ARCHGEN 721 : Special Topic: Designing with Resilience Thinking
Creative Arts and Industries
2021 Semester One (1213) (15 POINTS)
Course Prescription
Course Overview
Even though resilience in the built environment is a subject of prime interest in developed and developing countries what resilience is and how to achieve it is still unclear. Designers of the built environment, like architects and landscapers, that have to deal with disturbances emerging from everyday life could benefit from the use of resilience in the urban and architectural realm. The theory behind ecological resilience offers designers the possibility of understanding the built environment as a complex adaptive system, whose change and persistence depends on its resilience. By implementing this point of view, designers could focus on analysing and developing strategies to enhance the resilience of the built environment to issues produced by the development of its own complexity. Nevertheless, this theme is often overlooked. For this reason, the present seminar wants to highlight the importance of a deeper understanding of resilience for designers. In order to achieve these goal students will be introduced to the universe of resilience thinking by reading and reviewing the original theory that produced the ideas of resilience in ecology. Moreover, students will be encouraged to produce their own contributions to the knowledge of resilience in architecture by making their own research about the subject.
Capabilities Developed in this Course
| Capability 1: | Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice |
| Capability 2: | Critical Thinking |
| Capability 4: | Communication and Engagement |
| Capability 5: | Independence and Integrity |
| Capability 6: | Social and Environmental Responsibilities |
Learning Outcomes
- Develop a general understanding of sustainability, resilience and collapse (Capability 1.2, 2.1, 2.3, 5.1, 6.2 and 6.3)
- Apply the theory of resilience and collapse to urban landscapes
- Create create a deeper understanding of the theory about collapse by doing comparative analysis, case study-based and problem-based research.
- develop research and writing skills that satisfy international academic standards (Capability 1.3, 2.1, 4.1 and 5.1)
Assessments
| Assessment Type | Percentage | Classification |
|---|---|---|
| Assignments | 100% | Individual Coursework |
| 100% |
| Assessment Type | Learning Outcome Addressed | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||||||
| Assignments | ||||||||||
Teaching & Learning Methods
The seminar is a research-led teaching where students will be confronted with problem-based case studies that will encourage the development of critical thinking to use interdisciplinary fields and learnings. The individual work of the students will benefit from the collective advice and feedback provided in each class. The course follows the structure of a seminar course with four lectures at the beginning of the semester. The following classes are about discussing, presenting, evaluating and developing writing skills to improve and advance the individual works towards the submission of assignment 1.
The course will help students to develop a new way of understanding the social and environmental crises and to reflect of the possibility to apply this knowledge to design courses. The material and techniques taught in this course will be essential to prepare students to develop research in architecture and to write about it, skills that are useful to have at hand when doing the March. Prof. The content of the seminar will be a strong foundation for students doing Advance Design 2 in the second semester of 2020.
Students will be introduced to the resilience theory and the theory behind collapse using knowledge and evidence from ecology, environmental science, anthropology, economy and urban design and architecture. Students will also learn original methods developed to measure in a quantitative and qualitative way the resilience of urban landscapes.
The structure of the seminar is based on a cumulative and iterative process. Students will be developing their research using the lecturer and students feedbacks. A roll will be taken each week. The seminar sessions consist in presentations that show the progress done by each student. These are quick presentation between 3 to 5 min that have to be properly structured. Presentations will happen every week. All students are expected to engage with each other’s work in a positive and constructive manner. Students will provide written and oral comments to their fellows after they finish their presentations. Written comments have a minimum of four points: two points dedicated to encourage improvements and two points that celebrate good practices, originality and strengths of the presentation. Students are encouraged to profit the tutorial time for working actively in the development of their research. Therefore, it is suggested to bring their laptops, tablets or any other preferred device to work in class.
The PowerPoint or written work presented in class will be updated to Canvas so it is available to everybody. Writing sessions are exceptional events dedicated to practice techniques to improve the writing skills of the students.
Workload Expectations
This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.
For this course, you can expect 2 hours of lectures or 2 hour tutorial, 4 hours of reading and thinking about the content and 4 hours of work on assignments and/or test preparation.
Student Feedback
At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.
Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.
Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.
Digital Resources
Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).
Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.
Academic Integrity
The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.
Inclusive Learning
All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.
Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz
Special Circumstances
If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.
If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.
This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.
In the event of unexpected disruption
We undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions, the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and your assessment is fair, and not compromised. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. In the event of a disruption, the University and your course coordinators will make every effort to provide you with up to date information via Canvas and the University website.
Student Charter and Responsibilities
The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.
Disclaimer
Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.
In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.