Core Course
EDUC 067 Fight for #PhlEd: Urban Educational and Environmental Justice
Edwin Mayorga
Monday: 12:10–2:55 p.m.
This course is the core course for the TriCo Philly Program and will be taught in Philadelphia. Fight for #PhlEd is an examination of urbanism and environmental justice as seen through of urban education politics in Philadelphia and other US cities. Course readings, discussions and related field experiences will focus on various perspectives on key issues and debates confronting urban education as it relates to urban development and environmental sustainability and justice. We will draw heavily on theories and approaches from critical geography, critical theories of race and political economy, which will provide us a frame for examining research, policy, pedagogy and social movements as vehicles for addressing the challenges that shape the social, cultural, and geographic conditions of teaching, learning and community development. The city of Philadelphia, its racially and ethnically diverse communities, and its public schools, will function as our focus and, more importantly, who we will seek to build alongside, over the course of the semester.
Elective Courses
ANTH H309/ENVS H309: Place, People and Collaborative Research in Philadelphia
Joshua Moses
Tuesday/Friday: 12:10–2:55 p.m.
Taught in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program, this transdisciplinary, Philadelphia-based, course focuses on critical urban environmental issues. With the blunt challenges of global warming and inequality in mind, we seek to apply theory to the practice of engagement with ongoing urban struggles. Collaborative environmental work with urban communities is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing on anthropology, urban planning, public health, ecology, and geography. Themes will include the intersections of race, class, and gender; environmental justice; rethinking bioregionalism; urban environmental social movements; urban farming/gardening; brownfields; radical municipalism; tactical urbanism; transformative education; Afrofuturism; action research; and ideas of place, home and nature. The course will focus on the ethics and practice of community collaboration and community-based research in environmental work in urban settings. Students will work directly with community groups, developing relationships, and collaborating on research relevant to their efforts. As the course title indicates, the arts of collaboration—on multiple levels—are central to this course. Readings include: Joan Iverson Nassauer, Roger Sanjek, Peter Berg, Donald Schon, Anne Rademencher, Gregory Bateson, Jane Jacobs, Grace Lee Boggs Meredith Minkler, Baltimore Ecosystem Study, adrienne maree brown, Davydd Greenwod, Miles Horton; Eve Tuck, Kim Fortun, Julian Agyeman.
ENVS 035/POLS 043B Environmental Justice: Theory and Action
Giovanna DiChiro
Wednesday/Friday: 12:10–2:55 p.m.
An introduction to the history and theory of environmental justice, an interdisciplinary field that examines how inequalities based on race, class, ethnicity, and gender shape how different groups of people are impacted by environmental problems and how they advocate for social and environmental change. This semester the course will be taught at the Philadelphia Friends Center and will concentrate on urban environmental justice issues and creative strategies for change in Philadelphia. Drawing on the work of scholars and activists from a wide variety of disciplines in the social sciences, natural sciences, and the arts &humanities, we critically examine the conceptual divisions between “nature and society,” “urban and rural,” and the“community and the planet.” We will analyze the history of the widely used concept of “sustainability” focusing on the diverse ways it has been embraced, transformed, and implemented in different cultural and urban contexts. We will investigate some of the challenges facing cities like Philadelphia as they implement sustainability initiatives and try to avoid “green gentrification” (sustainability improvements such as green buildings, eco-parks, and upscale farmers’ markets that increase property values, pricing out and displacing local, low-income residents). We will likewise explore the promise of urban areas as important centers for supporting the flourishing of diverse, equitable, and ecologically sustainable communities. Course incorporates a community-based learning component.
MATH B295 Math Modeling and Sustainability
Victor Donnay
Monday/Friday: 10:10–11:30 a.m.
Friday: 12:10–2:55 p.m.
Taught in Philadelphia as part of the Tri-Co Philly Program, this course will use mathematical models to study issues of sustainability in the city. Examining energy consumption and the potential of using renewable energy to meet these needs, students will evaluate the effectiveness and associated costs -- social, environmental, financial -- of various technologies. As part of the course, students will work in teams to analyze a real-world sustainability issue of interest to a community partner. Prerequisites: MATH 102; MATH 118; Calculus II; MATH 025 and permission of instructor.