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GEOG30840

Academic Year 2024/2025

The Urban Environment (GEOG30840)

Subject:
Geography
College:
Social Sciences & Law
School:
Geography
Level:
3 (Degree)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Professor Gerald Mills
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

The majority of humanity now live in urban areas, which are densely occupied places that have experienced intensive landscape change. In addition, these are places of intensive energy, material and water use and waste generation. As a result the enviornment (atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere) for most on the planet have been modified, usually for the worse. The combined impact of cities worldwide is a major driver of global environmental changes that will have a enhanced impact on cities due to the concentration of humans and infrastructure at low elevations close to sea-level. This module consists of a series of lectures that cover the breadth of environmental issues associated with cities including the health consequences associated with degraded air and water quality and hiistorial and modern policies to manage these environments.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

A basic knowledge of the impacts of urban development on natural systems.
Acquire a historical and geographical appreciation of urban environmental issues and policy responses.
An understanding of how cities affect environmental changes at all scales up to the planetary scale and how global environmental changes will impact cities.

Indicative Module Content:

Physical geography of citie; Historical and global urbanisation; Urban footprints and metabolism; Land and materials; Energy and wate; Food and waste; Hydrology; Weather and climate; Biodiversity; Air and water quality; Flooding and heatwaves; Sustainable cities; Green and compact cities; High-rise cities; Smart cities

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Autonomous Student Learning

76

Lectures

20

Field Trip/External Visits

4

Total

100


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
The bulk of the course material is presented in the form of lectures most of which use current information to link the topic to current affairs. The field trip is an opportunity to link some ideas to the nature of the urban landscape as experienced by the student. The essay is an opportunity to delve into a topic of interest (an aspect of urbanisation or a city) in some detail and the exam attempts to evaluate your understanding of all of the materials within a coherent framework. While students may have encountered some of this material elsewhere, this course brings it together in a geographical context.

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): A substantial written essay on an environmental topic related to cities. Week 10 Graded No
50
No
Exam (In-person): Final exam in person. End of trimester
Duration:
1 hr(s)
Graded No
50
No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
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

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

The feedback is used to aid in understanding the materials during term and to prrpare for the final exam.

1. Dearborn, D.C. and Kark, S., 2010. Motivations for conserving urban biodiversity. Conservation biology, 24(2), pp.432-440.
2. Fletcher, T.D., Andrieu, H. and Hamel, P., 2013. Understanding, management and modelling of urban hydrology and its consequences for receiving waters: A state of the art. Advances in Water Resources, 51, pp.261-279.
3. Fenger J. 1999: Urban air quality. Atmospheric Environment 33, 4877-4900.
4. Grimmond S. 2007: Urbanization and global environmental change: local effects of urban warming. Cities and global environmental change, 83-88.
5. Gurjara B.R., Butler T.M., Lawrence M.G. and Lelieveld J. 2008: Evaluation of emissions and air quality in megacities, Atmospheric Environment 42, 1593–1606.
6. Jabareen Y.R. 2006: Sustainable Urban Forms: Their Typologies, Models, and Concepts. Journal of Planning Education and Research 26, 38-52.
7. Kennedy C. et al 2009: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Global Cities, Environ. Sci. 43, 7297–7302.
8. Kennedy, C., Pincetl, S., & Bunje, P. (2011). The study of urban metabolism and its applications to urban planning and design. Environmental pollution, 159(8), 1965-1973.
9. Kenworthy J.R. The eco-city: ten key transport and planning dimensions for sustainable city development. Environment & Urbanization 18, 67–85.
10. Martellozzo, F., Landry, J.S., Plouffe, D., Seufert, V., Rowhani, P. and Ramankutty, N., 2014. Urban agriculture: a global analysis of the space constraint to meet urban vegetable demand. Environmental Research Letters, 9(6), p.064025.
11. Mentens J., Raes D. And Hemy M. 2006: Green roofs as a tool for solving the rainwater runoff problem in the urbanized 21st century? Landscape and Urban Planning 77, 217–226
12. McGranahan G. et al 2007: The rising tide: assessing the risks of climate change and human settlements in low elevation coastal zones. Environment and Urbanisation 19, 17–37.
13. Ningal T, Mills G. and Smithwick P. 2010: An inventory of trees in Dublin city centre. Irish Geography 43, 161-176.
14. Nowak D.J. 2006: Institutionalizing urban forestry as a ‘‘biotechnology’’ to improve environmental quality. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 5, 93–100.
15. Perez-Lombard L., Ortiz J. & Pout C. 2008: A review on buildings energy consumption information. Energy and Buildings 40, 394–398.
16. Reddy, B.V. and Jagadish, K.S., 2003. Embodied energy of common and alternative building materials and technologies. Energy and buildings, 35(2), pp.129-137.
17. Rees, W., & Wackernagel, M. (2008). Urban ecological footprints: why cities cannot be sustainable—and why they are a key to sustainability. In Urban Ecology (pp. 537-555). Springer US.
18. Seto, K.C., Fragkias, M., Güneralp, B. and Reilly, M.K., 2011. A meta-analysis of global urban land expansion. PloS one, 6(8), p.e23777.
19. Small, C. (2004). Global population distribution and urban land use in geophysical parameter space. Earth Interactions, 8(8), 1-18.
20. Stone, B. 2004: Paving over paradise: how land use regulations promote residential imperviousness. Landscape and Urban Planning 69, 101–113.
21. Taubenböck, H., Esch, T., Felbier, A., Wiesner, M., Roth, A., & Dech, S. (2012). Monitoring urbanization in mega cities from space. Remote sensing of Environment, 117, 162-176.31–6558
22. Vergara, S.E. and Tchobanoglous, G., 2012. Municipal solid waste and the environment: a global perspective. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 37, pp.277-309.

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Tues 12:00 - 12:50
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Wed 14:00 - 14:50