There is now a universal consensus that our climate is changing rapidly, and as a direct result of human activities. Climate change is changing the context of spatial planning and shaping the built environment. While there is extensive debate about what we can do to mitigate the damage we are causing, it is becoming increasingly clear that a large part of our resources will have to be directed towards adapting to new climatic conditions, with talk of survivability replacing sustainability as the new and most pressing priority. Nowhere is this more evident than in the built environment---the stage on which our most social interactions with climatic conditions are played out. Besides, modern building materials and lifestyles require massive amounts of energy. Unless the built environment is improved, climatic events such as storms, flood and heatwaves will increasingly damage buildings and cities, and the economies and societies that rely on them.
This course tries to provide an overview of emerging practice for all involved in the design, planning and management of the built environment in a rapidly changing climate, at a time when we can no longer rely on cheap fossil fuel energy. The course also examine possible mitigation and adaption responses that begin to deal with the resulting change of how to protect our buildings, cities and lifestyles against the risk of extreme weather, as fuel prices and energy insecurity rise.

The content of this course mainly include the following items:

I. The Challenge of Climate Change：Adaption,Mitigation and Vulnerability (2wks)
1. Climate Change and Spatial Planning Response
2. Climate Change Mitigation and Adaption
3. Climate Change Vulnerability

II. Building for a Changing Climate (4wks)
4. Setting the Pace Towards Green (Climate-proof) Building Policies and Programs
5. Building-integrated Solar Electricity
6. Smart Surfaces and Building System
7. Sustainable Constructing Materials and Methods
8. Environmental Design of Urban Buildings

III. Planning for Climate Change (5wks)
9. Urban Resilience：Cities of Fear and Hope
10. Productive Urban Landscapes: Urban Agriculture and Food Security
11. Transit-oriented Development(TOD) and Urban Transportation
12. Planning for Green Infrastructure: Adapting to Climate Change
13. Making Space for Water

IV. Post-warming (3wks)
14. Moving Cities Towards a Sustainable Low Carbon Energy Future
15. Planning and Governance of Climate Change
16. Public Engagement in Planning for Renewable Energy
17. The Age Beyond Oil