Course Name:  PH 30195 Protecting Environmental Health in Europe and the United States: Lessons from Florence

Course Description: Since at least the 1990’s, the European Union (EU) has established environmental standards that apply to and are supplemented by its Member States and the jurisdictions lying within them, including the City of Florence in Italy (Italy is an EU Member State). In the United States (US), the federal government establishes environmental standards that apply to and are supplemented by states and by cities that lie within them. While the EU is a supra-national entity and the US is a nation-state, they both use federal governance structures that have enabled scholars and professionals to compare their policy challenges, governance arrangements, public policies, and environmental management practices . In this course, students will compare environmental problems and public policies in the EU and the US, using Florence Italy and a comparably sized city in the US as illustrative cases (the US comparison city(ies) have not yet been determined, but Cleveland, Ohio and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania are good candidates). After reviewing perspectives regarding ways in which human beings interact with their physical environments, students will compare environmental challenges, governing institutions and actors, policymaking processes, and environmental health policies in the United States and Europe, with particular focus on Florence, Italy. Environmental problems, issues, governance arrangements, and policies in Florence will illuminate approaches taken in Europe and will be compared to situations in Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and/or other appropriate city(ies) in the US. Students will gain an appreciation for environmental challenges facing Europeans and individuals in the US, as well as the varying ways these challenges can and are being addressed.

Credit Hours: 3

Prerequisites: None