Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Fieldwork based study of a selected city, including its built form, policy initiatives and events. Emphasis is placed on experiential learning approaches, learning across cultures and contexts, team-based work and relationship building.

COURSE DETAILS:

International Field School in Comparative Urban Sustainability - Helsinki  
 
This international field school will consist of learning periods in Canada and Finland. Preliminary sessions will be held at Simon Fraser University over the course of 6 weeks, followed by a field school in the Helsinki region of Finland for 2 weeks.  

Nordic countries are frequently referred to as having some of the "best practices" in the realm of urban sustainability. This circumstance often leads to Nordic terms, policies, and practices being adopted in Anglophone countries and beyond. This field school offers an experiential learning opportunity that goes beyond the textbook to discover the Helsinki region and what it has to offer in urban sustainability practices. By exploring together with experts, professionals, and locals, the course will focus on the differences that languages, culture and history make to sustainability practices and outcomes, while placing them in comparison to the Vancouver region. The overarching learning objective of this field school is to advance an understanding of sustainability beyond familiar knowledge and context.  

The field school will encourage participants to think beyond their individual ideas and cultural biases around sustainability. Comparisons between places and concepts will be drawn through interdisciplinary discussions, and course participants will engage with global issues in an active and practical manner. The observations of different sites will further push participants to think more critically and challenge the often taken-for-granted understandings of sustainability.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: