Postgraduate Course: Ecocities (Online) (EFIE11545)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course will delve into the concept of ecocities and equip students with detailed, critical knowledge that can inform practices of realising sustainable cities. Students will be introduced to critical concepts that will enable them to analyse some of the diverse experiments and projects that have been developed in pursuit of sustainable urbanism and to envisage more just and equitable approaches to building/realising ecocities. |
| Course description |
In this course, students will learn to understand and appraise ecocities and urban sustainability through the core social science concepts of political ecology, urban metabolism, green gentrification and environmental racism.
Around the world, there are multiple attempts to produce sustainable urban forms. From redeveloped eco-districts, greening initiatives, and 20-minute neighbourhoods, to the construction of entirely new, master-planned cities, urban sustainability has been interpreted in diverse ways and produced different definitions, typologies, practices and results. In this course, students will gain in-depth knowledge of the concept of urban sustainability and the underlying ambitions, assumptions, agendas and initiatives that have been inaugurated around the world in efforts to produce sustainable urban forms.
Awareness of different approaches is insufficient, however. Students will be equipped with critical tools and concepts that will enable them to critically examine and analyse various urban sustainability initiatives. Sustainability has to encompass multiple measurements and factors, including inclusivity, equity, community, dignified livelihoods and democracy. The course will therefore emphasise the linkages between these ideals and urban sustainability, and push students to critique existing practices, as well as think about future projects/initiatives in these terms. Pathways to sustainability are also shaped by the socio-political contexts in which they are implemented. The role market forces, public-private-partnerships, communities and political contestation play in shaping urban sustainability projects and their outcomes will be foregrounded to enhance students' analytical frameworks.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Online Hybrid Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities. Students should note that their interactions may be recorded and live-streamed (see the Lecture Recording and Virtual Classroom policies for more details). There will, however, be options to control whether or not your video and audio are enabled.
You will need access to a personal computing device for this course. Most activities will take place in a web browser, unless otherwise stated. We recommend using a device with a screen, a physical keyboard, and internet access.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 4,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 4,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 12,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed by means of the following components:
1) Group Presentation (20%)
In groups, students will develop/design an ecocity intervention for a specific context.
Interventions can take any form students wish, but need to sit within a robust rationale for why they have been chosen, what problems they will solve/improvements they will make, and how the goals of urban sustainability will be met. Presentations also need to consider potential limitations and barriers to realising aims and goals.
Presentations will be made on the last day of teaching.
2) Sustainable Response Assessment (80%)
A 3,000 word summative assessment to develop and apply a method to assess chosen measures of sustainable response of an ecocity typology.
Students will be required to interrogate existing typologies (of their choosing) to demonstrate awareness of how sustainability and ecocities have been interpreted and developed in different contexts, and the extent to which these can be considered sustainable.
Assignments will take on the form of a textual report by the student supplemented by other media such as photographic survey, cartographic analysis or interview outputs.
Learning Outcomes Assessed by Component: 1, 2, 3, 4 |
| Feedback |
Feedback on any formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The Course Organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment(s) will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Formative Feedback Opportunity:
Formative feedback is ongoing feedback which monitors learning and is intended to improve performance in the same course, in future courses, and also beyond study.
Before the final summative assessment submission date, all students will have a formative feedback session to give guidance on their final submission. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the various definitions and descriptions of urban sustainability and ecocities in theoretical and built contexts.
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the socio-political and geographic environments that define ecocities in relation to sustainable development.
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the challenges and opportunities for ecocities to deliver sustainable, inclusive outcomes.
- Apply knowledge of ecocity and sustainability definitions and strategies to inform practice and policy making.
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Reading List
Essential Readings:
Anguelovski, I., Connolly, J.J.T., Masip, L., Pearsall, H., 2018b. Assessing green gentrification in historically disenfranchised neighborhoods: a longitudinal and spatial analysis of Barcelona. Urban Geogr. 39, 458-491. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2017.1349987
Asiyanbi, A., 2015. Mind the gap: global truths, local complexities in emergent green initiatives, in: Bryant, R. (Ed.), The International Handbook of Political Ecology. Edward Elgar Publishing, Massachusetts, pp. 274-290.
