COURSE UNIT TITLE

: RELATION OF URBAN BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND NATURE

Description of Individual Course Units

Course Unit Code Course Unit Title Type Of Course D U L ECTS
CON 5081 RELATION OF URBAN BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND NATURE ELECTIVE 2 0 0 5

Offered By

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences

Level of Course Unit

Second Cycle Programmes (Master's Degree)

Course Coordinator

PROFESSOR DOCTOR MEDIHA BURCU SILAYDIN

Offered to

M.Sc. Urban Conservation Planning
Urban Design
M.Sc. Urban Conservation Planning (Non-Thesis)
M.Sc. Urban Design

Course Objective

The purpose of this course is to give information about the building practices compatible with the nature in the production process of urban space, in this framework, to gain a critical perspective on current building practices. In the content of this aim, the relationship of urban structure with natural elements is examined; related problems are determined and evaluations are performed on the need for ecological approaches to urban planning and recommendations are developed.

Learning Outcomes of the Course Unit

1   Recognize the dilemma of nature -culture, and ecological building practices,
2   Analyze the intervention of urban building practices on the nature,
3   Relate local cultures and urban systems with ecological problems,
4   Evaluate the literature on urban ecological planning,
5   Apply the criteria for ecological building in urban planning process.

Mode of Delivery

Face -to- Face

Prerequisites and Co-requisites

None

Recomended Optional Programme Components

None

Course Contents

Week Subject Description
1 Introduction: The city and nature relationship, urban ecological systems
2 Examination of building practices that cause disruption of ecological balance: The pattern of location and land use patterns, transportation, density, and building types.
3 Nature, culture and conservation. Traditional settlements in harmony with nature and structure forms
4 Energy use in urban space and climate (general introduction)
5 Providing of energy savings in urban planning and building practices. Transition from Fossil Fuels to Renewable Energy Sources, Energy Efficient Building, the Sun City Model
6 Climate-sensitive urban planning approaches. Measures in the Process of Urbanization: Location and Pattern of Land Use, Occupancy - Vacancy Rate, Population - Structure Density, Urban Orientation.
7 Impacts of urban makroforms on the natural environment.
8 Mid-term exam (Mid-homework submission)
9 Biological and ecological factors in the surrounding urban structure.
10 The importance of green areas in the integration of built environment and natural environment.
11 Discussion: space and nature
12 Discussion: society, city and nature
13 Ecological land use planning and urban design. Smart growth. Zero carbon settlements. Green building.
14 Ecological settlement models. Evaluation through examples.

Recomended or Required Reading

- Alberti, M. (2009). Advences in Urban Ecology, Integrating Humans and Ecological Processes in Urban Ecosystems. Springer Science +Business Media, USA.
- Aminzadeh, B. and Khansefid, M. (2010). A case study of urban ecological Networks and a sustainable city: Tehran s metropoliten area. Urban Ecosystems, 13, 23-36.
- Bierwagen, B.G. (2005). Predicting ecological connectivity in urbanizing landscapes. Environment and Planning B: Planning an Design, (32), 763-776.
- Brown, M.A. and Southworth, F. (2008). Mitigating climate change through green buildings and smart growth. Environment and Planning A. vol.40, 653-675.
- Mcintyre, N.E., Knowles-Yanez, K. and Hope, D. (2000). Urban ecology as an interdisciplinary field: differences in the use of urban between the social and natural sciences. Urban Ecosystems. 4, 5-24.
- Szabó P, Hédl R. (2011). Advancing the integration of history and ecology for conservation. Conservation Biology. 25 (4) 4, 680 687.


Planned Learning Activities and Teaching Methods

This course is carried out by topic expressions, reading, classroom discussion, homework support, and discussions conducted with presentation of homework. Homework is seen as both the method of assessment and an important learning method of the course. Homework topics will be selected to support learning outcomes of the course.

Assessment Methods

SORTING NUMBER SHORT CODE LONG CODE FORMULA
1 MTE MIDTERM EXAM
2 FIN FINAL EXAM
3 FCG FINAL COURSE GRADE MTE * 0.40 + FIN * 0.60
4 RST RESIT
5 FCGR FINAL COURSE GRADE (RESIT) MTE * 0.40 + RST * 0.60


Further Notes About Assessment Methods

First draft of homework substitutes mid-term exam, and final paper of homework substitutes final.

Assessment Criteria

Recognation, Analyzing and Establish of Relation are measured by Mid-term exam (First draft of homework).
Evaluation and Application are measured by homework.

Language of Instruction

Turkish

Course Policies and Rules

To be announced.

Contact Details for the Lecturer(s)

burcu.silaydin@deu.edu.tr

Office Hours

Friday: 15:00-16:45

Work Placement(s)

None

Workload Calculation

Activities Number Time (hours) Total Work Load (hours)
Lectures 14 2 28
Preparing Individual Homework (Midterm) 1 35 35
Preparing Individual Homework (Final) 1 60 60
Submission of homework 2 2 4
TOTAL WORKLOAD (hours) 127

Contribution of Learning Outcomes to Programme Outcomes

PO/LOPO.1PO.2PO.3PO.4PO.5PO.6PO.7PO.8PO.9PO.10PO.11PO.12PO.13PO.14
LO.11
LO.21
LO.311
LO.411
LO.511