Urban Environments

Subject ENVS10007 (2011)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2011.

Credit Points:

12.50

Level:

1 (Undergraduate)

Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2011:

Semester 2, Parkville - Taught on campus.

Pre-teaching Period Start	not applicable
Teaching Period	not applicable
Assessment Period End	not applicable
Last date to Self-Enrol	not applicable
Census Date	not applicable
Last date to Withdraw without fail	not applicable

Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.

Time Commitment:

Contact Hours: 48 hours: 2x1 hour of lectures; 1x2 hours of tutorials.
Total Time Commitment: 120 hours

Prerequisites:

None specified

Corequisites:

None specified

Recommended Background Knowledge:

None specified

Non Allowed Subjects:

None specified

Core Participation Requirements:

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. This course requires all students to enrol in subjects where they must actively and safely contribute to class activities. Students who feel their disability will affect their meeting this requirement are encouraged to discuss this matter with the Subject Coordinator and the Disability Liaison Unit.

Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

Coordinator

Prof Sun Sheng Han

Contact

Melbourne School of Land & Environment Student Centre
Ground Floor, Land & Food Resources (building 142)

Enquiries
Phone: 13 MELB (13 6352)
Email: 13MELB@unimelb.edu.au

Subject Overview:	To understand why cities have become the most common living environment today, this subject will be built around three questions: what is ‘the urban' and why have cities formed and expanded?; how do we analyse the environments of contemporary cities?; and how might we create better urban futures? Looking to the past, special attention will be paid to cities of different times and places (the early Middle East, Industrial Revolution Europe and North America, rapidly urbanizing contemporary China, for example). We will consider the cities' design, political and economic reasons for their development and form, and their dependence on local physical environments and resources. Analytically, approaches to city morphology, socio-economic differentiation and environmental auditing will be investigated and evaluated, linking these matters to contemporary globalization. Looking to the future, current ideas about creative and environmentally-clever cities will be explored. Student experience of different local urban environments within Melbourne will form the basis of some tutorial and assessment tasks, raising questions about how better urban outcomes could be planned for the future.
Objectives:	At the completion of this subject students should have developed the following skills: • observation of urban environments • recording and analysis of real world urban environments • evaluation of the influence of different factors on the urban environment • recognition of the variety of opinions on the way urban environments are shaped • ability to debate alternative approaches to improving the urban environment
Assessment:	One 1500-word research essay due in week 8 (30%); One 1500-word fieldwork journal reporting observations of visits to selected urban environments due in week 11 (30%) and; One 2-hour end-of-semester examination (40%).
Prescribed Texts:	Subject reader available from the university bookstore.
Breadth Options:	This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses: Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of Biomedicine Bachelor of Commerce Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Science Bachelor of Engineering You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.
Fees Information:	Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Links to further information:	http://www.benvs.unimelb.edu.au/
Related Course(s):	Bachelor of Environments
Related Majors/Minors/Specialisations:	Landscape Architecture Urban Design and Planning
Related Breadth Track(s):	The Property Industry Urban Planning Natural systems and our designed world Urban Design and Planning

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