Past Courses

Summer 2019.
Semester in Housing Futures

Summer 2019: Semester in Housing Futures

Full-time, 10 credits (DIAL 390W & 391W)

Application deadline: February 25, 2019

Program dates: May 6 - June 21, 2019

It’s not an easy time to be a young person trying to find a foothold in Vancouver, a city of bold contradictions. Home to one of the most expensive real estate markets in North America, the city, like many urban centers around the world, is also the site of an ongoing housing crisis evident in its growing homeless population and its rental vacancy rates that hover near zero. Unaffordable and inaccessible as they can be, cities are also home to numerous people and organizations who have dedicated their working lives to doing what can seem impossible: creating a more equitable city that a broad range of people can call home.

Through an exploration of the human, textured nuances of what makes a place a home, Semester in Housing Futures will dialogue with planners, community advocates, developers and funders to probe what it takes to build cities that better reflect the housing needs of everyday people—particularly those struggling to get by and get started. We will work together to uncover bold, creative responses to what can seem like an unworkable housing crisis, and consider what it takes to build a city worth fighting for.

The goals of the class are largely about uncovering new ways of talking and thinking about difficult, divisive issues, productively learning from each other, and engaging in dialogue through difference.

COURSE INSTRUCTORS

Am Johal is the Director of SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement.

Mark Winston is a professor and senior fellow at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.

Jackie Wong is a facilitator, writer, and editor. She works in Vancouver’s social change community to advance public conversations about urban health, race, and equity.

Spring 2019.
Complexity of Health & Wellness

Spring 2019: Complexity of Health and Wellness

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W - D100)

Health and wellness are complex topics worthy of exploration on many levels.

The systems we have in place for “health care” are really “sickness care” systems. In Canada, this sickness care system is primarily the responsibility of the provinces and territories. In most jurisdictions the system uses the largest portion of provincial tax dollars, in addition to receiving transfer payments from the Federal government. Wellness in the form of prevention receives a very small proportion of the funding.

Canadian’s tend to perceive our healthcare system as universal and think it is excellent. But not everyone is treated equally and there are many services not covered. Commonwealth Fund rankings put Canada at 10 out of 11 countries surveyed, including Australia, New Zealand, France, Sweden and the UK. Only our neighbor to the south has poorer performance and costs more.

The Spring 2019 Semester in Dialogue will use dialogue and systems thinking as a means to examine the nature of health, inequalities and the boundary between health and other societal issues. Specific themes that may be explored with invited guests and through assignments include:

Mental health and addiction
Indigenous health and wellness
Aging, dementia and home and community care
Precision health and personalized medicine
HIV/AIDS
Disability and diversability in the community
Obesity and chronic disease prevention

APPROACH

Dialogue is intended to be an engaging and inclusive conversation for all participants, and is based on an understanding that everyone in the room is coming from a different background, and will have different interests and views. The goal of the Semester in Dialogue is to create a space where views can be expressed, and where participants can actively listen to each other and learn something new. Dialogue ultimately provides a space to bring together diverse viewpoints, explore these differences, and work towards understanding them better.

Systems thinking recognizes that complex problems are different from simple or complicated problems. Think: “cake, rocket, child” (simple, complicated, complex).

Baking a cake is simple. It is easily reproducible, context doesn't matter much and it doesn’t require a lot of expertise. A recipe is helpful.
Sending a rocket to the moon is complicated. It is also reproducible after some trial and error, requires and benefits from lots of expertise. Detailed recipes are necessary.
Raising a child is complex. Lessons don’t necessarily transfer from one child to the next. Expertise is not all that helpful. The outcome is hard to predict. A recipe can’t be constructed.

The Spring 2019 Semester in Dialogue will apply systems thinking to both understanding and addressing complex health and wellness challenges.

Course runs Monday through Friday 9:30-4:30

ABOUT THE COURSE INSTRUCTORS

Dr. Diane T. Finegood is an experienced research leader and strategic thinker with an excellent track record of heading national and provincial health research organizations. She served as President & CEO of the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (2012-2016) and inaugural scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (2000-2008). Diane is currently a Professor in the Centre for Dialogue and Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

As a bridge-builder and systems thinker, she has successfully facilitated the needs of disparate stakeholders to carve out common ground for effective dialogue, collaboration and outcomes. Diane is also an internationally recognized researcher whose work and expertise range from cell biology, physiology, and mathematical modeling, to population and public health, health policy and knowledge translation. She has received a range of awards, which reflect her impact as a leader, scientist, partner and mentor.

Dr. Scott Lear is a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University and the inaugural Pfizer/Heart and Stroke Foundation Chair in Cardiovascular Prevention Research at St. Paul's Hospital. His research spans the breadth of prevention of chronic diseases at a population level to the management at an individual level. This includes the identification of environmental characteristics that may act as facilitators and barriers of healthy lifestyle habits, investigation of the role of ethnic background in risk for obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, and how technology can help improve health care access and delivery.

Chris Yakimov is the Associate Director, Digital Community Engagement for the Office of Community Engagement, SFU External Relations. He has worked as a digital strategist in the private, nonprofit and now public sector, and has a BA and MA from UBC in Psychology and Education, respectively. His graduate thesis was a narrative inquiry that explored the power relations brokered by the word “self”, in academic, therapeutic, and everyday discourse. He’s heavily influenced by thinkers like Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Antonio Damasio, Jaron Lanier and Judith Butler, and brings an abiding and passionate interest in the roles of emotion, autonomy, language and power within the complex bio-relational system that is “us”. Current interests include: critical deconstructions of economic and business systems, blockchain, cooperative governance, and the underutilized potential of fiction in knowledge mobilization and pedagogy. Vancouver-born, he loves hockey, photography, cli-fi, breakfast sandwiches and looking forward to whatever his three-year-old daughter will say next.

Fall 2018.
SFU Semester at CityStudio

SFU Semester at CityStudio

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

Semester at CityStudio brings together bright, innovative students from diverse backgrounds, disciplines and universities to collaborate with The City of Vancouver on demonstration projects. CityStudio is an immersive, team learning environment combining interdisciplinary skills with the complexity of collaborating within a group setting. The course combines dialogue and design elements, and requires students to engage with communities, research existing urban interventions and design projects to improve the world around them. Students will co-create projects based on needs of City of Vancouver and the community and are encouraged to bring an open mind about project scope to the program.

By focusing on current issues that matter in Vancouver, students have an opportunity to develop innovative solutions that assist The City of Vancouver in reaching its goals. Students cultivate the skills necessary to conduct student led dialogues, public presentations, and to engage in multi-stakeholder processes with policy makers and City of Vancouver staff. The course offers field experiences, on-the-ground training, leadership development, group process, and urban sustainability project management skills.

Course runs Monday thru Friday, 9:30-3:30.
Students register through SFU. Course open to students from all participating universities.

Course instructors

Janet Moore

Holly Schmidt is a Vancouver artist, curator and educator. She has a research-based practice that engages processes of collaboration and informal pedagogy. Moving across disciplinary boundaries, she explores the relationships between practices of making, knowledge creation and the formation of temporary communities. Her exhibition, public art and residency projects include Pollen Index (2016) Charles H. Scott Gallery, Till (2014/15) with the Santa Fe Art Institute Food Justice Residency, Moveable Feast (2012) Burnaby Art Gallery, Grow (2011) Other Sights for Artists’ Projects. Upcoming projects are Midnight Picnic (2018) Boca Del Lupo, Locals Only (2018) AKA Gallery, and Accretion (2018) 10 Different Things with ECUAD Living Labs, City Studio and Vancouver Public Art. She’s developed and taught course in social practice at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, as well as curating community engaged artist projects with the Contemporary Art Gallery.

Adrian Sinclair is Director of Engagement for Transformation Projects and for The Vancouver Mural Festival. For over 10 years, Adrian has produced civic events, public programming and large festivals in Vancouver. Adrian specializes in event design, stakeholder engagement, and event management that aims to transform how art and culture is seen and experienced in cities. Formerly, he applied his passion in this area as Public Programs Coordinator at The Museum of Vancouver. In addition to his public engagement work, Adrian is the co-author and illustrator of Freestyle Focus Group: Learn to Freestyle Rap and Build Community (2016). He is also Co-Founder of the BC Mobile Sauna Society.

Summer 2018.
Urban Energy Futures

Urban Energy Futures

Full-time, 10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W)

Cheap, safe, reliable energy is essential to modern urban life. The first and second industrial revolutions were powered by new forms of energy. Modern cities could not have been built without ready access to assured supplies of energy from coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear fission and hydro power. Yet the place of energy in our economy has become one of the most contested issues in our politics - witness the divisive debates over new pipelines, LNG terminals, and the site C dam.

At a global scale, burning fossil fuels for energy is by far the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions which are in turn are driving changes in the Earth's climate with unpredictable effects on the lives of millions of people. Renewable energy offers a promising alternative to fossil fuels - but the transition away from the sources of energy that have driven economic growth for the past two centuries will be contested, disruptive and uneven.

Against this larger context, cities have become global laboratories for the transition to a clean energy economy. Many individuals and communities are taking their energy future into their own hands by installing their own roof-top solar panels or community owned windmills. Local governments have begun setting targets prescribing how and when energy use in their communities should shift in favour of renewables.

