Required Readings

Population Growth & Sustainability Coole, D. (2013). Too many bodies? The return and disavowal of the population question. Environmental Politics, 22(2), 195-215. doi:10.1080/09644016.2012.730268

Urbanization & Sustainability Bugliarello, G. (2011). Critical new bio-socio-technological challenges in urban sustainability. Journal of Urban Technology, 18(3), 3-23. doi:10.1080/10630732.2011.615561

Class Preparation - Unless otherwise instructed always post a copy of your class preparation materials to the weekly discussion board

As indicated in the syllabus, class preparation and participation comprise a large portion of your grade in this class. It is important for you to prepare adequately so that you can participate fully in class discussions and activities. I will provide guidance about how to prepare in this section of the web page for each class session. On some occasions, I will ask you to post your preparatory exercises on the appropriate weekly discussion board in Canvas so that they are available to your colleages during class. However, even when there are no explicit instructions for class preparation, please take preparation seriously. A quick read of the required materials or spending 10 minutes on preparatory activities will not be sufficient. I hope that the different approaches to class preparation that we use will be helpful to you in all aspects of your graduate program. They will be helpful in this course because I use the preparatory exercises to build the skills and knowledge you need to complete each of the three assignments -- think of the preparatory activities as "practice for assignments" to some degree.

This week we will concentrate on analytic or critical reading skills. Use the procedures outlined below for reading and preparing to participate in the class discussion. I did not invent these procedures. You will find some version of these suggestions for critical or analytic reading at the writing center of almost every major university. They are usually prefaced by a statement saying that most students, including graduate students, have received little instruction in how to read analytically and critically. Yet, reading simply for conceptual understanding is insufficient for students to develop the depth of thinking and analysis required for success in most graduate programs. Unfortunately, there is a considerable tendency to think simplistically and uncritically about sustainable development. Given the complexity of the concept, this is a serious problem in the literature and in the public discourse. Complete the steps below for each required reading.

First, read the abstract. Then look through the article quickly to identify the major components or sections in the article - to understand how the article is organized. Now start to read carefully and pay close attention to the introductory section of the article. This is where an author explains his/her overall objective in writing the article -- what s/he wants to add to the discussion or body of knowledge about population growth or urbanization. In short, the introduction explains why the person wrote the article. For example, Coole is very explicit about what drove her to write her article. She says (p. 195-196): "I ask why concerns about population growth and over-population have virtually disappeared from the poitical agenda of developed countries, especially, since the mid-1970s." She elaborates further on the concerns she hopes to address in the section called "Who is talking about whom?"

Step 1. Write down in your own words what you believe are the author's major objectives -- what the author wants to add to the discourse about the topic or to the body of evidence about the process.

Now read the article carefully, section by section to gain a thorough understanding of the author's points. It's impossible to grasp the content of theoretical or logical arguments, research results, or complex conclusions if you try to read the entire article and then think about it. You have to organize your thoughts about the material as you read. In these articles -- which are syntheses and discussions, not research reports -- you will find that the authors pose several theses. Theses are statements of a position or conclusion about a topic. Think of them as being like hypotheses in research. Writing down what you think helps you reach your summative assessment of an author's contribution. -- but you need some way to make what you write down meaningful for you. So pick the theses that make you think. Here is one I found very thought-provoking in the Coole article: "The ever larger senior population in the more affluent cities of the developed world and of China—the result of better urban health care, enhanced life spans into the 80s and 90s, and, in most cities, lower reproduction rates—places unsustainable financial burdens on today’s working population that supports them."

Step 2. Write down one or more specific theses (a sentence or maybe two sentences, but keep it short) in each section (or at least most sections) that was most interesting, puzzling, provocative, or thought-provoking (maybe even irritating) to you.

Typically, each thesis is supported by several arguments, which the author also presents. Arguments in science are an explanation of the supporting evidence and logical reasoning that led the author to his/her thesis.

Step 3. Write down the key (for you) supporting arguments for each thesis you identified.

Now you are ready to write a analytic annotation that will become the key component in your permanent record of this article. These are the annotations that you will submit with the bibliography at the end of the semester. Analytic annotations are not a description of the contents of the article. That's what the abstract does and in programs like Refworks and Endnotes you can keep a copy of the abstract as part of the file. The analytic annotation is your assessment of the article. Typically an analytic annotation contains three components. (1) You assess the degree to which you think the author achieved his/her stated objectives. Ask yourself: "To what degree did s/he make the contributions that were promised in the introduction?" (2) You synthesize your observations made in steps 2 and 3 above to create a summary of the most important theses and supporting arguments. Ask yourself: "Overall, what were the author's key contributions to my understanding of this topic?" (3) Finally, you want to make sure you note any weaknesses in the author's presentation. These weaknesses may be methodological (in research reports), depending on unjustified assumptions, poor logic and reasoning, or faulty (unreliable, imprecise) evidence. Sometimes, if an article is not useful to you, this will be the most substantive part of the annotation. You should still write it down. Then when you need to complete a literature review you won't have to re-read the whole article to remember that it's "not very helpful" and you will be able to address the weaknesses in the contribution with ease in the review.

Step 4. Write an analytic annotation of approximately 500 words containing the three components described above. Post your analytic annotation to the discussion board for this week.

Bring your notes and annotation to class. I will ask you to use them during class discussion.

Additional Resources - Population

Alcott, B. (2012). Population matters in ecological economics. Ecological Economics, 80, 109-120. doi:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2012.06.001

Arman, M., & Davidson, K. (2014). A typology to position population within sustainability discourse. Local Environment, 19(4), 433-448. doi:10.1080/13549839.2013.790351

Coole, D. (2013). Too many bodies? the return and disavowal of the population question. Environmental Politics, 22(2), 195-215. doi:10.1080/09644016.2012.730268

DeLong, J. P., Burger, O., & Hamilton, M. J. (2010). Current demographics suggest future energy supplies will be inadequate to slow human population growth. Plos One, 5(10), 1-8. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013206

Engelman, R. (2009). POPULATION & sustainability. Scientific American Earth 3.0, 19(2), 22-29.

Haase, Dagmar, Kabisch, Madja, and Haase, Annegret. (2013) Endless urban growth? On the mismatch of population, household andurban land area growth and its effects on the urban debate. PLoS ONE 8(6), 1-8. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0066531.

Hezri, A. A. (2013). Broadening the environmental dimension in the post-2015 development agenda. IDS Bulletin, 44(5-6), 81-88. doi:10.1111/1759-5436.12060

Mitchell, R. B. (2012). Technology is not enough: Climate change, population, affluence, and consumption. Journal of Environment & Development, 21(1), 24-27. doi:10.1177/1070496511435670

Newman, K., Fisher, S., Mayhew, S., & Stephenson, J. (2014). Population, sexual and reproductive health, rights and sustainable development: Forging a common agenda. Reproductive Health Matters, 22(43), 53-64. doi:10.1016/S0968-8080(14)43770-4

Prasad, R. (2013). Population growth, food shortages and ways to alleviate hunger. Current Science (00113891), 105(1), 32-36.

Rickman, D.S. & Rickman, S.D. (2011) Population growth in high-amenity nonmetropolitan areas: What's the prognosis? Journal of Regional Science 51(5):863-879. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9787.2011.00734.x.

Wang, H., Hashimoto, S., Moriguchi, Y., Yue, Q., & Lu, Z. (2012). Resource use in growing china. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 16(4), 481-492. doi:10.1111/j.1530-9290.2012.00484.x

Wyman, R. J. (2013). The effects of population on the depletion of fresh water. Population and Development Review, 39(4), 687-704. doi:10.1111/j.1728-4457.2013.00634.x

Additional Resources - Urbanization

Agudelo-Vera, C., Mels, A., Keesman, K., & Rijnaarts, H. (2012). The urban harvest approach as an aid for sustainable urban resource planning. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 16(6), 839-850. doi:10.1111/j.1530-9290.2012.00561.x

Boschken, H. L. (2013). Global cities are coastal cities too: Paradox in sustainability? Urban Studies, 50(9), 1760-1778. doi:10.1177/0042098012462612

Bugliarello, G. (2008). The engineering challenges of urban sustainability. Journal of Urban Technology, 15(1), 53-83. doi:10.1080/10630730802097781

Cao, G.Y., Chen, G., Pang, L.H., Zheng, W.Y. & Nilsson, S. (2012) Urban growth in China: past, prospect, and its impacts. Population & Environ 33:137-160 DOI 10.1007/s11111-011-0140-6

Cui, X., Fang, C., Liu, H. & Liu, X. (2016) Assessing sustainability of urbanizatiaon by a coordinated development index for an Urbanization-Resources-Environment complex system: A case study of Jing-Jin_Ji region, China. Ecological Indicators 96(1): 383-391. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2018.09.009.

De la Vega-Leinert, A.C., Nolasco, M. A., & Stoll-Kleemann, S. (2012). UNESCO biosphere reserves in an urbanized world. Environment, 54(1), 26-37. doi:10.1080/00139157.2012.639603