Urban Ecosystems: Structures, Functions and Designs

Cities may be regarded as semi-closed ecosystems, consisting of a number of subsystems. The course seeks to combine urban design with scientific knowledge on how to optimize these sub-systems, to obtain sustainable resource management and climate adaptation. This is done through lectures, paper readings, study tours and exercises.

Cities are hot spots in terms of resource consumption, waste production and emission of greenhouse gasses. At the same time cities are global centers for economy and culture, and home to more than half of the world’s population. Climate resilience and sustainable resource management depend – among other things - on our ability to design cities. This is true for both developing and developed countries.

The course focuses on the ability of green infrastructures to contribute to resource management, climate adaptation and social-cultural performance of urbanized areas. This is sometimes referred to as ecosystem services. How can knowledge on vegetation, soil, air, climate and water be used to suggest overall green structures and specific elements for stormwater management, water supply, biodiversity support, mitigation of urban heat island, food production, etc.? The suggested physical changes must at the same time enhance urban livability, and be doable in terms of administrative and economic resources. Which theories and methods can be applied, and what is the role of environmental experts, landscape architects and urban planners in this context? The main focus of the course is on the freshwater cycle in urban settings and there is a special focus on adaptation to more extreme weather conditions, especially stormwater management and flood control.

The course is inviting students from a number of disciplines to participate. It is relevant for urban designers and planners as well as for agronomists, geographers, biologists, etc. The ambition of the teachers is to make students able to transfer scientific knowledge into new urban designs at multiple scales, in order to increase sustainability and climate resilience. As such the course contains a number of lectures in which relevant knowledge from environmental chemistry, agronomy, climatology and biology is presented. The lectures are supported by several exercises and study tours for a better understanding. By means of innovative learning methods the theory is transferred to design criteria and specific design proposals.