About the Program
Sustainable Design implies making decisions at various scales of the built environment (buildings, communities, land use patterns, urban support systems) in ways that support environmental quality, social equity, and economic vitality. The undergraduate minor in Sustainable Design is jointly offered by the Department of Architecture and the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning but also includes interdisciplinary courses across campus. The minor is open to all majors at UC Berkeley.
Students interested in pursuing this course of study at the major level should consider the Sustainable Environmental Design program.
Declaring the Minor
A letter grade of C- or higher in ENV DES 1, LD ARCH 1, or LD ARCH 12 (or a 3 or higher in AP Env Sci) is required to declare the minor. To declare, students must submit the CED Request to Add Minor Form, available on the CED website. When completing the final requirements for the minor, submit the CED Minor Completion Form.
General Information
Websites: Department of Architecture, Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, Sustainable Environmental Design Major, Sustainable Design Minor
Minor Requirements
Students who have a strong interest in an area of study outside their major often decide to complete a minor program. When completing their final requirements for the minor, students must submit the CED Minor Completion Form, available on the CED website.
General Guidelines
- A letter grade of C- or higher in ENV DES 1, LD ARCH 1, or LD ARCH 12 (or a 3 or higher in AP Env Sci) is required to declare the minor. To declare, submit the CED Request to Add Minor Form, available on the CED website.
- Each course used to fulfill minor requirements must be completed with a letter grade of C- or above.
- Students must earn a 2.0 GPA in the upper division requirements for the minor.
- Any course used in fulfillment of minor requirements may also be used to fulfill major and upper division CED non-major requirements.
- Courses used to fulfill a breadth requirement may also be used to satisfy minor requirements.
- Students may apply the non-CED version of a CED cross-listed course towards the minor.
- Students may use up to two courses taken abroad to fulfill upper division minor requirements, with faculty approval of the individual courses.
Requirements
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| Lower Division (a letter grade of C- or higher is required to declare the minor) | ||
| Select one course from the following: | ||
AP Environmental Science, Passing Score of 3, 4, or 5 | ||
| Introduction to Environmental Design [3] | ||
| Drawing a Green Future: Fundamentals of Visual Representation and Creativity [4] | ||
| Environmental Science for Sustainable Development [4] | ||
| Upper Division (Five Courses) | ||
| Select five courses from the following; a minimum of two courses must be selected from CED courses and a minimum of two courses selected from non-CED courses | ||
CED Courses | ||
| Deep Green Design [4] | ||
| Energy and Environment [4] | ||
| Special Topics in Energy and Environment [1-4] 1 | ||
| Special Topics in Construction Materials [1-4] 1 | ||
| Advanced Study of Energy and Environment [3] | ||
| Research Methods in Building Sciences [3] | ||
| Sustainability Colloquium [2] 2 | ||
or ARCH 142 | Sustainability Colloquium | |
| Natural Cooling: Sustainable Design for a Warming Planet [3] | ||
| The Secret Life of Buildings [3] | ||
| Daylighting [3] | ||
| Special Topics in the Physical Environment in Buildings [1-4] 1 | ||
| Introduction to Urban and Regional Transportation [3] | ||
| Urbanization in Developing Countries [4] | ||
| Planning for Sustainability [3] | ||
| Urban Design: City-Building and Place-Making [3] | ||
| Sustainable Communities [3] 4 | ||
| Healthy Cities [3] 4 | ||
| Critical Debates in Sustainable Urbanism [3] | ||
| Design Frameworks [3] | ||
| Deep Green Design [4] | ||
| Directed Group Study [2-4] (Building Sustainabilty section and Leadership in Sustainable Design section) 2 | ||
| Energy, Fantasy, and Form [5] | ||
| Ecological Analysis [3] | ||
| Plants in Design [3] | ||
| Hydrology for Planners [4] | ||
| Sustainable Landscapes and Cities [3] | ||
| Geographic Information Systems [4] | ||
Non-CED Courses | ||
| Energy, Culture and Social Organization [4] | ||
| Introduction to Hydrology [3] | ||
| Climate Change Mitigation [3] | ||
| Ecological Engineering for Water Quality Improvement [3] | ||
| Technologies for Sustainable Societies [1] 3 | ||
| Energy and Society [4] | ||
| Ecology and Society [3] | ||
| Quantitative Aspects of Global Environmental Problems [4] | ||
| Water and Development [4] | ||
| Seminar in Energy and Resources Issues [3] ("Behavior and Sustainability" or "California Water and Society") | ||
| Microeconomic Theory with Application to Natural Resources [4] | ||
| Environmental Economics [4] | ||
| Natural Resource Economics [4] | ||
| Economics of Water Resources [3] | ||
| The Economics of Climate Change [4] | ||
ENV SCI 125 | Course Not Available [3] | |
| Resource Management [4] | ||
| Climate and Energy Policy [3] (Behavior and Sustainability ) | ||
| Urban Garden Ecosystems [4] | ||
| Landscape Ecology [3] | ||
| Society, Environment, and Culture [4] | ||
| Sociology and Political Ecology of Agro-Food Systems [4] | ||
| Environmental Philosophy and Ethics [4] | ||
| Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Equity, and the Environment [4] | ||
| Natural Resource Policy and Indigenous Peoples [4] | ||
| Environmental Health and Development [4] | ||
| Political Ecology [4] | ||
| International Environmental Politics [4] | ||
| Environmental Education [3] | ||
| Food and the Environment [4] | ||
| Global Environmental Politics [4] | ||
| Challenge Lab [4] (Smart Cities in India) | ||
| Environmental Toxicology [4] | ||
| Environment and Technology from the Policy and Business Perspective [4] | ||
| 1 | Special topics courses will be evaluated each semester by student request. Please ask the relevant staff adviser if a course has been reviewed and/or approved. ARCH 149, ARCH 169, and ARCH 249 should be minimum 2 units. |
| 2 | The ARCH 242 colloquium and ENV DES 198 may only count as a third CED course, and may be taken Pass/No Pass for either 1 or 2 units. |
| 3 | CIV ENG 292A may only count as a third non-CED course. |
| 4 | Only with instructor approval for students in their senior year. |