The course consists of following parts:
- Introduction to urban planning and design from an cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective through literature seminars, study visits, workshops and practical examples to create understanding of the complexity that characterises urban development of today and the future.
- Project assignment that includes an exploration of local preconditions and complex challenges in an ongoing urban development project considered in a regional and global context. By highlighting several sustainability aspects and test different measures, students develop an elaborated proposal for the future development of the study area.
- Specialisations of selected sustainability themes that contribute to developing and discussing measures and explore strategies and analyse critically different perspectives on sustainable development based on the global development goals and local preconditions.
- Individual reflection on planning and design for sustainable development that is based on a knowledge-seeking process that takes starting point in the course contents and the student's own background.
After passing the course, the student should be able to:
- Describe and compare different ways to address and work with sustainability in urban and regional planning and development
- Describe, discuss critically and relate constructively to different knowledge fields in sustainable urban planning and development, both theoretical and practical knowledge bases, their different preconditions, methodological approaches and limitations, as well as included key concepts.
- Describe and review existing urban environments and contemporary urban development based on knowledge of social, economic, environmental and institutional factors that influence urban development.
- Develop a strategy for, as well as a plan proposal for or a design of an area that takes starting point in an understanding of local preconditions and needs and a detailed problem analysis that highlights different sustainability aspects from both a local and global perspective.
- Evaluate plans, measures or design proposals based on a critical analysis of how they contribute to a sustainable local and global development
- Reflect on how the design and function of a place, a city and peri-urban areas change and how these influence the use of the city and the living conditions for different groups in society depending on sex, age, ethnicity and socio- economic or other factors.
- Reflect on how different strategies and measures relate to, influence and are influenced by economic, ecological, ethical, and political preconditions and challenges, as well as to more-than-human perspective.
