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URBS UN3350 ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE AND VULNERABILITY OF CITIES: OUR NEW "NORMAL". 3 points.

Urban experts face one of the greatest challenges in the history of urbanization: the multidimensional environmental crisis unfolding on our planet. Policymakers have responded by formulating the “sustainable development model” as an option to be implemented in our growing cities. Popularized by the 1987 United Nations’ report “Our Common Future,” commonly known as the “Brundtland Report,” the term “sustainable development” has acquired different meanings and contents depending on its socio-economic context and its historical moment. This course will explore what urban sustainability means today in light of the climate change crisis from a gender and intersectional perspective. What can urban experts do to respond to urgent consequences of environmental deterioration in both industrialized and less industrialized world regions? What are the proper interventions to mitigate the burden on vulnerable social groups of phenomena such as: weather extremes, displacement, interethnic and social conflicts, food insecurity, and spread of diseases, among others? By examining case studies and applied methodologies we will analyze how climate change impacts different social groups in our cities, identifying adaptation and mitigation strategies being currently implemented. Tools to apply climate change scientific data will be provided. Students will have the opportunity to study and engage in climate change action platforms, such as the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.