In the last two years, Vancouver has positioned itself at the fore-front of this emerging global movement by setting the goal of 100% renewable energy across all major sectors of urban energy use by 2050. Other communities in Metro Vancouver have embarked on their own low carbon energy transition plans.

Is the goal of 100% renewable energy achievable at a cost which consumers are willing to bear? How can a city persuade its citizens to make fundamental changes in the way they have always used energy? Is this the job of a city in the first place? And what should be the continuing role of fossil fuels in the urban economy of the future?

This course will tackle these hard questions about Canada's energy future and the role of energy in urban life in Canada within an innovative and intense experiential learning environment. We will take a fresh look at the city around us and learn more about how energy is being used in old and new ways. We will talk to thought leaders, visit energy producers and distributors and develop group projects that serve local communities. At that same time, we will introduce methods of deliberative dialogue and community engagement to learn new ways of talking and thinking with people about these divisive issues.

The goal will be to teach the skills required to build the understanding, empathy and broad-based agreement that will be necessary to move towards a clean energy future in Canadian cities. We welcome applications from students from all disciplines and hope to have as wide a range of them as possible represented in the cohort for this course.

COURSE INSTRUCTORS

The course will be led by two experienced practitioners of dialogue and public policy.

Shauna Sylvester is the Director of the SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue. She is a Professor of Professional Practice in FASS and has been an experienced facilitator, thought leader and social entrepreneur for over thirty years.

Shauna has founded four organizations Carbon Talks, Renewable Cities, Canada’s World and IMPACS – the Institute for Media, Policy and Civil Society, and she has led a number of university wide initiatives focused on city-building including two week-long Community Summits: Alone Together: Addressing Isolation in the Urban Environment and We The City. Shauna also facilitated the Mayor of Vancouver’s Task Force on Affordable Housing, served on the Greenest City Action Plan External Oversight Body and was the lead Convener of Moving in a Livable Region, the largest consortium of business, academic, labour and community organizations working on transportation funding in BC.

Shauna is also an active volunteer and has served as a board member of the Downtown Business Improvement Association, Mountain Equipment Cooperative, Vancity Credit Union, Vancity Capital, the Voluntary Sector Initiative, the BC Assessment Authority and numerous non-profit organizations.

Michael Small is a Climate Solutions Fellow of the Centre for Dialogue. From 2015 – 2018 he was the first Executive Director of the Centre's program called Renewable Cities, which supports cities in the transition towards 100% renewable energy. As Executive Director, he hosted Renewable Cities Global Learning Forum in May 2015 and again in May 2017.

Prior to joining SFU, Michael was a senior executive in the Canadian Foreign Service and a Canadian diplomat for thirty-four years. He served as Canada’s High Commissioner to Australia from 2010 – 2014. In Ottawa, from 2006 – 2010 he was Assistant Deputy Minister for Global Issues and then for Human Resources in the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He served as Canada’s Ambassador to Cuba from 2000 – 2003. Earlier in his career, he played a leading role in shaping Canada’s human security agenda for Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy and as the Co-ordinator for the Canadian delegation to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Michael is the author of a case study of third party mediation in international conflict called “The Forgotten Peace: Niagara Falls, 1914” (University of Ottawa Press, 2009). He is a Fellow of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. He was also the curator of two travelling photographic exhibits, “Canada – Cuba: One Hundred Years in View” (2003) and “Pacific Currents” (1996).

Spring 2018.
Health & Wellness: Complex Not Just Complicated

Health and Wellness: Complex, Not Just Complicated

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

Canadians take healthcare seriously and see our universal system as a key component of our national identity. Although perceived as universal, the connected beliefs that the system covers everyone equally and provides excellent health care are misplaced. Commonwealth Fund rankings put Canada at 10^th out of 11 countries surveyed, including Australia, New Zealand, France, Sweden and the UK. Only our neighbor to the south has poorer performance.

Why don’t Canadians perceptions match the reality? What implication does this have for transforming our health and wellness systems? What can and should be done to address quality, sustainability, universality?

Healthcare uses the largest portion of our provincial tax dollars and like most large systems, transformation is fiendishly complex. The economics of healthcare demand some form of rationing, human biology and behavior are intricate, and the organizing principles on which healthcare is based were developed in a different era.

The Spring 2018 Semester in Dialogue will explore solutions to health and social care challenges through dialogue, as well as a framework focused on complex adaptive systems. We’ll use dialogue and systems thinking as a substrate to examine the nature of health, inequalities, delivery of health care, and the boundary between health and other societal issues. The course will probe the complexities of health and wellness systems that correspond with our values and ethics while being effective and financially stable.

Specific themes that may be explored with thought leaders and through assignments and projects include:

Mental health and addiction
Aboriginal health and wellness
Aging, dementia and home and community care
Precision health and personalized medicine
Disability and Diversability in the community
Obesity and chronic disease prevention

Students will develop solutions appropriate for complex problems, and present them to appropriate stakeholders as well as publicly through a dialogue event they will develop and facilitate.

Course runs Monday through Friday 9:30-3:30

ABOUT THE COURSE INSTRUCTORS

Mark L. Winston is Professor and Senior Fellow at SFU's Centre for Dialogue. He has had a distinguished career researching, teaching, writing and commenting on bees and agriculture, environmental issues, and science policy. More recently, he has utilized dialogue in classrooms, corporations, non-profit organizations, government, and community settings to develop leadership and communication skills, conduct strategic planning, inspire organizational change, and thoughtfully engage public audiences with controversial issues. Winston's work has appeared in numerous books, commentary columns for the Vancouver Sun, The New York Times, The Sciences, Orion magazine, and frequently on CBC radio and television and National Public Radio. His research, communication, and dialogue achievements have been recognized by many awards, including the Manning Award for Innovation, Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy, British Columbia Gold Medal in Science and Engineering, Academic of the Year, Eve Savory Award for Science Communication, Michael Smith Award for Science Promotion, a prestigious Killam Fellowship from the Canada Council, election as a Fellow in the Royal Society of Canada, and the 2015 Governor-General's Literary Award for Nonfiction, for his book Bee Time: Lessons from the Hive. Dr. Winston is a Professor of Biological Sciences and was the Founding Director of the Semester in Dialogue (2002–2014) and the Centre for Dialogue (2006–2014).

Robert A. Daum is Fellow and Lead in Diversity and Innovation at SFU’s Centre for Dialogue. He is a senior consultant for universities and government on institutional strategic change, public engagement, diversity, equity and inclusion, innovation in teaching and curriculum, leadership development, and conflict management. A researcher-practitioner in complexities of ideas, institutions, and cultures, he regularly moderates public programs on social issues. Dr. Daum is a Collaborator-Facilitator in www.diversitycircles.ca, an applied research project funded by BCIT’s first-ever SSHRC award, which supports BCIT’s faculty and staff in effectively engaging with increasingly diverse students through an Indigenous framework, beginning with the School of Public Health and the School of Business. He is Chair of The Laurier Institution and a founding Director of Reconciliation Canada. Dr. Daum is a member of the UBC Strategic Plan Steering Committee and the editorial board of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation’s refereed journal, Directions. He co-convened the Intercultural and Civic Engagement Strategy Group for the Vancouver Immigration Partnership. A Collaborator on two UBC-led, SSHRC-funded humanities research projects, Dr. Daum co-leads an international, interdisciplinary research consortium. His work has appeared in leading academic journals, and he has presented his research at international conferences in Canada, China, France, Spain, Sweden and the United States.

Fall 2017.
SFU Semester at CityStudio

Fall 2017

SFU Semester at CityStudio

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

Instructors: Janet Moore, Lisa Novak, Adrian Sinclair

Lisa Novak is an multidisciplinary designer and educator based in Vancouver, Canada. She currently holds a Bachelor of Arts from Leeds Metropolitan University, England, and a Master of Design from Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

Novak's practice and research heavily focuses on pedagogy, youth engagement, social practice, creative dissent and artistic activism. Formerly of design studio LCND in London, England, she currently teaches at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, Vancouver, where she hosted the Winter School of Disobedience alongside political philosopher Cissie Fu in February 2017.

She is the founder of the School of Collaboration and Invention—a youth-led program focusing on artistic activism, design and social impact—and the Library of Resistance—a multifaceted research project investigating the roles and responsibilities of art and design in social and political movements.

She has previously received the BC Youth Engagement Grant for her project Exchange, which she facilitated and developed in collaboration with the Contemporary Art Gallery Vancouver in July 2015.

Adrian Sinclair is the Co-Founder of the event-design company: Transformation Projects. His specialty: finding ways to get audacious ideas off the ground that encourage folks to connect in public spaces. Adrian is a co-founder of the Vancouver Mural Festival, the BC Mobile Sauna Society, and the Freestyle Focus Group. During his tenure at Transformation Projects, he has had the chance to co-develop what he calls a “stakeholder-first approach” in order to design events with clients like the Museum of Vancouver, Simon Fraser University, the Dragon Boat Festival, Hootsuite Media, BC Civil Liberties Union, The City of Vancouver and Bass Coast Festival. He teaches Gong Fu Cha (Chinese Tea Ceremony) classes at Sun Yat Sen Chinese Traditional Garden, and has led a weekly Freestyle Rap Drop-in for 7 years. Adrian completed his MA in Philosophy at The University of Western.

Summer 2017.
SFU Semester Outside in the City III

Summer 2017

SFU Semester Outside in the City III

Full-time, 10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W)

For the past two summers, students from across universities and disciplines came together to re-vision the potential for outdoor learning within Vancouver. This was part of the Outdoor Learning Project by CityStudio which saw students from SFU Semester in Dialogue and BCIT create innovative temporary installations and educational projects within Everett Crowley Park. These two terms enabled students to deepen their connection with the natural world and be proactive as ecologically caring citizens of the city. We look forward to continuing this work as we begin Semester Outside in the City III this summer.

The City of Vancouver Parks Board Environmental Education & Stewardship Action Plan (EESAP-2014) "Rewilding Vancouver" identifies the creation of special wild places in the city as its first priority area. This semester will take place in this urban wild, building directly on the work done in the last two summer terms. Likely conversations needing further exploration include: indigeneity and colonization, public conception of the purpose of parks, re-wilding, nature-as-teacher, urban ecology, wildness, ecological vs. outdoor learning, and many more.

We will focus on the continued exploration of urban parks as outdoor learning sites within the city. We will deeply consider the history, ecology and communities of the sites that we engage with as a starting point for design. We will also consider the terms public space, wild space and what re-wilding in urban parks mightlook like. By listening and learning from the multitude of voices that inhabit urban wildernesses we hope to better understand the complex systems, deep connections and our relation to them. Students will work on both individual and group projects. Don’t miss out on the indoor and outdoor adventures during this innovative and experiential Semester Outside in the City!

For more details on Semester Outside I and II watch these videos and take a look at the reports HERE.

Course runs Monday through Friday 9:30-3:30
Instructors: Dr. Laura Piersol, Mark Winston and Janet Moore

Spring 2017.
Decolonizing Dialogues, Solidarities, and Activism

Spring 2017

Decolonizing Dialogues, Solidarities, and Activism

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

Governments, organizations and individuals in Canada are mobilizing around the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action to change Canada’s relationship with Indigenous peoples. But what does “reconciliation” actually entail? And what does it mean to live on Indigenous lands?

We welcome students from different backgrounds and with different levels of experience to engage in deep discussions about the present moment in Indigenous-non-Indigenous relations. Through a series of dialogues with Indigenous peoples as well as activists, allies, academics, and others who are supporting Indigenous resurgence, course participants will consider what decolonization means at individual and collective levels.

The course will use pedagogies that invite holistic understandings and embrace complexities. Experiential learning, visits with Indigenous communities, thought leaders, dialogue invitees, and reading reflections as well as individual and group projects will help course participants to identify how the personal and the political, the local and the global intersect their own identities and their relationships with Indigenous peoples.

We will also consider questions of alliances and solidarities, as well as the opportunities and tensions in relation to action. Values of responsibility, respect and reciprocity will guide our exploration of how we might construct ethical activist practice based on decolonizing and transformative learning.

About the course facilitators:

Lynne Davis lived in Vancouver in the early 1980s and is an Associate Professor at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario in the Indigenous Studies Department. She is on sabbatical in 2017 and was invited to co-teach this course. Lynne’s most recent teaching is on Indigenous and International Community Development; Indigenous-Non-Indigenous Alliances for Social and Environmental Justice; and Transforming Settler Consciousness.

Sean Blenkinsop is a regular course leader in the Semester in Dialogue program. He is an environmental educator and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at SFU, with special assignment to the Semester in Dialogue Program.

Michelle Lorna Nahanee is a member of the Squamish Nation who works within the intersection of class, race, culture and creativity. As a communications designer, Michelle has created social justice campaigns for First Nations organizations across Canada, and within her home community. From health promotion to gender equity, Michelle’s collaborations have influenced opinions, changed behaviours and mobilized community action. She is happy to have recently joined the Board of Kwi Awt Stelmexw, a non-profit organization formed by Squamish Peoples to strengthen all aspects of Squamish heritage, language, culture, and art. Michelle is currently completing her MA in Communications at SFU with a thesis on disseminating decolonizing practices. She is grateful for her teachings.

Dorothy Christian, PhD (Secwepemc-Syilx), is a member of the Splatsin, one of 17 communities of the Secwepemc Nation. She is the eldest of 10 and has one daughter and over 60 nieces, nephews and great nieces and nephews. Dorothy’s doctoral research “Gathering Knowledge: Indigenous Methodologies of Land/Place-Based Visual Storytelling & Visual Sovereignty” looked closely at the connections between land, story and cultural protocols. The impetus for this research came from her production experience in the film and television industry where she delivered many Indigenous stories from Turtle Island (North America) to the Canadian screen culture. Ms. Christian accumulated over 100 professional production credits for writing, directing and segment producing her visual stories for a national broadcaster.

Recently Dorothy co-edited the book downstream: Reimagining Water (2017) with Dr. Rita Wong (Emily Carr), published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Other publications include: a book chapter, “Untapping Watershed Mind” co-authored with Rita Wong in Thinking With Water (2013), C. Chen, J. MacLeod, A. Neimanis (Eds.), published by McGill-Queens University Press; a book chapter in Volume 3 of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation books, “Reconciling With The People and The Land” in Cultivating Canada: Reconciliation Through the Lens of Cultural Diversity (2011); chapter co-authored with Victoria Freeman (York University), “The History of a Friendship or Some Thoughts on Becoming Allies” in L. Davis (ed.). Alliances: Re/Envisioning Indigenous-non-Indigenous Relationships (2010), published by University of Toronto Press.

Fall 2016.
Semester at City Studio

Semester at CityStudio

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

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By focusing on current issues that matter in Vancouver, students have an opportunity to develop innovative solutions that assist The City of Vancouver in reaching its goals. Students cultivate the skills necessary to conduct student led dialogues, public presentations, and to engage in multi-stakeholder processes with policy makers and City of Vancouver staff. The course offers field experiences, on-the-ground training, leadership development, group process, and urban sustainability project management skills.

* Students register through SFU. Course open to students from all participating universities—must apply by March 31, 2016

instructors

Janet Moore is the Co-Director and Co-Founder of CityStudio and Director and Associate Professor of Semester in Dialogue.

Duane Elverum is the Co-Director and Co-Founder of CityStudio.

Adrian Sinclair is the Director of Engagement and Co-Founder of Transformation Projects. His specialty: finding ways to get audacious ideas off the ground that encourage folks to connect in public spaces. Adrian is the Vice-President of the BC Mobile Sauna Society, and Co-Founder of the Freestyle Focus Group. Adrian can usually be found at the centre of thoughtful, engaging and dynamic events in BC. During his tenure at Transformation Projects, he has had the chance to co-develop what he calls a “stakeholder-fist approach” to event design with clients like the Museum of Vancouver, Simon Fraser University, Rio-Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival, Hootsuite Media, BC Civil Liberties, City of Vancouver and Bass Coast Festival. He teaches Gong Fu Cha (Chinese Tea Ceremony) classes at Sun Yat Sen Chinese Traditional Garden, and has led a weekly Freestyle Rap Drop-in for over 5 years. He is currently helping launch Vancouver’s first Mural Festival in partnership with the COV, MPBIA and Create Vancouver. Adrian completed his MA in Philosophy at The University of Western.

Summer 2016.
Semester Outside in the City II

Semester Outside in the City II

Full-time, 10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W)

Last summer, students from across universities and disciplines came together to re-vision the potential for outdoor learning within Vancouver. This year, Semester Outside in the City II continues as part of the CityStudio Outdoor Classroom Project. The recently released City of Vancouver Parks Board Environmental Education & Stewardship Action Plan (EESAP) Rewilding Vancouver identifies the creation of special wild places in the city as its first priority area. One of the Quick Start Actions is to determine the feasibility of an outdoor school in Vancouver. Increasing access to nature, increasing city-wide food assets and reducing the city’s ecological footprint are key priority actions for the City of Vancouver.

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This semester will build directly on the work done in the first iteration, engaging university students in the co-creative design of innovative outdoor learning opportunities in Vancouver parks and community centres to facilitate community learning and action towards these goals. Students from last year’s cohort along with BCIT’s design students who created several proposals for Everett Crowley Park will be invited to spend time sharing and exploring with this year’s cohort in order to continue building on what has already been learned. Likely conversations needing further exploration include: re-wilding, urban ecology, wildness, ecological vs. outdoor learning, and many more.

With all the above in mind, we will focus on the continued exploration of an outdoor learning site in Everett Crowley Park.

Key Questions for the Site:

What has happened here?
What is happening here now?
What should be happening here?

We will deeply engage in the site and learn about the history, context, place, ecology and communities that engage with it. We will also consider the terms public space, wild space and what re-wilding might look like. Be prepared to explore and learn from Everett Crowley Park in myriad ways, forms, and times as we come to better understand its complex systems, deep connections and wild places. We are planning many adventures and opportunities along with this hoping to include the multitude of voices that inhabit urban wildernesses during this innovative and experiential Semester Outside in the City II.

