these pages when you turn
them in as they will also serve to document your attendance in
class.
You have one freebie during the semester. On the rare occasion
that something else in your life takes priority, simply turn in a
piece of paper with your name, date, and signature, and you will
still get credit for being in class sans reading assignment. You
are still responsible for the content of that week’s assignment.
Films:
Twenty-first century information is hardly contained only in
7. published book format. Part of the content of this course will be
a
concurrent film series. All films are required viewing and are
considered part of the course content for which you are
responsible.
Because of limited class time, it is possible that some films will
be shown in truncated form during class or that we may run
slightly over class time. My aim (facilities pending) is to show
each film twice – once during class and once in the evening of
that
same class day. The later film will be open to the public and
shown either on main campus or at UA Downtown (or an
alternative
downtown location). You are only required to see each film
once, but may want to see it twice to help your writing
assignments or
share interesting events with your peers. Should attendance not
require dual showings, this schedule may be adjusted. Please
note – assignments due the day of film showings must still be
turned in on time, in class.
Lectures / other engagement:
Students are expected to be prepared to participate in class by
completing the readings prior to class time, paying attention and
taking notes during lectures, and engaging in class discussions.
Students are also expected to be good world citizens and pay
attention to events and projects outside of the classroom
relevant to sustainable development. Students are encouraged to
comment and/or add their own relevant posts to the SCP
facebook page and D2L. Students are also encouraged to attend
events
relevant to the sustainable development issues which interest
them most. Extra credit may be available for certain related
conferences, lectures, and volunteer opportunities. These efforts
are alternative ways you can participate in the class.
8. Writing:
Five films will be shown over the course of the semester. You
will choose two of these films to serve as the instigation for
your two
primary writing assignments. The assignment is to select a
specific sustainable development issue evident in the film,
develop a
thesis (position, argument or hypothesis) regarding that issue,
and support that thesis through the material covered in lectures
and readings of the previous weeks. You must utilize the film
plus at least two sources from the course readings as evidence.
You
may also use additional sources – news or scholarly articles,
interviews, census data, readings from other themes in the
semester,
etc. All sources should be cited appropriately in footnote
format. Though these essays do emerge from your critical
reflections on
the films and readings, these are not opinion pieces, but brief,
focused theses substantiated by appropriate research.
Each of the writing assignments will be due at the beginning of
the class period indicated in the course schedule. Note that you
cannot wait and choose the last two films and meet the
deadlines. These essays are short – which is often far harder to
do well.
You must make your point and argument concisely and clearly –
every word counts. Give yourself plenty of time to write drafts
and revisions. Each should be no more than 4 pages, printed
double-sided (4 pages of text total), no more than 12 point type
and
1 inch margins. Include one image, also evidence to help
support your thesis. Remember, presentation (layout, font,
image
quality) always matters. Include your name, date, and essay
title. Properly compose your essay to include an introductory
9. paragraph with a thesis statement at the end of that paragraph.
What is your position? I should know that from reading your
intro
and thesis. The body of the paper serves as your substantiation /
support / argument of that thesis. Lead your reader through that
information in a compelling manner. The conclusion is not a
regurgitation of the introduction, but exhibits the deductions
that
emerge on the journey from your hypothesis through your
substantiation. What have you learned from your research? I
should
know that by reading your conclusion. These short essays
require critical thinking – what relationships do you see
between the
issue you select from the film and the scholarly arguments
presented in the readings? What might you support or refute?
What
4
additional information do you need to move that argument
forward? All writing is to be done individually and submitted in
hard
copy.
Excess spelling and grammar errors are unacceptable. Respect
your work and your readers. Write a draft, spellcheck and
proofread before you turn in your essay. Consult resources for
help with grammar. Numerous preventable errors (sloppy
writing
and proofreading) may result in the essay being returned with
one opportunity for a rewrite – but only once. The revised essay
must be turned in the following class period and will
automatically lose a letter grade. Strong writing (often an
10. expression of
strong thinking) is one of the single most important job and life
skills you can have. Use these exercises to help hone that skill.
There are several on-campus resources to aid you if you need
help. I am happy to write a referral if you need one.
