InTeGrate Modules and Courses >Coastal Processes, Hazards and Society > Student Materials > Section 3: Coastal Engineering, Mitigation and Societal Response to Coastal Hazards > Module 9: Smart Building > Early Smart Building
InTeGrate's Earth-focused Modules and Courses for the Undergraduate Classroom
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These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
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These student materials complement the Coastal Processes, Hazards and Society Instructor Materials. If you would like your students to have access to the student materials, we suggest you either point them at the Student Version which omits the framing pages with information designed for faculty (and this box). Or you can download these pages in several formats that you can include in your course website or local Learning Managment System. Learn more about using, modifying, and sharing InTeGrate teaching materials.

Early Smart Building

The concept of smart building or building with nature is not new. Early settlers, cities, and communities living along river banks, deltas and along coastlines have adopted their lifestyle to the pulsing and cyclic forces of nature. From fluctuating sea levels, to seasonal flooding, to storm flows, these communities slowly built resilience and developed methods to help them withstand the elements to maintain a way of life. Communities were founded or expanded along high ground, evacuated low laying areas in river valleys during floods, fled during storms, or learned to live with water, creating floating early infrastructures. We will now explore some basic early smart building approaches by visiting low lying and delta communities in the United States, the Netherlands and the Mekong Delta in southwestern Vietnam.


These materials are part of a collection of classroom-tested modules and courses developed by InTeGrate. The materials engage students in understanding the earth system as it intertwines with key societal issues. The collection is freely available and ready to be adapted by undergraduate educators across a range of courses including: general education or majors courses in Earth-focused disciplines such as geoscience or environmental science, social science, engineering, and other sciences, as well as courses for interdisciplinary programs.
Explore the Collection »