EST/EFB 220 Urban Ecology Course Calendar, Autumn 2008
Week	Date	Lecture	Reading	Wednesday Lab
1	8/25	The Ecology of Cities: A Systems Perspective	Douglas, chpts. 1, 2	PRECIPITATION: Tracing hydrological flow paths in the urban environment
	8/29	The City as Ecological and Economic System
2	9/01	NO CLASS	Douglas, chpt. 5	WATER: 1. Rapid rural to urban bio-assessment of Onondaga Creek benthic community (additional time may be required on Thursday evening 7-9)
	9/05	Mitigating impacts of urban runoff using green infrastructure (recorded lecture by Nancy Stoner, NRDC, presented at ESF, April, 2008
3	9/08	Urban Heat Islands, their Causes and Effects Guest: David Murphy	Douglas, chpt. 4	ENERGY (SUNLIGHT): Quantifying the Urban Heat Island
	9/12	Assessing collected meteorological data
4	9/15	Urban Energy Flows Guest: Dr. Charles Hall	Odum et al., chpts. 3, 4 (1998)	ENERGY (FOSSIL FUEL): 2. Measuring the metabolism of an urban block Data_Calculator
	9/19	Calculating Urban Metabolism
5	9/22	Urban Habitat and Forest Benefit Analsyis (S. Varela, LA MS Capstone)	Nowak (2000)	URBAN TREES Images
	9/26	The Urban Forest Costs and Benefits Dr. David Nowak (USDA Forest Svc)
6	9/29	Changes in the Global Nitrogen Cycle: Causes and Consequences	Douglas, chpt. 6	NUTRIENT INPUTS (FOOD): Nutrient Flows: P&C Food Distribution Center
	10/3	Nutrient Flows through the Urban Ecosystem
7	10/6	Nitrogen Cycling Impacts on Onondaga Lake	Douglas, chpt 9, pp 146-151 Tango&Ringler	NUTRIENT OUTPUT LOADING: Metropolitan Sewage Treatment Plant and Onondaga Lake
	10/10	Onondaga Lake Superfund Site Response to the ACJ Decree
8	10/13	Designing a Public Survey – Dr. Brenda Nordenstam	Douglas, chpt 9, pp 151 – 159	THE HUMAN FACTOR: Gathering Public Opinion on Feasibility of Implementing Green Infrastructure in Syracuse, NY
	10/17	Public Opinion and Risk Perception – Sarah Darkwa
9	10/20	Urban Toxins – Perception, Propoganda, and Risk – Dr. Tsutomu Nakatsugawa	Douglas, chpt. 12	THE HUMAN FACTOR: Using Geographic Information Systems to Assess Community Demographics Data
	10/24	MID-TERM Review
10	10/27	Whose Backyard? Environmental Justice or Injustice	Bullard (1969)	MATERIAL FLOWS: Visit to OCCRA: Waste to Energy Plant
	10/31	Environmental Justice Discussion
11	11/03	Ecology in Cities: Urban Wildlife	Douglas, chpt. 8 Nilon and VanDruff (1987)	Data Collection for Final Projects
	11/07	Urban Biogeography
12	11/10	Human Health Issues: Lead in Urban Soils Dr. David Johnson	Douglas, chpt 10 Mielke (1999) Forrester (1969)	Data Collection for Final Projects
	11/14	Urban Economic Dynamics
13	11/17	Ecological Design for Sustainable City Living: Curitiba, Brazil, Ecological City	Adolphson and Remor (2002) Van der Ryn (?) Kunstler (2008)	Syracuse Housing Developments for the End of the Age of Oil
	11/19	Planning for Sustainable Cities: What Went Wrong with our Urban Centers Prof. Emanuel Carter
14	11/22	Let’s Talk Turkey: Forrester, Adolphson and Remor, Kunstler, and Van der Ryn: Real Solutions or Green Washing?		No Lab
	11/26	NO CLASS- Thanksgiving Break
15	12/01	Ecological Engineering Solutions to Promote Urban Sustainability Prof. Doug Daley	Douglas, chpts 7, 11	Data Collection for Final Projects
	12/05	Synthesis: What would you do to enhance ecological functioning, and thus quality of life, in our cities?