Description
Chicago City Hall Green Roof
Many decisions regarding the design and development of communities have environmental consequences. Responses to these consequences include ignoring them, fixing them, compensating for them, or preventing them. This class provides an overview of the issues and approaches to evaluation of environmental (land and water) resources principally in the context of planning, land development, and site design. We will specifically focus on current issues and technologies commonly grouped under the rubric of ecological/green/sustainable design. Current issues, however, are often best understood in a deeper context so historic precedents and societal norms will also be explored.
Course Objectives
1. Be familiar with the theories and principles driving ecological design, and the issues arising from them.
2. Demonstrate a basic understanding of the environmental processes that ecological design seeks to influence (e.g. hydrology, biodiversity).
3. Understand the types of designs and techniques for addressing problems of runoff, pollution, thermal radiation, etc. in the built environment.
4. Gain some practical experience in applying the concepts.
Information
The class meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30 AM to 11:50 PM in Room 18 Buell Hall (unless otherwise indicated).
There is no required “text” for the class. All readings will be electronic (pdf or HTML) and will be made available via a course web site (URL to be provided).
While there are no specific prerequisites to this class, basic (high school/undergraduate) familiarity with math (algebra and trigonometry), descriptive statistics (mean, variance, correlation), and physical geography (water cycle, land uses), etc. is hoped for.
The format of the class consists of lecture and discussion. Grading will be based on completion of assignments (70%), a mid-term exam (20%), and instructor discretion (10%) based on participation, engagement in course, etc. The Department of Landscape Architecture Policy on Grading applies to this course as does the Campus Code, etc.
Portland, Oregon Water System, Robert Murase 
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