The course is intended to introduce students to the interaction between the human and natural environment, focusing on how the anthropogenic activities have altered the natural environment, and provide an overview on the emerging science of sustainability. This course will identify the impacts associated with resource consumption and environmental pollution, and present the quantitative tools necessary for assessing environmental impacts and design for sustainability. At the end of the course, the students are expected to be cognizant about the concept of sustainability, the metrics of sustainability and be able to use the principles of sustainability to further the development of sustainable communities.   In addition, this course addresses two very pertinent topics related to sustainable communities: (1) This course particularly addresses topics and concepts related to the ‘social’ aspects of sustainability, an often-overlooked aspect. However, this is a critical need in developing and/or promoting sustainable communities and this course can help. (2) This course introduces the students to analytical tools (e.g. agent-based modeling) that they can use to account for complexities in dynamic-adaptive systems, another crucial need for sustainable communities.