Our Urban Future

A practical, comprehensive textbook that uses active learning techniques to teach about the challenges and opportunities associated with urban sustainability.

While the problem of urban sustainability has long been a subject of great scholarly interest, there has, until now, been no single source providing a multi-disciplinary, exhaustive view of how it can be effectively taught. Filling this gap, Our Urban Future uses active learning techniques to comprehensively relate the theory of urban sustainability and the what, why, and how of sustainable cities. This practical, pedagogically rich textbook concisely covers all the key subjects of the field, including ecosystem services and transects, the internal design and patterning of urban elements, how cities mitigate and adapt to climate change, and questions of environmental justice. It functions as both an illuminating roadmap and active reference to which any student of sustainability can turn to find essential resources and perspectives in pursuit of creating sustainable cities.

Approachable, discrete exercises introduce students to key sustainability subjectsLearn-by-doing approach encourages critically engaging from multiple anglesIdeal for students across environmental sustainability, urban planning, urban design, urban studies, sociology architecture, landscape architecture, and geographyRobust suite of ancillaries includes links and downloadable data to support activities, and additional readings and resources