ACE155  lp2 HT20 (7.5 hp)

Master Programme Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering 2020

Water Environment Technology, Architecture and Civil Engineering

Chalmers University of Technology

Contact details

• Yuliya Kalmykova – Professor, Course leader & Examiner yuliya.kalmykova@chalmers.se
• Leonardo Rosado – Associate Professor, Co-examiner rosado@chalmers.se
• Divia Jiménez Encarnación - PhD Candidate, Course Administrator diviaj@chalmers.se 

Course representatives

• Yohanes Armediaz  yohanes@student.chalmers.se 
• Eva Gustafsson evagu@chalmers.se 
• Eva Kultje  evaku@student.chalmers.se 
• Xiaoxia Li  xiaoxiali303@gmail.com 
• Albin Hans Nimheim  nimheim@student.chalmers.se 

Course description

• Link to course description document: ACE155 Course Description
• Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen: Study Plan

Schedule

• Link to course schedule document: ACE155 Course Schedule
• Link to course schedule in TimeEdit: TimeEdit

Course aim

Students should gain knowledge and skills about the functioning of cities in terms of their infrastructures, resource use and waste production in order to assess performance of contemporary cities, suggest and evaluate necessary transformations and meet challenges of global urbanisation, resource scarcity and environmental degradation. 

The course presents the main concepts about the following methods and tools: Material Flow Analysis, Input-Output Analysis, Industrial Symbiosis, Dynamic Stock Modelling, Circular Economy and Sharing Economy.  

Learning objectives 

After completing the course the students should be able to:

• explain critical aspects of sustainable development for urban areas with focus on environmental impacts and resource constraints;
• study urban technical systems, including water and transportation systems, and resource flows to identify eventual problems in relation to sustainable development;
• suggest improvements to technical systems, technology, resource management and lifestyles that may enable efficient resource use, mitigate climate impacts and prevent pollution;
• simulate, predict and evaluate the effect of suggested improvements in urban systems on resource flows and the environmental impact.

Course content and organisation

The Urban Metabolism course is built upon: lectures on key aspects of Urban Metabolism, workshops, individual essay assignment and a group project.

Examination and assignments 

The final grade is based on the written report and oral presentation/opposition of the group project and on the written individual assignment. Mandatory attendance applies to consultations with teacher in group projects and for the final presentation of group projects.

Online moments

The ACE155 course will be mostly done with the Zoom online conference system. The success of the course will depend on the same commitment we all bring to the physical classroom. Everyone should adopt the same rules and norms (take notes; participate by asking and answering questions). For everyone’s benefit, join the course in a quiet place whenever possible. Turn on your video whenever possible. Mute your microphone unless you are speaking. Close browser tabs not required for participating in the lectures. If you are not familiar with Zoom let us know and we can share information about it.

All workshops will occur live on Zoom. The slides will be made available one day after

Most lectures will be pre-recorded. In the case of live lectures, you will be notified, and the slides will be made available one day after.

The pre-recorded lectures will consist of 45-minute slots (i.e. 2 hour lecture will consist of two 45 minute slots). Each slot will have the following structure:

• a pre-recorded 20-minute lecture. For pre-recorded lectures, the recording and slides will be made available, at the latest, the day before.
• a 25-minute zoom session open for discussions around exercises and questions posed in the pre-recorded lectures. Students will have access to breakout rooms for 5 to 10 minutes to discuss in groups the topics of the lectures and the remaining time will be used for a general discussion where everyone is welcome to share their findings.
• Whenever a new teacher presents a lecture, a welcome video of the teacher will be presented for students to familiarize with the staff. We welcome also the use of video whenever students actively participate in thediscussions.

There is one Zoom meeting for each day in which lectures and/or workshops are scheduled. This meeting can be accessed for all the lectures that occur on the same day. The link to join each meeting are available in the Canvas Calendar, in the events called “Zoom link for the day”. The password to access the meetings is ACE155_IEE.

All consultation sessions (individual and group) will occur online. For the consultations, there is one Zoom meeting corresponding to each supervisor. The link to join each meeting are available in the Canvas Calendar, in the events for each consultation. The password to access the meetings is ACE155_IEE.