Placemaking is a powerful tool for healthy communities. This course is open to students in nursing, public health, medicine, environmental policy, planning and design for intersectoral professional work. Through the design of place, including housing, schools, healthcare facilities, and the workplace, the class will investigate the impact of Social Determinants of Health and build a Culture of Health. Course work covers design and planning theory that intersects with diseases, sustainability, climate action and interconnectivity. Case studies, seminars, and tours will help students synthesize how to promote health through the design and development process and to make effective communication to enhance health equity.

This course covers fundamentals of heat and mass transfer and applications to practical problems in energy conversion and conservation. Emphasis will be on developing a physical and analytical understanding of conductive, convective, and radiative heat transfer, as well as design of heat exchangers and heat transfer with phase change. Topics covered will include: types of heat transfer processes, their relative importance, and the interactions between them, solutions of steady state and transient state conduction, emission and absorption of radiation by real surfaces and radiative transfer between surfaces, heat transfer by forced and natural convection owing to flow around bodies and through ducts, analytical solutions for some sample cases and applications of correlations for engineering problems. Students will develop an ability to apply governing principles and physical intuition to solve problems.

This seminar will explore the history of buildings as mechanisms of climate management, and the theoretical and conceptual frameworks that pertain. In particular, we will examine how visual and mediatic interventions became a crucial aspect of architectural engagement with climate systems, and how, simultaneously, architectural image-making techniques became an important interdisciplinary site for understanding the cultural effects of scientific knowledge.

Situated at the intersection of climate change and racial equity, housing insecurity demands urgent attention. The United Nations predicts that the world population will exceed 11 billion people by the year 2100, increasing demand for food, water, and other essential resources, especially housing. As the frequency and intensity of climate-related disasters (e.g. floods, storms, wildfires, and heatwaves) continues to rise, the provision of safe and resilient housing remains a critical need. In the United States, nearly one-third of all homes are highly vulnerable to climate disasters. At the same time, black, indigenous, and other households of color shoulder disproportionate impacts of climate change while facing systemic disparities in disaster relief assistance. As demonstrated most recently by the COVID-19 pandemic, the quality of people’s homes and communities is a key contributor to racial health disparities. This seminar will examine historical and present-day frameworks of racial discrimination within housing and urban design, including redlining, infrastructural neglect, flood vulnerability, and urban heat and pollution. We will consider the impending threat of climate change to housing security in the United States and around the world. Engaging leading scholars and practitioners, the course will highlight actionable strategies that prioritize environmental justice and promote housing equity. Through readings, documentaries, and topically themed lectures, we will first explore the historical frameworks that precipitated housing inequities. Using Philadelphia as a model, students will prepare a timeline of historical events that are critical in understanding the sociocultural, economic, legal, and physical contexts of housing policy and design in the United States. Finally, students will research and analyze global case studies, producing graphic visualizations as a form of architectural storytelling.

Reading and discussion course on selected topics in Transregional History

This intensive research seminar invites students to explore the history of farmworkers in the United States during the twentieth century. Research will primarily but not necessarily exclusively focus on the west coast, a region in which many archival sources have been digitized. Students may explore a wide variety of topics, including but not limited to: farmworker unions; the relationship between farmworker mobilizations and other movements in the US and abroad; the experiences of workers from the Philippines and Latin America and the role of US imperial and immigration policies in the lives of farmworkers; farmworkers' confrontations with and participation in systems of racism; the Great Depression in rural communities; the history of gender and family in farmworker communities; the history of environment and health; struggles over citizenship and social rights; counter-mobilizations of growers and the right; religion in farmworker communities; legislative and legal strategies to obtain rights denied agricultural workers in federal law; artistic, musical, and cultural production; or the relationship between consumers and the workers who produced their food.