The Writing Center @
http://thinktank.arizona.edu/tutoring/writing
Writing Skills Improvement Program @
http://wsip.web.arizona.edu/
Projects:
Your two projects are to be done in pairs. Cross-disciplinary
pairs are often most interesting; find partners whose skills and
knowledge complement rather than repeat your own.
Project One: Each team will select a unique city and effectively
argue that it is either the MOST or the LEAST sustainable city
in
North America. Using the range of themes and material
introduced in class plus your own extensive research, you will
have 10
slides / 5 minutes to make your argument to your peers and a
guest panel of jurors. Your team will hand in both the
presentation
and a written support document.
Project Two: Your final project will be the development of a
single proposal you feel could transform Tucson into that
MOST
sustainable city. You should plan to do further research with
experts, local stakeholders, and/or city officials to help you
develop
your best idea. You will likely need to develop your own
“metrics” (be they quantitative, qualitative or theoretical) and
locate
11. appropriate data. Again your presentations will be 10 slides / 5
minutes presented to your peers and a guest panel of jurors.
Your
team will also hand in a 20 page proposal (text plus needed
diagrams, charts, images) that more fully explores your idea’s
potentials and pitfalls. These may be shared with the city and
other relevant stakeholders.
Grading
Reading Questions / Class Participation / Attendance / Quizzes
10%
Writing Assignments 15% x 2 = 30%
Project One 25%
Project Two (presentation + proposal) 35%
(Lifelong kudos if the city actually implements your proposal)
The following grading scale applies:
"A" (Excellent) Skillfully meets or exceeds stated requirements
of assignment. Contributes to knowledge base of course and/or
larger discourse. Shows high level of intellectual creativity,
critical thinking and rigor. Pursues independent resources or
research
methods beyond those given.
"B" (Good) Skillfully meets stated requirements of assignment.
Shows high level of competency plus hints of intellectual
creativity, critical thinking and rigor.
"C" (Fair) Meets stated requirements of assignment. Shows
competency and basic understanding of material, but lacks
synthesis
or criticality.
"D" (Poor) Fails to meet all stated requirements of assignment.
Work is incomplete or late. Understanding of material is
lacking.
"F" (Unsatisfactory) Fails to meet the basic requirements of
assignment. Work is incomplete or late. Shows little to no
understanding of material or assignment objectives.
12. 5
Late assignments will only be accepted due to an excused and
documented emergency absence. Any material turned in later
than the class period following the excused absence will lose a
letter grade per day.
Attendance
Attendance in class is required and will be verified through
your signed weekly assignments. More than three unexcused
absences will result in failure of the course. Excused absences
include unavoidable, documented illnesses or absence due to
religious holidays. Missing more than ten minutes of class
(arriving late or leaving early) counts as absent from that day’s
class. It
is the responsibility of the student to obtain any material
missed. You are required to see each film only once, so you may
choose
to attend the night time viewing rather than the class time
viewing on those days only. Should the nighttime viewing be
cancelled for any reason, you will still be responsible for
independently viewing the film.
Other Academic Policies
Academic policies can be found in The University of Arizona
General Academic Catalog:
http://catalog.arizona.edu/allcats.html
For the principles, policies, and procedures governing issues of
academic integrity, see:
http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/codeofacademicintegrity.
You are expected to produce all your own work. Appropriately
13. building upon the scholarly work of others is part of academic
research, but the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas
and passing them off as your own is known as plagiarism and is
a violation of academic and professional ethics. The intellectual
or creative property of others should be properly attributed and
quotations identified clearly as such. Plagiarism will result in
failure of the assignment, potential failure of the course and
academic action as appropriate. Please follow the links or ask
should you need further explanations. At any point in the
semester,
I may choose to have essays scanned for violations.
This course follows the University of Arizona’s Policy on
plagiarism:
http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/codeofacademicintegrity
All participants must follow the University of Arizona’s Policy
on student behavior:
http://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/sites/deanofstudents.arizona.e
du/files/disruptive_threat_bklt_Web_0.pdf
Respect your classmates and professor. Debate and
disagreement is encouraged and necessary for vibrant
discussion, but
degrading or antagonistic remarks are not. The University
policy on threatening behavior can be found here:
http://policy.web.arizona.edu/threatening.pdf. Sexist or racist
comments may result in expulsion from the class.
