Sustainable Property Management

Dr. Erin Hopkins developed the open textbook, Sustainable Property Management, plus ancillaries for PM 3674 - Property Management Operations, a growing and required course for two undergraduate majors and a minor in two different departments at Virginia Tech. The 100-150 page text focuses holistically on green real estate management by incorporating the human and social elements of managing green buildings as well as the green buildings themselves. Written for upper-divisional undergraduates and graduate students, four other higher education institutions including two in Virginia expressed interest in adopting or reviewing the resource for adoption. Sustainable Property Management promises to have a national impact in education and industry: few openly licensed course materials exist for real estate; none exist for property management or green buildings. The text links ecological sustainability to real estate and property management -- inherently placed-based disciplines with diversity and inclusion ramifications.