As our planet's climate changes, it is imperative to understand the basic structures of the earth system and our connections to these, past, present, and future. The goal of this course is to help students develop an integrated understanding of climate change, linking the fundamental science - from the microscopic to the global scale - to human actions and possible futures. This team-taught course brings together approaches from environmental science, social sciences, history, and policy. Beyond providing basic climate and environmental literacy, we will also explore current and projected impacts of change, including changes to human life and biodiversity as well as other physical and biological systems. The complexity and significance of planetary change demands new ways of thinking and new approaches that transcend traditional boundaries; for that reason the course will be co-taught by instructors from the natural sciences (Joseph Francisco), social science and humanities (Kathleen Morrison), and policy (Melissa Brown Goodall). We will use the foundation provided by the two first parts of the course to address potential responses and solutions to the current crisis. The course will be divided into three units: 1. Science: what are the chemical and physical drivers of our changing climate, and what are the biological, health and environmental implications so far. 2. Impacts: how human activity has affected environments and climate so far and how climate change is currently impacting society, nature, agriculture, health, cities, and the most vulnerable communities. 3. Solutions: the roles of policy, business, agriculture, planning, and personal choices. The course is open to undergraduate students of all disciplines. While the reading and weekly assignments will be specific to the module, students may define a capstone project that reflects their academic interests.

Introduction to the basic principles of the hydrologic cycle and water budgets, precipitation and infiltration, evaporation and transpiration, stream flow, hydrograph analysis (floods), subsurface and groundwater flow, well hydraulics, water quality, and frequency analysis.

This seminar will explore a collection of ideas influencing energy policy development in the U.S. and around the world. Our platform for this exploration will be seven recent books to be discussed during the semester. These books each contribute important insights to seven ideas that influence energy policy: Narrative, Transition, Measurement, Systems, Subsidiarity, Disruption, Attachmen

What does it mean to imagine environmental justice? Our course explores a range of narrative forms from distinct global contexts, to ask what environmental justice looks like in a world where the effects of colonialism and climate change are unevenly distributed across populations. Sustained engagement with Indigenous North American, African American, Palestinian, and South African imaginary traditions will highlight diverse ways of relating to land, water and nonhuman animals challenge that challenge capitalist and colonial logics of extraction. This course asks students to comparatively and critically reflect on literary, filmic, and nonfictional narratives that engage in different ways with the question of justice. Course materials highlight not only instances of spectacular environmental catastrophe but also more subtle effects on bodies and landscapes, attending to the complex ways that environmental crisis intersects with race, gender and sexuality. The class will enable participants to translate these ideas into practice by producing public-facing content through creative modes of enquiry. Ultimately, we will strive to understand how various forms of artistic and creative expression might enable us to imagine more equitable futures.

This CWiC course will offer a guided introduction to the one of the most resilient genres of the human imagination: dystopian and apocalyptic fiction. Like a group of survivors huddled around a campfire, we will turn to literature and cinema to debate some of the big questions about the future of science, technology, religion, and capitalism. This course is designed as a Critical Speaking Seminar, and the majority of class assignments will be devoted to oral presentations: including a Parliamentary-style debate and a video essay. We will begin by reading some of the early, influential works in the dystopian genre by authors like Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells, and Aldous Huxley. Next, we will explore the paranoid, schizophrenic world of Cold-War-era dystopias by J.G Ballard, Philip K. Dick and Octavia Butler. We will conclude by reading contemporary climate fiction by the likes of Margaret Atwood and Kim Stanley Robinson. Alongside the literary material, we will also track the changing nature of dystopian cinema— from classics like Metropolis (1927) and La Jetée (1962) to the latest Zombie film. By the end of course, students will have a firm grasp of the history of the genre and will be able to draw on this knowledge to effectively debate issues related to privacy, big business, animal rights, climate change, migration etc.

In 1492 Europeans began to colonize the Americas. Many colonizers sought to dispossess Indigenous people of their labor, land, and, sometimes, their lives, and often tried to impose their religion and cultural practices. Nonetheless, throughout Latin America Indigenous communities not only survived but adapted in creative, vigorous ways to the new social and ecological circumstances. In this course we will look at the diverse ways that Indigenous individuals and collectives avoided or adapted to colonial rule in Latin America between 1492 and 1800. We will particularly focus on Arawakan, Carib, Tupinamba, Nahua, and Andean histories. Readings will include both primary and secondary sources.

This course serves as preparation for a research project by students in the MSD-EBD or PhD programs. The students will learn how to develop, plan, and conduct experiments and will develop the tools to write research papers based on these experiments. During the semester, topical lectures and case-studies of novel work in architectural technology will be presented to the students by the instructor and guest lecturers. The research proposal developed during the course will be used as a basis for hands-on exercises in the lab portion.

