Climate Change and Natural Hazards

IDISC-2012, LAEL-2012 (Seminar version)

Introduction to Climate Change and Natural Hazards

LDAR-2012, GRAD-2012 (Lecture version)

Course Description:

Science and technical information inform virtually every aspect of our life, yet how much do you really understand about how scientists think or approach their research? Despite broad popular discussions of climate change and science, I’d argue that scientists are among the most misunderstood people on earth. While the technical language used by designers, scientists, and engineers may sometimes seem similar, these disciplines all have very different epistemological approaches that alter the way we understand the meaning of technical information. While this course won’t make you a scientist, it will give you a basis to develop a scientific understanding of natural hazards and climate change. Innovative and inclusive teaching methods are used to make the most current primary source material in the physical and social science of climate change understandable to students with diverse experiences and backgrounds.

3D City and Landscape

IDISC-1727, ARCH-1727, LDAR-1727, INTAR-1727

Course Description:

3D visualizations of cities and landscapes capture the imagination and make abstract data tangible. They are used as backdrops in animations, to convey planning scenarios, and increasingly to spatialize different kinds of data from social and physical sciences. This course equips students with tools and skills to create city and landscape models and visualize data using them. Custom software tools will enable students to quickly realize 3D models and visualizations in Rhino and subsequently explore the ethical implications of these models using related readings and class discussions. Students will obtain and utilize geographic data, learning principles and techniques that are adaptable to multiple software platforms. Readings and discussions address the ethics of data-driven spatial visualizations. Students at all levels of coding experience will have the ability to advance their skills, and using materials provided in class will be able to create projects on their own. Rhino software and experience with the program are required. Students interested in adapting methods to other platforms will also be supported.

Defusing Doomsday

IDISC 2142 (Seminar)

Course Description:

Artists and designers are increasingly engaged in projects related to combined natural and technological (na-tech) risks (e.g., the Murphy Oil Spill that contaminated a residential neighborhood in Chalmette LA in the wake of Hurricane Katrina). These topics involve intersections between environmental justice, infrastructural racism, and perceptions of risk. Whether you are working as an independent artist raising awareness or as a consultant to multi-national corporation, it is important to understand how communications regarding these hazards may backfire and even undermine your stated intentions (e.g., informing the public). This course is designed to equip students with a foundation in the social science of visual rhetoric and risk perception so that they may productively and ethically engage. In addition to developing a detailed case study related to their interests and work, students will participate in activities that illustrate the possibilities and limitations of social scientific research into risk perception.

Geodesign in Context

IDISC-1730, ARCH-1730, INTAR-1730, LAEL-1730, LDAR-1730

Geodesign addresses complex time dependent problems such as climate adaptation by incorporating stakeholder feedback and simulations into iterative planning processes. Students in this seminar will explore both the possibilities and limitations of geodesign by participating in RISD’s 2020 International Geodesign Collaboration (IGC) project focusing on coastal adaptation in Portsmouth (part of a larger research program being conducted in collaboration with the University of Rhode Island Coastal Resources Center). IGC tests a globally comparable range of strategies in sites around the world to support the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Readings will be used to explore how the values of experts and stakeholders shape processes and outcomes, and to contextualize concepts of geodesign with alternative approaches such as participatory research. In class activities include design charrettes, stakeholder and expert visits, using Rhino and GIS to prepare visioning scenarios, analyzing social science survey data. All students will be required to complete CITI research ethics training in order to participate. A limited number of research assistant positions will be available to support GIS work, an evaluative study, and publication of results in an academic journal (participation will be recognized with acknowledgement and exceptional contributions with co-authorship).