Environments are at the core of human experience. From organic gardens to protected parklands, from historic buildings to urban revitalization, environments are shaped by our desires, needs, and fears. Environments are also shaped by human inhabitation, and in turn, they shape humans’ ever-changing habits, ideologies, and understandings of the people and world around us.

In 2018-19, we will explore contributions of humanistic inquiry to understanding this powerful back-and-forth between humans and environments. We will consider environmental disasters and ecological thriving, investigate the structures of development and sustainability, interrogate relationships of ideology and architecture, and explore dreams for an ecologically just world.