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Urbanization & Sustainable Cities

  • Article Item
    A resident in New Orleans talks about environmental justice with representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency during a community outreach visit. Photo by Eric Vance, US EPA
    Rationality and risk: examining media portrayals of environmental racism , article

    Social justice is incomplete without environmental justice. MNR (Online) student Andrew Staltari examines media portrayals of these injustices in African American communities as the first step in understanding how society can learn from and respond to the historic and ongoing environmental threats.

    Date: Jul 18, 2023
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    Green stormwater infrastructure at the corporate headquarters of Johnson Controls, Inc., Glendale, Wisconsin; Photo: Model D Media
    Community-based climate change solutions: the value of public–private partnerships in water management , article

    In their class project on the Clean Water Partnership, students in the 2021 Executive MNR cohort saw an opportunity to scale up community partnerships and come up with climate adaptation solutions that community leaders could incorporate into their plans.

    Date: Jan 04, 2022
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    Rainwater harvesting courtyard at Roosevelt High School in Washington, D.C. Photo: Sally Parker
    XMNR alum Sally Parker charts new career course for most impact in her community , article

    Sally Parker, a 2014 Executive MNR graduate, is no stranger to changing jobs as a sustainability professional, and she isn’t shy to admit that when she feels like she is no longer able to make an impact in her position, it is time to move on.

    Date: Nov 23, 2021
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    Seeing the bigger picture: urban planner and OMNR alum Marshall Distel on social sustainability of cities
    Seeing the bigger picture: urban planner and OMNR alum Marshall Distel on social sustainability of cities , article

    “The MNR program helped me see that my role in sustainability is about way more than transportation,” says Marshall Distel, an Online MNR alum and Transportation Planner at the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission in the greater Burlington, Vermont region. “I learned to see the bigger picture. Communities can shape streets, but streets can also shape communities.”

    Date: Apr 06, 2021
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    Stefano Boeri Architetti's Forest City
    Vertical Forest City: China’s sustainable urban development , article

    Historically seen as one of the world’s worst polluters, China is emerging as an environmental leader, with a long-term vision and political will to carry it out. Author and recent XMNR alumna Karen (Songyi) Zhang uses the example of Italian-designed Vertical Forest City in the southwestern city of Liuzhou, as a vivid illustration of that commitment.

    Date: Mar 09, 2021
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    Climate resilience of island nations and coastal cities: Cuba, Iceland, Amsterdam, Venice
    Climate resilience of island nations and coastal cities: Cuba, Iceland, Amsterdam, Venice , article

    If your dreams of island getaways or beach vacations immediately bring up concerns about rising sea levels and sinking cities, you are not alone! Different countries around the world are developing adaptation approaches to survive and thrive in the Anthropocene, and we have designed Global Study experiences for our sustainability students to explore some of these approaches first-hand in locations as geographically, economically, and culturally diverse as Iceland, Cuba, Venice, and Amsterdam.

    Date: Dec 15, 2020
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    Can the pandemic force us to build better food systems?
    Can the pandemic force us to build better food systems? , article

    “Exploring the space where landscape architecture and urban planning overlap, I seek to understand causes and explore solutions to social injustice from a different perspective. Food policy, food systems resilience, and urban agriculture are the areas of deep interest to me,” says Lynda S. Ramirez-Blust, a student in our Urban Ecology course.

    Date: Nov 12, 2020