sustainable-cities-online-courses
My path to a free self-taught education in Sustainable Cities! I will be adding pizzas to the ones I finish to track my progress.
Contents
About
I looked online for free MOOCs that would offer a strong background for anyone interested in Sustainable cities. The structure is inspired from The Dual Master’s in Sustainable Smart Cities from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Staffordshire University. I will continue to improve the list as I find new courses.
Preparation
A great MOOC that gives you easy access to the invaluable learning techniques used by experts in art, music, literature, math, science, sports, and many other disciplines.
Also I think MOOCs for learning how to use solution-based journalism to impel positive social change would also prove useful :)
- Journalism for Social Change by University of California, Berkeley - 7 weeks of study, 2 - 4 hours per week
- Journalism Skills for Engaged Citizens by The University of Melbourne - 6 weeks of study, 4-6 hours/week
Also learning how to research and present an effective and persuasive position paper or policy advice might prove useful.
- Be Persuasive: Write a Convincing Position Paper or Policy Advice (Project-Centered Course) by Universiteit Leiden - 4 weeks of study, 2-4 hours of study, 4-5 hours of active project work
Courses
Principles of Sustainable Development
- Introduction to Sustainability by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - 8 weeks of study, 8-10 hours/week
🍕 - The Age of Sustainable Development by Columbia University - 14 weeks of study, 2 hours of lectures per module
- Greening the Economy: Lessons from Scandinavia by Lund University - 5 weeks of study, 5-8 hours/week
🍕 - Our Earth: Its Climate, History, and Processes by University of Manchester - 5 weeks of study
Optional
- Introduction to Environmental Law and Policy by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - 6 weeks of study, 4-6 hours/week
Introduction to Sustainable Smart Cities
- Smart cities by The Open University - 6 weeks of study, 3 hours/week
🍕 - Greening the Economy: Sustainable Cities by Lund University - 5 weeks of study, 5 hours/week
🍕 - Sustainable Urban Development by Delft University of Technology - 7 weeks of study
- Cities are back in town : urban sociology for a globalizing urban world by Sciences Po - 8 weeks of study
- Sustainable Cities by SDG Academy - 10 weeks of study
- Ecodesign for Cities and Suburbs by University of British Columbia - 6 weeks of study
Low Carbon and Renewable Energy Systems
- Energy 101: The Big Picture by Georgia Institute of Technology - 6 weeks of study, 5-7 hours/week
- Our Energy Future by University of California, San Diego - 9 weeks of study, 45 hours of videos, quizzes and peer reviews
- Politics and Economics of International Energy by Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) Sciences Po - 8 weeks of study, 1-3 hours/week
- Introduction to Sustainable Energy by MIT - lectures and reading material available online
Managing Natural Resources and Sustainable Smart Cities
- Livable Future Cities - by ETH Zurich - 11 weeks of study
🍕 - Urban Water - Innovations for Environmental Sustainability by University of British Columbia - 6 weeks of study, 3 - 4 hours/week
- Global Environmental Management by Technical University of Denmark (DTU) - 5 weeks of study
- Global Warming I: The Science and Modeling of Climate Change by The University of Chicago - 12 weeks of study
Optional
- Water Resources Management and Policy by University of Geneva - 5 weeks of study, 1-3 hours/week
- Sustainable Agricultural Land Management by University of Florida - 8 weeks of study
- Climate Change Mitigation in Developing Countries by University of Cape Town - 6 weeks of study, 1-3 hours/week
- Natural Attenuation of Groundwater Contaminants: New Paradigms, Technologies, and Applications by Rice University - 9 weeks of study
- Shale gas and fracking by the University of Nottingham - 4 weeks of study
- A Circular Economy of Metals: Towards a Sustainable Societal Metabolism by Universiteit Leiden - 6 weeks of study, 5-7 hours per week
Green Infrastructure and Transportation
- Smart Cities – Management of Smart Urban Infrastructures by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - 5 weeks of study, 2-3 hours per week
- Management of Urban Infrastructures – part 1 by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - 5 weeks of study, 1-3 hours/week
- Planning & Design of Sanitation Systems and Technologies by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - 5 weeks of study, 4-6 hours/week
- Municipal Solid Waste Management in Developing Countries by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - 5 weeks of study, 1-2 hours/week
- Sustainable Urban Freight Transport: A Global Perspective by TUDelft - 5 weeks of study, 4-6 hours per week
- Supply Chain Fundamentals by MIT
- Supply Chain Analytics by MIT
- Leveraging Urban Mobility Disruptions to Create Better Cities by MIT
Green Buildings
- Resilient Architecture Research by Open Online Academy
- Sustainable Building Design by MIT
Health & Liveability
- Community Change in Public Health by Johns Hopkins University - 5 weeks of study, 1-3 hours/week
- Climate Change and Health by Heidelberg University - 5 weeks of study
- Global Warming Science by MIT
Optional
- Sustainable Food Production Through Livestock Health Management by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - 6 weeks of study; 5-7 hours/week
Smart Technologies for Cities & Buildings
- Introduction to Metrics for Smart Cities by IEEE - 4 weeks of study, 5 - 7 hours/week
- Future Cities by ETH Zurich - 10 weeks of study, 3 hours per week
- Smart Cities by ETH Zurich - 10 weeks of study
- Internet of Things: How did we get here? by University of California, San Diego - 2 weeks of study, 2-3 hours/week
- A developer's guide to the Internet of Things by IBM - 4 weeks of study
Big Data & Smart Cities
- Introduction to Big Data by University of California, San Diego - 3 weeks of study, 5-6 hours/week
- A Crash Course in Data Science by Johns Hopkins University - 1 week of study, 4-6 hours
- Fundamentals of GIS by University of California, Davis - 4 weeks of study, 3-5 hours/week
- Cloud Computing Concepts, Part 1 by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - 5 weeks of study
Optional
- Cloud Computing Concepts: Part 2 by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - 5 weeks of study
- Data Management and Visualization by Wesleyan University - 4 weeks of study, 4-5 hours/week
- Social Computing by University of California, San Diego - 3 weeks, 2-3 hours/week
Research Methods & Project Planning
- Understanding Research Methods by University of London & SOAS University of London - 4 weeks of study
- Social Norms, Social Change I by University of Pennsylvania, Unicef, 4 weeks of study, 2-3 hours/week
- Social Norms, Social Change II by University of Pennsylvania, Unicef, 4 weeks of study, 2-3 hours of work per week
- Introduction to Environmental Law and Policy by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill - 6 weeks of study, 4-6 hours/week
- Citizen Engagement: A Game Changer for Development by World Bank Group - 5 weeks of study, 2-4 hours/week
- U.Lab: Transforming Business, Society, and Self by MITx - 8 weeks of study
Books
- Citizen-Driven Innovation
- Economic Foundations for Sustainable Urbanization
- Guiding Principles for City Climate Action Planning
- Science and the City: The Mechanics Behind the Metropolis
- Shaping cities
Articles
Research
Capstone Project
List of datasets for projects: