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Principles & Fundamentals of Sustainable Design MOOC

Would you like to learn how to think about sustainability as a holistic and interconnected approach to design? Would you like to gain a deeper foundation and use powerful frameworks for sustainable design?

Would you like to study the climatic context and technological drivers for sustainable design in the 21st century?

A Free Course Offered by the College of Architecture & the Built Environment

Experience Jefferson’s award-winning MS in Sustainable Design program with our free Principles & Fundamentals of Sustainable Design course. This is an introductory course perfect for people who are interested in getting involved in sustainable design. Advanced standing of 3-credits in the MS in Sustainable Design program can be earned for those who successfully complete the course and enroll in the full degree program for Fall 2026 or Spring 2027. Others who successfully complete the course but who do not enroll in the program will receive a certificate of completion. This course is not available for students enrolled prior to the Fall 2026 semester. 

This course runs from May 11 – July 31, 2026. The last day to register is Friday, May 8. For more information email sustainabledesign@jefferson.edu.

Please follow the registration instructions you will receive in the confirmation email to complete your registration.

Register Here

About the Course

In this twelve-week course, students will learn how sustainability is a cultural phenomenon that is reshaping the way architects, engineers, designers and planners approach the built environment. This lecture/seminar course will explore changes in culture over the years that have led to the formation and adoption of contemporary sustainable design practices, technologies and processes. Current aspects of sustainability addressing cultural, ecological, economic and experiential forces will be explored. Frameworks, rating systems, economic viability, social equity, ecological regeneration and emerging sustainable design influences including bio-inspired design, resilience and health and well-being will be examined. A final case study and essay will complete the course.

Because this free course can qualify for college credit, it will be taught as a full college level course with learning objectives and assignments. It will be delivered as an asynchronous online course with live interaction with the Jefferson faculty several times during the course.

Course Outline & Schedule

Class begins the week of May 11

  • Week 1: Introduction & Context for Sustainability: What is sustainable design and a brief historical context of human development and long-term thinking
  • Week 2: Environmental Literacy: Basic review of Air, Water, Earth, Energy, Life, Climate Change and the Built Environment’s Role
  • Week 3: Motivations for Sustainability: Define sustainability values and examine Cognitive Empathy as the way forward.  
  • Week 4: Integral Sustainable Design: Synthesize sustainability values into holistic frameworks for sustainable design
  • Week 5: Bio-inspired Design: Identify emerging sustainable design influences of Biophilia and Biomimicry in sustainable design
  • Week 6: Resilience & Adaptability: Identify emerging sustainable design influences of resilience and adaptation in sustainable design
  • Week 7: Health & Wellbeing: Identify emerging sustainable design influences of health and well-being in sustainable design
  • Week 8: Integrative Design: Discover integrative design practices that are influencing and promoting collaborative work environments and change management strategies
  • Week 9: Global & Urban Scale Sustainable Design: Identify strategies for applying sustainable design principles at the global & urban scales
  • Week 10: Site & Building Scale Sustainable Design: Identify strategies for applying sustainable design principles at the site & building scales
  • Week 11: Human Scale Sustainable Design & How to be a agent for change: Identify strategies for applying sustainable design principles at the human scale & how to make an impact in your sphere of influence
  • Week 12: Final Project Due

Syllabus

Download Course Syllabus (PDF) Example

Faculty

Saglinda H. Roberts

Saglinda is an assistant professor in the Masters of Sustainable Design program at Jefferson. She has over 30 years of extensive professional experience in a broad range of project typologies and has won numerous local and AIA design awards. Her focused research is on the importance of applying a multiple perspective analysis methodology to the sustainable design process that examines the occupant, societal, ecological, cultural, and aesthetic needs along with the performative goals of a project. She has published several textbooks books and articles on this design approach and has presented her research internationally. Her design work focuses on bridging the gap between traditional aesthetics and restorative, comprehensive, integral sustainable design.

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