Lauren Neefe
ENGL 1102
Summer 2018

This course in multimedia rhetoric is part of the summer iGniTe SLS program in sustainability. Working from the premise that social equity and communal equity are integral to sustainable futures, the course asserts the importance of sound to our experience of the spaces we live in. It further posits that sound powerfully communicates who belongs in a place or space and who does not, even when that space is designated as public or shared. We will give special attention to spaces in and around Georgia Tech. An initial unit builds our vocabulary for identifying and analyzing sounds, silence, and modes of listening in the spaces we move through and inhabit. The remainder of the class will be devoted to applying these concepts to studying and researching the university’s Living Building (Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design, under construction at the corner of Ferst Drive and State Street) and the Proctor Creek Greenway, to the west off campus. Through a number of individual and group activities, from listening walks and participatory design to documentary field recording and building interactive tours, we will identify specific issues of sound and equity that address the Equity Petal of the Living Building Challenge. In a final reflective portfolio, you will assemble individual artifacts and process documents as evidence to support an argument that you have achieved selected course objectives.

Course Type
Course Level
Partner Engagement