In this course we will survey the known and emerging impacts of climate change on cities, as well as strategies and action being undertaken to address these impacts. We will learn key concepts and paradigms that are used to talk about climate change — and the underlying assumptions embedded within that make it harder to address climate change. We will also look at local and regional policies, nongovernmental and governmental research, and experiments at the intersection of health, ecology, and infrastructure.
This is a project-based course: Students will use all eleven-weeks to investigate how climate change is impacting a city (or cities) of their choice. In addition to weekly reading responses, course assignments are designed to help students advance their projects to completion by the end of the term. These assignments include collecting basic data about their city, investigating known climate threats and key urban assets, and researching possible or emergent approaches to address climate change in the city.
There is also a class-wide project: the Global Council of Climate Leaders. Although this project involves the entire class as well as working groups, you will not need to collaborate with your peers outside of class. Each Thursday we will dedicate the class time to creating a proposal for global climate action, which will be presented to the Drexel community publicly at the end of the quarter.
Shared course readings will be assigned from the Thinking Like a Climate by Hannah Knox, as well as essays from interdisciplinary scholars.
Instructor: Dr. Alison Kenner
Room 224, 3101 Market Street
Tuesdays and Thursdays 4:30-5:50pm
Contact: [email protected]
Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays 2-3pm and by appointment
MS Teams - Reading discussions, announcements, assignment submission
A reforestation assistant measures a newly-planted tree in a field damaged during illegal gold mining in Madre de Dios, Peru, on March 29, 2019
By the end of the quarter you will be able to:
Image Citations
Cover: "A Nighttime View of Salt Lake City, Utah," NASA.
Above: "In restored forests, hope for world beset by climate change" in The Columbian. Image by Associated Press / Rodrigo Abd
Left: "Our Future is not Negotiable," in Op-ed: We have a final opportunity to respond to climate change. Will we take it? By Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters.
This course is structured around the Learning Record (LR) method. You will argue for your own grade for this course. By the end of the quarter, you will have collected evidence in support of your efforts, and you will have analyzed how you have progressed across specific criteria called the Dimensions of Learning. Using the LR methodology, you will argue for your grade with a midterm and final portfolio. To assess your grade, you will use the following criteria:
<aside> 🧭 A - Represents outstanding participation in all course activities; all assigned work completed, with very high quality in all work produced for the course. Evidence of significant development across the Dimensions of Learning. The Learning Record at this level demonstrates activity that goes significantly beyond the required course work in one or more course objectives.
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<aside> 🧭 B - Represents excellent participation in all course activities; all assigned work completed, on time, with consistently high quality in course work. Evidence of marked development across the Dimensions of Learning.
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<aside> 🧭 C - Represents good participation in all course activities; all assigned work completed, with generally good quality overall in course work. Evidence of some development across the Dimensions of Learning.
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<aside> 🧭 D - Represents uneven participation in course activities; some gaps in assigned work completed, with inconsistent quality in course work. Evidence of development across the Dimensions of Learning is partial or unclear.
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<aside> 🧭 F - Represents minimal participation in course activities; serious gaps in assigned work completed, or very low quality in course work. Evidence of development is not available.
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Notice how the grading works: a B means that you do everything in the course on time and to a very high standard. An A means that you “knocked it out of the park” in relation to one or more of the Dimensions of Learning. By that I mean that you really took ownership over some aspect of your work and brought it further than the course requirements. We will chat in class about how you can deliberately shoot for an A, and you should check out the appendix for examples of how other students have argued for various grade points.
I will read your argument and assess if your midterm or final narrative matches the proposed grade. If the evidence in the write-up matches your argument for a grade, I will agree with your assessment and reward you that grade. However, I may also disagree with that grade: I may feel your LR is better or worse than what you have argued for and raise or drop your grade accordingly.
<aside> 📎 Please read closely the Learning Record Reference Guide, adapted from JMU's The Future of Learning program.
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TFoL Learning Record Reference Guide - Cities + Climate Change Fall 2021.pdf
There are short assignments for each week of the course; these will always be started (and sometimes completed) during our class time. You will submit work to me three times only this term; these are highlighted in purple below: Student Profile, Midterm Portfolio, and Final Portfolio. That means there are only three due dates and all activities will be rolling and in progress until midterm and the final.
Of course, I am happy to meet to give you feedback on your project, assignments, and observations at any time.
Student Profile / Week 2 - Submit Monday September 27th by 12pm
City Sketch / Week 3 - Include in Midterm *Milestone due date Friday October 8th
Core Issue Report / Week 4 - Include in Midterm *Milestone due date Monday October 18th
Visualizing Your City / Week 5 - Include in Midterm *Milestone due date Monday October 25th