The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation's Capstone Studio course is a one-semester 2 CU course taken instead of HSPV 710/711 Thesis to fulfill the MSHP capstone requirement. This is a research studio that builds on the core curriculum completed in the first year. The work requires intense collaboration as well as individual projects. A studio topic will be chosen and announced each year.

We are living in the midst of one of the most severe crises in the Earth's history. Science confirms the glaciers are melting, hurricanes are growing more intense, and the oceans are rising. But there is also a deeply spiritual dimension to global warming that does not factor into the scientific explanations of the Anthropocene. "Spirituality" will be defined not in terms of one particular religion, but in relationship to a passionate study of the environment and nature. Readings will include materials from both the sciences and the humanities such as Donella Meadows's Thinking in Systems, Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction, Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior, and films such as Black Fish and Wale Rider. The theoretical focus of the course will be how "multispecies partnerships" can help us better understand and mitigate the effects of Climate Change. This class will work collaboratively on a digital archive with an interactive mapping interface designed in Scalar. This newly developed platform allows for the creation of multimedia exhibits that will document how Global Warming is affecting coral reefs in the tropics, glaciers in the Arctic and Antarctic, rainforests in the Amazon and rivers of Philadelphia. Students will also work individually to design interactive maps on the Scalar platform documenting their own more personal interactions with the environment.

This seminar explores how the humanities can contribute to discussions of sustainability. We begin by investigating the contested term itself, paying close attention to critics and activists who deplore the very idea that we should try to sustain our, in their eyes, dystopian present, one marked by environmental catastrophe as well as by an assault on the educational ideals long embodied in the humanities. We then turn to classic humanist texts on utopia, beginning with More's fictive island of 1517. The "origins of environmentalism" lie in such depictions of island edens (Richard Grove), and our course proceeds to analyze classic utopian tests from American, English, and German literatures. Readings extend to utopian visions from Europe and America of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as literary and visual texts that deal with contemporary nuclear and flood catastrophes. Authors include: Bill McKibben, Jill Kerr Conway, Christopher Newfield, Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Karl Marx, Henry David Thoreau, Robert Owens, William Morris, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Ayn Rand, Christa Wolf, and others.

Environmental sustainability issues are one of the defining problems of our time. While governments and NGOs will have to play important roles, without active involvement of businesses it will be impossible to make sufficient progress on these issues. Globalization and Digitization have been two major disruptive developments that organizations have faced (and are still facing). ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) issues are the latest large-scale development that will shape companies’ futures. This course will focus on the “E” of ESG. As with any large change, environmental sustainability poses significant business challenges but also tremendous opportunities. We will study these issues both from the perspective of incumbent firms that have to adapt their business practices and from firms (incumbents and new start-ups) that will take advantage of the new opportunities that are being created.

This course will focus on how food is produced around the globe and inputs required to ensure food security. Topics explored include: Integrated Pest Management, Precision Agriculture, Product Stewardship, Biodiversity, Biologicals, Organics and Synthetic Products, GMOs, Sustainable Development Goals, Regulations, Stakeholders (Growers, NGOs, consumers, etc.), and Food waste.

This interdisciplinary course exposes students to the three dimensions of sustainable development -environmental, economic, and social- through an examination of three products -peyote, coca, and coffee- that are crucial in shaping modern identity in areas of Latin America. The course integrates this analysis of sustainable development in relation to cultural sustainability and cultural practices associated with peyote, coca, and coffee and their rich, traditional heritage and place in literature, film, and the arts.

This interdisciplinary course exposes students to the three dimensions of sustainable development -environmental, economic, and social- through an examination of three products -peyote, coca, and coffee- that are crucial in shaping modern identity in areas of Latin America. The course integrates this analysis of sustainable development in relation to cultural sustainability and cultural practices associated with peyote, coca, and coffee and their rich, traditional heritage and place in literature, film, and the arts.

The evaluation of technical, social, and economic constraints on the implementation of water supply and sanitation projects. The development of sustainable technical solutions that fit within the appropriate social context. Discussion draws insight from successful small rural community system approaches to inform practical larger regional and watershed approaches in the US and internationally. Case studies are used to demonstrate these principles across a range of examples from developed and developing countries including detailed studies from rural communities with limited financial resources.

Sustainable Landscapes

This course is designed to introduce students to the multiple methods of engaging Africana entrepreneurship, public service and philanthropy. Alongside a thorough review of both popular and independent activist media, students will be trained to use accessible technology to participate in international communications networks. "Big ideas," will be translated into succinct artistic statements. We will look intimately at the architecture of David Adjaye, Adjaye Associates; the initiatives of Majora Carter for Sustainable South Bronx and Majora Carter Group; the philanthropic equity of Vista Equity Partners and C.E.O. Robert Smith, and the political work of Mayor Ras Baraka, City of Newark among other examples from the public and private sector throughout the African Diaspora. Prior to the development of our own app ideas, we will focus on the urban market advertising strategies of majority companies that are lauded for their sustainable initiatives including Nike, Hewlett-Packard and Apple. We will also use as secondary resources macro approaches to sustainability from the United Nations Foundation. This course makes an argument for inclusion of race, class and gender equity in the evolving definition of sustainability. Our argument, consistent with the growth of so many of these professionals inside of and clearly influenced by hip-hop culture, is that they are best prepared, culturally, to "make something out of nothing."

Neutral during WWII, and claiming a "Middle Way" between east and west in the post-war twentieth century, Sweden - its people, institutions, and culture - has left its mark on our global society. In today's world, the influence of Swedish ideas and innovations can be seen in government structures, health and social policies, business organizations, working life, education, science, art, literature, and, of course, the design and style of many products and services which enjoy high demand. These are impressive impacts from a nation-state of only eight million people. What lessons are there for Americans and our institutions as we enter the twenty-first century where our leadership position, ability to determine the rules and control the agenda of world economic and political affairs are diminished? In this course, we focus on "the people philosophy" of Sweden, its government, businesses and organizations. We cover healthcare issues and policy, sustainable development, the European Community and the human relations issues in organizations. This course will include meetings with academics and leaders from industry, government, health care, science, media, arts and culture. Students will meet with and learn from these representatives in order to explore Swedish organizational dynamics, both in terms of its economic prosperity and the problems Swedish society faces today.

What makes an economy grow? This question has been asked – and answered – many times over in the modern era. From Adam Smith’s classic Wealth of Nations (1776) to today’s political leaders, many have debated the ingredients necessary for a nation to prosper, or policies to promote growth. Some point to the need for fiscal responsibility, others an educated labor force, or to tariffs, natural resources, and the right laws. This seminar explores the deep history of this problem of economic growth. Students will read works by economists, social scientists, and historians that present different theories for why some nations develop faster than others. With case studies from across the globe, we will tackle topics like why Europe industrialized first, or the paradox of why the abundance of natural resources does not necessarily contribute to long-lasting economic development. This course also asks students to think critically about the metrics used to measure “success” and “failure” across nations, as well as how such comparisons between societies have been mobilized to legitimize imperial expansion, human exploitation, environmental destruction, or political repression. By discussing how governments, corporate interests, and individual actors have implemented strategies to increase national wealth, students will also be asked to grapple with some of the consequences of economic growth for the environment, human welfare, and social inequality. *Students may fulfill one geographic requirement for the History major or minor with this course. The specific requirement fulfilled will be determined by the topic of the research paper.

Economic Development encompasses a range of professional practices, from finance to marketing, education to hospitality. Historically, economic development practitioners have marshaled these tools in the name of economic growth, though more recently equity has received increasing attention in the space. Drawing on literature as well as the real-world experiences of a number of practitioners who will join the course as guest lecturers, this class will provide a survey of the range of techniques utilized in the practice of economic development as well as an analytic framework for understanding their efficacy. Students will be asked to critically consider the costs and benefits of the various approaches to economic development, putting themselves in the position of policymakers to think about the circumstances under which each best applies.

How and when do media become digital? What does digitization afford and what is lost as television and cinema become digitized? As lots of things around us turn digital, have we started telling stories, sharing experiences, and replaying memories differently? What has happened to television and life after “New Media”? How have television audiences been transformed by algorithmic cultures of Netflix and Amazon Prime Video? Social media platforms such as Twitter, WhatsApp, and Facebook have blurred the lines between public and private spaces, and ushered in a heightened sense of immediacy to mediations of everyday life. How have (social) media transformed socialities as ephemeral snaps and swiped intimacies become part of the "new" digital/phone cultures? This is an introductory survey/exploratory course and we discuss a wide variety of media technologies and phenomena that include: Internet of Things, hacking, trolls, “FAKE NEWS,” distribution platforms, AI/ChatGPT, surveillance tactics, social media, data centers and race in cyberspace. We also examine emerging mobile phone cultures in the Global South and the environmental impact of digitization. Course activities include analyzing/producing TikTok videos and Instagram curations. The course assignments consist of take-home mid-term of short answer-type questions, a short comparative TV essay, and a take home end-term of long answer-type questions.

