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Understanding Housing and the Sustainable Development Goals

 

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Curriculum Level: 6-8

By Sean Wheat from Oberlin Magnet Middle School

OVERVIEW OF LESSON: A new mixed-use community is being developed next to our school. This will increase the number of dwellings within the footprint. The overall goal is to analyze what are the elements of adequate housing and how those elements relate to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Then we will examine how the community has changed over time and how the new development will impact the community.  This lesson directly relates to SDG 1: No Poverty, 3: Good Health and Well-Being, 5: Gender Equality, 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and 13: Climate Action.

SUGGESTED GRADE LEVEL: 8th

SUBJECT: Global Studies

CORRESPONDING NATIONAL AND/OR STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA STANDARDS:
NC Social Studies Standards

I.1.3: Analyze details, central ideas, and inferences from sources using discipline-specific strategies.

I.1.4: Assess the credibility of primary and secondary sources using the origin, authority, structure, credibility, reliability, and context of the sources to guide the selection.

I.1.10: Identify challenges and opportunities created in addressing local, state, tribal, regional, national, and/or global issues.

I.1.11: Use a range of civic approaches to address problems being investigated.

8.E.1.1: Explain how economic growth and decline have positively and negatively impacted individuals, groups, communities, and businesses in North Carolina and the nation.

8.G.1.2: Explain how location, resources, and human geography have influenced the development of North Carolina and the nation.

8.G.1.3: Explain how location and human geography have presented opportunities and challenges for the movement of people, goods, and ideas in North Carolina and the nation.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

  • How do the elements of adequate housing link to the Sustainable Development Goals?
  • How do the Sustainable Development Goals link to housing?
  • How does new construction impact the Sustainable Development Goals and our community?
  • How has the area around our school changed over time?

LESSON OBJECTIVES:

  1. Students will be able to research and analyze community maps over time.
  2. Students will be able to explore city government websites.
  3. Students will learn how real-world, local situations link to the SDGs.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR THE EDUCATOR or RESOURCES TO EXPLORE FURTHER: Depending on the size of the community, research city government websites for information on local planning and development requirements. For Raleigh, NC and this lesson, share the following links via learning management system (LMS) prior to class:

SPECIFIC STUDENT STRATEGIES & ACTIVITIES:

Day One

  1. Warm up: Utilizing Jamboard, Whiteboard, etc. ask students what they think are the most important elements of adequate housing and have them provide responses. Discuss / review responses (10 mins)
  2. What are the elements of adequate housing and how do they relate to the SDGs:
    1. Explain how the ability to own property or a home is listed as a human right (Article 17).
    2. On board list the 7 elements of adequate housing with simplified explanation and review (10 mins)
      1. Security of Tenure – No forced evictions
      2. Availability of Services – heat, light, clean water, sanitation, etc
      3. Affordability – is it too expensive?
      4. Habitability – Protection from the elements
      5. Accessibility – those w/ special needs
      6. Location – to jobs/schools/from pollution
      7. Cultural Adequacy – respects differing cultures
  3. What does housing have to do with the SDGs? Do they see links between the two?
  4. Explain almost all SDGs are either directly, indirectly or integrally related.  (If necessary, explain integral – necessary to make a whole complete; essential or fundamental; “games are an integral part of the school’s curriculum”.
  5. Some SDGs that link to housing are SDGs 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11 and 13. Utilizing the habitat.org website on Housing and the Sustainable Development Goals, create a text mapping scroll. The scroll will consist of pages 9-13 and 17.  Prior to class, or have students create their own, tape the pages together horizontally to make the scroll. Create enough copies so students can work in groups of 2-4, depending on the size of the class.
  6. Pass out a blank Housing SDG Scroll Worksheet to each student and review the worksheet with class. Explain that working in groups of 2-4, students will divide up the pages/SDGs among group members and follow the instructions regarding the different colors to highlight. As members of each group complete their section, they will share/discuss what they learned with the other group members, as per a jigsaw (https://jigsaw.org/#overview). After small groups have completed the worksheet, teacher can query the whole class regarding additional responses to certain questions they may have thought about. (25 mins)

Day Two

    1. Warm-up: Remind students of the new housing development under construction in our local area. Question: Has the construction site impacted our school or the surrounding community? In what ways? (Road closures, morning carpool, new sewer/water lines, new firehouse are examples) (5 min)
    2. Explain projects like this are filed with city governments and accessible to all. Review the development plans from the link “https://cityofraleigh0drupal.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/drupal-prod/COR15/SUB-0054-2020.pdf” with the class.  Provide them time to explore the different parts of the plans. Be sure to highlight General Notes 14, 15, 17, 18 and 20. What SDG would these General Notes fall under? (10 mins)
    3. Question: People lived in the apartments (built in the 1940s) that used to be there. It was considered somewhat affordable housing in downtown Raleigh. Where did they go? Understand that sometimes a new development may have some negative impacts. Play video from local news (5 mins): https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/wake-county-news/redevelopment-plans-in-downtown-raleigh-bring-up-housing-concerns-developers-offer-help/
    4. Question: How has our community changed over time? When did the area we are in become part of Raleigh.
    5. Utilizing Annexation map, “https://cityofraleigh0drupal.blob.core.usgovcloudapi.net/drupal-prod/COR21/AnnexationHistoryMedium.pdf” work with students to find our location and when it became part of Raleigh. (5 mins) Using the same map, have students find their neighborhood and determine when it became part of Raleigh. If necessary, have students Google their address and use Google Maps to identify geographic markers. (10 mins)
    6. Summarize: Hand out the Housing Day 2 Exit Ticket for students to write on the back of the paper. Based on yesterday’s text map and the web sites covered today, have students write 1-2 sentences on the relationship between housing and the SDGs. Review some responses and how the SDGs impact housing, the elements of adequate housing, and how they are related. Remind students these impacts to the SDGs happen in our local community, not just in other parts of the world. (10 mins)
    7. Exit Ticket: Have students complete Housing Day 2 Exit Ticket (10 mins)
      1. Which SDG is incorporated into the plans for new housing? What is an example?
      2. When did your neighborhood/home become part of the city?
      3. Explain how three SDGs link to housing, two positively and one potentially negatively.

ASSESSMENTS: Exit ticket, worksheet

LEARNING EXTENSION:  Design a poster/infographic showing the links between housing and the SDGs.

Make a plan with students to participate in World Habitat Day.

MATERIALS:

Housing SDG Scroll Worksheet (Student)

Housing SDG Scroll Worksheet (Teacher)

Day 2 Exit Ticket

REFERENCES:

CBS17. Redevelopment plans in downtown Raleigh bring up housing concerns; developers offer help [Video file]. (2021, April 8). Retrieved from https://www.cbs17.com/

Habitat for Humanity. (2021, August). Housing and the Sustainable Development Goals. https://www.habitat.org/sites/default/files/documents/Solid-Ground-SDG_booklet-update-2021.pdf

United Nations. The Human Right to Adequate Housing. https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-housing/human-right-adequate-housing

World View, a public service program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, equips K-12 and community college educators with global knowledge, best practices and resources to prepare students to engage in our interconnected and diverse world.

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