Peqod :: Classes - Columbia University Catalog of Classes

The elective "Open Source Intelligence: Research for Conflict Analysis"

course is designed to introduce students to key practical insights, tips, and professional skills necessary for any successful conflict resolution practitioner. In this course, students will be required to practically apply some of the tools and techniques of NECR, and appreciate the importance of combining and reformulating the basic NECR concepts in order to serve their exact needs in the field.

Through this course, students have the opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom, learn additional practical research skills, and adjust them to their own very specific professional aspirations in the field. This course also helps students strategize their next professional steps in the field in a concise, methodical way.

It is important to keep in mind that the Conflict Resolution field at large is quite diverse, and our students have unique backgrounds and future aspirations. Therefore, this course is customized in coordination with each student during 1-on-1 sessions that take place at the beginning of the semester, in order for each student to be working on something that is clear, and has practical value for his/her very specific professional interests.

As with many things in life, proactiveness, creativity, and an entrepreneurial spirit are keys to success for our very challenging field. Each student will be having a required 1-on-1 session with the instructor, where the instructor will help the student explore ways to creatively strategize their next professional steps as practitioners and also develop the instructions for the final paper that match the needs of the student.

Overall, the goal is to provide students with an enriching, personal experience that helps them rethink their role as practitioners and strategize better their short/ long term goals in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution.

Department: Negotiation & Conflict Resolution
SU 9 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
Instructor: Nikolas Katsimpras
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1 points

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NECR PS5250

Building a Sustainable Detroit: A Case

Once known as the arsenal of Democracy, the birthplace of the automobile assembly line, and the model city of America, 21st Century Detroit was emblematic of deindustrialization, decay, and insolvency. Following the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history, Detroit is now being reframed in both local and national media as a comeback city with opportunity and possibility for all - urban pioneers, global investors, a creative class of new professionals, and suburbanites seeking a return to urban grit.

Despite these narratives, Detroit remains highly segregated - racially, geographically, economically, and socially. While downtown is prospering, neighborhoods are still largely blighted and contaminated with legacy uses that remain unremediated. Over 30,000 houses and other structures have been demolished in the past 8 years, a process that is under-regulated and contributes to both environmental and infrastructure harm. To the extent new investments are improving the condition of housing and infrastructure in some strategic areas, these investments are displacing long term residents who remain at risk of eviction or foreclosure from their homes. Detroit remains one of the poorest big city in America and the poverty that remains is seemingly intractable. At present, only 36% of residents earn a living wage.

Detroit’s present condition is rooted in a protracted history of racist laws, policies, and practices that deny full citizenship to Black Detroiters, undermine Democracy, and position the city as a poor colony within a thriving metropolis. Racism has disfigured the social, physical and economic landscape of Detroit to produce profound levels of neglect, abuse, and exploitation of its residents, resulting in wealth extraction, housing insecurity, healthy food and water scarcity, educational malpractice, and environmental destruction, all within the framework of wealth attraction, tax incentives, subsidized growth and capital accumulation in the greater downtown.

Through this course, we will examine the thesis that sustainability and racism cannot co-exist; that sustainability is rooted in inclusive social wellbeing now and in future generations, whereas racism is rooted in hoarding of power and resources for one dominant group. This hoarding of resources for a favored population impairs preservation for future generations. Furthermore, environmental racism disconnects the consequences of environmental destruction from its beneficiari

Department: Auditing
T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
Instructor: Donna Givens Davidson
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0 points

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SUMA PS5250

Building a Sustainable Detroit: A Case

Department: Sustainability Management
T 6:10 p.m.-8 p.m.
Instructor: Donna Givens Davidson
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3 points

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SUMA PS5250

Fundamentals of Economic and Financial I

Course Overview

Investors in residential and commercial real estate, those in infrastructure and supply-chain, to name a few examples, are exposed to risks of flooding, droughts and forest fires as a consequence of the reverberations of climate change on environmental factors and weather. Such risks are higher for stakeholders with properties close to the coast or in regions where drought and forest fires are increasing (e.g., the Western U.S.) as well as for financial institutions that finance their purchases and hold their securities. Risks associated with sea level rise, flooding, inundation and other extreme events have generally not been properly assessed nor quantified and it is currently hard for investors to assess the risks that they now face, and will face in the future, from climate change. Moreover, the consequences of climate change go beyond the financial and economic ones, as in the case of climate justice, in which the social cost of the climate change impacts is paid by those who are the least responsible and that are the most vulnerable from a socio-economic perspective.

The course will focus on fundamentals on economic and financial impacts of climate change. We will discuss the major impacts of climate change from a financial and climate perspective. This work will be spread throughout the semester through presentations by the teacher, guest speakers and in-class discussions from the readings. The class will also focus on specific topics for the required final project. Students will be able to use the SEPHER dataset, developed at Lamont and focusing on real estate, socio-vulnerability of people exposed to climate change impacts, with emphasis on racial issues, economic wealth and phenomena such as climate gentrification and housing. The students will be exposed to the dataset at the beginning of the course and will be taught how to visualize the data without any computer science knowledge.

Students will explore the state of the art of current literature on the topics described above and discuss in class about the most updated findings and their economic drivers or implications. Then, students will be exposed to the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) to map quantities of interest using SEPHER 2.0. With this powerful and yet simple tool, students will be able to visualize variables to analyze maps to develop ideas and support hypothesis integration and growth. The students will be exposed to training when they will be doing practical hands-on exercises to create