Over fifty percent of the worlds population now lives in cities. Neoliberlism-the ideology and accompanying policies and practices that champion the shifting of political decision making from the public sector to the private sector - has been widely recognized as having shown dramatic growth worldwide since the 1970s. It has also been widely regarded as a product of globalization. This course traces the history of neo-liberalism in global context with particular attention to neoliberalism's relationship to cities, and exam the role that urban growth has played in spurring neoliberal policies and practices. It asks how policy makers, voters, and private interest worldwide have responded to the growth of urban poverty and slums, challenges withing urban public education, unequal resource distribution, environmental pressures experienced within urban sanitation and waste disposal systems, and increased demands for municipal services like water, electricity, and transport infrastructers, and examined the rise of public-private partnerships, gated communities, initiatives to privatized education and municipal services, and efforts to relocate slum-dwellers and beautify cities as explicit strategies for attracting "global capital". The course also asks how the recent rise of neoliberal policies and practices differs from earlier market-driven and private sector led forms of political governance. The British and Dutch East India Companies are two famous examples of joint stock companies that assumed administrative and political roles over their colonies. How did the rise of these colonial relationships differ from current neoliberal shifts. Readings will draw heavily from ethnographic and urban studies, scholarship on South Asia, as well as Latin America, South Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and North America, exploring what each of these specific contexts has to teach us more generally about the relationship between urbanization, global capitalism, public and private sectors, and political processes and decision making.

Health care is taking on a new role in our society - with a refocusing from episodic care for those who are ill or symptomatic to providing life-long care geared towards maintaining wellness. These changes are evident across numerous areas of design, from wearable technologies that track and analyze, to large scale building initiatives that aim to create healthier environments and improve lives through strategic planning initiatives. A concrete, physical representation of this paradigm shift can be found within the hospital building itself and in the new manner in which hospitals are looking to serve their patients and care for their clinicians. Simultaneously both public and private spaces, hospitals are complex systems in which sickness, health, hospitality, technology, emergency, and community share space and compete for resource. In order to frame our present day understanding of the role of architecture (and design) in fostering health for individuals and within communities, this seminar will begin with an exploration of the historical and contemporary perspectives on the role of the architect and built environment on health. (Parallels between design and our ever-changing understanding of the biological, social, and environmental causes of sickness and disease will also be explored.) During this conversation, students will read articles and study recently constructed projects in order to examine the ways in which the architects approached these topics through built form. Following from this foundation, students will craft arguments for a new approach to the individual, the community, health, and architecture through a written response and architecturally designed scenario that argues for their perspective on how architecture can and should shape the health of those who inhabit it. Throughout the course, students will engage in weekly readings (and discussions) of critical texts exploring ideas around the role and impact of architecture on health. Various content experts will be included in the course to provide additional insights into key areas of theory and practice in order to lend additional perspectives and ground the conversation.

The course is an introduction to nutritional anthropology, an area of anthropology concerned with human nutrition and food systems in social, cultural and historical contexts. On the one hand, nutritional anthropologists study the significance of the food quest in terms of survival and health. On the other hand, they also know that people eat food for a variety of reasons that may have little, if anything, to do with nutrition, health, or survival. While the availability of food is dependent upon the physical environment, food production systems, and economic resources, food choice and the strategies human groups employ to gain access to and distribute food are deeply embedded in specific cultural patterns, social relationships, and political and economic systems. Thus, nutritional anthropology represents the interface between anthropology and the nutritional sciences, and as such, can provide powerful insights into the interactions of social and biological factors in the context of the nutritional health of individuals and populations. Because food and nutrition are quintessential biocultural issues, the course takes a biocultural approach drawing on perspectives from biological, socio-cultural and political-economic anthropology. Course content will include: a discussion of approaches to nutritional anthropology; basics of human nutrition; food systems, food behaviors and ideas; methods of dietary and nutritional assessment; and a series of case studies addressing causes and consequences to nutritional problems across the world.