Mobile Devices:
Cell phones and other mobile devices are not to be used during
class, including for chatting, facebook posting or texting. Please
turn off all cell phone ringers and audible notifications. Laptops
may be used for note-taking or in-class assignments only as
directed by the professor; they may not be used for checking
email, facebooking, instagramming, web surfing, etc. This is
14. distracting and disrespectful to your professor and your peers.
Should this be an individual problem, you will be asked to leave
the class resulting in an unexcused absence; laptop use may be
disallowed for the entire class should distracting behavior be
widespread.
Accessibility / Disability Resource Center
Every effort will be made to accommodate students with
diagnosed disabilities. Please contact me to initiate a discussion
about
how we can best help you succeed in this class. If you are
registered with the Disability Resource Center please submit the
associated documentation to the instructor.
6
Course Schedule
**The instructor reserves the right to make changes to the
schedule and/or assignments as needed throughout the course of
the
semester. Changes will be announced in class, posted or
distributed via D2L as early as possible. Please read the
introduction to
the section assigned in the course text in addition to the essays.
week 1: introduction to sustainability
TUES / 27 August - Introduction
Purchase textbooks; Register for Ready or Hot? keynote:
http://www.psr.org/chapters/arizona/climate-smart-southwest/
Connect to SCP via facebook:
15. https://www.facebook.com/SustainableCityProject
THURS / 29 August - Inventing Sustainability
SUDR (Sustainable Urban Development Reader):
Howard, Ebenezer (1898) “The Three Magnets and the Town-
Country Magnet” from Garden Cities of Tomorrow.
Mumford, Lewis (1938) “Cities and the Crisis of Civilization”
from the “Introduction” to The Culture of Cities.
McHarg, Ian L. (1969) “Plight and Prospect” from Design With
Nature. (pdf of original also available on D2L)
D2L:
Carson, Rachel (1962). “A Fable for Tomorrow” and “The
Obligation to Endure” from Silent Spring.
Jacobs, Jane (1961) “Introduction” from The Death and Life of
Great American Cities.
(expanded version includes her commentary on Mumford,
Howard, and others).
WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT: timeline assessment / revisions
International Institute for Sustainable Development, timelines:
http://www.iisd.org
week 2: introduction to sustainability (continued)
TUES / 3 September - Three Es and a Million Compromises
SUDR:
World Commission on Environment and Development (the
Brundtland Commission) (1987) from Our Common Future. (full
pdf
of document available on D2L).
D2L:
16. Campbell, Scott (1996). “Green Cities, Growing Cities, Just
Cities?: Urban Planning and the Contradictions of Sustainable
Development”, Journal of the American Planning Association,
62:3, 296-312.
Soja, Ed (2000). “Introduction” from Postmetropolis: Critical
Studies of Cites and Regions, Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp 3-18.
SUPPLEMENTAL:
Meadows et al (1972). “Perspectives, Problems, and Models”
from The Limits of Growth. (SUDR)
THURS / 5 September / Rosh Hashanah
FILM ONE: An Inconvenient Truth
7
week 3: climate & environment – expert guest lecturers
TUES / 10 September – climate
GUEST LECTURER: Julia Cole, Professor, Geosciences and
Atmospheric Sciences, Institute of the Environment
Readings TBD
TUES / 12 September – energy
GUEST LECTURER: Ardeth Barnhart, Program Director, REN:
Renewable Energy Network, Institute of the Environment
Readings TBD
week 4: climate & environment – expert guest lecturers
(continued)
THURS / 17 September – water
GUEST LECTURER: Sharon Megdal, Professor, Soil, Water,
17. and Environmental Science; Director, Water Resources
Research Center
READINGS:
Layperson's Guide to Arizona Water
http://wrrc.arizona.edu/publications/laypersons-guide-arizona-
water/laypersons-guide-arizona-water
Arizona Groundwater Management
http://wrrc.arizona.edu/publications/other/arizona-groundwater-
management
THURS / 19 September – urban ecology
GUEST LECTURER: Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman, Assistant
Research Professor, Biosphere 2, School of Natural Resources
and the
Environment
Readings TBD
SPECIAL EVENT
FRI / 20 September , 7:00, Unisource building conference room
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Eric Klinenberg, author of Heat Wave:
A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago
http://www.psr.org/chapters/arizona/climate-smart-southwest/
SAT / 21 September
Climate Smart Southwest conference: Ready or Hot?
