Ecological Urbanism Seminar
Weds the theory and practice of city design and planning as a means of adaptation with the insights of ecology and other environmental disciplines. Presents ecological urbanism as critical to the future of the city and its design, as it provides a framework for addressing challenges that threaten humanity — such as climate change, rising sea level, and environmental and social justice — while fulfilling human needs for health, safety, welfare, meaning, and delight. Applies a historical and theoretical perspective to the solution of real-world challenges. Enrollment limited.
Spring 2024 · Ecological Urbanism
Ecological urbanism weds the theory and practice of city design and planning, as a means of adaptation, with the insights of ecology (the study of the relationships among living organisms and their environment and the processes that shape both) and other environmental disciplines. Ecological urbanism is critical to the future of the city and its design: it provides a framework for addressing challenges that threaten humanity, such as climate change, rising sea level, declining oil reserves, rising energy demands, and environmental and social injustice, while fulfilling human needs for health, safety, welfare, meaning, and delight.
Fall 2012 · Advanced Seminar: Urban Nature and City Design
Topics
- Ideas of Nature and City Design and Development
- Urban Nature and City Design: Practice, Theory, and Tradition I
- Urban Nature and City Design: “The Power of Example”
- Urban Nature and City Design: Practice, Theory, and Tradition II
- Introduction to Library Resources and Image Copyright Issues
- Earth and Water
- Air and the Urban Biome
- Case Studies: Presentation and Discussion
- Case Studies: Presentation and Discussion (cont.)
- Workshop on Web Design
- Reflections: Lessons for Cities
Readings
- Williams, Raymond. “Ideas of Nature.” In Problems in Materialism and Culture . Verso, 1985, pp. 67–85. ISBN: 9780860917298.
- Spirn, Anne Whiston. The Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design . Basic Books, 1984. ISBN: 9780465026999.
- Flyvbjerg, Bent. “The Power of Example.” In Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How it Can Succeed Again . Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780521775687.
- Spirn, Anne Whiston. “Restoring Mill Creek: Landscape Literacy, Environmental History, and City Planning and Design.” In Nature’s Entrepot: Philadelphia’s Urban Sphere and Its Environmental Thresholds . Edited by Brian Black, and Michael Chiarappa. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780822944171.
- SES #: 5 · TOPICS: Introduction to Library Resources and Image Copyright Issues · READINGS: No Readings
- Robinson, G. D., and A. M. Spieker. Nature to be Commanded…Earth-Science Maps Applied to Land and Water Management Occasional Paper 950 . USGS, 1978.
- McPhee, John. “Los Angeles against the Mountains.” In The Control of Nature . Farrar Straus Giroux, 1989. ISBN: 9780374128906.
- Dunne, Thomas, and Luna Leopold. Water in Environmental Planning . W. H. Freeman & Company Limited, 1978. ISBN: 9780716700791.
- Schön, Donald. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action . Basic Books, 1983.
Prerequisites & course information
Same subject as 4.213[J] Prereq: Permission of instructor G (Spring) 3-0-9 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2024
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2012
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.