Dit vak wordt alleen in het Engels aangeboden.
Admission requirements
This course is part of the Bachelor Honours Programme Sustainability (Leiden-Delft-Erasmus) and is therefore only open to students that are enrolled in this programme. Students take both courses of the programme (Fundamentals and Challenge) in the same academic year.
Topics
Sustainability, systems thinking, environmental change, transitions, design of sustainable interventions, climate governance
Disciplines
Sustainability, environmental science, economics, policy science, urban studies, sociology, governance
Skills
- Analysing
- Oral communication
- Written communication
- Presenting
- Societal awareness
- Reflecting
- Independent learning
Number of students
Minimum of 45 and maximum 50.
Description
This seminar series introduces you to key topics in sustainability research and thereby provides you with insights that will prepare you for working on the LDE Sustainability Challenge. There will be three main sections: 1) foundations of sustainability and systems thinking, 2) system transitions and environmental change, and 3) practical options for addressing sustainability issues and challenges.
In interactive seminars, experts from the three universities, as well as invited guest speakers, will provide you with the necessary insights to start working on the LDE Sustainability Challenge.
Assessments will be based on developing the understanding of environmental and social systems, examining how systems undergo transitions, and what options we have for interventions to make systems more sustainable.
Course objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
Apply systems thinking to analyse sustainability challenges.
Assess how interventions can support sustainable and just transitions.
Explain key considerations in the design of interventions aimed to support sustainable system transitions.
Apply tools to design interventions aimed to support sustainable systems transitions.
Programme and timetable
Classes will begin at 19:00 and run for 2 hours on Tuesdays. They will cover a variety of content and include active engagement through various activities.
General Introduction
- 11 November (The Hague: Wijnhaven) – General introduction
Module “Foundations of Sustainability and Systems Thinking”
18 November (The Hague: Wijnhaven): Sustainability science
Lecturer: Dr. Patrik Henriksson (LU)
We will introduce sustainability as a scientific field. We will describe how sustainability is defined and discuss major global challenges with existential consequences25 November (The Hague: Wijnhaven) – Global sustainability governance
Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Agni Kalfagianni (EUR)
We will discuss the history and future of global sustainability governance. We will highlight some of the major milestones as well as failures, and explore proposals for the future.2 December (Delft) – Systems thinking theory
Lecturer: Quirien Reijtenbagh (TUD)
We will discuss systems thinking and show several examples. We will learn the fundamentals of systems thinking and how to apply it to solve complex problems.
Module “System transitions and environmental change”
9 December (Delft) – System transitions
Lecturer: Dr. Daan Schraven & Dr. Sonja van Dam (TUD)
We will review sustainability transitions literature and discuss how it can help us identify leverage points that can be used to transform systems.16 December (The Hague, Wijnhaven) – Environmental Change
Lecturer: Dr. Patrik Henriksson (LU)
We will learn about the possible impacts of social and technological changes on sustainability transitions and why many of the most important and seemingly easy transitions we can make (plant-based diets, insulation, renewable energy) require large-scale changes across many sectors of society. For these cases we wil survey important leverage points for systems change.13 January (The Hague, Wijnhaven) – Just transitions
Lecturer: Prof. dr. Agni Kalfagianni (EUR)
We will discuss key principles of justice and the concept of a ‘just transition’. We will examine how ethical frameworks play an essential role in shaping fair, equitable, and just transitions.
Module “Practical options for addressing sustainability issues and challenges"
20 January (The Hague, Wijnhaven) – Monitoring system change
Lecturer: Dr. Patrik Henriksson (LU)
We will describe some options for measuring and analyzing the changing biosphere, and explore how humanity can leverage change. For example, how can you quantify progress towards life within planetary boundaries, and how can progress be achieved without environmental tradeoffs and increasing inequalities?27 January (Rotterdam) – Social change
Lecturer: Dr. Wouter Spekkink (EUR)
We will discuss the literature and theory on how to achieve social change. We will cover examples of social innovations and interventions in different domains.10 February (Delft) – Design methods for sustainable transitions
Lecturer: Dr. Sonja van Dam (TU Delft)
We will discuss a range of design methods on how to approach sustainability challenges and engage stakeholders. We will show how to translate theory to practice and accelerate change by providing examples on how design methods have been applied in the past.
Reading list
Course literature consists of selected academic articles and reports. The reading list will be made available in the syllabus.
Course load and teaching method
This course is worth 5 ECTS, which means the total course load equals 140 hours:
Seminars: 10 seminars of 2 hours (participation is mandatory)
Preparation for seminars: approx. 6 hours per seminar (60 hours)
Assignments: approximately 60 hours
Assessment methods
The assessment will be based on several components that address specific case studies to be selected in class.
Participation assessed continually through participation in seminars
Three small group assignments that test students’ understanding of lecture topics
Students could only pass this course after successful completion of all partial group assignments.
Brightspace
The Brightspace environment of Leiden University will be used in this course. Students will be enrolled to the Brightspace module by the organisation of the course.
Registration process
Enrolling in this course is possible from 1 September (9:00 hrs) until 5 October (22:00 hrs), through the Honours Academy of Leiden University. The registration link will be posted on the student website of the Honours Academy of Leiden University.
Please note: students are not required to register through uSis for this course. Your registration will be done centrally.
Contact
Programme coordinator: Angela Caredda, LDEHonoursSustainability@cml.leidenuniv.nl.