Ecological Urbanism

Over the past two years at the GSD, there has been a conference, exhibition, and book on ecological urbanism. The course asks a simple question: What next for the ecological urbanism project? In answering the question, the seminar will have three parallel tracks of inquiry. First, beginning with a reading of the Ecological Urbanism book, the seminar will examine more closely the notion of ecology as an adjective for urbanism. Secondly, in positioning the book within contemporary practice and the ever-increasing literature on sustainability and cities, we will ask how is ecological urbanism different to green urbanism, sustainable urbanism, or eco-urbanism? Thirdly, the seminar will question the structure of the book itself and to this end the course is organized around the ten sections of the book. What does it mean to anticipate within a design context? To curate? To mobilize? To incubate? The seminar will use readings in anthropology to investigate these topics; in a way the course will be an anthropology of the ecological urbanism project. Classes will consist of part lecture, part discussion, and part to-be-determined, with the emphasis on incubating individual research and design projects within the scope of ecological urbanism.