Course runs Monday thru Friday, 10:00-4:00, May 9–June 24

Instructors

Sean Blenkinsop is an Associate Professor in the SFU Faculty of Education with a secondment for five years to the Semester in Dialogue.

Laura Piersol is a SFU course instructor, educational researcher, and wonderer/wanderer within the Fraser River and Chapman Creek Watersheds. She has worked as an ecological educator for 20 years throughout Canada and the U.S. She helped to start two public elementary schools, the Maple Ridge Environmental School and NEST (Nature Education for Sustainable Todays and Tomorrows), where she continues to work as an educational researcher.

Marcus Morse is a Senior Lecturer in Outdoor and Environmental Education at La Trobe University, Australia. He has extensive experience guiding and teaching outdoor and experiential education in Australia and overseas, and is undertaking a study program in Canada during 2016 focussed on outdoor learning. Marcus’ research interests are in the areas of environmental education, meaning making and peoples experience within nature.

Spring 2016.
Semester in Experimental Futures

Spring 2016. Semester in Experimental Futures

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

“Experimental Futures” will explore the intersections of the environment (nature), politics (culture) and the role of the arts and dialogue to rethink and imagine new environmental and political associations and attitudes. Climate change and environmental degradation are rapidly increasing around the world, disproportionately impacting the globe’s most vulnerable. The intersection of culture, language, and ways of being are pushing us all to rethink how we consider, live among, and interact with each other.

We are bombarded with information in this digital age while struggling to find the meaning within it. Profound cultural changes are afoot and clearly needed in this newly named epoch the Anthropocene, compelling us to seek out new and substantially different solutions, shifting how we collectively engage one another. We will use the arts and dialogue as guides to explore building new relationships between people, places, and institutions while enunciating with clarity and impact the communities we seek for the future.

Focal questions may include:

How can we imagine new disruptive interventions, new models of engagement, collaboration, and governance, even new economic systems?

How can these new ideas be brought to the forefront as we try to bridge that gap between the old way of being in the world with novel ideals and policies for the future?

How do we articulate new progress while honouring powerful and important histories?

What role do the arts and dialogue play in locating and responding to these challenges?

What might relationships between the technological, ecological, and political become in light of these changes and possibilities?

We will explore these questions at various personal, local, regional, and global levels of scale, but focus our work at the local level to facilitate seeking vital responses to the challenges of political, ecological, and cultural issues faced in our immediate communities.

Possible questions might include:

What are the implications of the Anthropocene on the future of the greenest city?

How are the arts understood in the Lower Mainland and what role are they currently playing as disruptive and imaginative forces?

How does this kind of cultural work gain traction in our communities? What is the future of public spaces in the politics of the local?

What role do public movements and changing definitions of the social play in responding to the growing environmental crisis?

Where and how can emergent voices intervene, participate and shape these conversations?

This course will explore these and related themes through dialogues with thought leaders from across the spectrum of the arts, politics, environment and social change. You’ll be exposed to cinema, fiction, art projects and interventions, theoretical writings, case studies and on-the-ground projects with guest thought leaders, attend public events and organize participatory public programming to develop richer, more nuanced understandings of the challenges and possibilities of the future. You will be challenged to develop practices, ways of being, and the skills needed to play active roles as citizens, innovators (experimental imaginers), and collaborators in this new and changing world. This is about the creative imaginings at the intersection between nature and culture.

Course runs Monday thru Friday, 10:00-4:00, January 5 - April 11
15 credits (Dial 390W, 391W, 392W)

Instructors

Sean Blenkinsop is an Associate Professor in the SFU Faculty of Education with a secondment for five years to the Semester in Dialogue.

Am Johal is the Director of SFU's Vancouver Office of Community Engagement in the SFU Woodward's Cultural Unit.

Melora Koepke is a Vancouver-based journalist, urban geographer-in-training and teacher. Her research work focuses on the processes and practices of food and food security, on scales ranging from local to global, and explores how food is and can become a medium for change in the world and a link between human and natural ecologies.

Leah Wiener is a history PhD candidate at SFU. Her research examines the development of health policies pertaining to Ontario's Aboriginal children in the first half of the twentieth century. She also has keen interests in the pasts, presents, and futures of gender, childhood, health, and colonialism more broadly.

Fall 2015.
Semester at CityStudio

Fall 2015. Semester at CityStudio

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

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* Course runs Monday thru Friday, 9:30-3:30, September 2 – December 1.
* 15 credits (DIAL 390, 391, 392).
* Students register through SFU. Course open to students from all participating universities.

For application information, visit our web site www.sfu.ca/SemesterInDialogue or email semester@sfu.ca. More information about CityStudio can be found at www.citystudiovancouver.com.

instructors

Janet Moore is the Co-Director and Co-Founder of CityStudio and Director and Associate Professor of Semester in Dialogue.

Duane Elverum is the Co-Director and Co-Founder of CityStudio.

Summer 2015.
Semester Outside in the City

Summer 2015. Semester Outside in the City

Full-time, 10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W) May 11 - June 25

A Partnership of CityStudio and SFU Semester in Dialogue

Join SFU Semester in Dialogue in partnership with CityStudio and Vancouver Park Board as we engage in a 7 week learning journey outside in the City of Vancouver.

The recently released City of Vancouver Parks Board Environmental Education & Stewardship Action Plan (EESAP) Rewilding Vancouver identifies the creation of special wild places in the city as its first priority area. One of the Quick Start Actions is to determine the feasibility of an outdoor school in Vancouver. Increasing access to nature, increasing city-wide food assets and reducing the city’s ecological footprint are key priority actions for the City of Vancouver. Semester Outside in the City will be part of the CityStudio Outdoor Classroom Project that directly contributes to meeting these targets by engaging university students in the co-creative design of innovative outdoor classroom infrastructure in Vancouver parks and community centres to facilitate community learning and action towards these goals.

We will focus on the exploration of an outdoor learning site in a Vancouver park. Exact location TBD.
Key Questions for the Site

●      What has happened here?
●      What is happening here now?
●      What should be happening here?

We will deeply engage in the site and learn about the history, context, place, ecology and communities that engage with it. The intention is to work with community towards a temporary intervention that encourages learning about the place.

We will explore concepts of outdoor learning, urban ecology, urban wilderness, aesthetics, ecosystem restoration and living in place. We will also consider the terms public space, wild space and what access to nature could look like #100yearsfromnow.

Be prepared to explore Vancouver by foot, bike and bus to investigate complex systems, deep connections and wild places. Cycling will be a big part of how we move through the city. We will be traveling between CityStudio (in False Creek) and our Park site (TBD). If you don’t have a bike, we can help you find one.

We are planning indoor and outdoor adventures and overnight opportunities in urban wilderness during this innovative and experiential Semester Outside in the City. Expect to spend approx. 3 days per week outside – be prepared to embrace the elements and dress for the weather.

INSTRUCTORS
Lena Soots and Laura Piersol - with support and guidance from Janet Moore, Duane Elverum, Lindsay Cole and Sean Blenkinsop.

Spring 2015.
Semester in Energy Futures

Spring 2015. Semester in Energy Futures

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

The history of energy in the Western world is tightly coupled to the history of industrial development, of cultural expansion, of changing lifestyles, and, now unavoidably, of environmental degradation, unsustainable behavior and climate change. How we, as citizens of the twenty-first century, supply, transmit, use, conserve, and price the energy of the future will have significant implications for the well-being of ourselves and the planet now and into the future.

In BC questions of energy are everywhere. Liquid natural gas is touted as an economic windfall yet panned as a possible environmental nightmare if developed using conventional or untested methods. Hydro electricity in the form of run-of-river and the Peace River’s site C appear to offer cleaner options and yet raise issues, and political maneuverings related to First Nation’s rights, wild fish spawning sites and eco-system based management principles. At the same time there are large forces being marshaled for and against oil sands bitumen being pumped and shipped through the traditional territories of First Nations, with fears that watersheds and forests will be fragmented or contaminated. A short term bonanza of high-paying skilled jobs in the energy sector are seen as conflicting with other lives and livelihoods that depend upon water quality, natural resources, vital ecosystems, and sustainability.

At the municipal level energy questions are appearing in Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan, throughout urban planning, across real estate development and building design, and directly into local communities. And myriad people across disciplines are deeply engaged in thinking through, planning for and ultimately implementing innovative local community energy solutions that have potential larger scale implications. In this course, designed in conjunction with some of BCs leading sustainable energy thinkers identified in consultation with BCs Ministry of the Environment’s Climate Action Secretariat, we will meet, dialogue with, and work alongside some of the key thinkers and doers in Vancouver and BC related to energy, sustainability, climate action and the future of urban life. We plan to examine the question of energy from all possible angles, with a particular focus on community energy and its implications and possibilities for Vancouver and beyond.

FACULTY

Sean Blenkinsop is an Associate Professor in the SFU Faculty of Education with a secondment for five years to the Semester in Dialogue.

