Sustainability is one of the most powerful, ethics-driven concepts ever to take hold in the marketplace. Nevertheless, this concept is often so vague in discourse and uncritical in practice that it is hard to distinguish truly sustainable development practices from greenwashing. In the face of climate change, it is evermore important to understand the impacts different types of development practices have on our globe and its inhabitants. This course will consider the history, theory, and practice of sustainable design and development, with a focus on how the tensions of economy, ecology, and equity play out in practice. Sustainability will be considered as a socio-technical paradigm having both political and physical manifestations. Critical case studies of innovative practice models (e.g. ecodistricts, urban agriculture, green infrastructure, living buildings, adaptive reuse) and methods (e.g. charrettes, sustainability indicators, life cycle analysis, regulatory frameworks) will inform our discussions. Students will be empowered to consider the implications of various practical applications of sustainability for both human and nonhuman actors, and to develop their interdisciplinary working and creative problem solving skills to help address current and future sustainability challenges.