The readings below represent the required readings for each week. Please see Further Reading for a list of additional readings.
| SES # | TOPICS | READINGS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ideas of Nature and City Design and Development |
Williams, Raymond. "Ideas of Nature." In Problems in Materialism and Culture. Verso, 1985, pp. 67–85. ISBN: 9780860917298. Spirn, Anne Whiston. "Ecological Urbanism." In Resilience in Ecology and Urban Design: Linking Theory and Practice for Sustainable Cities. Edited by M. L. Cadenasso Pickett, and Brian McGrath. Springer, 2013. ISBN: 9789400753433. [Preview with Google Books] |
| 2 | Urban Nature and City Design: Practice, Theory, and Tradition I |
Spirn, Anne Whiston. The Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design. Basic Books, 1984. ISBN: 9780465026999. |
| 3 | Urban Nature and City Design: "The Power of Example" |
Flyvbjerg, Bent. "The Power of Example." In Making Social Science Matter: Why Social Inquiry Fails and How it Can Succeed Again. Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780521775687. In addition, select one of the following two sets of readings: Hise, Greg, and William Deverell. Eden By Design: The 1930 Olmsted-Bartholomew Plan for the Los Angeles Region. University of California, 2000. ISBN: 9780520224155. [Preview with Google Books] Or Madden, Sarah. Choosing Green Over Gray: Philadelphia's Innovative Stormwater Infrastructure Plan. MIT MCP Thesis, 2010. |
| 4 | Urban Nature and City Design: Practice, Theory, and Tradition II |
Spirn, Anne Whiston. "Restoring Mill Creek: Landscape Literacy, Environmental History, and City Planning and Design." In Nature's Entrepot: Philadelphia's Urban Sphere and Its Environmental Thresholds. Edited by Brian Black, and Michael Chiarappa. University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780822944171. ———. The Mill Creek Project. ———. The West Philadelphia Landscape Plan: A Framework for Action. The West Philadelphia Landscape Plan, 1991. |
| 5 | Introduction to Library Resources and Image Copyright Issues | No Readings |
| 6 | Earth and Water | Select one of the two sets of readings below. Robinson, G. D., and A. M. Spieker. Nature to be Commanded...Earth-Science Maps Applied to Land and Water Management Occasional Paper 950. USGS, 1978. McPhee, John. "Los Angeles against the Mountains." In The Control of Nature. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1989. ISBN: 9780374128906. Or Dunne, Thomas, and Luna Leopold. Water in Environmental Planning. W. H. Freeman & Company Limited, 1978. ISBN: 9780716700791. Tree People ("Rainwater as a Resource." in particular). |
| 7 | Air and the Urban Biome | Select one of the two sets of readings below. Arnfield, A. John. "Two Decades of Urban Climate Research: A Review of Turbulence, Exchanges of Energy and Water, and the Urban Heat Island." International Journal of Climatology 23, no. 1 (2003): 1–26. Spirn, Anne Whiston. Or Pickett, S. T. A., and M. L. Cadenasso. "Linking Ecological and Built Components of Urban Mosaics: An Open Cycle of Ecological Design." Journal of Ecology 96, no. 1 (2008): 8–12. Felson, Alexander, and Steward Pickett. "Designed Experiments: New Approaches to Studying Urban Ecosystems." Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 3, no. 10 (2005): 549–56. Pickett, S. T. A., M. L. Cadenasso, et al. "Resilient Cities: Meaning, Models and Metaphor for Integrating the Ecological, Socio-economic, and Planning Realms." Landscape and Urban Planning 69, no. 4 (2004): 369–84. |
| 8 | Presentations and Discussion | |
| 9 | Presentations and Discussion (cont.) | |
| 10 | Web Authoring Workshop | |
| 11 | Presentations and Discussion | |
| 12 | Presentations and Discussion (cont.) | |
| 13 | Reflections: Lessons for Cities |
Schön, Donald. The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. Basic Books, 1983. |
Philadelphia: Philadelphia Water Department. (PDF - 4.49MB) Long-term Combined Sewer Overflow Program: Program Summary.