Tom Green is an ecological economist who has worked on environment and resource issues in BC since 1998 and has recently returned after a year at the Stockholm Resilience Centre. More info about Tom can be found at: www.viableeconomics.com

Fall 2014.
Semester at CityStudio

Fall 2014. Semester at CityStudio

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

&amp;nbsp;

For application information, visit our web site www.sfu.ca/SemesterInDialogue or email semester@sfu.ca. More information about CityStudio can be found at www.citystudiovancouver.com.

instructors

Janet Moore is the Co-Director and Co-Founder of CityStudio and Director and Associate Professor of Semester in Dialogue.

Duane Elverum is the Co-Director and Co-Founder of CityStudio.

Summer 2014.
Governance for the Twenty-First Century: Retaining, Re-tooling, or Re-building?

Summer 2014. Governance for the Twenty-First Century: Retaining, Re-tooling, or Re-building?

10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W). Monday, May 5 - Friday, June 20, 2014, 10am-4pm.

As citizens of the twenty-first century our lives are in an ever-accelerating state of change. Technological advances, the speed at which we do business, the global nature of commerce and culture, and even the growing instability of the earth’s environment all point towards continuous change and the need for rapid responses. And yet, in the center of this maelstrom of change and re-examination, sits a surprisingly immovable, presence: our systems of governance.

Municipal, provincial, and federal elected bodies would be easily recognizable to any 150 year-old historical visitor in form, function, process, and guiding principles. Large unelected bureaucracies still operate on antiquated foundations in a kind of stasis, struggling to respond to the change revolving all around. Yet, there is a new generation of young voters that has grown up submerged in the information age and is unlikely to accept a democracy where their only interaction is to vote once every few years. This generation has answers at their finger-tips, can organize a flash-mob in a matter of hours, and for whom the deep ruts of any political party affiliation belie their own complex fluidities of identity and interest.

This course is interested in the possibilities our current historical situation offers to these deeper questions of governance, citizenship, privacy, human rights, democracy, and freedom. The plan is to deconstruct the current systems into manageable constituent parts and carefully examine each of these for ongoing utility through a variety of lenses. Potential questions might include: What are the component parts of our current systems of governance? What is the range of possible replacements? What are the options for governance that might previously not have been considered as a result of our ability to encounter each other across the globe instantaneously? What are the hopes, fears, dangers, and possibilities for new forms of governance or parallel alternate structures as individuals, communities, cities, and nations move forward?

What happens to our lived experience of governance, often first encountered in the family, when most families are blended, where father no longer “knows best”, and external adjudicators are often not available to solve any of our problems? What is the role of the citizen in light of technologies that are capable of mining our every personal data, or releasing mountains of information (e.g. wikileaks and Anonymous) that were previously hidden, or rapidly bringing together groups and public opinions in direct response (e.g. Occupy, the Arab Spring, or the BC marijuana action)?

How do governments, judicial systems and the bureaucracies that support them need to change in the face of this new world order and the growing sense that we have indeed entered a new epoch, the Anthropocene? How do we imagine a new politics and the architecture of new models of governance to replace the “democracy on one day every four years” system? Can the horse and buggy structures of Congressional and Parliamentary politics that have caused gridlock in Washington and a total shift of power from the Commons to the prime minister’s office in Ottawa evolve into something more accountable, accessible and responsive? How might the next generation use the tools of the new media to build alternative networks of communication and popular governance in the shadow of the old order? Are our technological advances outstripping our systems of governance?

FACULTY

Sean Blenkinsop is an Associate Professor in the SFU Faculty of Education with a secondment for five years to the Semester in Dialogue.

Tony Penikett is a Vancouver-based mediator and the author of "Reconciliation: First Nations Treaty Making in British Columbia," published by Douglas & McIntyre in 2006.

Outline

Governance for the Twenty-First Century Outline

Spring 2014.
Semester at CityStudio

Spring 2014. Semester at CityStudio

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

Application Deadline: Monday, October 7, 2013

&nbsp;

* Course runs Monday thru Friday, 9:30-3:30, January 6 – April 9.
* 15 credits (DIAL 390, 391, 392).
* Students register through SFU. Course open to students from all participating universities.

For application information, visit our web site www.sfu.ca/SemesterInDialogue or email semester@sfu.ca. More information about CityStudio can be found at www.citystudiovancouver.com.

FACULTY

Janet Moore is the Co Director and Co-Founder of CityStudio and an Assistant Professor at the SFU Centre for Dialogue.

Duane Elverum is the Co Director and Co-Founder of CityStudio.

Outline

Semester at CityStudio Outline

Fall 2013.
Conflict and Governance

Fall 2013. Conflict and Governance

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

Conflict and contradiction are unavoidable aspects of contemporary life. We encounter conflict everywhere: in ourselves, in small groups, and in every organization in which we are involved, be they an enterprise, club, political party, team, seminar group, business or social movement. We hold beliefs that are inconsistent, we face political or institutional contradictions we cannot resolve but must work with. In something as everyday as sports, we embrace confrontation as part of our lives. How do we arrange or manage this tension and find ways to create conditions within which we can engage conflict positively? How do we create collectives that welcome and thrive on difference?

The governance of modern life, at all scales, is more than anything else the process of managing these conflicts. Conflict management has many objectives: sometimes we try to minimize or resolve it, sometimes we try to put it to good purposes, occasionally we just try to ignore it, but much of the time we try to figure out ways to work with it. From judges to referees to leaders of large institutions; from activists to soldiers to union members: governing ourselves effectively and legitimately requires an understanding of conflict and conflict management. All of these people work in and with less-than-perfectly-harmonious realities. How do they do so? What works and what doesn't? What do they prioritize? How do they make decisions? What institutional structures and methods do they rely on? How do they move past 'mistakes' or obstacles?

Faculty

Sean Blenkinsop is an Associate Professor in the SFU Faculty of Education with a secondment for five years to the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue.

Geoff Mann teaches and is the graduate chair in the Geography department at Simon Fraser University, and directs SFU's Centre for Global Political Economy.

Outline

Conflict and Governance Outline

Summer 2013.
Leading Social Change in BC - Innovation and Transformational Leadership

Summer 2013. Leading Social Change in BC - Innovation and Transformational Leadership

10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W)

This course will explore the concepts of leadership, dialogue, action and social change through the lens of British Columbia. We will embark on a 7 week journey of dialogue and inquiry into the past, present and future of social change leadership in British Columbia.

Thought leaders for the course will include individuals and organizations from across the region that are changemakers, innovators and leaders of social change. We will also engage with guests who inspire innovation through a range of creative processes.

What is social change? How does it happen? Where does social change begin – at the level of the individual or the community or both? What can we learn from the leadership of decision makers in British Columbia? What leaders and decisions have shaped the province as we know it today? What does the future of BC look like?

Faculty

Janet Moore is an Assistant Professor at Simon Fraser University's Centre for Dialogue. She has imagined, designed and facilitated courses that focus on community engagement, resilience, lifestyle activism, food systems, group process and urban sustainability at UBC, SFU and the Great Northern Way Campus (a collaboration of UBC, SFU, BCIT and Emily Carr). Janet is currently the University Teaching Fellow for the SFU Faculty of Environment and a research associate with the SFU Centre for Sustainable Community Development. She keeps busy raising two kids and dreaming of life as a social entrepreneur/urban farmer.

Kevin Millsip is currently the Sustainability Coordinator with the Vancouver School Board and the Director of Next Up, a leadership program for young people committed to social and environmental justice.

Spring 2013.
Semester in the City II

Spring 2013. Semester in the City II

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

This course runs Monday thru Friday 9:30-3:30. The course is intensive and experiential and students should not be taking any other courses during this term. This is a full course load.

This 15 credit (SFU - DIAL 390, 391, 392) full time course will be held at Vancouver's CityStudio and is be open to students from six Vancouver post-secondary institutions (SFU, UBC, BCIT, Langara, Emily Carr, VCC).

Students will work full-time as a cohort with the City of Vancouver to implement Greenest City 2020 urban sustainability strategies and focus projects towards meeting the these goals.

Students will be selected from interdisciplinary areas represented by all post secondary institutions; geography, health science, engineering, planning, social sciences, arts,
business, food systems and design.

The Spring 2013 CityStudio cohort will focus on urban interventions at the neighbourhood
scale of implementing demonstration projects related to Greenest City Goals. Specific community plans as well as the document Vancouver 2020: A Bright Green Future will inform and provide context for our work.

The cohort will meet in the studio (located under Cambie Bridge near
Olympic Village) 5 days/week, Monday - Friday from 9:30am - 3:30pm.

What is CityStudio? As an initiative within Vancouver's Campus City Collaborative (C3), CityStudio Vancouver, CityStudio is an energetic hub of learning and leadership where post-secondary students work with City staff, community and business experts to research, design and implement projects that work towards the achievement of Vancouver's Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. In addition to this core studio course, 12 partner courses from the 6 campuses will simultaneously engage the theme, share research and work, and participate in events. http://www.citystudiovancouver.com

Students will be informed of the status of their application by mid November 2012. After students are accepted to the program we will assist students in applications to become an SFU student for the term. Students will gain SFU credits and SFU fees will apply.

