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Languages

70 403 Rethinking Development and Sustainable Futures

Emnenavn på Norwegian Bokmål: 
Rethinking Development and Sustainable Futures
Credits: 
6
Course code: 
70 403
Level of study: 
Master
Teaching semester: 
2024 Spring
Assessment semester: 
2024 Spring
Language of instruction: 
English
Year: 
2024
Maximum number of students: 
16
Person in charge
Anders Ese
Required prerequisite knowledge

Passed foundation level courses (BA-level) at AHO or equivalent, 180 ECTS. Open to all study programs.

Course content

 “Rethinking Development and Sustainable Futures” is a 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. These concepts are also often partially interrelated, sometimes conflicting, and exposed 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 what these profession-based conceptions and discourses typically hold and what they try to sustain. The course will also explore if there are other alternatives to established discourses that 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.

 

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

  • improved their knowledge about "Development" and "Sustainable Design".
  • knowledge about and experience in critical readings of texts.

Skills:

  • developed their skills to write their own texts.

developed their skills to describe and discuss their own and others´ texts in an academic seminar setting.

General competence:

developed a critical and reflective stance towards society, trends, development and design.

Working and learning activities

The content of the course 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 to accommodate the needs identified in the group.

Curriculum

The curriculum is developed as part of the course's own seminar process

Link to course literature registered in Leganto

Form of assessmentGroupingGrading scaleComment
Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)-Pass / failThe 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
Vurderinger:
Form of assessment:Portfolio assessment (Vurderingsmappe)
Grouping:-
Grading scale:Pass / fail
Comment: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 activityComment
AttendancePrecence and active participation in class is expected, as well as involvement in the production of the final delivery.
Forventet arbeidsinnsats:
Workload activity:Attendance
Comment:Precence and active participation in class is expected, as well as involvement in the production of the final delivery.