week 5: built environment patterns
TUES / 24 September – The Measures of America / The
Progress of Modernism
D2L:
Cosgrove, Denis (1996). “The Measures of America” from
Taking Measure Across the American Landscape. New Haven:
Yale
18. University Press, pp. 3-13.
Jackson, John Brinkerhoff (1994). “The Accessible Landscape”
from A Sense of Place, A Sense of Time. New Haven: Yale
University
Press, pp. 1-10.
Berman, Marshall (1982). “The Twentieth Century: The Halo
and the Highway”, “Robert Moses: The Expressway World” and
“The
1960s: A Shout in the Street” from All That Is Solid Melts Into
Air: The Experience of Modernity. New York: Penguin.
SUDR:
Leopold, Aldo (1949). “The Land Ethic” from A Sand County
Almanac.
8
THURS / 25 September – Sprawl and its Discontents
D2L:
Hayden, Dolores (2003). “The Shapes of Suburbia”, “The
Suburban City”, and “Edge Nodes” Building Suburbia: Green
Fields and
Urban Growth, 1820-2000. New York: Vintage Books.
Bruegmann, Robert. Sprawl: a compact history (2005).
“Defining Sprawl” and “Sprawl since the 1970s”. Chicago:
University of
Chicago Press.
SUPPLEMENTAL:
Jackson, Kenneth T. (1985) Crabgrass Frontier: The
Suburbanization of the United States. Oxford: Oxford
University Press,
Chapters 13-16. (If you are unfamiliar with the detailed history
of suburban growth, please review this material in addition)
19. week 6: built environment patterns (continued)
TUES / 1 October -- Fear and Loathing in the Land of
Unfettered Mobility
SUDR:
Cervero, Robert (1998). “Transit and the Metropolis: Finding
Harmony” from The Transit Metropolis: A Global Inquiry.
Newman,
Peter and Jeffrey Kenworthy (1999). “Traffic Calming” from
Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence.
Pucher, John, Charles Komanoff, and Paul Shimek (1999).
“Bicycling Renaissance in North America?” from
Transportation
Research A.
D2L:
Shoup, Donald (1997). “The High Cost of Free Parking” Journal
of Planning Education and Research, vol. 17, pp 3-20.
Kunstler, James Howard (1993). “Joyride” from The Geography
of Nowhere. New York: Touchstone, pp. 85-112.
SUPPLEMENTAL:
Blumenberg, Evelyn and Mike Manville. (2004) “Beyond the
Spatial Mismatch: Welfare Recipients and Transportation
Policy”.
Journal of Planning Literature. 19: 182.
http://jpl.sagepub.com/content/19/2/182
WEEKLY ASSIGNMENT: report card assessment
Infrastructure Report Card:
http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org
**TEAM & CITY SELECTION FOR PROJECT ONE DUE.
Bring at least two options to class of both MOST and LEAST
20. sustainable cities
in case your top choice is selected by another team first.
THURS / 3 October
FILM TWO: Urbanized
week 7: equity & social justice
TUES / 8 October -- The Death of Public Space & The Right to
the City
Mitchell, Don (2003). “To Go Again to Hyde Park: Public
Space, Rights, and Social Justice” and “The End of Public
Space? People’s
Park, the Public, and the Right to the City” The Right to the
City: Social Justice and the Fight for Public Space. New York:
The
Guilford Press.
9
Sorkin, Michael (1992). “Introduction”, Variations on a Theme
Park: The New American City and the End of Public Space.
New
York: Noonday Press.
Davis, Mike (1992). “Fortress Los Angeles: The Militarization
of Urban Space”, Variations on a Theme Park: The New
American City
and the End of Public Space. New York: Noonday Press.
Sennett, Richard (1994). “The Powers of the Eye” in Urban
Revisions: Current Projects for the Public Realm.
THURS /10 October – Wicked Problems of Equity:
Homelessness, Disenfranchisement, Gentrification
21. D2L:
Hayden, Dolores (1980). “What Would a Non-sexist City Be
Like? Speculations on Housing, Urban Design, and Human
Work.”
