Our Urban Future

A practical, comprehensive textbook that uses active learning techniques to teach about the challenges and opportunities associated with urban sustainability.

While the problem of urban sustainability has long been a subject of great scholarly interest, there has, until now, been no single source providing a multi-disciplinary, exhaustive view of how it can be effectively taught. Filling this gap, Our Urban Future uses active learning techniques to comprehensively relate the theory of urban sustainability and the what, why, and how of sustainable cities. This practical, pedagogically rich textbook concisely covers all the key subjects of the field, including ecosystem services and transects, the internal design and patterning of urban elements, how cities mitigate and adapt to climate change, and questions of environmental justice. It functions as both an illuminating roadmap and active reference to which any student of sustainability can turn to find essential resources and perspectives in pursuit of creating sustainable cities.

• Approachable, discrete exercises introduce students to key sustainability subjects
• Learn-by-doing approach encourages critically engaging from multiple angles
• Ideal for students across environmental sustainability, urban planning, urban design, urban studies, sociology architecture, landscape architecture, and geography
• Robust suite of ancillaries includes links and downloadable data to support activities, and additional readings and resources

Emily Talen is Professor of Urbanism at the University of Chicago, where she teaches urban design and directs the Urbanism Lab, and author of Neighborhood, among many other books. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.

Sabina Shaikh is Senior Instructional Professor in the Committee on Environment, Geography and Urbanization at the University of Chicago, where she is the Director of Academic Programs, and conducts research on environment and migration in Southeast Asia. She is the faculty director of Chicago Studies and the co-lead of the Environmental Frontiers Initiative at the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation.