United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Fellowship
Setting the Ecological Stage for Cities: The Human Ecological Footprint
Mike Smith-Cairns, Langara College (BC, Canada)
Kevin Gibbons, Montgomery College (Maryland)
2021-2022
Introduction:
You are a part of a collegewide effort to increase access to education and empower students
through "open pedagogy." Open pedagogy is a "free access" educational practice that places you
- the student - at the center of your own learning process in a more engaging, collaborative
learning environment. The ultimate purpose of this effort is to achieve greater social justice in
our community in which the work can be freely shared with the broader community. This is a
renewable assignment that is designed to enable you to become an agent of change in your
community through the framework of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). For this work, you will integrate the disciplines of Geography and Anthropology to
achieve SDG #11: Sustainable Cities and Communities Target 11.3; Target 11.6; Target 11.b
Target 11.3; Target 11.6; Target 11.b

Learning Objectives:
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•
•
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To become aware of the vulnerabilities that face our cities today.
To understand sustainability at the ecological level and discuss eco-footprints and
biocapacities at a global, regional, and municipal level.
To discuss the global footprint network and compare Vancouver’s ecological footprint to
other cities across Canada.
To analyze the relevant city data and develop responses to the ecological overshoot we
currently live in.

Purpose/Rationale:
Cities face unprecedented challenges to their functional integrity, even survival. This exercise will
allow students to understand the vulnerabilities facing our cities today. To assure the
sustainability of cities, we need better understanding of cities as ecological entities subject to
biophysical laws. This knowledge will prove useful when analyzing our ecological footprint at the
local level and how our connection to the land matters for building resilient and sustainable cities.

“All human populations are competing for the productive capacity (biocapacity) of the earth” –
William Reese
“Setting the ecological stage in the context of urban growth recognizes the gross overconsumption of humans today and how the environment has paid the ultimate price.” – William
Reese

Instructions:
To ecologists, the urban ecosystem consists of the coming together of non-human species within
the city and how these species have adapted to the structural and chemical characteristic of the
built environment. In other words, how the natural systems function within our cities.
The Ecological Footprint (EF) measure is a key benchmark from which potential data-driven
solutions can be made in responding to the vulnerabilities of cities today. Your task will be to
think like an urban ecologist and utilize the EF to assess climate change mitigation in Vancouver
and other Canadian cities.
To begin,
Watch
A short presentation by Dr. William Reese explaining climate crisis, ecology, and future scenarios
for Vancouver and cities across the globe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0uNkn3KCMg
Read
A short article from the Journal of Cleaner Production
https://d2l.langara.bc.ca/d2l/common/viewFile.d2lfile/Database/MzM1ODYzOA/Urban%20Ecol
ogical%20Footprint%20Activity.pdf?ou=182182
Analyze
The Federal Government’s plan to reduce emissions
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/environment/weather/climatechange/climate-plan/reduceemissions.html
Use the above resources to respond to the following questions (approx. 1,000 words for all
questions).
1.
2.

Why do cities play a key role in mitigating the impacts of climate change?
Why is the ecological footprint measure useful when trying to understand the environmental
risks facing cities today?

3.
4.

5.

6.

7.

In his lecture, Reese discusses “de-growth” as possible way forward to combat the collapse
of global civilization. What might that look like for Canadian cities? For Vancouver?
How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Discuss.
“Collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate of
depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a
reasonably equitable fashion.” - NASA
Based on the article from the Journal of Cleaner Production, how does Vancouver compare
with other Canadian cities? Why do the prairie cities (Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon,
Regina) have such a high carbon footprint compared to other cities in the country? Do you
think this will change in the future?
Based on the Federal Government’s plan for reducing emissions, do you think the
government is doing enough? Is their approach “business as usual” or a well-planned
orderly and cooperative descent toward a socially just sustainability for all? Or perhaps
somewhere in between?
In your mind, what would be the key next steps for urban sustainability? Think big (i.e. at a
global scale) but apply your ideas locally to our city, Vancouver.

Format Requirements:
Please create a PDF of your responses and submit them to Brightspace in the appropriate folder.

Setting the Ecological Stage for Cities: The Human Ecological Footprint is licensed by Mike
Smith-Cairns, Langara College (BC, Canada) and Kevin Gibbons, Montgomery College
(Maryland) under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY)