16 graduate courses in Waterloo’s course catalog for Winter 2023, from UW Open Data. uwloo can’t read that term’s Graduate Calendar, so this stands in for it; the calendar itself is in Waterloo’s archive.
INDEV 601Foundations of Sustainable Development Practice
This is an e-course delivered through the Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York, for all members of the Master of Development Practice international network. It is a multidisciplinary, survey course in which students explore the connection between energy, health and poverty and the implications for sustainable development, the role of science, technology and policy, and the 'energy ladder.' Students will learn about the barriers to sustainable development and discuss cost-effective, culturally appropriate solutions.
INDEV 602International Development: Theories and Practice
This course emphasizes both theoretical and conceptual frameworks, techniques, practices and methods for analysis of development, focusing in particular on the development - environment interface and questions of sustainability.
This course explores aspects of the distribution, diffusion, determinants and delivery of health and health care in a global context. Building on foundational skills (i.e. basic understandings of epidemiology; the social determinants of health) the course will review a range of case studies (e.g. infectious disease; water; access to care; global environmental change) from a variety of regions around the world. Students will gain an appreciation for the complexity of the issues, as well as science-policy bridging.
This course surveys the dominant trends in human settlement since the industrial revolution. Emphasis is placed on selected problems (e.g., provision of basic services such as water supply and sanitation, waste disposal, expanding ecological footprints) faced by cities of various sizes (from mid-sized to mega), the resources available to deal with them, and the new approached to sustainability.
This course introduces students to the history, theories and practices of development economics. Select issues such as trade, (Public and private) capital flows, transnational corporations, technological change and innovation, agricultural and industrial policy and production, poverty and reduction, structural adjustment, etc. are treated, as are recent developments in globalization and global economic governance.
Renewable and non-renewable energy supply systems are compared using economic and environmental measures. Consumption trends, conservation options and choices are considered at the household, community and global scales. Projects are used to demonstrate the economic and environmental challenges in the design of sustainable energy systems. *eligible for MES.
INDEV 607Methods for Sustainable Development Practice: A Systems Approach
The course is aimed at enhancing skills useful for development practice. From a systems perspective, students will learn to conceptualize problems using real cases and to analyze them both at the level of structure and dynamics. Problem solving will rely on analytical, heuristic and normative categories and will include learning select methods focusing on sustainability coupled with socio-ecological systems.
The course will provide students with comprehensive background knowledge relevant to the increasingly important policy challenge of 'water security'. The course will explore how the multiple levels of water security - human, community, state, international, global - require broad but considered policy inputs. Emphasis will be placed on the interdependencies of difference sectors (climate security, food security, energy security) that interact within a 'web' of water security.
INDEV 609Sustainability Concepts, Applications and Key Debates
The course introduces the students to a spectrum of sustainability concepts, approaches, and key debates, setting the stage for practical engagement with development. The emphasis is on gaining clarity on the notion of sustainability and global environment change since its translation into practice will often imply confronting a number of decisions to be taken. A number of concepts, debates and proposals for the planet¿s sustainable future will be presented, evaluated and discussed on the basis of empirical findings and case studies.
The student spends 4 months in the field, working with a local community partner on a particular development challenge. Ideally, placement will be tailored to the student's specialization, while also providing a setting in which integrative planning and management is required.
This course presents a broad survey of water resources processes and issues. How much water does the world need to support growing human populations? What factors influence water quality, droughts, floods, and waterborne diseases? What are the potential effects of climate change on the world's water resources? This course presents a thorough introduction to the complex world of water resources. The fundamentals of the science of water, aquatic ecology, geomorphology and hydrology, chemistry, and biology of lakes, rivers, and wetlands are covered. Major disease issues, worldwide water quality and quantity problems, and potential solutions are examined.
Whereas "water is life" is a frequently invoked truism, the fact that 1.1 billion people lack access to a safe supply of drinking water and 2.4 billion lack access to adequate sanitation suggests that the wrong kind of water may also bring both misery and death. This course surveys the role of water in human security and development. It locates water use in history and articulates the links between water and human security through a mix of cases and issues from around the world.
The purpose of this course is to investigate the major issues involved in water and related (e.g. land) resource management in both local (case study) and global (global governance) contexts. Students will develop an integrated approach to the analysis and management of water resources, appreciate the relevance of an integrated approach through a consideration of selected resource management issues and problems, and apply an integrated approach to the analysis of specific water resource problems.
There are approximately 265 river basins shared between and among states. More than 40 percent of the world's population resides in a transboundary river basin. While many speculate that wars of the future will be about water, many other suggest that water forms the basis for long-term inter-state cooperation. This course describes and interrogates the adequacy of existing bilateral, regional and global laws, institutions and policies designed to organize the governance and management of transboundary waters in the world today.
This course focuses on the pressing issue of providing sustainable food sources for the world's fast growing urban population. Drawing on research from around the world, and with a particular focus on the world's largest cities, and their poorest residents, this seminar explores the ways and means of achieving sustainable urban food security.
This course is a field trip that provides students with firsthand experience in Development Practice, Environmental Change and Governance. The course uses an immersive and experiential approach to learning and explores a variety of sustainable development themes within a specific country context. The course is delivered as an intensive block no less than seven (7) days in the country field location, which normally takes place over the Winter Term Reading Week. Field trip fees may apply.