ACE155  lp2 HT24 (7.5 hp)

Master Programme Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering 2024

Master Programme Industrial Ecology 2024

Chalmers University of Technology

Contact details

• Leonardo Rosado – Associate Professor, Course Administrator, Course leader & Examiner rosado@chalmers.se
• Sébastien Rauch – Professor, Lecturer & Supervisor sebastien.rauch@chalmers.se
• Jonathan Edgardo Cohen – Postdoc, Lecturer and Supervisor jonathan.cohen@chalmers.se 
• Maud Lanau – Assistant Professor, Lecturer & Supervisor maud.lanau@chalmers.se 
• Shuang Wang - PhD Candidate & Supervisor shuang.wang@chalmers.se 

Course representatives

• Fia Fjelddahl - fiaf@student.chalmers.se 
• Elin Johansson - elijohab@student.chalmers.se 
• Hani Shaat - hanish@student.chalmers.se 
• Sofia Sjöstedt - sofsj@student.chalmers.se 
• Koushikk Suyambulingam Raja - koushikk@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

Course aim

Students should gain knowledge and skills about the functioning of cities and regions 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, Circular Economy, Sharing Economy, Entity relationship model, Geographic Information Systems, Water footprint and Stock modelling, Agent-Based modelling and System Dynamics. 

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.