Signs, vol 5, no. 3, pp 170-187. (this is a more complete essay
than the excerpt in the text)
SUDR:
Bullard, Robert (1990). “People-of-Color Environmentalism”
from Dumping in Dixie: Race, Class and Environmental
Quality.
Hayden, Dolores (1984). “Domesticating Urban Space” from
Redesigning the American Dream: The Future of Housing,
Work,
and Family Life.
Perlman, Janice E. and Molly O/Meara Sheehan (2007)
“Fighting Poverty and Environmental Injustice in Cities” from
State of the
World 2007: Our Urban Future.
SUPPLEMENTAL:
Homelessness / Housing first:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/07/us/07homeless.html?_r=2&
oref=slogin&
Tucson homeless count:
http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/a-number-in-
need/Content?oid=1740996
Ronstadt Center redevelopment: http://tucson-
progressive.com/2013/04/10/ronstadt-transit-center-city-
developers-ponder-
proverbial-political-football-video/
Gentrification: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/us/los-
angeles-neighborhood-tries-to-change-but-avoid-the-
pitfalls.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=ed
22. it_th_20130818
http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/08/17/us/10000000237152
7/gentrify-no-gentefy-
si.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130819
Urban Renewal: Otero, Lydia (2010). La Calle: Spatial
Conflicts and Urban Renewal in a Southwest City.
week 8: equity & social justice (continued)
TUES / 15 October -- Urban Ag and Food Justice
GUEST LECTURER: Sallie Marston
Readings TBD
THURS / 17 October
FILM THREE: The Garden
**ESSAY ONE DUE
week 9: politics, metrics, & economics
TUES / 22 October -- Rating Sustainable Cities
GUEST LECTURER: Leslie Ethen, City of Tucson, Office of
Conservation and Sustainable Development
10
D2L: “STAR Community Rating System”, version 1.0, October
2012.
LEED ND: http://www.usgbc.org/neighborhoods
SUDR:
Maclaren, Virginia W (1996) “Urban Sustainability Reporting”
from the Journal of the American Planning Association.
23. Wackernagel, Mathis and William Rees (1996) “What is an
Ecological Footprint?” from Our Ecological Footprint.
THURS / 24 October – Questions of Economics
SUDR:
Hawken, Paul (1997). “Natural Capitalism” from Mother Jones.
Shuman, Michael (1998). “Import Replacement” from Going
Local: Creating Self-Reliant Communities in a Global Age.
D2L:
Glaeser, Edward (2011). “How do Cities Succeed?” and “Flat
World, Tall City” from Triumph of the City.
Stranded by Sprawl:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/29/opinion/krugman-stranded-
by-
sprawl.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130729&_r=0
Gentrification:
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/08/what-
happens-when-critics-gentrification-are-gentrifiers-
themselves/6468/
week 10: project one presentations 10 : 5
TUES / 29 October
LEAST sustainable cities in America
hand in presentation and support essay
THURS / 31 October
MOST sustainable cities in America
hand in presentation and support essay
week 11: dystopias / utopias
TUES / 5 November – Disaster Cities / Resilient Cities
24. Vale, Lawrence J. and Thomas J. Campanella (2005). “Making
Progress: Disaster Narratives and the Art of Optimism in
Modern
America” from The Resilient City.
On the Water: Palisade Bay (2010). “Introduction”
PLACES Journal, special issue: “Recovering”. vol. 21, no. 1,
2009.
Design After Disaster:
http://places.designobserver.com/media/pdf/Design_after_D_88
7.pdf
Reclaiming the Ruin:
http://places.designobserver.com/feature/reclaiming-the-
ruin/1144/
Reflecting Absence:
http://places.designobserver.com/media/pdf/Reflecting_Abs_11
62.pdf
Infrastructural Optimism:
http://places.designobserver.com/feature/infrastructural-
optimism/1097/
SUPPLEMENTAL:
Davis, Mike (1998) “The Case for Letting Malibu Burn”
Ecology of Fear. (also equity reading)
11
THURS / 7 November
FILM FOUR: Trouble the Water (alt: DETROTOPIA, The
Pruitt Igoe Myth)
week 12
25. TUES / 12 November: Utopias
Masdar: “City of Light” in Popular Science.