Traditional building materials are environmentally-expensive to extract, process, transport or recycle, their damage is non-trivial to repair, and have limited ability to respond to changes in their immediate surroundings. Biological materials like cork, coral, silk, skin, shell, or bone outperform man-made materials in that they can be grown where needed, self-repair when damaged, and respond to changes in their surroundings. Their inclusion in architectural practice could have great benefits in wellbeing and the environment defining new tools and strategies towards the future of sustainable construction. Crucial projects describing future biomaterial architectures are emerging in the field. In this seminar, students will review their potential through lectures followed by case studies and propose future developments through a guided research project with special attention to functional, industrial, environmental, and aesthetic dimensions. The course is structured to foster fundamental scientific literacy, cross-disciplinary thinking, creativity, and innovation in biomaterials in design. It also partners with BioDesignChallenge to provide opportunities of project growth and mentorship after the semester ends.

This course introduces the foundational principles and methodologies of comprehensive planning across key domains, including transportation systems, school facilities, environmental sustainability, Title VI compliance, and land development. Designed for students in Environmental Studies, the course provides both theoretical knowledge and practical skills to address complex planning challenges. Students will explore how these disciplines intersect to create cohesive, sustainable, and equitable communities, preparing them to lead projects that integrate environmental, social, and infrastructure considerations. Through case studies, hands-on projects, and strategic planning exercises, students will gain the tools necessary to contribute to urban planning, sustainability initiatives, and infrastructure development.

This interdisciplinary course will introduce students to social policy and practice perspectives from outside the U.S. and especially from communities in the Global South. The course will familiarize them with global professions and help prepare them for overseas/cross-cultural practice. Through the course students will identify numerous strategies and skills professionals have used to collaboratively build interventions within human rights, social policy, social welfare, education, healthcare and sustainable development arenas.

This course requires a signed Travel Agreement prior to registration. This course will have an additional course fee to cover logistical arrangements. For the last three years, Organizational Dynamics has partnered with Human Resources at ING, a global financial services firm headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, through our course “Developing the Agile Leader and Their Organization.” Our partnership with ING has allowed our students to learn and gain practical experience with Agile mindset and methods. ING is a pioneer in the implementation of agile business practices especially in their HR programs. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time. As a financial institution, ING can play a role by financing change, sharing knowledge, and using their influence. Being sustainable is not just about reducing their own impact, it’s in all the choices they make—as a lender, in their financing and through the services they offer their customers. That’s why sustainability is inherent to their purpose of empowering people to stay a step ahead in life and in business. At ING in the Netherlands (DBNL), they have sharpened their Vision ‘Sustainable progress for all.’ They have set extra ambitions and targets on sustainability and launched a program to deliver new sustainable propositions. ING calls on all domains to create a roadmap by which they will be able to achieve its sustainability goals and ambitions. But how does such a central program relate to their Agile way of working where tribes have a lot of autonomy? ING is looking forward to expanding their relationship with Organizational Dynamics at Penn by inviting our students to join with their team to identify potential strategies for moving ahead with their sustainability efforts using an agile framework. The course includes daily meetings, seminars, tours, and networking with ING leaders and staff. In addition, the participants will also have an opportunity to meet with and learn from Dutch representatives involved in academia, government, healthcare, art, science, culture, and the media.

This course introduces students to the history, theories, and contemporary practice of city and regional planning. Readings, lectures, class discussion, and walking tours focus on: - The evolution of planning ideas, strategies, institutions, and powers, and of planning’s influence on cities and regions around the world; - The structure and dynamics of urban change; - The ways planners and social and environmental scientists have understood, theorized, and responded to social, economic, political, and environmental conditions and change over time; and - The development of the planning profession and its relationships with allied fields, examining various types of planning, urban development, and design.

Disaster management reflects society’s organized attempt to protect its members from natural, technological, and terrorist threats. Often, this involves coordinating with local, state, federal, and non-governmental organizations; alerting the public to impending hazards; and developing plans for the sheltering and mass care of those left homeless in the wake of major catastrophe. The field operates through a complex network of specialists, whose activities often assist the day-to-day and long-term operations of disaster management. As a result, planning for a disaster—be it in the realm of mitigation, preparedness, response, or recovery—calls for a thorough understanding of both the natural and social elements of disaster. This course covers an overview of theory, principles, and the operations of disaster management. Topics include a history and evolution of the profession; an exploration of the concepts of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery; state, local, federal, and non-governmental organizations’ roles in disasters; and an investigation of the social, political and economic consequences of disasters.