Sustainability and Social Justice
Training Sustainable Development Practitioners to Interrogate and Dismantle Systemic Racism as a Co-Creative Enterprise
Document Type
Book Chapter
Abstract
Sustainable development and climate-change adaptation/resilience-building are arguably the most pressing challenges of the 21st century. This chapter addresses the question: How do we train future practitioners in antiracism, as a guiding principle of sustainability in an upper-level course entitled “Sustainable Development Assessment & Planning (SDAP)”. The chapter highlights the tools and methods of system dynamics modeling (SDM), traditionally a tool of natural scientists and engineers, but with exciting potential to be inclusive, integrative, and collaborative. It describes, pedagogically, how students were guided to apply SDM to real-world case study projects that they chose and offers examples of students’ social injustice modeling and social-ecological system modeling, alongside some critical reflections to guide future teaching and research in the field of sustainable development. © 2026 selection and editorial matter, Jie Y. Park and Laurie Ross; individual chapters, the contributors.
Publication Title
Towards a Community of Antiracist Praxis in Higher Education: Transformative Principles, Practices, and Resources for the Classroom
Publication Date
1-2025
First Page
138
Last Page
154
ISBN
9781032744346
DOI
10.4324/9781003472087-7
Keywords
antiracism, teaching, curricula, higher education
Repository Citation
Downs, Timothy, "Training Sustainable Development Practitioners to Interrogate and Dismantle Systemic Racism as a Co-Creative Enterprise" (2025). Sustainability and Social Justice. 579.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_idce/579
