| Responsible Department | Forest & Landscape
70 % Department of Agriculture and Ecology 30 % | ||||||||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year to MSc. 2 year | ||||||||||||||||||
| Duration | One block | ||||||||||||||||||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Level of Course | MSc | ||||||||||||||||||
| Examination | Final Examination oral examination All aids allowed Description of Examination: The oral exam takes 25 minutes. It consists of a short presentation of the group project followed by questions on the project. In addition, students will draw a question related to the lectures and exercises Weight: Individual oral exam: 100% 7-point scale, internal examiner | ||||||||||||||||||
| Requirement for Attending Exam | The group report and the individual reflective essay must be submitted to be allowed to participate in the final examination. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 2 Week Structure: C | ||||||||||||||||||
| Language of Instruction | English | ||||||||||||||||||
| Restrictions | None | ||||||||||||||||||
| Course Content | |||||||||||||||||||
| Management and development of cities for sustainable living represent huge challenges. The continuous migration from rural to urban areas puts pressure on both the natural resources feeding the city, e.g. water, construction materials and energy, and on the infrastructure systems to distribute these supplies and remove waste materials, like pipes and roads. Moreover, the impacts of urbanisation will be exacerbated by climate change. Urban areas make an important contribution to green house gas emissions but at the same time cities are at risk from climate change due to the high concentration of economic, social and cultural activities. Accordingly, the city has to employ both mitigation strategies to reduce the city's expansion and green house gas emissions and adaptation strategies to maintain the cities functionality and quality of life under changing climate conditions. How can the natural resources in the city like the non-built areas, the vegetation, the water systems and the soil volume below the city be managed and developed to adapt cities to these changes? Which theories and methods can be used, and what is the role of environmental experts, landscape architectures and urban planners in this context? The ambition of the teachers behind the course is to strengthen the competencies at our faculty regarding sustainability of cities, both at the scientific level and in the education of students. Relevant knowledge from disciplines such as forestry, agronomy and environmental chemistry needs to be transferred into the urban context, and integrated with landscape architecture and urban planning in order to develop better ways for managing and developing cities. This is attempted in a course where students and teachers from different disciplines develop a multidisciplinary approach to urban sustainability at the general level, and with specific focus on adaptation of cities to changing precipitation patterns. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Teaching and learning Methods | |||||||||||||||||||
| Lectures, exercises and seminars will fall within the following general areas: The course consists of 10 lectures, 2 exercises, 2 literature seminars and a group project. Lectures, exercises and seminars will deal with the following general themes: - Principles of urban ecosystems; structure, metabolism, dynamics; - Urban ecology and urbanisation: Danish and international perspectives - Climate change in urban areas: causes and effects - Relationships between urban structure, function and natural process (biodiversity, water, soils, climate) - Urban hydrology - Methods for urban ecosystem analysis and design - Good practice case studies - Frameworks for urban environmental planning. The lectures will introduce the knowledge to deal with these issues. Supplementary exercises introduce methods for urban ecosystem analysis and design. Seminars provide an opportunity to familiarize oneself in more depth with selected topics. Students will work in groups on a project to develop solutions to climate change adaptation of cities, with emphasis placed on the sustainable management of urban water in a changing climate. A sewer catchment in Copenhagen, which under heavy rain causes combined sewer overflows to a local stream, will serve as case area. Will it be possible to avoid these overflows by disconnecting downpipes and gutters from the sewer system and rather deal with the water in the urban landscape? End-users and PhD-students will respond to students' work. Thus a level of general knowledge is ascertained through lectures, exercises and seminars, while the group projects provide an opportunity for in-depth problem based | |||||||||||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||||||||
| This course provides an understanding of structures, functions and dynamics of urban ecosystems, and how these can be designed and managed to support sustainable urban development. Cities cause major pressures on the environment, and their development is as such critical for reaching sustainability. The overriding theme for the 2010-course is climate change and urban growth in a Danish and international context. The operational focus is on adaptation strategies towards extreme events of rain, temperature increase and drought, using natural processes in the urban green structure. The course combines urban planning and landscape architecture with natural sciences such as soil hydrology, environmental chemistry and plant- and microbiology. The aim is to have students, teachers and external actors that represent different disciplines to exchange, apply and evaluate concepts and methods for sustainable urban development. Knowledge: - To be familiar with theory and principles of urban ecosystem science - To understand causes and effects of climate change in urban areas - To be familiar with urban growth and dynamics in Denmark and globally - To know main quantitative and qualitative components of the urban water cycle - To understand relations between natural processes (e.g. urban climates, the water cycle, biodiversity, soils) and urban form and function - To gain an overview over case studies of sustainable urban water management and climate change adaptation, from city to site scale. Skills: - To be able to transfer ecosystem concepts and principles to problem oriented studies. - To be able to apply knowledge and methods for the analysis and design of sustainable urban ecosystems. Competencies: - To work in multidisciplinary groups and present results and knowledge to other students and external actors. - To undertake a problem oriented study, design solutions and make evaluation - To acquire in-depth knowledge on specific aspects of urban ecosystems structure and function in an independent manner. - To reflect upon and discuss the value systems that underlie structure and functioning of various urban ecosystems. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Course Literature | |||||||||||||||||||
| A compendium and essential papers and book chapters will constitute the course textbook. Further literature will be recommended during the course in connection with specific themes | |||||||||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||||||||
| Marina Bergen Jensen, mbj@life.ku.dk, Forest & Landscape Denmark/Unit of Landscape, Phone: 353-31790 Jakob Magid, jma@life.ku.dk, Department of Agriculture and Ecology/Plant and Soil Science, Phone: 353-33491 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||||||||
| Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||||||||
| Work Load | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||