The course is an introduction to nutritional anthropology, an area of anthropology concerned with human nutrition and food systems in social, cultural and historical contexts. On the one hand, nutritional anthropologists study the significance of the food quest in terms of survival and health. On the other hand, they also know that people eat food for a variety of reasons that may have little, if anything, to do with nutrition, health, or survival. While the availability of food is dependent upon the physical environment, food production systems, and economic resources, food choice and the strategies human groups employ to gain access to and distribute food are deeply embedded in specific cultural patterns, social relationships, and political and economic systems. Thus, nutritional anthropology represents the interface between anthropology and the nutritional sciences, and as such, can provide powerful insights into the interactions of social and biological factors in the context of the nutritional health of individuals and populations. Because food and nutrition are quintessential biocultural issues, the course takes a biocultural approach drawing on perspectives from biological, socio-cultural and political-economic anthropology. Course content will include: a discussion of approaches to nutritional anthropology; basics of human nutrition; food systems, food behaviors and ideas; methods of dietary and nutritional assessment; and a series of case studies addressing causes and consequences to nutritional problems across the world.

This course covers the fundamentals of atmosphere and ocean dynamics, and aims to put these in the context of climate change in the 21st century. Large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation, the global energy balance, and the global energy balance, and the global hydrological cycle. We will introduce concepts of fluid dynamics and we will apply these to the vertical and horizontal motions in the atmosphere and ocean. Concepts covered include: hydrostatic law, buoyancy and convection, basic equations of fluid motions, Hadley and Ferrel cells in the atmosphere, thermohaline circulation, Sverdrup ocean flow, modes of climate variability (El-Nino, North Atlantic Oscillation, Southern Annular Mode). The course will incorporate student led discussions based on readings of the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and recent literature on climate change. Aimed at undergraduate or graduate students who have no prior knowledge of meteorology or oceanography or training in fluid mechanics. Previous background in calculus and/or introductory physics is helpful. This is a general course which spans many subdisciplines (fluid mechanics, atmospheric science, oceanography, hydrology).

This course is designed to provide an overview of geological, chemical, and physical oceanography. It is constructed such that all students (irrespective of their major area of study) can learn about the oceans. Through frequent individual and group assignments, readings, video lectures, and collaborative discussions, students are exposed to the major areas of oceanography including marine geology, physical oceanography, and marine chemistry. This includes the following themes: plate tectonics (particularly as it pertains to the making, shaping, and disruptions of the global ocean), marine provinces, marine sediments, seawater chemistry, air-sea interactions and ocean circulation (particularly as they pertain to climate change), waves and water dynamics, tides, renewable ocean energy, and beaches and shoreline processes. This course requires you to read Essentials of Oceanography, 12th edition, by Alan P. Trujillo and Harold B. Thurman. This textbook is available from a variety of online book retailers. For students pursuing the Certificate in Climate Change, you must complete CLCH 1600: Oceanography plus any three additional climate change courses. Although it is recommended that students take CLCH 1600: Oceanography first, you can start with any course and take them in any order.

The oceans cover over 2/3 of the Earth's surface. This course introduces basic oceanographic concepts such as plate tectonics, marine sediments, physical and chemical properties of seawater, ocean circulation, air-sea interactions, waves, tides, nutrient cycles in the ocean, biology of the oceans, and environmental issues related to the marine environment.

This course examines the ways in which the processes of the extraction, refining, sale and use of natural resources – including oil and diamond – in Africa produce complex regional and global dynamics. We explore how values are placed on resources, how such values, the regimes of valuation, commodification and the social formations that are (re)produced by these regimes lead to cooperation and conflict in the contemporary African state, including in the relationships of resource-rich African countries with global powers. Specific cases will be examined against the backdrop of theoretical insights to encourage comparative analyses beyond Africa. Some audio-visual materials will be used to enhance the understanding of the political economy and sociality of natural resources.

By 2050 can the world sustain a population of over 9 billion people in the face of climate change, limited water and other natural resources, pollution, urbanization, political and income inequality, conflict, changing diets and patterns of disease? An interdisciplinary group of faculty will explore this complex q uestion through six broad trends that affect global food sustainability and environmental health; 1) nutritional needs; 2) changing patterns of communicable and non-communicable diseases of humans and all types of animals; 3) natural resource inventory and management; 4) production technologies (intensive/extensive systems); 5) societal changes impacting production and food demand; 6) food distribution systems and access to food. The course is open to graduate and undergraduate students and will involve student participation and research.

Spring 2025 Course Description: One Health is the concept that human, animal, and environmental health are inextricably linked. It provides a framework to inspire interdisciplinary problem solving to complex health problems. Climate change threatens to alter many aspects of the earth and in doing so will harm the health of human, animals, and the environment in a variety of ways. In this course we will first explore how climate change will affect One Health from disruption of agricultural systems, impacts of extreme weather events, the spread of zoonotic diseases, to the direct impacts of living on a warmer planet. We will then investigate the leading approaches to solve these impacts and learn how public health professionals, veterinarians, scientists, architects, physicians, engineers, and others are working to mitigate the negative health outcomes. Finally, students will be asked to contemplate what they can do in their own fields to address the impact of the climate crisis using a One Health framework. This course takes place during the first half of the semester, with one synchronous, in-person class per week and weekly asynchronous lectures and assignments, starting January 9, 2025.

This course is focused on molecular species that contain metal-carbon bonds, and the role of these compounds in catalytic processes and organic synthesis. Aspects of the synthesis, structure and reactivity of important classes of organometallic compounds such as metallo alkyl, aryl, alkene, alkylidene and alkylidyne complexes are surveyed for the d and f block metals. Emphasis is placed on general patterns of reactivity and recurring themes for reaction mechanisms.

The UN estimates that 2.9 of the world's 6.1 billion people live in cities and that this percentage is rapidly increasing in many parts of the world. This course examines urban life and urban problems by providing anthropological perspectives on this distinctive form of human association and land use. First we will examine the "origin" of cities, focusing on several of the places where cities first developed, including Mesopotamia and the Valley of Mexico. We will then investigate the internal structure of non-industrial cities by looking at case studies from around the world and from connections between the cities of the past and the city in which we live and work today.

Water, the “universal solvent”, is a miraculous substance that makes Earth unique in the solar system and, possibly, the galaxy. This course will dive into the wonderous physical and chemical properties of water from the micro (water properties and composition) to macro (global water resources) scale and highlight its role in sculpting almost every facet of Earth’s environment. Water will be examined within a scientific framework, from wicked water problems to wonderous water bodies to the paradox of an abundant yet incredibly precious resource. We will study the vital role of water in life, its movement across around our planet, its part in the growth (and downfall) of civilizations, and the ways in which humans are having profound impacts on all aspects of the water cycle. We will also look at how water interacts with other Earth systems, use topical case studies to examine water issues in the Anthropocene and examine what lies in store for water quality and availability in the twenty-first century during an era of rapid environmental change. Assignments will include class presentations, an opinion piece, and a review article for a leading journal. This course will include a local field trip.

Infectious agents continue to emerge, killing and harming humans and animals with unrelenting regularity. The emergence and control of these agents are, in some ways, remarkably different in different geographies. In other ways the patterns and consequences of infectious agents are very similar. The course will be structured around a series of pairings of infectious disease problems that affect Peru and the United States. Some pairings will be in terms of the agents themselves; others will be more thematic. In each case we will trace two lines of inquiry, one in each country, but always with an eye to the harmonics--where these lines resonate--even if they do not interact. The primary goal of the course is to investigate the historical, political and economic forces driving infectious disease in Peru and the US. A co-primary goal is to bring students and faculty from Penn and our partner institutions in Peru, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, to work their way through topics in infectious disease control, which are inherently challenging. The course will be taught in English but a workable knowledge of Spanish will be helpful.

What would it mean to understand the history of American cinema through the lens of participatory community media, collectively-made films made by and for specific communities to address personal, social and political needs using a range of affordable technologies and platforms, including 16mm film, Portapak, video, cable access television, satellite, digital video, mobile phones, social media, and drones? What methodologies do participatory community media makers employ, and how might those methods challenge and transform the methods used for cinema and media scholarship? How would such an approach to filmmaking challenge our understanding of terms like “authorship,” “amateur,” “exhibition,” “distribution,” “venue,” “completion,” “criticism,” “documentary,” “performance,” “narrative,” “community,” and “success”? How might we understand these U.S.-based works within a more expansive set of transnational conversations about the transformational capacities of collective media practices? This course will address these and other questions through a deep engagement with the films that make up the national traveling exhibition curated by Louis Massiah and Patricia R. Zimmerman, We Tell: Fifty Years of Participatory Community Media, which foregrounds six major themes: Body Publics (public health and sexualities); Collaborative Knowledges (intergenerational dialogue); Environments of Race and Place (immigration, migration, and racial identities unique to specific environments); States of Violence (war and the American criminal justice system); Turf (gentrification, homelessness, housing, and urban space); and Wages of Work (job opportunities, occupations, wages, unemployment, and underemployment). As part of that engagement, we will study the history of a series of Community Media Centers from around the U.S., including Philadelphia’s own Scribe Video Center, founded in 1982 by Louis Massiah, this course’s co-instructor. This is an undergraduate seminar, but it also available to graduate students in the form of group-guided independent studies. The course requirements include: weekly screenings, readings, and seminar discussions with class members and visiting practitioners, and completing both short assignments and a longer research paper.

