ARCT41240 Urban Resilience and Ethics

Academic Year 2021/2022

The module seeks to support students in formulating their own perspective, approach and vision of how the design, planning and management of the built environment can adequately respond to the convergence of existential crises such as climate change, biodiversity loss and resource depletion.
With society increasingly urbanised, how our towns and cities develop in the coming years and decades is crucial to the transition towards urban resilience and sustainability. Important factors in determining this trajectory include personal and societal ethical perspectives and how we manage carbon in the design and operation of the built environment. This module will explore these factors and examine different responses to the convergence of crises within urbanism, focussing on the prevalent discourse on urban resilience and what this means in practice. The import of citizen engagement and participation through civic tech and the role of imagination in making the transition are also explored.


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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of the module students should be able to demonstrate:
• an ability to discuss and reflect upon different ideas and discourses in sustainable urbanism;
• a working knowledge of urban resilience theory and practice;
• an understanding of community resilience and the import of imagination in addressing the convergence of crises;
• a high level understanding of environmental ethical perspectives and how they can help formulate decisions and responses to challenges;
• an understanding of how ethics can apply to urban design;
• high level understanding of challenges and opportunities relating to Irish towns as distributed centres for the low carbon transition;
• awareness of the import and challenges of citizen engagement and active participation with change in the built environment;
• awareness of civic tech and active participation/co-creation using digital technologies;
• development of group working, communication and envisioning skills.

Indicative Module Content:

Examples of topics that may be included in any year include:
• Environmental ethics and the city
• Concepts and discourses of sustainable urbanism
• Urban resilience theory and practice
• Vacancy and adaptive reuse
• Revitalisation of existing urban settlements
• Citizen engagement with urban change
• Civic tech / digital citizen participation
• Community resilience, imagination and change

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

24
Specified Learning Activities

56
Autonomous Student Learning

45
Total

125
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
lectures; peer and group work using a range of media; case studies; reflective learning; student presentations 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Assignment: student own research assignment Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

80
Group Project: A group research project component Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

20

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

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

There are 2 assignments: Group assignment (20%), where a grade and feedback is provided to each group. Individual assignment (80%), where a grade and feedback is provided for each submission.