Sustainable Cities

Course Structure

1. Practice: This unit enables you to develop your knowledge of the various and multi-faceted theories relating to sustainable architecture and environments. It also covers the principles that govern an appropriate and sustainable response to such designed environments, as well as the technologies that may be adopted and incorporated. You will address these issues and evaluate both the design theory and practice-based applied methodologies, along with the analysis, evaluation and reflection of this practice in sustainable design solutions.
2. Theory: This unit gives you an opportunity to engage with the current debate on environmental sustainability, climate change and the value of traditional buildings which inspire a more sustainable practice. It introduces the principles of low carbon passive design strategies, as well as advanced daylight and thermal modelling techniques to assess their effectiveness in achieving an environmentally responsive design. We will encourage you to look at the architecture quality and assess the visual and thermal performance of a selected building type in different regions and climatic conditions. It aims to develop your modelling skills and apply it to a real design project.
3. Research Methods and Research Proposal: In this unit you will develop research skills, which will aid you throughout your course and particularly in producing your thesis. You will be asked to establish a critical position within an Outline Research Proposal. You will develop techniques, which will allow you to engage proactively within your area of study. You will be encouraged to explore methods of investigation that are responsive to, as well as inquisitive of, the conditions presented and which therefore speculate around possible critical scenarios. Implicit within these explorations is the need to investigate diverse means of representation and depiction through a variety of possible media and discourse.
4. Integration: This unit allows you to work in a multi-disciplinary context through groups within your own subject area and across the areas of interior design, urban design, sustainable architecture and historic building conservation, as well as explore the interrelationships of all disciplines. You will need to work collectively on given projects or problems related to staff run studios, which explore a range of given themes. This unit will introduce you to these themes at the start of the course and connect you to research areas within the School. There will be a group-based activity that is either subject specific or spans different areas of the disciplines as agreed by tutors.
5. Work-Based Learning: This unit gives you the opportunity to replace a 30-credit core unit with a work-based version of that unit. Not all units can be replaced and you will need to discuss the appropriateness of a unit with tutors. Work-based learning requires you to engage in critical and reflective learning in the workplace. This will be developed through a learning contract, negotiated by you, your employer and School. The work undertaken in practice will be appraised through critical reflective writing that engages with the practice of the particular subject discipline and this will form the assessment artefacts. Where professional body criteria and attributes need to be evidenced, these will form the minimum requirements of the learning outcomes.
6. Thesis: Your thesis is a substantial research-based project that enables you to carry out an in-depth investigation into a subject area of personal interest, which is related to or developed from a theme studied during the course. The proposed research theme should have a clearly defined focus to allow for in-depth theoretical, contextual and visual research. An initial seminar programme will help you develop your research proposal, define a research question and locate suitable primary and secondary sources. You will be allocated an appropriate supervisor on the basis of this proposal, who will work with you toward the final submission. This part of the project is self-managed, with tutorial guidance provided by the allocated supervisor and additional referencing and research support provided by the faculty librarian.