Skip to Main Content

Sustainability and the Built Environment

The Sustainability and the Built Environment Concentration (SBE) focuses on urban planning, design and architecture.

The SBE course plan interrogates the built environment, whether urban, suburban, or rural (and every place in between). It is designed for students seeking a comprehensive curriculum that is focused on how to plan, design, construct and manage communities from a more sustainable perspective. Learn about the latest planning approaches and policy/regulatory requirement; green architecture, sustainable site design and landscapes; renewable energy and energy efficiency; sustainable water resources management; and green infrastructure. Acquire the skills necessary to integrate sustainable design principles into long-range visions and the day-to-day development and management of the built environment.

Faculty Advisor:

G. Douglass-Jaimes (Environmental Analysis)
C. Miller (History)

Affiliated Faculty:

G. Gorse (Art History)
L. Neckar (Environmental Analysis, Pitzer)

Course Requirements (11 Courses):

Students must complete the core courses, course or EA 010 PZ, course, and course or course and one senior capstone course (course or course). The elective classes in SBE should be selected in close consultation with the concentration advisor.

  • At least one course in Representation

    • Studio art, photography, design, or production-based media studies courses

    • GIS or similar spatial-analysis training

  • At least one class in Design Studio/Labs

  • Five electives from the following or similar options, generally no more than two from a group

    • Urban history, geography, theory and ecology

    • Design and Planning

    • Environmental Justice/Policy/Economics/Sociology

Sample electives:

  • course- Foundations of 2D Design 

  • course - Modern Architecture, City, Landscape and Sustainability 

  • ARHI188 SC - Representing the Metropolis 

  • course - Introduction to Urban Health Equity: Uncovering Local and Global Disparities 

  • course - Just ! GIS: Introduction to an Ecological and Social Oriented Geographic Information Systems 

  • course - Water in the West 

  • course - Green Urbanism 

  • course - California Beaches 

  • course - Desert Conservation Field Seminar 

  • course - The Global Politics of Water 

  • course - Anthropology of Environmental Justice 

  • GEOG179B HM - Place, Power, and Difference