ENV 855b () / 2025-2026

Climate Change Mitigation in Urban Areas (Dates TBD)

This class provides an in-depth assessment of the relationships between urbanization and climate change, and the central ways in whichurban areas, cities, and other human settlements can mitigate climate change. The course explores two major themes: (1) the waysin which cities and urban areas contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change; and (2) the ways in which urban areascan mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. Class topics parallel the IPCC 5th and 6^th Assessment Reports’ chapters on urban mitigation of climate change, and include spatial form and energy use, land use planning for climate mitigation,urban metabolism, and local climate action plans. The class format is reading-, writing-, and discussion-intensive. Students are taught how to synthesize scientific literature, write policy memos, and develop effective oral presentations on the science of climate change mitigation in urban areas.Enrollment limited to fourteen. This is a two-week intensive short course offered the weeks of tbd