n.MA.ENR.NRMUA.18FS (Natural Resources Management in Urban Areas) 
Module: Natural Resources Management in Urban Areas
This information was generated on: 18 April 2024
No.
n.MA.ENR.NRMUA.18FS
Title
Natural Resources Management in Urban Areas
Credits
3

Description

Version: 3.0 start 01 August 2021
Studiengang
Degree Program		 MSc in Environment and Natural Resources
Arbeitsaufwand
Workload		 90 hours (35 h contact lessons, 55 h self-study)
Modulleitung
Module Coordinator		 Vicente Carabias-Hütter
Dozierende
Lecturers		 Vicente Carabias-Hütter and other internal and external guest lecturers
Eingangskompetenzen
Entry Requirements		 The students are able to
  • interpret the city as a complex ecosystem as well as understand and evaluate abiotic, biotic and human-ecological subsystems and their interactions,
  • identify challenges of urban areas (resource scarcity, food systems, biodiversity, climate change) and explaining solutions for their sustainable development and use,
  • present in a differentiated way what urban ecosystems provide for people.
Ausgangskompetenzen
Learning Outcome and Competences		 The students will learn to
  • analyse the requirements, influencing factors and goal conflicts of a sustainable management of urban habitats,
  • examine concepts, instruments and measures (Smart City, Urban Ecology, Green Building, Sustainable Urban Food Systems) to increase urban ecosystem services, i.e. to increase the quality of life while simultaneously reducing the consumption of resources, and to assess them critically regarding social, economic and environmental compatibility,
  • plan, implement and evaluate selected management concepts from the fields of urban development, ecosystems, biodiversity, waste, water, soil, energy, air and culture to improve the living and environmental situation in urban areas,
  • apply the concepts of ecosystem services and smart sustainable cities to issues in urban habitats.
Inhalte
Module Content		 The students get to know, understand and reflect the basic idea of urban concepts, such as 'Smart Sustainable City' - the intelligent and future-oriented city with the most important challenges and systems (amongst others urbanisation, urban ecology, urban gardening, sustainable urban food systems, urban energy and transport planning, smart urban isles, new metropolitan mainstream, good governance, stakeholder processes, urban transformation) as well as technologies.

The students examinate in small groups a city or municipality of their choice (with a relationship) in terms of existing strategies, processes, instruments and technologies applied in the context of Smart Sustainable City development. They analyse the selected city or municipality with case studies focussing on a specific field of action (e.g. energy / traffic / green concept). They evaluate critically urban resources managements as well as smart city technologies and processes regarding sustainability aspects. They develop their personal visions for a development of Smart Sustainable City elements, discuss and present them as well as their evaluation results of the analysed cities or municipalities
 
Lehr-/Lernmethoden
Teaching / Learning Methods		 Preparatory literature review, evolving teaching, input presentations, lectures, case-studies, puzzle method, seminar, team-teaching, excursion, panel discussion
Leistungsnachweis
Assessment of Learning
Outcome		 The assessment of learning outcome is composed as follows
  • case study (analysis a specific problem situation, design development goals and measures to achieve the proposed goals and plan the implementation, document and communicate the case study)
  • final exam
Bibliographie
Bibliography
  • Bisello, A.; Vettorato, D.; Stephens, R.; Elisei, P. (2017). Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions. Cham: Springer International
  • INURA (2009). The New Metropolitan Mainstream. INURA
  • Breuste, J.; Pauleit, S.; Haase, D.; Sauerwein, M. (2016). Stadtökosysteme. Funktion, Mgt. und Entwicklung [City Ecosystem. Function, Management and Development]. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
  • FAO/ISU (2015). Food in an Urbanised World: The role of City Region Food Systems in Resilience and Sustainable Development. ISU
  • WBGU – German Advisory Council on Global Change (2016). Humanity on the move: Unlocking the transformative power of cities. Berlin: WBGU. http://www.wbgu.de/en/fr2016/ [15.5.2017]
  • UNCTAD (2015). Strategic foresight for the post-2015 development agenda.
  • More publications on https://www.zhaw.ch/de/engineering/forschung/plattformen/smart-cities-regions/
Unterrichtssprache
Language		 English
Bemerkungen
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