This course examines the interactions between theory, policy, and the urban environment. Students have the opportunity to study the urban environment not only as a physical landscape or natural ecosystem, but also as a constructed landscape shaped by local, regional and global social, economic and political processes. The course addresses issues that continue to challenge urban society, including environmental injustice and racism, degradation of local environmental quality, the impact of local-global relationships on community-scale environments and the commodification of nature.