Environmental Engineering for Sustainable Development

Educational objectives

The course aims to provide students with an introductory and interdisciplinary overview of sustainability issues.
In particular, the course aims to:

explain the links between energy, resources, mobility, water, ecosystems and law;
introduce the main scientific, technological and legal tools to address environmental and social challenges;
foster critical thinking and awareness of sustainable development.

Educational objectives

The course’s general objective is to foster a basic knowledge of the methods and tools of urban and regional planning, through critical analysis of the fundamentals of the discipline, including environmental sustainability, with a view to integrating it with other disciplines that deal with land issues.
The specific objective of the course focus on the acquisition of the following skills:
- the ability to select and use statistical databases and other information sources;
- the ability to identify, interpret and draw conclusions from data;
- the ability to work with GIS and graphics software for the production of thematic and design maps;
- the ability to identify, consult and interpret legal texts, regulations and technical guidelines applicable to the issues addressed through urban and regional planning;
- a full awareness of the ethical implications of the planner's role.
The course will also allow students to:
- fine tune their critical and judgment skills by writing technical reports and producing thematic and design maps;
- develop their ability to communicate what they have learned through group work and to discuss their own outputs during frequent, pre-planned meetings with the other groups and the professor;
- develop their ability to carry on their own research efforts autonomously by consulting the main sources of open data and by interviewing municipal technicians and decision-makers.
Upon completing the course, students will have mastered the main methodological approaches of urban and regional planning and be able to apply the main technical and regulatory instruments for drawing up, and managing urban plans.