What is the “Urban & Environmental Studies?” Course

Urban & Environmental Studies (UES) is a course addressing the interaction between the built and natural environment. How our cities expand to interact with the open landscapes and how our designed landscapes integrate with cities.

How did the course start?

The course started as a graduate class at UC Berkeley and evolved to become a course that is taught along the semester in other universities and as a short course in the summer. It was fully or partially taught at UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, Kansas State University, Graduate Institute for International Students and University of Huddersfield. 

What are the aims of UES?

UES aims to connect students with the same interest across classrooms, universities, and across years of study. Undergraduates interested in urban and environmental issues can engage in a dialogue among graduate students, ABD candidates, visiting scholars, lecturers as well as professors.

What can be achieved by this website? 

Connecting academics with practitioners, this website can act as a platform for the academic community to share their findings, views, and critical thinking with practitioners who have real-world experience and vice-versa. This is via sharing posts, articles, book reviews, urban projects evaluations, research findings, or policy assents on a post to engage in intelligent discussions. sharing all that with the young researchers will enable the knowledge transfer across generations.

How long is the course?

Whether it is a semester-long graduate seminar, a summer course, or a short boot camp course for professionals, the UES course is tailored to serve the attendees and adjusted to fit their local context. It uses hands-on professional experience from the region combined with theoretical framework.

Who is the course leader?

Prof. Amir Gohar is a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader of Landscape Architecture at the University of Huddersfield and has also taught at a number of other universities around the world. In addition he has extensive practical experience working as an urban landscape designer in congested cities, coastal settlements and historic urban centres across the Middle East and Africa. To know more about Gohar’s work, click here. 

Dr. Gohar can be reached via: amir.gohar@berkeley.edu