ETE-22806 Principles of Urban Environmental Management

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Continuation courses:

ETE-34306, ETE-32806

Contents:

Students will become familiar with the city and its specific environmental problems, and gain an overview of the various means to assess and address these problems. The course places features of urban resources, environmental quality and public health in a historical context, thus explaining the development of today's cities infrastructure, planning and management systems. It introduces basic knowledge of environmental indicators, urban environmental performance, urban resources management and city-level governance. In addition, the course provides basic understanding of quality aspects of air, water and soil, and ways to quantify deterioration in quality. One of the key concepts introduced in the module is the Urban Harvest approach which aims at transforming urban metabolic activities from linear to circular. The increasing scarcity of resources through-out the world is largely related to today's cities having linear metabolisms: resources in- wastes out. Urban Harvest works on a zero- waste principle: primary resources (solar energy, wind energy, rainwater) and secondary resources (wastes and wastewater) that become available inside cities are captured (harvested) and subsequently re-used, recycled or, in the case of harmful substances, made harmless.
The course includes two study visits: the Wageningen Campus Sustainable Building Tour and a visit to the Kleine Aarde Centre for Sustainable Building and Living. Students practise environmental performance measurement and Urban Harvest through a group assignment. In the first stage of the assignment, they calculate the ecological footprint of an existing neighbourhood. In the second part, they redesign an existing neighbourhood starting from Urban Harvest principles and using Google SketchUp to visualize the results.
This course is the first of the MSc programme Urban Environmental Management. It introduces the four core perspectives of the programme, i.e. urban environmental quality and health, urban environmental technology, urban governance and urban planning. The course prepares MUE students for an early selection of their major thesis track.

Learning outcomes:

At the end of the course students will:
- understand how resources management influences environmental quality, public health and liveability of cities;
- understand how resources management, environmental quality and health and the liveability of cities relate to urban governance and planning;
- recognize the historical evolution of the urban environment and the trajectories that have led to the different urban typologies existing in the world;
- know the main indicators of air-, water- and soil quality in the urban context, and are able to apply and interpret them discerningly;
- be able to perform a simple urban environmental baseline study;
- have gained experience in redesigning an existing neighbourhood on Urban Harvest principles and have reflected on its social impacts;
- have basic knowledge of the four core perspectives of the MSc Urban Environmental Management, i.e. urban environmental quality and health, urban environmental technology, urban governance and urban planning.

Activities:

Lectures, excursions, group assignment, self study.

Examination:

Written examination (70%) and assignments (30%), providing both are valued 5.5 or higher.

Literature:

Reader.