Description
In this course, which is part of the Minor Sustainable Development, you will experience how research into sustainability problems can be developed and how sustainability ideas and theories can be put into practice. Several excursions and invited guest speakers around the theme “Resilient cities” will showcase some existing and new sustainability projects. The course will provide you with knowledge of tools and techniques that will help with researching and developing solutions to sustainability problems and is mainly grounded in the concept of systems thinking. You will put this into practice in a case study of a current sustainability challenge. The course will illustrate that there is no right or wrong methodological approach to investigating a problem, but that the method should be chosen based on its appropriateness to the problem at hand, the research question, the details required, the knowledge base, the available resources, and the socio-cultural context.
A strong emphasis will be placed on acquiring and/or improving practical skills, particularly communication skills. To help you communicate your research outcomes to your target audience in the most effective way, you will follow workshops in pitching, visualization and English writing. The benefits, and in fact necessity, of multi-disciplinary teamwork in solving sustainability issues will also become apparent during this course.
Course objectives
The course is intended to provide you necessary knowledge and insights for the Area Study in January 2019 and provide you with knowledge and practical skill for doing research in the field of sustainability.
After completing the course, students will be able to:
- Apply sustainability theory to practically approach sustainability research;
- Apply a systems approach/perspective in addressing sustainability problems;
- Obtain relevant information to assess sustainability problems and their potential solutions;
- Present information in the most useful manner to the target audience;
- Propose a valid and feasible research approach to use in finding sustainable solutions;
- Obtain topical additional knowledge for the area study (resilient cities);
- Work in an interdisciplinary team to address a complex sustainability problem;
Teaching methods and exams
This course runs over a period of six weeks, during which there will be lectures and interactive workshops on various topics related to the complexity of sustainability issues, proposal writing, resilient cities and communicating research.
For the course assessment, you will write, in groups, a research proposal for a sustainability problem in an urban area, and your group will present this proposal in writing as well by oral presentation.
In addition to the scheduled lectures and workshops, every group is expected to have weekly meetings with their assigned group supervisor and to contribute to scheduled plenary presentations.
Timetable and examination dates
The course is from 11 November – 20 December 2019. It is a full-time course with mostly classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday self-study, group work and an occasional class is scheduled (so always check the schedule).
Blackboard
Students will be enrolled in Blackboard. All the lecture notes, announcements, the schedule, assignments, etc. can be found there.
Admission requirements
To take part in Resilient Cities, students must have followed the previous course Sustainable Development: Big Issues New Answers.