PLAN40650 Healthy and Sust. Communities

Academic Year 2024/2025

Good health and well-being is the third UN sustainable development goal, and physical environments that promote health are essential in sustainable communities. Urban and rural communities create many environmental factors that directly or indirectly impact human health. The associations between environmental factors and human health have been studied for many decades, and risks for morbidity and mortality have been quantified. However, mitigation of negative health impacts is possible, particularly through the planning and design of sustainable living environments. The overall objective of this module is to introduce students to the main principles linking environment and health, and to empower them to evaluate solutions for sustainable communities from a planning perspective.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the module students should be able to:
• Outline risks and impacts of urban environments on human health
• Understand the fundamental concepts and principles used to analyse risks to human health
• Critically evaluate and interpret published work on the association between the environment and health
• Develop mitigation measures to improve health and to address the sustainability of communities

Indicative Module Content:

The module introduces the students to the underlying principles of environmental health, by discussing the links between pollution, exposure and health. The students will learn some of the main analytical techniques and practice these using example datasets. A range of urban pollutants will be addressed, such as air pollution, water quality, radiation, noise, temperature and urban sprawl. Building upon this knowledge the module will lead towards the process of health impact assessments and its relevance to urban planning. In small groups, the students will devise a planning intervention and carry out a health impact assessment of their chosen intervention.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Specified Learning Activities

30
Autonomous Student Learning

134
Lectures

12
Studio

24
Total

200
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
• Lectures
• Studio work
• Active/tasked-based learning
• Problem-based learning
• Case-based learning
• Critical reading and writing
• Peer and group work
 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): Critical evaluation of written articles on environmental health topic. Week 4 Graded No

30

 No
Group Work Assignment: Preparation work for Health Impact Assessment Week 10 Graded No

30

 No
Group Work Assignment: Presentation of Health Impact Assessment Week 12 Graded No

20

 No
Assignment(Including Essay): Report of Health Impact Assessment Week 12 Graded No

20

 No

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Remediation Type Remediation Timing
In-Module Resit Prior to relevant Programme Exam Board
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Not yet recorded.