TEACHING

This course has two main objectives: (i) to understand advanced topics in GI Science, and (ii) to learn the fundamentals of Python programming with geospatial data. The course includes lectures, collaborative engagement, labs, and open discussions. Lectures and student-led discussions will help us understand the advanced topics. The lab sessions will use real-world project data to cover hands-on Python programming exercises in Jupyter Notebook.

As a studio course, students will apply planning knowledge and skills to a client-identified problem or need. Under the supervision of the instructor, the students will work in group to focus on specific topics. The group will collect information, analyze data, and produce report with findings and recommendations, along with a presentation for the client, and other products as needed.

Credit:  Ryutaro Tsukata (www.pexels.com) 

Climate change has worsened extreme events of flooding and heat stress among other things. These changes create significant challenges for planners to incorporate climate change into their planning activities. How does climate change impact the cities & city planning? What could planners do to plan for climate change? How could we strengthen the resiliency of cities to better cope and adapt to climate change? This course investigates these and related topics. Using readings, discussions, case studies, class activities, short films and guest lectures, the class will focus on developing critical insights on city planning approaches for building climate resilience. 

Credit: www.pexels.com

This is intended to be a survey course on environmental policy and planning at the federal, state and local levels that students will likely encounter in their professional work. The beginning of the course will focus on the “why” of environmental planning, but a majority of the course will focus on the “how.” Because this is a survey course, we will be diving into quite a number of topics related to environmental planning. Using readings, discussions, case studies, class activities, short videos, and guest lectures, the class will focus on developing critical insights into environmental planning and policy. 

Credit: www.pexels.com

The course covers the major themes around the history of cities, the history and theory of planning, the legal basis for planning, the practice of planning for communities of various sizes and implemented at various governmental levels, and the principles of planning sustainable communities—efficient, prosperous, just, stable, healthy and beloved. Readings and discussions draw on disciplines such as architecture and landscape architecture, history, political science, economics, and sociology. We briefly delve into subareas of the field such as transportation and economic development. 

Credit: www.pexels.com

This course provides an introduction to patterns and causes of change in the biosphere. Students will engage in scientific inquiry and develop the scientific background and skills necessary to examine the fundamental geographic determinants of biodiversity patterns and the natural and human factors that drive biotic change, including climate change, land cover change, and biological invasions. Students will use the scientific method in hands-on laboratory activities to investigate causal relationships between global change processes and biome shifts, species migration, extinction, and loss of biodiversity.