Caprotti, F., 2014a. Critical research on eco-cities? A walk through the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City, China. Cities 36, 10-17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2013.08.005
Caprotti, F., 2014b. Eco-urbanism and the Eco-city, or, Denying the Right to the City? Antipode 46, 1285-1303. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12087
Checker, M., 2011. Wiped Out by the 'Greenwave': Environmental Gentrification and the Paradoxical Politics of Urban Sustainability. City Soc. 23, 210-229. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-744X.2011.01063.x
Cugurullo, F., 2018. Exposing smart cities and eco-cities: Frankenstein urbanism and the sustainability challenges of the experimental city. Environ. Plan. Econ. Space 50, 73-92. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X17738535
Curran, W., Hamilton, T., 2012. Just green enough: contesting environmental gentrification in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Local Environ. 17, 1027-1042. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2012.729569
Farreny, R., Oliver-Solà, J., Montlleó, M., Escribà, E., Gabarrell, X., Rieradevall, J., 2011. Transition towards Sustainable Cities: Opportunities, Constraints, and Strategies in Planning. A Neighbourhood Ecodesign Case Study in Barcelona. Environ. Plan. Econ. Space 43, 1118-1134. https://doi.org/10.1068/a43551
Grydehoj, A., Kelman, I., 2016. Island Smart Eco-Cities: Innovation, Secessionary Enclaves, and the Selling of Sustainability. Urban Isl. Stud. 2. https://doi.org/10.20958/uis.2016.1
Joss, S., 2011. Eco-cities: the mainstreaming of urban sustainability - key characteristics and driving factors. Int. J. Sustain. Dev. Plan. 6, 268-285. https://doi.org/10.2495/SDP-V6-N3-268-285
Mahzouni, A., 2015. The 'Policy Mix' for Sustainable Urban Transition: The city district of Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm. Environ. Policy Gov. 25, 288-302. https://doi.org/10.1002/eet.1688
Neo, H., Pow, C.P., 2015. Eco-cities and the promise of socio-environmental justice, in: Bryant, R. (Ed.), The International Handbook of Political Ecology. Edward Elgar Publishing, Massachusetts, pp. 401-416.
Pellow, D.N., 2016. TOWARD A CRITICAL ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE STUDIES: Black Lives Matter as an Environmental Justice Challenge. Bois Rev. Soc. Sci. Res. Race 13, 221-236. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742058X1600014X
Pow, C.P., Neo, H., 2015. Modelling green urbanism in China. Area 47, 132-140. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12128
Premalatha, M., Tauseef, S.M., Abbasi, T., Abbasi, S.A., 2013. The promise and the performance of the world's first two zero carbon eco-cities. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 25, 660-669. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.05.011
Pulido, L., 2017. Environmental Racism, in: International Encyclopedia of Geography. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118786352.wbieg0453
Rapoport, E., 2014. Utopian Visions and Real Estate Dreams: The Eco-city Past, Present and Future. Geogr. Compass 8, 137-149. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12113
Rutherford, J., 2019. Redeploying Urban Infrastructure: The Politics of Urban Socio-Technical Futures, 1st ed. 2020 edition. ed. Palgrave Macmillan.
Recommended Readings:
Anguelovski, I., Connolly, J., Brand, A.L., 2018a. From landscapes of utopia to the margins of the green urban life. City 22, 417-436. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2018.1473126
Bulkeley, H., Castán Broto, V., 2013. Government by experiment? Global cities and the governing of climate change. Trans. Inst. Br. Geogr. 38, 361-375. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-5661.2012.00535.x
Chang, I.-C.C., 2017. Failure matters: Reassembling eco-urbanism in a globalizing China. Environ. Plan. Econ. Space 49, 1719-1742. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X16685092
Flynn, A., Yu, L., Feindt, P., Chen, C., 2016. Eco-cities, governance and sustainable lifestyles: The case of the Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-City. Habitat Int. 53, 78-86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2015.11.004
Harris, A., Moore, S., 2015. Convergence and divergence in conceptualising and planning the sustainable city: an introduction. Area 47, 106-109. https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12176
Iverot, S., Brandt, N., 2011. The development of a sustainable urban district in Hammarby Sjöstad, Stockholm, Sweden? Environ. Dev. Sustain. 13, 1043-1064. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-011-9304-x
Joss, S., 2015. Eco-cities and Sustainable Urbanism, in: Wright James, D. (Ed.), International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. Elsivier, Oxford, pp. 829-837.
Joss, S., Cowley, R., Tomozeiu, D., 2013. Towards the 'ubiquitous eco-city': An analysis of the internationalisation of eco-city policy and practice. Urban Res. Pract. 6, 54-74. https://doi.org/10.1080/17535069.2012.762216
Long, J., Rice, J.L., 2019. From sustainable urbanism to climate urbanism. Urban Stud. 56, 992-1008. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098018770846
Miao, B., Lang, G., 2015. A Tale of Two Eco-Cities: Experimentation under Hierarchy in Shanghai and Tianjin. Urban Policy Res. 33, 247-263. https://doi.org/10.1080/08111146.2014.967390
Roggema, R., 2016. The future of sustainable urbanism: a redefinition. City Territ. Archit. 3, 22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40410-016-0052-y |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Urban Sustainability,Ecocity,Political Ecology,Inclusion,Cities,Policy,Level 11,Sustainability |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Aidan Mosselson
Tel:
Email: Aidan.Mosselson@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Yasmine Lewis
Tel:
Email: yasmine.lewis@ed.ac.uk |
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