Summer 2008. Being About Action: Housing

A Summer Institute in Dialogue

May 5 – June 20. 10 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W).

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This semester will explore the concepts of leadership, action and community development within the context of sustainable housing in the Metro Vancouver region. Students will engage in collaborative projects with local organizations to explore, identify and publicly imagine a range of possibilities for designing sustainable housing. Projects will focus on crafting proposals for action with community groups, reflective writing, and collaborative group work.

Housing consists of more than physical structures and encompasses broader issues. Housing impacts and shapes our social networks, access to employment opportunities, participation in public social spaces, the nature and availability of social services as well as our sense of safety and security. We will explore the relationships between housing and sustainable community development, asking: What is housing? How is housing connected to well-being for individuals and communities? What is housing deprivation? How will we provide housing for a growing and aging population? What are the broad impacts of housing policy – past, present and future?

FACULTY

Siobhan Ashe is visiting faculty in the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Educator and community activist Dr. Mike Carr is the author of Bioregionalism and Civil Society: Democratic Challenges to Corporate Globalism, UBC Press, 2004.