Since at least the 1990s, cities have been hubs for advancing sustainability initiatives.
Famous for its efforts to become the world’s ‘Greenest City’, Vancouver continues to advance climate-friendly policies in many areas – for example setting new targets to reduce carbon emissions via its Climate Emergency Action Plan, and aiming for zero waste by 2040.
To support the efforts of cities like Vancouver to meet major sustainability milestones, UBC faculty are developing innovative new courses and credentials to educate the future professionals needed to find solutions to our environmental and social goals. In particular, bringing different aspects of urban sustainability expertise together to inform a broader and more interdisciplinary approach.
Training ‘Pracademics’ for Careers in Urban Planning, Hydrology, City Forestry, and Transportation
Through the Sustainability Education Fellows program, managed by the UBC Sustainabilty Hub, Dr. Connolly (Associate Professor, Bachelor of Urban Studies Co-Director) is working with Dr. Melissa McHale (Associate Professor, Forest Resources Management, Faculty of Forestry) to develop a new UBC credential: the Sustainable Cities Certificate.
The goal is to create an undergraduate certificate that helps students from various majors such as engineering, planning, architecture, forestry, and geography to work across disciplines and prepare for careers in fields like urban planning, urban hydrology, city forestry, and transportation engineering. It will focus on core sustainability principles, creating ‘pracademics’ who apply scientific knowledge to urban solutions.
Under this certificate, urban sustainability is defined as being connected to wider sustainability initiatives, emphasizing the need to balance ecological preservation with social equity within the confines of current economic conditions. The certificate is ultimately designed to cut across the disciplinary divides that limit approaches to a singular focus, and instead frame challenges within a broader background.
Employers Seek Depth (Technical Skills) and Breadth (Social Awareness) in Sustainability Professionals
Dr. James Connolly identifies a common demand from potential future employers of UBC students interested in sustainable cities as the need for depth and breadth in the workplace. Depth is needed in the sense that there are specific challenges that require a deep set of skills, having studied them over a long period of time and walking out of a degree being able to perform those skills.
But breadth is also important. Sustainability professionals need a broad framework in which they can contextualize their deep skills in order to work on effective solutions to address complex issues like social equity, climate, biodiversity, and inclusion of marginalized groups.
The Sustainable Cities Certificate addresses this need for depth and breadth by collaborating across UBC faculties to prepare students for future careers working alongside and with the communities they serve.
What’s Next for the Sustainable Cities Certificate?
To learn more about the new Sustainability Cities Certificate and find out when it launches, join the UBC Sustainability email newsletter.
Explore our website to learn more about the Sustainability Education Fellows program.