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The course introduces the core topics of technology-based issues of sustainable urban development.
Coming from the background of the Ecosystem Approach (James J. Kay, American Council on Environmental Quality, amongst others) basic understandings of the urban environment as anthropogenic socio-technical ecosystem are explained. Protected assets (water, soil, air, biodiversity etc.) of ecologically oriented urban planning are defined as subjects of technology assisted innovations in urban environments. The mainstream political and scientific concepts of sustainable development (Dennis L. Meadows, Gro H. Brundtland, Klaus Töpfer, Frederic Vester, Robert Costanza, John Elkington, and others) are presented as well as their implications for a green industrial society under transformed socio-economic conditions. Sub-strategies considering the efficiency and sufficiency of innovations are explained. Technology is reflected as part of the nexus of un-sustainability (Syndrome Approach) and the necessary socio-economic change (Integrated Technology Approach). Networked components of future smart cities are discussed, such as infrastructure, ICT, logistics, transportation and energy supply and consumption issues. Some critical reviews of selected examples of future city concepts and mega/ global cities problems close the course. |
