Future Sustainability
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Intro to the course:
The built world has a tremendous impact on the environment. Buildings are considered the largest consumer of material and energy resources, the largest consumer of energy, and the largest producer of waste. As designers of the built environment, we determine the performance and even future impact of buildings on the environment. However, it is no longer sufficient to act reactively against the already known challenges.
In an introductory lecture, students will become familiar with the most pressing sustainability issues and challenges of today and tomorrow. These include critical issues such as climate change, energy demand and resource efficiency, but also seminal issues such as mobility, rising sea levels, global warming.
In the first part of the course, students will be introduced to the most innovative existing, but also the future-oriented technologies and methods available to address the challenges of sustainability today and tomorrow. The focus here is not only on technologies that already exist and are ready for deployment but also on experimental innovations that may become market-ready in the coming decades.
In the second part of the course, students will develop their own scenarios for the application of these innovations and methods for addressing the challenges of sustainability in individual cases and in their relation to broader aspects of sustainability. Possible considerations are at the material and building, as well as at the neighbourhood level.
Requirements:
This course is intended for students in the master's program.