Readings TBD.
THURS / 14 November: Green buildings, Green cities,
Greenwashing
SUDR:
McDonough, William (1993) “Design, Ecology, Ethics and the
Making of Things”, a sermon given at the Cathedral of St. John
the
Divine, New York City.
Vale, Brenda and Robert Vale (1991). “Principles of Green
Architecture” from Green Architecture.
“Introduction to the LEED Rating System” Unites States Green
Building Council.
**PROPOSAL ABSTRACT FOR PROJECT TWO DUE
week 13: Urbanisms
TUES / 19 November – Old New Urbanism / New New
Urbanism / New Urbanisms
Speck, Jeff (2012). section1: Why Walkability? Walkable City:
How Downtown Can Save American, One Step at a Time. pp 13-
51.
Cuff, Dana and Roger Sherman (2011). “Introduction” from
Fast-forward Urbanism.
Mostafavi, Mohsen, ed. (2010/2013) “Why ecological urbanism?
Why now?” Ecological Urbanism.
Bruegmann, Robert. Sprawl: a compact history (2005). “The
Third Anti-sprawl Campaign: Since the 1970s”. Chicago:
University of
Chicago Press.
Waldheim, Charles, ed. (2006). Landscape Urbanism Reader.
pages TBD.
26. SUPPLEMENTAL:
Duany, Andres, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck (2000).
“What is to be done” Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and
the
Decline of the American Dream. pp 215-243.
Hayden, Dolores (2003). “Nostalgia and Futurism” Building
Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000. New
York:
Vintage Books.
Dunham-Jones, Ellen and June Williamson (2011). Retrofitting
Suburbia. pages TBD.
THURS / 21 November
FILM FIVE: The Truman Show
second showing: 7:00
**ESSAY TWO DUE
week 14: Urbanisms (continued)
TUES / 26 November – Innovation Cities / Creative Class Cities
Scientific America (Sept 2011). special issue “Cities: Smarter,
Greener, Better”.
12
Katz, Bruce and Jennifer Bradley (2013). “The Rise of
Innovation Districts” from The Metropolitan Revolution.
Florida, Richard (October 2012). “What draws creative people?
Quality of Place.” Urban Land Institute website.
http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2012/Oct/FloridaCreative
27. SUPPLEMENTAL:
innovation districts:
http://www.npr.org/2013/07/11/201200441/innovation-centers-
may-be-cornerstones-of-new-urban-
economy
http://urbanland.uli.org/Articles/2013/Jul/MooneyMetroRev?ut
m_source=uli&utm_medium=eblast&utm_campaign=080513
Green Revolution: http://sustainablecitiescollective.com/big-
city/151861/infographic-cities-embracing-green-revolution
Smart Cities: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-22538561
THURS / 28 November / Thanksgiving – no class
week 15: Radicals & Revolutionaries
TUES / 3 December – Design as Activism
D2L:
Bell, Brian and Katie Wakeford, eds. “An Architecture of
Change”, “Toward a Humane Environment: Sustainable Design
and
Social Justice” and “Building Sustainable Communities and
Building Citizens” from Expanding Architecture: Design as
Activism.
THURS / 5 December – Radicals & Revolutionaries
D2L / Library (page selections TBD):
Lefebvre, Henri (1996). “The Right to the City” from Writings
on Cities.
Chase, John, Margaret Crawford, and John Kaliski, eds. (2008).
Everyday Urbanism.
Borasi, Giovanna and Mirko Zardini, eds. What You Can Do
With the City.
Hou, Jeffrey, ed. Insurgent Public Space: Guerrilla Urbanism
and the Remaking of Contemporary Cities.
28. Lydon, Mike. Tactical Urbanism (pdf)
week 16: Next Generation
Solution
s – you.
