Sustainable Urban Environments

Program Director: Richard Wener
Program Adviser: James Lewis

General Information

Cities play a critical role in addressing the environmental challenges that face the world today. The major in Sustainable Urban Environments prepares students to make cities more sustainable.  Students gain an understanding of the social and technical issues in urban environmental problems, and an appreciation of the policy and planning approaches that are necessary to create more livable, sustainable, and equitable cities. Multidisciplinary courses emphasize project-based learning, using New York City as an urban laboratory, and also examining sustainable cities in a global context. Among the topics addressed in SUE at NYU Tandon are:

• Urban infrastructure: What it is, how it works and history and political systems in development with emphasis on New York City.
• Urban sustainability.
• The design and planning of cities to promote health and well-being.
• The city as a social and technical system, including the psychology of sustainable design.
• Human and natural ecology in the city: How people, animals and plants survive and interact in the urban environment to make the city survivable, healthy and pleasant.

Program Highlights

NYU Tandon offers a unique combination of New York City’s resources and the city’s preeminent technological institution.

New York City is a cultural, social, technological and financial capital to America and the world. The city has committed itself to becoming “green” at a grand scale and rapid pace. The issues we study in SUE are played out in New York City, as are opportunities to learn, study and work in these processes. The SUE program is a rare combination of liberal arts (such as urban history and environmental psychology) and technology (civil and transportation engineering), combining offerings to produce students who are conversant with both the technical and social aspects of sustainability issues facing our cities.

Project-Oriented Education and Research

A project-oriented semester-studying abroad or engaging in an internship- bridges the gap between academics and the outside world.  Capstone Projects provide students with essential experience in solving these complex, real world urban problems.

Careers

Students with the BS Degree in SUE might pursue further study and careers in fields such as:

• Urban planning
• Historical preservation
• Architecture or Landscape architecture
• Urban management
• Law
• Social work
• Education
• Museum curator
• Journalism

Programs

• Sustainable Urban Environments Minor

• Sustainable Urban Environments, B.S.