Purpose

Sustainable Urbanism is a new framework for interdisciplinary planning and design of contemporary settlements. It explores sustainability and urban design in a rapidly urbanizing world by focusing on the processes that shape the form and function of the built environment in its full complexity - infrastructures, land developments, built landscapes, and facilities - that collectively make up metropolitan regions.

Sustainable urbanists at Texas A&M are members of innovative learning and practitioner communities that investigate and apply collaborative practices to design and plan sustainable urban settlements that are livable, equitable, energy efficient, ecologically sound, and prosperous.

The Sustainable Urbanism Certificate Program addresses the integration and interdependence of these aspects of the built urban environment:

• Land use and urban design
• Energy, materials, and wastes
• Land, air, water, and fire
• Ecosystems, habitats, and biodiversity
• Infrastructure and transportation networks
• Healthy communities and public health
• Pedestrian environments and livable places
• Natural hazards and extreme events
• Social and economic justice and accessibility

Housing, community, and economic development

Sustainable Urbanism is an interdisciplinary program of the Center for Housing and Urban Development that generates and disseminates new knowledge of the relationships among sustainability, cities, and the environmental design professions. The Sustainable Urbanism program serves a wide array of lifelong learning:

• Graduate students
• Mid-career professionals
• People seeking a career change
• Leaders seeking to transform their organizations and communities
• Policy makers and politicians seeking to improve their jurisdictions

Progam Brochure

The Sustainable Urbanism Certificate Council

The Sustainable Urbanism Certificate Council is comprised of at least six (6) standing graduate faculty members who are expert in the field and are appointed by the Dean of the College of Architecture to advise on all matters relating to the program. They are appointed to represent all the academic departments participating in the certificate, and the Center for Housing and Urban Development (CHUD).

The Graduate Advisory Committee for each student, with the oversight of degree coordinators, department heads, and the Office of Graduate Studies, is responsible for the academic program of the student. However, the Sustainable Urbanism Certificate Council is charged with ensuring that students recommended for the certificate have met content standards.

The program can be accomplished within the minimum number of hours required for any of the graduate degrees offered within the College of Architecture, save the Master of Science degrees in Architecture and Land Development. The fit with programs in other colleges will need to be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Moreover, the student's Graduate Advisory Committee might require, or the student may choose to take, additional hours not on the degree plan in order to meet the requirements for the certificate.