A detailed, comprehensive investigation of selected environmental sustainability problems specific to a selected region. This course aims to introduce students to myriad Earth and environmental issues (understanding how humans interact, affect and are influenced by our environment) through the analysis of several environmental case studies, as well as giving students an introduction to how complex cases are analyzed and what goes into decision-making at the individual, group, state, federal and global levels. The course includes an intensive international field trip - locations will vary by offering.

The aim of this 10-day summer program is to introduce inquisitive students to the nature, culture, history and languages of the European Alps in Switzerland and Italy. We will be exploring the geology of the Alps and how it influences the development of wildlife, flora, history, religion, culture and of entire regions, how humans have altered the environment, and how humans respond to climate change in Alpine ecosystems. We will learn how to observe nature in a spectacular landscape, visit cultural sites off the beaten track and explore some of the well-known localities, such as Zurich, Valtellina, Bellinzona, and the Engadine.

The built environment of a city is more than a mere backdrop; the design can actually affect people's experiences. Environmental design primarily focuses on the relationship between people and the built environment. It also looks at how the built environment interacts with the natural one (and the potential for greater sustainability). This course will allow students to gain a deeper understanding of how people create, perceive, and use the designed environment. We'll approach these concepts by analyzing design at a variety of scales, from products to interior design to architecture. Finally, using that knowledge, we'll conclude by analyzing urban spaces of the city.

This undergraduate seminar compares the evolution of relations between States and Indigenous peoples and movements throughout the Americas, with a particular focus on the Mapuche people of the Patagonia region, in the south of nowadays Argentina and Chile. The main goal of the course is to comparatively study the organization of Indigenous communities and analyze their political demands regarding plurinationality, self-determination, territory, prior consultation, living well, and intercultural education and health, as well as the different ways in which States repress, ignore, or address such demands. The course starts by reviewing what does it mean to indigenize and decolonize the academy and political science. We then focus on the controversial question of who is Indigenous and comparatively assess the legal answer to this question in different countries of the Americas. Next, we tackle the issue of research methodology and positionality of the researcher, the ethics of studying Indigenous peoples, and using in-depth interviews as a tool for social science research. After briefly reviewing some of the consequences of the conquest and colonialism, we study the topic of global Indigenous rights and politics and from there we zoom in the politics of Indigenous peoples in Argentina, and the Mapuche of Neuquén, in particular. In the last part of the course, including during our travel component, we delve into what are the main issues that Mapuche communities of Neuquén confront in the present: from territorial land claims, to interactions with extractive industries, co-management of natural resources with the National Parks Service, intercultural education, and intercultural health, among other topics.

The workshop applies simulation and diagramming techniques to a series of discrete design projects at different scales. The emphasis is on refinement and optimization of performance based building design. Performance analysis techniques can provide enormous amounts of information to support the design process, acting as feedback mechanisms for improved performance, but careful interpretation and implementation are required to achieve better buildings. Energy, lighting, and air flow are the three main domains convered in the workshop. Students will learn how to utilize domain tools at an advanced level, and utilize them as applications to examine the environmental performance of existing buildings. Using the results of analytical techniques, the students will develop high-performance design strategies in all three domains. Lectures will be given on specific topics each week. A series of analytical class exercises will be assigned to provide students with hands-on experience in using the computer models. A case-study building will be provided at the beginning of the course and students will model different components each week throughout the semester. Every week students present the progress of their work, which will be used to correct methodological and technical issues. Energy, lighting, and air flow are the three main domains covered in the workshop. Students will learn how to utilize domain tools at an advanced level, and utilize them as applications to examine the environmental performance of existing buildings. Using the results of analytical techniques, the students will develop high-performance design strategies in all three domains. Prerequisite: ARCH 753 Lectures will be given on specific topics each week. A series of analytical class exercises will be assigned to provide students with hands-on experience in using the computer models. A case-study building will be provided at the beginning of the course and students will model different components each week throughout the semester. Every week students present the progress of their work, which will be used to correct methodological and technical issues.