ARPL 586F Sustainable Infrastructure
This course will help students develop a holistic understanding of the "sustainable city" in terms of environmental quality, social equity, quality of life and Christian/Catholic ecological stewardship paradigms (i.e. Earthkeeping). We will critically evaluate the concept of the "green city" and whether these claims are based on empirical evidence (e.g. Ecological/Carbon Footprint Analysis); or whether these claims are "greenwashing." The emphasis of the instruction will be on the planning of "hard" infrastructure essential to a sustainable city, including potable water, wastewater (sewage) treatment, solid waste disposal/the 3Rs (reduction/reuse/recycling-composting), greenways/green roofs (natural habitat conservation) and transportation systems (roads, transit, biking and waking). We will examine the unsustainable environmental problems associated with our current rampant natural resource and energy use, and the environmental problems associated with solid (garbage), liquid (sewage, effluents) and gaseous (emissions) wastes emanating from U.S. cities. The course will compare and contrast sustainable alternatives that emphasize conservation to the business-as-usual engineering/technology-based solutions prevalent in North American cities. We will also contrast American sustainability planning to the vastly different priorities in the developing world, especially the lack of basic infrastructure in mega-city shantytowns, where over a billion people on our planet live in filth and squalor due to a lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitary living conditions, mandating a Catholic response to this crisis.