This course explores the social and cultural history and current views of the many Wests we think we know, In 1872, President Grant established Yellowstone National Park, only the first of many national and state nature reserves in the west. Even while the Parks were widely celebrated, in 1876 Grant allowed miners and land speculators into the Black Hills, or Paha Sapa, land long considered sacred by the Lakota peoples and 'protected' for them as recently as 1868 Treaty of Laramie. From this pairing of events in the 1870s spring the many overlapping themes this course will address: Native peoples, their beliefs and material cultures, pressured by the arrival of scattered industries (gold rushes, silver and copper mining); irregular sources of industrial and banking capital from England, New York, Chicago, and elsewhere; the arrival of the US Army in 1851, then a break removing troops for the Civil War, then their renewed and constant appearance from 1866 on and the making and breaking of other treaties; the irregular scattering of land speculators and dirt farmers, even while the US government insisted the Sioux and Cheyennes, among other peoples, not disturb the passage of planters on the Oregon Trail, even as their hunting grounds were enclosed by the Union Pacific and North Pacific railroads by 1870. Naturalists, hikers, and artists arrived by rail to the western parks: Yellowstone, Yosemite (1890), and the Grand Canyon (1919). By 1900, American tourists went west to see wild West Indian Shows and wonder at the new parks. They ate at restaurants serving western food, wore western ware and cowboy boots, and listened to western music that finally reached its high point when folklorist Hal Cannon founded the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada, in 1984, still active today with offshoots in Durango, Montana, and Texas.

How much have humans altered the planet they live omn? Beyond climate change, humans have altered the Earth's land, oceans and biosphere to such an extent that the concept of a new geologic epoch defined by th eaction of humans is seriously debated.This seminar will examine th eorigins of the Anthropocene, the ways in which humans have altered Earth systems, whether or not these altera-tions warrant a new geologic designation, and what the future potentially holds for both humans and the planet.

This course will examine the ways in which humans manipulate - and have been manipulated by - the organisms we depend on for food, with particular emphasis on the biological factors that influence this interaction. The first part of the course will cover the biology, genetics, evolution, and breeding of cultivated plants and animals; the second part will concern the ecological, economic, and political factors that influence food production.

Virtually every business imaginable–from oil refining to semiconductor manufacturing to cloud computing—requires copious supplies of fresh water. As climate change makes many parts of the world hotter and drier, it is increasingly important for today’s business leaders to be able to understand water challenges and to implement solutions that will enable businesses to thrive in the future. This course will begin by focusing on global water risks and global, national, and local water governance. It will also cover private governance and water. The course will examine the duties of corporate officers and directors in developing and implementing a firm’s water sustainability program, how major water projects are financed, and the business ethics issues surrounding “doing the right thing” in a module on water and ESG (environmental, social and governance factors). It will conclude with an “H2O Shark Tank” exercise where student groups pitch their best ideas for sustainable water solutions to a panel of potential funders, including investment banks, corporate executives, and foundation leaders.

This class explores the social, economic, ecological, and cultural dynamics of metropolitan and community food systems in U.S. cities. Field trips and assignments immerse students in various forms of experiential learning - including farming and gardening, cooking, eating, and more. After a broad introduction to global, regional, and urban food systems in our first three weeks, across most of the semester we follow the food chain (or cycle), from production to processing, distribution, cooking, consumption, and waste. Specific topics include urban agriculture, community kitchens, grocery, hunger and food assistance, restaurants, neighborhoods, food cultures, food justice, and community food security. Students will gain broad literacies in: metropolitan and neighborhood food environments; food production, processing, distribution, access, and preparation; and the relationships between food, culture, and society. Students taking this class should be open to trying new things, getting hands dirty, and working with others in various settings and activities.

From Wall Street to rural Sub-Saharan Africa, technology innovation to aging infrastructure-this course will explore the; impact of water and consider what future leaders need to know about the dynamics of the industry, investment and business opportunities, and water-related risk; Opportunities for water are booming around the world, in large part because of existing or looming shortages and decades of underinvestment, population growth, rapid industrialization and urbanization, pollution, and climate change. Water is the only irreplaceable natural resource on the planet. Its critical role in every aspect of the global economy, could, in fact, lead it to be the next gold or the next oil; This course will address the fundamentals of the water sector from an international perspective. The future of water will be critical to our global economic, social and political development and will likely become one of the most influential factors in business decisions for the future. Furthermore, it is essential for leaders across all sectors-from pharmaceuticals to financials, energy to agriculture-to understand how to sustainably manage and account for water resources, capitalize on new technologies, mitigate water-related risks and navigate through complex and dynamic policy and regulation. The course will engage students in high-level discussion and strategy formation, challenging them to develop creative and sustainable solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing environmental, business and water industry leaders today. Interactive sessions and projects will provide an introduction to appropriately managing, valuing and investing in water assets to create sustainable and compelling business opportunities.