Passed foundation level courses (BA-level) at AHO or equivalent, 180 ECTS. Open to all study programs.
The elective course “Rethinking Development and Sustainable Futures” is a reading course that takes a critical stance by scrutinizing how the fundamental concepts of “Development” and “Sustainability” are understood. With growing concerns of climate change, loss of ecosystems, forced migration, urbanisation, and increasing social and economic disparities, these are concepts of global importance to the fields of design, architecture, urbanism, and landscape architecture; concepts that are partially interrelated, sometimes conflicting, and often prey to sectoral or profession-based interpretations. In this course, we will be stepping outside our “defined” professions to critically rethink the future of both development and sustainability through interdisciplinary readings, discussions, and writing. The goal is to reveal and deliberate the kind of paradigms such assumed conceptions and discourses typically hold and what they try to sustain. The course will also explore if there are other alternatives to be found that also could be engaged with, promoted, and acted upon. Informed by these dialogues, Students will produce articles or essays based on their reading on a topic of interest. They will also be tasked with critiquing each other's texts as a part of the production.
On completing the class, the students will have:
KNOWLEDGE
SKILLS
GENERAL COMPETENCE
The content of the class spans from practical work with texts to lectures, discussions, student presentations, and the compilation of a reader. Typically, students are expected to deliver two reviews each of two books or other relevant sources; one from the reading list and one found through one's own explorative research. However, some modifications might be made in order to accommodate the needs identified in the group.
The curriculum is developed as part of the course's own seminar process
Form of assessment | Grouping | Grading scale | Comment |
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Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe) | - | Pass / fail | The students will be assessed on the following components: -Taking part in class discussions -Peer student assessment -Student presentations -A final delivery of 2 book reviews |
Workload activity | Comment |
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Attendance | Precence and active participation in class is expected, as well as involvement in the production of the final delivery. |