10 December
draft / dress rehearsal for final
12 December / reading day
19 December / THURS – Final Exam, 10:30 – 12:30
PROJECT TWO DUE: SUSTAINABLE SOULTIONS FOR
TUCSON: presentation and final document due
GEOG 302 INTRO TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
SAMUELS Fall 2013
47. DEC
17
16
17
18
19 Final Exams End
FINAL PRESENTATION
AND DOCUMENT DUE
20
21
22
F13_geog302_syllabusFall_13_calendar_geog302
48. C r i t e r i a f o r G r a d i n g W r i t i n g A s s i g n m e n t
s
These criteria are developed from the writing assignment you
have been given. Your writing assignments will be graded based
on them, so read them
carefully before you draft your paper and use them as you
evaluate and revise your writing. Be sure to write at least one
version of a draft in advance.
Ask a peer, family member, or more advanced student to read
and comment on your draft. Revise with clarity, quality, and
dust spot-free writing in
mind. Choose topics you are interested in if not passionate
about. The more you care about your topic, the more invested
you are in its exploration.
C o n t e n t :
_____ Is the sustainable development / sustainable city issue
you selected from the film specific enough? Is it well defined?
_____ Is the issue you selected worth writing about? Does it
49. matter to you, your audience, the larger “community”? Is it
relevant to the course?
_____Have you taken a position, made an argument, or
developed a strong thesis? What additional information do you
need to move that argument
forward?
_____Is that position substantially explored, supported or
refuted through examples, research, information from lectures
or class readings? Is that
support information specific, substantial, and compelling?
_____Have you specifically referenced the film plus at least two
of the readings we have explored this semester? Better yet, have
you made the
connections between your position from the film and the content
of the class clear and obvious? Is your thinking and learning
apparent?
_____Are you thinking critically? What relationships do you see
between the issue you select from the film and the
arguments/positions presented in
the readings? How does this issue relate to larger course or real
world issues?
50. _____Have you included at least one visual to illustrate your
position, point of view, ideas, or examples?
S t r u c t u r e :
_____ Does your essay include an introduction that clearly
orients your reader and states your thesis and/or main idea.
What is your position?
_____ Does the body of the paper serves as your substantiation /
support / argument of that thesis? Are you leading your reader
through that
information in a compelling manner? How is your position
explored, supported, refuted?
_____Does your conclusion answer the question: What have you
learned from your research? and perhaps -- What next?
M e c h a n i c s :
_____ Be sure to use spellcheck (Spelling errors show a lack of
respect for your reader.) Check carefully for correct grammar
and word use. Find
someone who will proofread your paper with plenty of time for
51. revisions. Your paper will be returned if you have too many
avoidable errors.
_____Avoid plagiarism. Correctly cite any resource or idea that
is not your own. Include footnotes and a bibliography.
_____Follow directions – your paper should be no more than 4
pages total, printed double-sided, 12 point type and 1 inch
margins max.
F i n a l l y :
_____ Stretch beyond the obvious; this is your chance to take a
risk, to struggle with some creative thinking and writing
_____Presentation counts, or, at the very least, unconscious
presentation errors can count against you. No dust spots.
_____ Think about what you have read; write about what you
think.
_____ Every word counts. Be precise about your word choice.
Be powerful in your word choice. Remove unnecessary words
that muddy your writing.
![1
Introduction to Sustainable Development
GEOG 302
Instructor: Dr. Linda C. Samuels Class Schedule: Tues/Thurs
9:30 – 10:45
[email protected] Classroom: Psychology 306
Office: UA Downtown , 222 Office hrs: Fridays 1-2 p.m./by
appt.
The satisfaction of human needs and aspirations is the major
objective of development. The essential needs of vast numbers
of
people in developing countries – for food, clothing, shelter, jobs
– are not being met, and beyond their basic needs these people
have legitimate aspirations for an improved quality of life. A
world in which poverty and inequity are endemic will always
be prone
to ecological and other crises. Sustainable development requires
meeting the basic needs of all and extending to all the
opportunity to satisfy their aspirations for a better life.
_ Brundtland, World Commission on Environment and
Development
What I do I think about sustainability? Actually, I don’t like the
word very much. The reason is that no one, as far as I know, is
in
favor of un-sustainability, and so therefore sustainability tends
to mean almost anything you want it to mean, and I think we](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/1introductiontosustainabledevelopmentgeog302-221026075157-16d390cd/85/1-Introduction-to-Sustainable-Development-GEOG-302-docx-1-320.jpg)
