The course applies the core human ecology concepts developed in ENVS2011 to the urban environment. The emphasis is on how human activities affect ecological processes and human wellbeing in urban areas and how they affect the health of the hinterlands on which those urban areas depend. Students will study the effect that different human values, institutional arrangements and management strategies have on urban energy and material stocks and flows. Case studies covered by the course include: the changes that the urban form places on water, energy and material flows as well as how urban design and planning processes affect transport and settlement patterns. For each of these topics, different human interventions will be considered, including those aimed at improving governance, harnessing ecosystem services and engaging with the community.

On satisfying the requirements of this course, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. apply key concepts in Human Ecology to the urban environment, and communicate these to a range of audiences
2. describe the ecosystem services demanded by modern urban systems
3. explain material and energy flows of modern cities, including food and water, and carry out a material stocks and flows analysis of a chosen aspect of the urban environment
4. describe constraints and opportunities for future sustainable cites

Regular attendance and participation in classwork and fieldtrips is required. Students who fail to submit set work by the due date or fail to participate in classes and field trips may be excluded from examination. Assessment will be based on:

• Short test on basic concepts (10%; LO 1)
• Contribution to, and facilitation of, student-led seminar activities (10%; LO 1, 2, 3, 4)
• Material Stocks and Flows Research project, involving original reflective-evaluative research into the ecological load of some aspect of students' everyday lives, and recommended strategies to reduce that load, and class presentation (45%; LO 3, 4)
• Reflective field trip report examining how and why ecosystem services are affected by human activity and assess the desirability of this continuing. (35%; LO 2, 3, 4)

Winter session (5 - 16 July)

65 contact hours, the course will be taught intensively in the mid-term break through a combination of classes and fieldwork.

48 units towards a degree, including ENVS2011

ECOS2004 and ECOS3004