CIVIL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND GEOMATIC ENGINEERING
Systems, Society and Sustainability
The global challenge of sustainable development requires solutions and mindsets that bridge traditional divisions between nature and culture, and the technical and social sciences. Sustainable development requires that engineers and other professionals are able to include social and ecological considerations alongside technical and economic requirements in managing projects and infrastructure. This course outlines the challenges of sustainability, introduces some theories which can help think through these challenges more clearly, and applies them to the case of urban water systems.
1. Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course you should be
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445-463.
27 Nov
and
4 Dec
Engineering sustainable societies
for Mitchell C. A., Carew A. and Clift R. (2004) The Role of the Professional Engineer and Scientist in Sustainable Development, Chapter 2 in Azapagic A., Perdan S. and Clift R. (eds) Sustainable Development in Practice Chichester, John Wiley and Sons, pp. 29-56. Bauer, J. M. and Herder, P. M. (2009) Designing socio-technical systems, in Meijers A. (ed) Handbook of the Philosophy of Science. Volume 9: Philosophy of Technology and Engineering Sciences Burlington MA, North Holland, pp. 601-630.
11 Dec
Cities, sustainability Bai X. and Imura H. (2001) Towards sustainable and water urban water resource management: a case study in Tianjin, China Sustainable Development 9 pp. 24-35. Speers, A. (2007) Water and cities – overcoming inertia and achieving a sustainable future, Chapter 3 in Novotny, V. And Brown, P. R. Cities of the Future London, IWA Publishing, pp. 18-32.
CIVLG018/M011: Systems, Society and Sustainability
3
4. Assessment
Task Critical Review Attendance and participation at seminars Essay Assessment Due Value 30% 29 October 10% 60% 14 December
All coursework should be submitted in hard copy to the assignment box near the Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering main office, and an electronic copy must be submitted through turnitin on the module moodle site.
Critical Review
Write a 1000 word paper reviewing one of the
Urban sustainability is the idea that an urban area can be organised without excessive reliance on the surrounding countryside and be able to power itself with renewable sources of energy. The aim of this is to create the smallest possible environmental footprint and to produce the lowest quantity of pollution possible, to efficiently use land, compost used materials, recycle it or convert waste-to-energy, and to make the urban area overall contribution to climate change minimal. Therefore allowing the next generations and future generations to have the required resources without compromising them. However sustainably needs to focus also on other issues such as crime and economic factors.
In order to address the issue of clean water availability, the objectives must address multiple levels of the social-ecological model simultaneously. Three overarching objectives will be addressed. 1) The current public water system must increase in capacity. The current public water system is small and up to 40% of households do not have access to the public water system (2). 2) Due to the rural nature of the population, expansion of the current system should begin
The three pillars are environmental, social and economically sustainability. However in this report, environmental sustainability will be brought to light, the two other pillars will be trivial. In order for environmental sustainability to be defined, general sustainability must be defined. Sustainability is the ability to continue a defined behaviour indefinitely (Thwink.org, 2015). For the environment, there are three aspects which must be sustained for, renewable resources, non-renewable resources and pollution. Therefore, environmental sustainability is the degree of pollution emission, renewable resource production and non-renewable resource consumption that can be continued indefinitely for future use. CAROBN
Bigio, G and Dahiya, B, (2004) “Urban Environment and Infrastructure towards Livable Cities.” The World Bank, USA.
The purpose of this paper is to critically critique and evaluate the study: Parenting a Child With a Disibility: The Role of Social Support for African American Parents, written by Jung – Hwa Ha, Jan S. Greenburg, & Marsha Mallick Seltzer. This paper will critically apply the Ecological Perspective and Systems Theory, to the social concern as it addressed in this study. This paper will accomplish this critique by assessing the hypothesis, evaluating the method of study, and critically discussing the results of the study in question by using the key concepts of the fore mentioned theories. Upon the completion of this paper, the reader
Nonetheless the projects were considerably fun and intriguing. I am interested in researching sustainability because I not only have experience but admiration for sustainability in general. I enjoy gaining new perspectives and new ways to organize infrastructure. In particular I want to research sustainable communities who meet energy demands and food security with the use of sustainable practices. I would like to examine how the results of sustainability in these communities reshape equality, environmental health, and human
My name is Christi. I was born February 17, 1999. And I know I have been separated from my immediate family and selected to begin a new society on planet Fuji. I, along with four other children, was chosen to develop our new society into something livable. Our goal is a peaceful cohesive environment. I realize the opportunity I have to continue humanity is greater than mourning any losses; however, I will never forget the life I left behind. I have already shed many emotional tears for the loss of my mother, father and siblings. The memories I have will no doubt guide me into the future.
