MAIN SUBJECT:

The main theme of the class “The Global South, Common sustainability challenges (Causes & Solutions)”  is to encourage students to think about sustainability across disciplines and across scales. This topics can vary from sustainability challenges, to environmental impacts, forests degradation, excessive urbanizations, use of energy and renewable resources. And the focus of the class is to understand the main causes, the different solutions and the sustainability best practices. The audience will be graduate students from Landscape & Environmental Planning, City Planning, Architecture, and other departments as well. This is a series of lectures given by scholars, professionals and experts in fields related to the global South, anchored around sustainability and environmental impacts.

SPECIFIC TOPICS:

The general theme is about sustainability challenges in the global south. This can branch to several specific topics that will be discussed by the speakers. For example, one of the speakers is going to talk about the food sustainability and how the environmental degradation impacted the agriculture in South Sudan. Another example, from professional projects by a world leading design firm, is about designing sustainable building in Haiti. A third example is by a speaker who focuses on smaller cities west Mexico and how the concept of sustainability can be employed to frame questions of racial, ethnic and cultural belonging in today’s rapidly expanding urban centers. And whether the growing urban indigenous population in Mexico is a sustainable urban growth?

This class aims to be of great value to students who are interested in pursuing future career both in academia and professional practice. By the end of the course, you are expected to know more about (i) the over all development process in the Global South in different contexts, and (ii) learn more about specific innovative ideas to address sustainability challenges on the local level, this is with reference to specific talks given by the speakers.