If you have further questions, please contact the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at ugsid@sfu.ca, and CityStudio at citystudiocoordinator@gmail.com

Faculty

Sean Blenkinsop is an Associate Professor in the SFU Faculty of Education with a secondment for five years to the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue.

Duane Elverum is an Emily Carr faculty member where he teaches in Design, Foundation, and Critical Studies as well as develops coursework in sustainable systems. He sits on the President's Sustainability Task Force at the university. He is personally responsible for emitting 5.4 tonnes of CO2 per year into the atmosphere. He has crossed the Pacific Ocean in a sailboat five times.

Fall 2012.
Health: Issues and Ethics

Fall 2012. Health: Issues and Ethics

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

Canadians identify health care as a core value, but the practical realities of delivering care are overwhelming our compassion. This course will consider the nature of health and explore the complexities of a health care system that corresponds with our values and ethics while being effective and financially stable. Three related themes will serve as a substrate for the semester: the nature of health, delivery of health care, and populations at risk. Issues such as how health and illness are defined, the roles of preventative and curative approaches, and the impacts and ethics of new technologies will be addressed. We will compare public and private models, focus on community health care as a developing new paradigm, and examine the particular challenges of marginalized and vulnerable communities.

Faculty

Mark L. Winston is the Academic Director of the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Michelle Patterson is an Adjunct Professor and Scientist of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University.

Kevin Chan is Director of Policy, Parliamentary Affairs and Research in the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, an independent Agent of Parliament protecting the privacy rights of Canadians.

Summer 2012.
Sustainable Food Systems

Summer 2012. Being about Action: Sustainable Food Systems
A Summer Institute in Dialogue

10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W)

This Summer Institute in Dialogue will explore the concepts of leadership, action and sustainable development within an urban context. Students will engage in a collaborative project with a local partner organization to create a more sustainable region, with the theme of "sustainable food systems" as a starting point. What is food? What is hunger? What is nourishment? How do we create more sustainable food systems? What is the role of urban agriculture? How is food connected to unsustainable consumption patterns?

The class will survey a range of local projects, working towards creating sustainable food systems as well as attending local events connected to sustainability and food. Projects will focus on crafting proposals for action with community groups, reflective writing, and collaborative group work. This is an intensive and experiential course running five days per week 9:30-3:30.

Instructors: Janet Moore, Yona Sipos, Herb Barbolet and special guest expert Hannah Wittman.

Faculty

Spring 2012.
Semester in the City

Spring 2012. Semester in the City

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

This spring term will be held at CityStudio and will be open to students from six institutions (SFU, UBC, BCIT, Langara, Emily Carr, VCC). Students will work full-time as a cohort with the City to implement Greenest City 2020 urban sustainability strategies and focus projects towards meeting the project goals. The best and brightest students will be selected from interdisciplinary areas represented by all post secondary institutions; geography, health science, engineering, planning, social sciences, arts, business, food systems and design.

The cohort will meet in the studio 5 days/week, Monday - Friday from 9:30am - 3:30pm.

Please feel free to check the City Studio website.

Faculty

Fall 2011.
Religion, Spirituality, Contemplative Inquiry and Social Action

Fall 2011. Religion, Spirituality, Contemplative Inquiry and Social Action

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W)

The semester will probe how spiritual, religious and contemplative practices can inform the way we address social and civic issues, particularly poverty, health, peace and the environment.

Organized religions including indigenous traditions, as well as less formal spiritual thought and practices, can provide deep wisdom to address social and environmental concerns. We have much to learn from religious leaders, indigenous elders, artists, activists, civic officials, youth leaders, and others of faith and good will who want to make a positive difference. However, organized religions also have been at the heart of problematic outcomes and we are aware of historical and contemporary instances where organized religions may have contributed to injustice.

Our approach will be to explore creative visions and constructive solutions arising where ideas, institutions, and practices -- religious, indigenous, spiritual and contemplative -- intersect with social activism. We will explore the essential human capacity to reach beyond and connect to practices for well-being within and without: the original impulse behind religiosity.

Faculty

Mark L. Winston is the Academic Director of the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Rabbi Robert Daum is an Associate Professor of Rabbinic Literature and Jewish Thought and the first Director of the Iona Pacific Inter-Religious Centre at the Vancouver School of Theology.

Heesoon Bai is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University.

Summer 2011.
Wilding Vancouver

Summer 2011. Wilding Vancouver
A Summer Institute in Dialogue

May 9 - June 24. 10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W).

The City of Vancouver is frequently voted the most livable city in the world. The city is uniquely bounded by the Georgia Strait, the Fraser River and the Coastal mountains. In 2010, Mayor Gregor Robertson declared that Vancouver would attempt to be the world's Greenest City by 2020. How are efforts to green the city related to wilding the city? What does wilderness have to do with Vancouver? And, how might we think through the process of educating towards a greener and wilder Vancouver?

We will explore concepts of urban ecology, urban wilderness, living buildings, local food systems, ecosystem restoration and living in place. We will also consider public space, wild space and what it would mean for the future of Vancouver to be wild.

Be prepared to explore Vancouver by foot, bike and bus to investigate systems, connections and places as well as explore the boundaries of urban spaces. We are planning indoor and outdoor adventures and overnight opportunities in nearby wilderness during this innovative and experiential Summer Semester in Dialogue.

Faculty

Sean Blenkinsop is an Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the SFU Imaginative Education Research Group. Sean grew up in Northern Ontario and has a long of history as an outdoor, environmental and experiential educator. Doctoral work completed at Harvard University was philosophical in nature with an interest in choice, dialogue, community and freedom. He is active in research relating to culturally inclusive imaginative education that focuses on Aboriginal youth. Current research interests are might be situated in the area of eco-philosophy focusing on epistemological and ontological questions related to ecological worldviews, semiotics, education for community flourishing, indigeneity and wilderness as teacher.

Spring 2011.
Vancouver - A Local Exchange

Spring 2011. Vancouver - A Local Exchange

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W).

A recent trend towards globalization encourages university students to 'go abroad' for a semester, immerse themselves in new cultures and experiences. Yet another trend suggests that we need to 'localize' - learn more about place and the land we live on. This semester will help students to begin to imagine what is possible in the place where we are – Vancouver, British Columbia.

This semester is about the stories we tell in the City of Vancouver and the Vancouver Region. We invite 20 students to the SFU Vancouver Campus on a 'local exchange'. We will encourage the students to slow down, experience the neighbourhoods by walking streets and alleys in Vancouver, participating in local activities and imagining what is possible. We will involve ourselves in a range of experiences in the local community in order to consider diverse perspectives about the future story of Vancouver.

How does Vancouver tell the story of place? Who can live in this city? Who has lived here in the past? How does/can the past of Vancouver shape, influence and inform where we go?

What kind of city is this becoming and for whom? Who will shape the future of this city? How will that happen?

A fully immersive program in to what it means to live, move around and breathe in Vancouver. We will explore stories of the history, the ecology, the place and the people.

Come experience dialogue, community, engagement and learning – join us on a Local Exchange in Vancouver for a semester.

Faculty

Fall 2010.
Energy

Fall 2010. Energy

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W).

Our future and that of our planet is affected by two overwhelming trends: we are running out of oil, and climate is changing due to excessive carbon emissions. Economies, life styles, and the survival and diversity of other organisms depend on how we adapt to new energy constraints. The choice is not whether to change, but rather how to develop soundenergy policies and personal living practices that allow a gentler transition into the new energy economy. This semester is about hope, and solutions, focused on thoughtful, confident planning and rigorous analysis to enable effective adaptation to these challenges. Topics will include:

Peak Oil: Will we run out, and are there viable carbon-based alternatives to oil?

Alternative Energy: How can business, science, and\ social policy synergize a new energy economy, and who will be the key players?

Transportation: How might transportation be redesigned locally and over long distances to adapt to changing energy prices and sources?

Climate Change: How can we reduce carbon emissions, maintain robust economies, and adapt to current and future levels of global warming?

Life Cycle/Lifetime Analyses: How do we analyze the status quo and alternatives to determine which are optimal economically, personally, and environmentally?

Faculty

Mark L. Winston is the Academic Director of the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Barbara Frisken is Professor and Chair at the Department of Physics at Simon Fraser University.

Ted Kirkpatrick is an Associate Professor at the School of Computing Science at Simon Fraser University.

Summer 2010.
Being about Action: Experiments in Creativity and Lifestyle Activism

Summer 2010. Being About Action: Experiments in Creativity and Lifestyle Activism
A Summer Institute in Dialogue

May 12 - June 25. 10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W).

We plan a 7-week journey of experiments led by students and focused on lifestyle activism and the creative process. Guests for course dialogues will include leaders from across the region who have embarked on lifestyle activism through actions including zero waste, 100 mile diet, reducing oil dependence, and many others. We also will engage with guests who inspire creativity through a range of creative processes. Where does social change begin – at the level of the individual or the community? What happens when students engage in creativity? How does creativity interweave with individual lifestyle choices? Is there a relationship?

We will research the process, documenting our explorations on video and through print media. We hope to make a difference and track that difference so that others can be inspired to join us in this experiment.

This is an intensive and experiential course running five days per week, 9:30am-3:30pm.

