Ecosystemic urbanism will be an interdisciplinary, practice-oriented course that situates cities within broader socio-ecological systems. This course will enable students to critically examine urban design and development through the lens of ecological thinking, focusing on the interactions between people, place, politics, and planetary systems. Students will be provoked into challenging the assumptions about cities such as: the question of what constitutes the 'urban' and challenge binaries that the separation of land use and transport urban from rural, human from non-human, and the built form from the natural. Learners will explore the political-ecological power dynamics be provided with tools that will enable them to shaping urban spaces, with attention to how biodiversity, green and blue infrastructure influence urban sustainability and resilience. A central component of the course is problem-based learning, encouraging students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to collaboratively map and compare urban settings across different geographies - such as local neighborhoods in Barcelona, Melbourne and urban contexts in Vietnam. Using case studies and tools such as ecological mapping, students will engage with and understand how integrative frameworks that shape mobility and design can translate into better outcomes for biodiversity and nature such as including Salvador Rueda's Urban Ecology model to critically examine food systems, nutrition, infrastructure, biodiversity, and climate resilience, in line with the ecological urbanism developed by Salvador Rueda. The course will also explore opportunities for hands-on, nature-based learning and community-led actions as catalysts for transformative change.

The course will also explore how scalable, context-specific practices can address global challenges, including climate change, social inequality, and ecological degradation. Through place-based investigations and critical reflections, students will gain hands-on as well as critical skills to foster regenerative urban futures.