Pedagogical Emphasis
Urban World System, Sustainable Development, Science Communication, Politics of the Environment, Field Research Methods, Crafting Research Proposals, Food Justice, Bioregional Planning and Design, Green-Blue Infrastructure, Climate Action Planning, Community-University Partnerships, Imagination.
Current Courses
Cities and Urbanism
USP 2: Urban World System
Overview: USP 2 provides a critical examination of planetary urbanization through a multifaceted lens, considering its social, economic, cultural, political, climate, and spatial dimensions from a socio-ecological systems perspective. This urbanization process heavily depends on resources extracted from rural areas, including working lands, forests, mountains, and oceans. Thus, the course emphasizes the interconnectedness of urban and rural development, highlighting how both are influenced by resource-intensive industrial practices that are heavily extractive and generate complex challenges at local, bioregional, and global levels.USP 2 also focuses on exploring solutions to these problems. The course features projects that integrate planning and design principles to promote resilience and adaptability to climate change in urban, peri-urban, and rural contexts.
Planning Theories
USP 108: Planning Theories
USP108 critically examines foundational and emerging theories that shape urban and regional planning across diverse contexts. Students investigate the uses of planning theory --how it can serves as a bridge linking knowledge and action, guiding the design, governance, and transformation of human settlements and worldviews within their broader socio-technical and socio-ecological systems.Through comparative analysis, case studies, and interpretive lenses, students explore the ethical, cultural, political, and ecological dimensions of planning theory. Key themes include the role of planners in diverse societies, the power of narrative and storytelling in shaping planning futures, and the need to move beyond reductive binaries—such as human/nature, urban/rural, and local/global—toward more integrative, intersectional thinking. Students from all disciplines are welcome; no prior planning experience is required—only curiosity, care, and a willingness to think critically and creatively.
Method, Theory, and Practice
USP 190: Honors Seminar