Faculty

Janet Moore is a faculty member at the Centre for Dialogue at SFU, collaborator with the SFU Centre for Sustainable Community Development and leader of a social network of sustainability educators (walkingthetalk.bc.ca).

Duane Elverum is an Emily Carr faculty member where he teaches in Design, Foundation, and Critical Studies as well as develops coursework in sustainable systems. He sits on the President’s Sustainability Task Force at the university. He is personally responsible for emitting 5.4 tonnes of CO2 per year into the atmosphere. He has crossed the Pacific Ocean in a sailboat five times.

Spring 2010.
Finding Space, Understanding Place: Redesigning Our Region for Resilience

Spring 2010. Finding Space, Understanding Place
Redesigning Our Region for Resilience

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W).

Course Description

We will use MetroVancouver as our laboratory to explore the multiple dimensions of land use as they relate to new urban development, rural land use and policy regarding the future of land in our region. This program brings together planners, writers, policy makers, and leading thinkers, as well as business and community leaders to examine how the decisions we are making today are significantly altering the region.

We will use a systems approach to pose some fundamental questions examining land use in the region:

Who decides which lands are used for which purposes?
How can citizens affect those decisions?
Where will we find space for another million people in the Lower Mainland?
How does land use have to change to adapt to global climate change?
What land uses should have top priority to create a resilient region?

Plan to be enchanted, mesmerized and intrigued while engaging deeply with leading experts in sustainable development, community planning, cultural change and social responsibility. The class will be charged with convening a large public event that will help MetroVancouverites re-engage in a dialogue about our region.

Faculty

Peter Ladner is a former politician and business owner who is currently a business columnist and sustainability consultant.

Fall 2009.
Art in Community: Creating Cultures of Ingenuity and Innovation

Fall 2009. Art in Community: Creating Cultures of Ingenuity and Innovation

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W).

Course Description

Art in Community: Creating Cultures of Ingenuity and Innovation will explore the intersection points between art and business, science, community, and social change.

Our focus will be on how innovation can be nurtured and harnessed through artistic expression to foster economic well-being, environmental protection, community sustainability, and civic dialogue. We will explore the role of imagination in scientific advances and the contribution of the arts to strategic planning in business, investigate how culture defines communities and creative spaces encourage culture, survey the landscape of art in social controversy, and examine the dynamic between creativity and identity in urban and aboriginal communities.

Focal topics will include:

What is ingenuity? How do we harness and develop it?

• The nature of creativity and imagination
• How dialogue establishes the relationships and substrate from which ingenuity emerges

How is innovation manifested within institutions?

• Business and the arts: strategic planning and leadership development through culture and dialogue-based practices
• Creative Institutions: How ingenuity can be encouraged within government, cultural organizations, corporations, research laboratories, and universities

Art in Community

• Role of the artist in stimulating dialogue
• Pushing the envelope: edgy art and censorship
• Space: How physical urban spaces contribute to social change
• Culture and identity: the Canadian aboriginal experience

Faculty

Mark L. Winston is the Academic Director of the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Andrea Rose is a professor of music and arts education at Memorial University of Newfoundland, and Artistic Director of the biennial Festival 500 International Choral Festival.

Judith Marcuse is the Founder and Co-Director of SFU's International Centre of Art for Social Change and the Founder and Artistic Producer of Judith Marcuse Projects.

Summer 2009.
Being About Action: Exploring Food, Community, and Urban Sustainability

Summer 2009. Being About Action: Exploring Food, Community, and Urban Sustainability
A Summer Institute in Dialogue

May 4 - June 18. 10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W).

Course Description

This Summer Institute in Dialogue will explore the concepts of leadership, action and sustainable development within an urban context. Students will engage in a collaborative project with a local partner organization to create a more sustainable region, with the theme of “food” as a starting point. What is food? What is hunger? What is nourishment? How do we create more sustainable food systems? What is the role of urban agriculture? How is food connected to unsustainable consumption patterns?

Faculty

Siobhan Ashe is visiting faculty in the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Herb Barbolet is one of the leading food activists in North America and was the founder and executive director of FarmFolk/CityFolk.

Spring 2009.
Designing the Future

Spring 2009. Designing the Future

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W).

Course Description

We will use Metro Vancouver to explore the multiple dimensions of sustainability as they relate to the city, region and the global context. Bringing together writers, policy makers, and leading thinkers, as well as designers, artists, business and community leaders, we will examine how the decisions we are making today are significantly altering the planet. We will use a systems approach to examine urban sustainability with the intention of posing some fundamental questions:

Do we really know what sustainability is?
What is sustainable urban development for the 21st Century?
What ideas shape the way we currently live? What ideas are the most important for living on the planet - in and out of cities?
How do we understand and balance competing forces in order to turn visions for the future into reality?
Does our conception of urban systems (water, energy, transportation etc) predispose us to unsustainability?
How do we move forward with hope and optimism?

Plan to be excited, confused, mesmerized, optimistic, and disenchanted while engaging deeply with leading experts in sustainability, green design, community planning, cultural change and corporate social responsibility. The class will be charged with convening a large public event that will help Metro Vancouverites re-engage in a dialogue about our collective future.

Assignments will include both reflective and public writing and small and large group projects.

Faculty

Duane Elverum is an Emily Carr faculty member where he teaches in Design, Foundation, and Critical Studies as well as develops coursework in sustainable systems. He sits on the President’s Sustainability Task Force at the university. He is personally responsible for emitting 5.4 tonnes of CO2 per year into the atmosphere. He has crossed the Pacific Ocean in a sailboat five times.

Fall 2008.
Health: Issues and Ethics

Fall 2008. Health: Issues and Ethics

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W).

Course Description

Canadians identify health care as a core value, but the practical realities of delivering care are overwhelming our compassion. This course will consider the nature of health itself, and will explore the complexities of a health care system that corresponds with our values and ethics while being effective and financially stable.

Three related themes will serve as a substrate for the semester: the nature of health, delivery of health care, and populations at risk. Issues such as how health and illness are defined, the roles of preventative and curative approaches, and the impacts and ethics of new technologies will be addressed. We will compare public and private models, focus on community health care as a developing new paradigm, and examine the particular challenges of marginalized and vulnerable communities.

Faculty

Mark L. Winston is the Academic Director of the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Siobhan Ashe is visiting faculty in the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Summer 2008.
Being About Action: Housing

Summer 2008. Being About Action: Housing
A Summer Institute in Dialogue

May 5 – June 20. 10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W).

Course Description

This semester will explore the concepts of leadership, action and community development within the context of sustainable housing in the Metro Vancouver region. Students will engage in collaborative projects with local organizations to explore, identify and publicly imagine a range of possibilities for designing sustainable housing. Projects will focus on crafting proposals for action with community groups, reflective writing, and collaborative group work.

Housing consists of more than physical structures and encompasses broader issues. Housing impacts and shapes our social networks, access to employment opportunities, participation in public social spaces, the nature and availability of social services as well as our sense of safety and security. We will explore the relationships between housing and sustainable community development, asking: What is housing? How is housing connected to well-being for individuals and communities? What is housing deprivation? How will we provide housing for a growing and aging population? What are the broad impacts of housing policy – past, present and future?

Faculty

Siobhan Ashe is visiting faculty in the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Educator and community activist Dr. Mike Carr is the author of Bioregionalism and Civil Society: Democratic Challenges to Corporate Globalism, UBC Press, 2004.

Spring 2008.
Being Canadian: Explorations in Citizenship and Identity

Spring 2008. Being Canadian: Explorations in Citizenship and Identity

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W).

Course Description

Being Canadian is more than holding a valid passport, sewing our country’s flag on a backpack, or believing in peacekeeping. But what does citizenship mean in a country like ours, with its immense cultural, social, geographic, and economic diversity? This course will actively explore the nature of identity and the tensions surrounding diverse loyalties that arise under the multicultural Canadian mosaic; constitutional and policy challenges posed in defining who is a legal citizen; responsibilities of citizenship and the nature of democratic engagement; and appropriate political, economic, and cultural roles for Canada internationally.

We will use film, music, and writing to probe how and why issues associated with citizenship policy, cultural identity, and democracy form, grow, change and disperse, and explore who we are as Canadians and what we might become as the collective Canada.

Faculty

Siobhan Ashe is visiting faculty in the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Mediator and negotiator Tony Penikett is the author of Reconciliation: First Nation treaty Making in British Columbia, Douglas & McIntyre, 2006.

Fall 2007.
Adaptations to Human Environmental Impact

Fall 2007. Adaptations to Human Environmental Impact

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W).

Course Description

This semester is about hope, focused on how we adapt to the profound impacts we are having on our planet. Environmental disruption threatens overwhelming consequences for our social and economic systems, but too often we are overwhelmed by the problems and lose sight of viable solutions. Canadians require thoughtful, confident planning and analysis to enable effective adaptation to these challenges. We will address three major and connected themes: Climate Change, Energy, and Biodiversity, probing local to global solutions involving policy, enterprise, innovation, and life styles. With innovative thinking, we can alter our impact to protect ourselves and the biological world around us.

