Course syllabus for Values in built environment

Course syllabus adopted 2024-02-16 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameDen byggda miljöns värde
  • CodeARK660
  • Credits15 Credits
  • OwnerTAFFS
  • Education cycleFirst-cycle
  • Main field of studyCivil and Environmental Engineering
  • DepartmentARCHITECTURE AND CIVIL ENGINEERING
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language Swedish
  • Application code 60114
  • Maximum participants45
  • Open for exchange studentsNo
  • Only students with the course round in the programme overview.

Credit distribution

0117 Project 15 c
Grading: TH		0 c15 c0 c0 c0 c0 c

In programmes

Examiner

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Eligibility

General entry requirements for bachelor's level (first cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

The same as for the programme that owns the course.
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Course specific prerequisites

ARK530 - Property and contract law, BOM225 - Management and organisation in the construction sector, TEK525 - Accounting and financial management, MVE491 - Mathematics, statistics and methods or equivalent courses.

Aim

The overall aim of the course is to provide basic understanding of values and value chains based on the outcomes from architecture and civil engineering processes. Starting from whose perspective one takes, one can distinguish between the general, professional and individual values relating to aspects of the built environment. The course aims at developing a fundamental understanding of, and strategic skills in, developing the built environment and insights in that there is not a given measure or a uniform terminology of how values are made or can be made.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

  • Give examples of how value creation occurs in the planning, design, and facilities management processes.
  • Understand the conditions in the pre-design phase/front-end management: how they are planned and by whom.
  • Describe the construction clients' role's functions and responsibilities and value drivers' clients may control.
  • Explain the differences in the creation of value by using properties: both in a market, and from a business scope perspective.
  • Understand the relationship between economic, historical, and social aspects and the dynamics of change in the built environment, as well as insight into the importance of planning and the opportunities it brings in relation to other approaches and forces of change.
  • Explain how/if trade-offs can be done, what is valued in counter to given constraints and points of departure.
  • Using and explain concepts such as cost, fair value, potential value, present value, market value, return value, book value, insurance value, semantic values, willingness to pay, usability, public values, architectural-, heritage- and functional values as well as societal and industry benefits, etc.
  • Define criteria for how different values are considered.
  • Identify and explain the impact/benefit of our built environment, considering that both private and public actors think and act differently depending on whether they are based on a short- or long-term commitment, i.e. building for long-term ownership or sell-off development.
  • Comparing and evaluating stakeholder analysis that highlights various affected parties/actors' incentives and justification of the project. That also identify political challenges related to the planning of the built environment and develop skills to act and communicate with various stakeholders about possible value conflicts.
  • Read and use technical texts and scientific articles in a conscious, critical, and effective way.
  • Sift through, collate, and summarize the information gathered, and explain and describe the subject content of the course.

Content

A particular focus is given to client roles, pre-design phase, briefing/programming, investment, and stakeholder analysis. The course will develop the student's ability to describe relationships between values in buildings i.e. for example, how the quality is weighed against costs. The course provides a different way to look at a property's value, partly on a market, as well as an asset for the owner, and also its value-creating effects for tenants. Important core processes during a facility's life cycle (both at site level and object level) are stressed in order to highlight opportunities and incentives for real estate development.

Organisation

The course includes the following elements:
  • Lectures and guest lectures; aiming to introduce the literature providing an overview of theories, perspectives, vocabulary, and concepts that are relevant for the course topic. The lectures are not sufficient in themselves to acquire comprehensive theoretical knowledge; hence students are expected to take extensive responsibility for reading and internalising relevant literature.
  • Mandatory attendance in certain lectures.
  • Hand-in assignments in relation to the course literature and individual learning.
  • Project assignment with the aim of developing own proposals and to develop skills in communicating values in the built environment, both in writing and orally. Includes analyses of current development projects providing basic orientation in current practice. The project work may also include assessment tasks of other group's results.

Literature

See the course website for current literature and information.

Examination including compulsory elements

To pass the course it is required to have full attendance in mandatory lectures, approved hand-in assignments, and approved project assignment.

The project task is done in groups and includes a written report, oral presentations and could include opposition of another group's report. The group task aims to synthesize and reflect on the knowledge given in the course.

In addition, participation in mandatory lectures and the presentation of the project task are required.

The level of the final grade depends on the overall rating of the hand-in assignments and project work.

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers on educational support due to disability.