Climate Change, Real Estate, and Public Policy [Module 1]

Climate change is increasingly affecting people and cities worldwide. The impacts of sea level rise, storms, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires are growing. While progress is being made, the world’s climate pollution continues to grow. Meanwhile, resilience and adaptation strategies remain in reactive and early planning stages. There is a lot to do.

Buildings account for more than a third of global climate pollution, and in urban areas, they can account for up to two-thirds of a city’s greenhouse gas emissions. Equitably addressing the climate crisis requires transforming urban development policies and practices in the public, private, and civic sectors. It requires focusing on transformative approaches that invests in people and protect lives and livelihoods from the impacts of climate change.  

In this interdisciplinary course, students will analyze urban development projects and policies in the United States and internationally. They will develop recommendations for how these organizations could better integrate climate change considerations into their work. Through lectures, discussions, interviews, mentorship chats, and guest speakers, students will explore topics such as building retrofits, strategic relocation, revised land use regulations, grey and green infrastructure, building-scale emissions limits, energy efficiency retrofits, renewable energy deployment, and building electrification.

A major component of this course is a student-directed, faculty-advised project to support deep-dive exploration of a specific climate action topic of interest to the student. Previous projects have focused on low-income solar deployment, energy-efficient redevelopment of public housing, university decarbonization strategies, real estate strategies for residential decarbonization, workforce development for building retrofits, climate-informed economic analyses, community-driven climate migration, public-private financing strategies for adaptation, equity-centered building decarbonization policies, and more. The course supports each cohort’s interests and career aspirations at the intersection of climate change, real estate, and public policy.

Students will interview practitioners in the field, targeting interviews with those with whom they may wish to work in the future. They will also participate in a multi-party negotiation simulation to gain experience with the wide range of competing interests, perspectives, and challenges of urban development in a changing climate. They will hear from professionals in community development, climate banks, public policy, urban planning, and more. Optional brown bag lunches after class offer opportunities to continue discussions, discuss climate-focused careers and job searches, and network with guest speakers and other invited guests. Several hours of office hours are typically available after lunch for students to gain feedback on their project.

This course is a six-week accelerator program that builds community among students. It attracts a diverse cohort of students, including many cross-registrants, from fields such as real estate, public policy, urban planning, public health, engineering, technology, architecture, and business. In addition to supporting greater understanding of the field, the course is designed to help students advance meaningful climate careers at the intersection of urban development, public policy, and community needs shaped by the climate crisis.