Faculty

Mark L. Winston is the Academic Director of the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Andrew Nikiforuk is a well-known Canadian journalist who has written about education, economics, and the environment for the last two decades.

Summer 2007.
Being About Action: Exploring Food, Community, and Urban Sustainability

Summer 2007. Being About Action: Exploring Food, Community, and Urban Sustainability
A Summer Institute in Dialogue

May 7 – June 15. 10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W).

Course Description

This Summer Institute in Dialogue will explore the concepts of leadership, action and sustainable development within an urban context. Students will engage in a collaborative project with a local partner organization to create a more sustainable region, with the theme of “food” as a starting point. What is food? What is hunger? What is nourishment? How do we create more sustainable food systems? What is the role of urban agriculture? How is food connected to unsustainable consumption patterns?

Proposed Community Partners: Campus Food Miles Reduction Action Project by Local Solutions, in partnership with the Sustainable Campus Coalition, the Centre for Sustainable Community Development and Environmental Youth Alliance

Faculty

Janet Moore is an Assistant Professor in the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Rob Van Wynsberghe is a Professor at Royal Roads University in the School of Environment and Sustainability.

Spring 2007.
Going For Gold: Leveraging the Impacts of Olympic Fever

Spring 2007. Going For Gold: Leveraging the Impacts of Olympic Fever

15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W).

Course Description

In 1994, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) added environment to the set of sport and culture values that guide the activities of the Olympic Movement. It is here where the power and commitment of the IOC to deliver its event in a comprehensive fashion interfaces with the willingness and ability of the host destination to meet these requirements in a sustainable way. We will use Vancouver and Whistler, BC as laboratories to explore the many challenges and opportunities associated with guiding the 2010 Winter Olympic Games towards sustainable outcomes. We will facilitate an Olympic dialogue that not only includes important dimensions of environmental stewardship, but also incorporates critical aspects of corporate social responsibility, economic opportunity, community development, sport and health promotion. The overriding focus of discussion and inquiry will centre on "How can the 2010 Winter Olympic Games contribute to global and local sustainability initiatives in a pro-active and meaningful fashion?"

Faculty

Peter Williams is a Professor in the School of Resource and Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University.

Janet Moore is an Assistant Professor in the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Fall 2006.
First Nations, Inuit, and Metis: Traditional Beliefs and Contemporary Challenges

Fall 2006. First Nations, Inuit, and Metis: Traditional Beliefs and Contemporary Challenges

Course Description

The greatest divide in Canada may not be between French and English, but rather the gap in understanding between diverse aboriginal communities and those Canadians who immigrated and settled here in the last 500 years. We will focus on particular aspects of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis communities, including traditions, culture, history, spirituality, connection to the land, stories, language, and humour. We hope to illuminate the rich tapestry of past and current , and foster curiousity and perceptive appreciation of what it means to be from a First Nations, Inuit, and Metis culture. We also will address contemporary challenges in adapting traditional values into developing appropriate approaches to contemporary issues. New governance ideas are developing, both on and off reserve, land claims and treaty negotiations are ongoing, and novel approaches to health and justice emerging as powerful drivers in communities.

Faculty

Mark L. Winston is the Academic Director of the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Mary Jane Jim is a member of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, former Vice-chief for the Yukon region on the Executive Committee of the Assembly of First Nations, and currently operates Duu Chuu Management Consulting.

Summer 2006.
Being About Action: Local Leaders, Global Futures

Summer 2006. Being About Action: Local Leaders, Global Futures A Summer Institute in Dialogue

May 8 - June 26. 10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W).

Course Description

This intensive and integrative undergraduate Summer Institute will engage students in a range of experiences and dialogues about what it means to be a leader for an individual, an organization and for a city such as Vancouver operating within a global context. We will explore the role of leadership in creating a more sustainable and equitable future for humans, cities and ecosystems, amidst complex local and global issues and perspectives. Students will be involved in a range of public dialogues including Imagine BC, World Youth Forum, an online e-dialogue, World Urban Cafés, and the week-long World Urban Forum UN Habitat event in Vancouver (June 19-23, 2006). Students will play an active role in participating, reflecting and reporting on these important events, creating projects that contribute to local and global dialogues about the future.

Faculty

Janet Moore is an Assistant Professor in the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Rob Van Wynsberghe is a Professor at Royal Roads University in the School of Environment and Sustainability.

Taigita Biln, former student in the Undergraduate Semester and currently a graduate student in Education at UBC, will be a teaching assistant for the program.

Spring 2006.
Social Enterprise for Sustainable Community Development

Spring 2006. Social Enterprise for Sustainable Community Development

Topics such as air quality, transport, land use, energy conservation, waste management, water and sewage, housing, and community economic development were explored in the context of achieving sustainable communities. The course focused particularly on the expanding role of the private sector and the emerging role of social enterprise as key players in the governance and infrastructure dynamics of communities and regions.

Fall 2005.
Health Care Issues and Ethics

Fall 2005. Health Care Issues and Ethics

Canadians identify health care as a core value, but the practical realities of delivering care are overwhelming our compassion. This course considered the nature of health itself, and explored the complexities of a health care system that corresponds with our values and ethics while being effective and financially stable.

Spring 2005.
The Urban Experience

Spring 2005. The Urban Experience

This course centred around two focal topics: The Urban Fabric: Design in the City; and Urban Sustainability: Development, Distribution, and Decision-Making.

Fall 2004.
Art and Community

Fall 2004. Art and Community

This course centred around four focal topics: The Role of the Creative; Art, Activism and Public Art; Culture and Identity; and The Business of the Arts.

Fall 2003.
The Urban Experience

Fall 2003. The Urban Experience

This course centred around three focal topics: Transportation, Sustainability, and the Livable City; Social/Affordable Housing: Social Policy and Economic Realities; and Neighborhoods: Resolving Issues at the Local Level (Focus on Strathcona).

Fall 2002.
Nature, Environment and Society

Fall 2002. Nature, Environment and Society

The inaugural semester focused on three topics: nature, the environment and society.

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Past Courses

Summer 2019: Semester in Housing Futures

COURSE INSTRUCTORS

Spring 2019: Complexity of Health and Wellness

APPROACH

ABOUT THE COURSE INSTRUCTORS

SFU Semester at CityStudio

Course instructors

Urban Energy Futures

COURSE INSTRUCTORS

Health and Wellness: Complex, Not Just Complicated

ABOUT THE COURSE INSTRUCTORS

Fall 2017

SFU Semester at CityStudio

Summer 2017

SFU Semester Outside in the City III

Spring 2017

Decolonizing Dialogues, Solidarities, and Activism

About the course facilitators:

Semester at CityStudio

instructors

Semester Outside in the City II

Instructors

Spring 2016. Semester in Experimental Futures

Instructors

Fall 2015. Semester at CityStudio

instructors

Summer 2015. Semester Outside in the City

Spring 2015. Semester in Energy Futures

FACULTY

Fall 2014. Semester at CityStudio

instructors

Summer 2014. Governance for the Twenty-First Century: Retaining, Re-tooling, or Re-building?

FACULTY

Outline

Spring 2014. Semester at CityStudio

FACULTY

Outline

Fall 2013. Conflict and Governance

Faculty

Outline

Summer 2013. Leading Social Change in BC - Innovation and Transformational Leadership

Faculty

Spring 2013. Semester in the City II

Faculty

Fall 2012. Health: Issues and Ethics

Faculty

Summer 2012. Being about Action: Sustainable Food Systems A Summer Institute in Dialogue

Faculty

Spring 2012. Semester in the City

Faculty

Fall 2011. Religion, Spirituality, Contemplative Inquiry and Social Action

Faculty

Summer 2011. Wilding Vancouver A Summer Institute in Dialogue

Faculty

Spring 2011. Vancouver - A Local Exchange

Faculty

Fall 2010. Energy

Faculty

Summer 2010. Being About Action: Experiments in Creativity and Lifestyle Activism A Summer Institute in Dialogue

Faculty

Spring 2010. Finding Space, Understanding Place Redesigning Our Region for Resilience

Course Description

Faculty

Fall 2009. Art in Community: Creating Cultures of Ingenuity and Innovation

Course Description

Faculty

Summer 2009. Being About Action: Exploring Food, Community, and Urban Sustainability A Summer Institute in Dialogue

Course Description

Faculty

Spring 2009. Designing the Future

Course Description

Faculty

Fall 2008. Health: Issues and Ethics

Course Description

Faculty

Summer 2008. Being About Action: Housing A Summer Institute in Dialogue

Course Description

Summer 2012. Being about Action: Sustainable Food Systems
A Summer Institute in Dialogue

Summer 2011. Wilding Vancouver
A Summer Institute in Dialogue

Summer 2010. Being About Action: Experiments in Creativity and Lifestyle Activism
A Summer Institute in Dialogue

Spring 2010. Finding Space, Understanding Place
Redesigning Our Region for Resilience

Summer 2009. Being About Action: Exploring Food, Community, and Urban Sustainability
A Summer Institute in Dialogue

Summer 2008. Being About Action: Housing
A Summer Institute in Dialogue

Summer 2007. Being About Action: Exploring Food, Community, and Urban Sustainability
A Summer Institute in Dialogue