ES/SO 360 - Designing the Sustainable City

In this course, students will be asked to identify the most pressing sustainability issues in Tokyo. Working in small teams, they will design a new housing community that can offer solutions to the issues they have identified at the local level, taking into account the environmental, historical and social characteristics of their host city. They will be guided by their instructor as they work towards solutions to the identified problems. For some topics, substantive field visits and connections with local organizations will allow students to gather valuable data and information as they develop their projects, and problem-based learning will culminate in each team delivering a multi-media presentation to the group. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate their sustainability literacy and ability to find innovative solutions to complex problems.