Selected topics in City and Regional Planning (BYG640)

Content

The goal of the course will be to enable students to engage in thoughtful discussions and questions about resilience, risk, safety and security issues in urban areas. It will address empirical as well as practitioner-oriented questions about different planning interventions in mitigating safety, risk and security concerns for resilient cities. Its core focus centers on assessing the different interventions and their positive and negative impacts in relation to spatial, temporal, cultural and societal sensitivities. Working individually and in groups in lecture and workshop settings (online unless otherwise stated), students will be exposed to theoretical and hypothetical issues that seek to balance the needs of users with the needs of the environment and the protection of society at large. The course gives students a unique opportunity to use a variety of research methods to identify and assess proportionate, holistic and cost-effective solutions based on classroom and fieldwork tasks. Students will also learn about the possibilities and limitations of emerging technologies and individually develop a planning proposal for the protection of a selected site for peer assessment.

Learning outcome

After the course the student should have

• Knowledge about how to make holistic planning decisions in the interest of human resilience, security, safety and economic development.
• An ability to interpret spatial qualities, local identities, while also addressing accessibility, inclusivity, health and safety needs.
• Understanding how human, technological and natural threats influence changes in planning decisions, building conventions, standardization, transport, societal safety, climate, business, and more.
• Knowledge about the opportunities and limitations of emerging dual-purpose technologies - both physical and digital.

After the course the students should be able to

• Use a range of scientific methods for effective and proportionate planning approaches to address human, technological and natural threats and concerns in both pragmatic and considerate ways.
• Consider safety, security and preparedness in other topics in a critical, reflective way.
• Visualize and implement ideas that consider flexible and dual-purpose solutions for urban problems.

After the course the student should have general knowledge regarding

• Approaching, analyzing and assessing solutions and responses to human, technological and natural problems in urban areas.
• The complexities of balancing user needs with safety and security needs.
• In-depth assessments of a sites via desk-based research and site observation.
• Independent execution of theoretical and creative project work.
• Presenting and communicating complex information orally.
• Presentation of urban projects in a convincing and professional manner through sketches / drawing / illustrations, text, physical / virtual modelling.

Required prerequisite knowledge

None

Exam

Course teacher(s)

Course teacher:

Tegg Westbrook

Course coordinator:

Anders Riel Müller

Course teacher:

Harald Nils Røstvik

Head of Department:

Tore Markeset

Method of work

Lectures.

Independent and group work with tutoring.

Brainstorming sessions.

Individual mentoring.

Field work (in Stavanger and UiS campus).

Open for

Exchange programme at Faculty of Science and Technology

Course assessment

There must be an early dialogue between the course supervisor, the student union representative and the students. The purpose is feedback from the students for changes and adjustments in the course for the current semester.In addition, a digital subject evaluation must be carried out at least every three years. Its purpose is to gather the students experiences with the course.

Literature