Teaching Sustainability in Schools of Architecture: Models from the Ecology and Design Report

Margot McDonald, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo

Abstract

Ecoliteracy Grant recipient Margot McDonald, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo will talk on “The Sustainable Environments Minor: Sustainable Environments and Implementing Sustainable Principles.” The Sustainable Environments program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo exemplifies the concept of ecological literacy in architecture education. An optional minor within the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED), the program consists of an interdisciplinary set of courses spread throughout various university departments, including Architecture, Anthropology, Agriculture, Biology, Botany, City and Regional Planning, English, Economics, Forestry and Natural Resources, Geography, Humanities, Landscape Architecture, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. The program’s broad scope offers students comprehensive exposure to the close relationships between the environment and every field of human endeavor.