Face-to-Face Academic Classes

Community Design Studio

When: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30-12:00           
Location: CDI, Room# 207

Description:

The act of building cities has a substantial and irreversible impact on human environments, with implications for individual and environmental health. Community greening practices offer tactics for addressing these concerns by strengthening neighborhood food systems, improving air quality, managing small scale flooding events, and increasing local self-reliance.

In this service learning course, students will explore the concept of city forests, both as naturally occurring phenomena and as cultivated cultural landscapes. We will consider the city forest as a laboratory for citizen science, a canvas for community-based arts intervention and a tool for addressing environmental injustice.

Through hands-on field exercises in local neighborhoods, students will learn how to assess the integrity of the existing city forest, recognize inequities in tree canpoy cover, and imagine practical and forward-looking design solutions. Students will also hear from environmental arts professionals, who will offer perspectives for how environmental art can be used as a placemaking tool and a way to communicate environmental justice concerns. Through these and other experiences, students will become familiar with best practices in environmental health assessment and community greening.

Students will work with community groups and neighborhood associations to understand the real concerns of residents from local neighborhoods. For the course project, students will develop a city forest plan for a neighborhood, working to address local community concerns and integrate ecological and artistic strategies at a neighborhood scale.

Applying, Tuition and Important Dates:
The cost and deadlines for this course align with the Tuition and Important Dates of other summer academic classes. Students should apply for this course following the same process as other summer academic classes: 

Apply Now

Once registered for this course, please fill out the Student Information Sheet on the Community Design Studio website.