Different societies around the world have different moral codes, but the importance of water is valued and respected everywhere. Most if not all societies agree with the principles of human dignity and equality for all people. Water is the basis for human survival therefore, it can be the foundation for solidarity amongst societies and people. The ethical frameworks of utilitarianism, consequentialist, intrinsic, theistic, ecological, and water management are all examples of lenses inquiring into the water politics of today. This paper will primarily focus on water management with the ethical framework of a pragmatic approach for the just demands of society, specifically exploring the privatization of municipal and
Systems approach is based on the fundamental principle that all aspects of a human problem should be treated together in a rational manner (Healy, 2005). I have divided this essay into relevant sections that cover an overview of systems ideas, general systems theory and ecological systems theory. This assignment will also include Germain and Gittermans life model, and it will be related back to the case study that has been provided. Limitations of systems theory will also be discussed.
A sustainable city is when harmony is reached between the environment, economy and society. Environmentally, sustainable cities are ecologically friendly by using alternative sources of energy such as solar or wind power. Economically, governments should share a similar decision-making process with institutions and with the public by having a common belief in what should be done by improving sustainability. Sorensen, Marcotullio, and Grant (2004), find that a good decision making process consists of planning and control at the municipal and national political levels which would allow local level functions to become reinforced. Socially, sustainable cities are classless, meaning that there are no social divisions which serve as limits; leading to a more equal society. One of the many ideas would be using mixed housing to remove the class divisions between people. Also, city streets would be walkable, with businesses and services located at close proximity to promote a healthier lifestyle and serve as an alternative to using cars for transportation. The writers differ in their analysis when examining the approaches to improving sustainability in cities. This section will analyze four important ideas on how cities can become more sustainable.
Sustainability is a topic that has become very important in recent years. Sustainability is defined as, “the ability to continue a defined behavior indefinitely.” ("Finding and Resolving the Root Causes of the Sustainability Problem", 2014)
According to water footprint studies, three classes of water use exists, namely, blue water which refers to the volume of surface and groundwater consumed in the manufacture of a product, green water which refers to the volume of consumption of rainwater excluding any runoffs and grey water is polluted water and by definition is the amount of freshwater needed to assimilate the load of pollutants given natural background concentrations and existing ambient water quality standards (Hoekstra et al 2011). The understanding of water footprint will eventually lead behavioral changes which will in turn ensure sustainable water use.
The unplanned urbanization adds challenges to sanitation system design. Still many places are far from proper latrines and hygiene concept. The important field like water and wastewater treatment, solid waste management, disposal methods seems far beyond. News of the death of people due to dysentery is no new headline of a newspaper, whose sole prompt is due to lack of pure drinking water and proper sanitation facility. In such scenario, I think environmental engineering is the only field I should contribute to.
Urbanization, which is becoming a buzzword during the last few decades, is enlarging at a booming speed. It is predicted that 93 percents urban growth will occur to the year 2020, in the developing world (Elliot J.A, 1999). Generally speaking, more than half of the people around the world have been moved to cities, which led to a series of “matters” connected with people’s life that changed in a dramatical way. In this period, sustainable development, another buzzword during the past few years, came into people’s view and gradually became the mainstream of society development. Its definition is to make the development continue in a long term, which means allowing appropriate economic growth and industrialization without
The concept of sustainable development has become a major topic among intellectuals from various fields. Sustainable development has gone through various changes in its definitions and at present does not have a commonly accepted definition. The origination of the concept of sustainable development is debatable. In 1974 at a conference on Science and Technology for Human Development by the World Council of Churches the concept of a “sustainable society” is believed to have been first noted. This early concept focused on equitable distribution of scarce resources and the need for democratic decision making. In 1980 the currently used term of sustainable development emerged in the