What if solving a real-world challenge in your community was part of your coursework? In URBANST 164: Sustainable Cities, taught each spring by urban planner and Stanford lecturer Rick Kos, students partner with Bay Area organizations on projects from affordable housing to climate adaptation. Students apply their classroom learning by researching issues identified by community partners and developing actionable insights. The students presented their findings to their partner organizations at their final class session on June 2.
The goal of the course is to give students an understanding of urban sustainability, a term under which Kos groups topics such as infrastructure, land use planning, transportation access, and the legacy of redlining. The course also touches on global approaches to sustainable cities; students complete a “rapid research” assignment on sustainable urban planning happening in other countries, which gives them a global perspective and practice presenting their research findings.
Each spring, Kos kicks off the course by introducing students to the community organizations they will support and the research they need assistance with. The students work in close collaboration with their organizations throughout the 10-week course. Kos works with each partner to come up with a detailed scope of work and thorough instructions for the students.
“A successful partnership requires a high level of organization so that the students get a rich learning experience and the partners get research that directly advances their sustainability mission,” said Kos. “I try to model the assignments on how a small consulting firm operates, so there are performance reviews, regular meetings with each partner to measure progress, and a series of specific draft and final deliverables.”
The Mountain View Community Land Trust (MVCLT), which works to preserve affordable housing through community ownership, returned this year for a third consecutive partnership with Sustainable Cities. While the students change each spring, the sustained collaboration with the class and the instructor offers the MVCLT continuity and provides a meaningful entry point for each new cohort. It’s a model that reinforces the idea that community change is an ongoing, collaborative process.
“It’s been thrilling to watch successive teams of Stanford students become immediately passionate about supporting the MVCLT’s mission,” said Kos.
Among other deliverables, this year’s student team translated key online information into Spanish to help MVCLT members navigate the complex process of applying for local government grants to help with the purchase of their first multi-family building. The partner noted that having students conduct real-time research during active negotiations with the city was invaluable.
Sustainable San Mateo County reached out for help with a project focusing on how plant-based food choices can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide health and economic benefits to county residents. Students provided recommendations on emissions tracking, community outreach, and connections with other organizations working on this issue.
Nonprofit organization Acterra has a program that helps homeowners reduce indoor air pollution and lower utility costs by replacing their gas appliances with electric. Through their Green@Home Tours, homeowners who have made the switch open their homes to neighbors who are interested in doing the same. Students developed recommendations to expand the home tour program, enhance community outreach, and support event planning.
What did students find most valuable about their project?
“Getting to work with a community partner in the area around Stanford. Campus often feels super disconnected from the communities around it, and it was awesome to get to engage directly with families and advocates in our area.”
“Connecting with residents, challenging my perceptions, and engaging in the sometimes messy ups and downs of nonprofit work.”
The City of Palo Alto Office of Sustainability partnered with students on a heat mapping project to identify communities most vulnerable to high temperatures and recommend strategies to improve health outcomes and reduce cooling costs. Student proposals included adding cooling centers in the city’s southeast, which is home to a higher population of vulnerable elderly residents, and supporting the adoption of “cool roofs” that reflect heat and can reduce rooftop temperatures by as much as 50 degrees.
Sustainable Cities is one of more than 150 Cardinal Courses offered by dozens of academic departments and programs at Stanford with funding and support from the Haas Center for Public Service. As a “pracademic” who bridges academia and professional practice, it was this alignment that drew Kos to teach the course four years ago. Prior to that, it was taught for several years by social scientist and urban planner Deland Chan, who, according to Kos, “set the bar for an excellent student experience.”
As the course wraps up each spring, students in Sustainable Cities leave with workforce-readiness skills, the satisfaction of contributing tangibly to the broader community, and a clearer sense of how they might integrate the ideas of civic engagement and public service into a career. Community partners, in turn, receive research and recommendations that they can put to immediate use.
Said Kos, “It’s a classic win-win for the students and the partners alike.”
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This story was originally published by the Haas Center for Public Service.
Writer
Virginia Bock
