Teaching Sustainability (Asynchronous Session)
Exploring Sustainability and Social Equity from a Multidisciplinary Lens: Overview of a Student Focused Research Challenge View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kimberly Collins
Transportation accounts for 40% of harmful emissions in California and is a major contributor to climate change. The transportation sector is also an important part of the economy with the movement of goods and people throughout the region. In finding solutions to the challenge of balancing harmful emissions with economic prosperity, we are working to define and operationalize what sustainability and equity encompass in the Southern California transportation sector. To do this we are approaching it from a multitude of perspectives – civil engineering, public and private finance, public institutions and policy, environmental sciences and engineering, planning and urban development, etc. Thereby, we have created multidisciplinary teams of undergraduate and graduate students from three regional public universities to work together. This paper reviews the research project, our preliminary results, and plans for implementation of our findings. The overarching goal is to provide guidelines to decision makers and communities, and educate the next generation of leaders on what it means to have a more sustainable and equitable transportation system. From this perspective, we hope to address a part of the climate change challenge.
Educating for Ecological Thinking with Children's Literature: Narrative Teaching, Literature, and Contact with Nature View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Rosa Tiziana Bruno
The relationship between education and sustainability cannot be based on notions, even less on the fear of a catastrophe. Sustainability means humans, as individuals and societies, who consciously seek to go with the grain of nature. Learning to understand the natural world and the human place in it can only be an active process to acquire the sense of belonging to the same human community that is part of the natural world. To build a sustainable world it is necessary to “become people” in harmony with one's fellowmen and natural elements. The procedure of “becoming people” can only take place within an authentic educating community where everyone's energies are directed towards the formation of an individual and social eco-wisdom. Effective tools for this type of didactic approach are: reading literature, creative writing and gradual contact with natural elements. This paper features the report of an action research carried out in this direction in agreement with the Sociology Department of the University of Salerno. Over four hundred children of a school and their families have been involved in an educational path called Fiabadiaro based on a cross between reading, creative writing, and nature walks with the aim of educating on ecological thinking.
How Do We Learn about Implementing Sustainability in Planning and Design? : A Systematic Review with Contents of Planning and Design Education View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hye Yeon Park, Carlos Licon
The long-term environmental effects of planning and design decisions require careful considerations. Sustainable development offers a holistic approach to address the complexities and interrelated aspects of these decisions. Higher education institutions have developed, over recent years, multiple perspectives to incorporate sustainability in the curricula. This research categorizes these different approaches to infuse sustainability in higher education. This paper identifies patterns and trends in how programs reacted to sustainability education challenges in planning and design. The study conducted a review from 2011-2020 on existing curricula, experiences, and lessons from higher education programs. This analysis allows us to identify important lessons to achieve sustainability education in planning and design courses. This research selected articles based on different combinations of keywords in three publication databases. The analysis uses the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis for Protocols 2015 (PRISMA-P 2015) protocol approach. The findings show current sustainability contents of planning and design education revealed challenges such as the requirement of a lot of time and effort, insufficient funding for supporting sustainability programs, environmental restriction, etc., in developing sustainability education contents and suitable elements to achieve sustainability education in the planning and design course. This research contributes to the improvement of the existing sustainability education curricula for planning and design education programs. The study proposes a pedagogical model for planning and design in higher education by identifying challenges and lessons to improve teaching sustainability in this field.
