Course syllabus for Sustainable development for civil engineers

Course syllabus adopted 2024-02-13 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameHållbar utveckling för samhällsbyggare
  • CodeBOM280
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTKSAM
  • Education cycleFirst-cycle
  • Main field of studyCivil and Environmental Engineering
  • ThemeEnvironment 6 c
  • DepartmentARCHITECTURE AND CIVIL ENGINEERING
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language English
  • Application code 58112
  • Maximum participants40 (at least 10% of the seats are reserved for exchange students)
  • Minimum participants8
  • Block schedule
  • Open for exchange studentsYes

Credit distribution

0117 Project 7.5 c
Grading: TH		 7.5 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

A Bachelor's degree in Art, Science and Engineering or relevant discipline is required. In addition, basic courses in Environmental Science and Environmental engineering are recommended.

Aim

The course will provide in-depth knowledge and understanding of the sustainability challenges that society and the built environment are facing, as well as knowledge of the ongoing sustainability issues, as well as the frameworks within which this work is carried out and the specific challenges that arise when there are conflicting goals, so-called wicked problems.
The student should be able to critically examine and evaluate the political, ethical and economic conditions that form the basis for how sustainability work is formulated and carried out. Furthermore, the student will gain an understanding of how politics, science and engineering applications interact in different types of solutions to sustainability problems. The problem formulation and analysis in the course is based on the Local, National and Global Sustainable Development Goals and other important international policy frameworks. Furthermore, the sustainability problem is analyzed from different socioeconomic contexts, including developing countries.

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

After completing the course, the student should be able to: 
  1. Account for the fundamental sustainability challenges in society and the built environment, and describe ongoing work and frameworks in the field of sustainability.
  2. Explain the connections between politics, science, and engineering in the development of sustainable solutions for the built environment sector.
  3. Apply knowledge in sustainable development to identify and evaluate realistic/innovative solutions to specific sustainability problems in the built environment sector.
  4. Critically analyse the political, ethical and economic aspects that affect the formulation and implementation of sustainability work in the built environment sector.
  5. Integrate knowledge from different areas to formulate strategies, policies and approaches to meet sustainability challenges in the built environment sector.
  6. Critically evaluate different sustainability strategies and measures based on their long-term effectiveness and ethical consequences, and be able to argue for and against different approaches based on a wide range of criteria. 

Content

The course is organized into focus areas (themes) that reflect current challenges in sustainability work in society. These themes form the basis for the classroom activities.

The learning outcomes are achieved through a number of different types of classroom activities, with a focus on the analysis of different applied case studies and projects taken from reality.

Organisation

The course consists of the following learning activities:

The students read the handout material on their own and follows other study instructions in preparation for the following weekly seminar where learning takes place through e.g. discussions, role plays and workshops. The course includes a written assignment in the form of individual project work, where the student is assigned an area to immerse themselves in and develop in a written report. The course also includes an assignment in the form of a project carried out in groups. The project will result in a written report that will be presented to the class at a special seminar. The project will have an applied focus on sustainability issues in the built environment.

Examination including compulsory elements

The final grade is based 50% on the individual assignment and 50% on the group work, including presentation and feedback. The final grade will be reported as fail, 3, 4 or 5.

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.