Integration of interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability education and research and urban sustainability

Abstract

This article explores the results of the National Council for Science and the Environment’s 2012 census of interdisciplinary environmental and sustainability (IES) baccalaureate and graduate degree programs and the 2014 census of IES institutes and centers (IESICs) at research universities to identify how urban studies and IES education and research are being integrated in the US. The number of degree programs that explicitly integrate IES and urban studies is small, but nevertheless makes up about 3 % of all IES degrees, fairly evenly split between undergraduate and graduate degrees. These programs outnumber degree programs in urban and community planning and the built environment/architecture with formal sustainability specializations, most of which are master’s programs. The number of IES institutes and centers focused explicitly on integrating IES, and urban studies also comprise about 3 % of all IESICs at US research universities. These institutes and centers are engaged in major research and partnership efforts to support urban sustainability planning and policy and solution development and implementation. The development of academic programs that integrate environment, sustainability, and urban studies and the enhanced research capacities provided by urban sustainability-focused institutes and centers represent an important national higher education response for addressing the problems and opportunities of increasing urbanization in the US and worldwide.