As the urban landscape becomes more dominant there is a growing impetus to view its potential for incorporation into sustainable frameworks. Not only do urban greenspaces have the potential for providing areas of high biodiversity they are also being seen as a way of delivering environmental goods and services, including coping with a diverse range of problems ranging from drainage and pollution all the way to improvements in both physical and mental health.

The module aims to provide you with an insight into the variety of ways the urban landscape may be managed and utilised when trying to provide a more collective stewardship of our environment. As such it will cover a wide range of traditionally disparate disciplines ranging from the biological and biophysical components through to the human factors, both positive and negative, that contribute to this area of study.

Distinct areas will include the ecology of urban areas including the basic habitats (parkland, allotments, verges etc.), planning, management and conservation techniques and issues (pollution, invasive species, urban carnivores, amenity planting, reclamation techniques etc.), issues of social integration and schemes to engender this and human relationships with urban nature including health and economic benefits of the urban environment.

Access to internet

Alberti, M. (2008) Advances in Urban Ecology: Integrating Humans and Ecological Processes in Urban Ecosystems. Springer, Dordrecht.
Gaston, K. (2010) Urban Ecology (Ecological Reviews). CUP, Cambridge.
Barton, H. (2000) Sustainable Communities: The Potential for Eco-neighbourhoods. Earthscan, London.
Agate, E. (1998) The Urban Handbook: A Practical Conservation Handbook. BTCV, Doncaster.

35% - Newspaper/popular print-style article of ~1000 words aimed at conveying the benefits of an "urban greenspace scheme" to an urban audience [LO 2 & 3]

65% - Essay of ~2000 words [LO 1] to include a critical analysis of the wider environmental problems the embedding of sustainability poses to our current mode of thinking.

Additional Assessment Details:
Students may submit a draft copy of the assessment for formative feedback

Lecture/workshops - 12 x 2 hrs

The module will adopt a blended strategy to help the student navigate the material to meet the specified learning outcomes. The fundamental "factual" information will be managed via Blackboard with externally linked interactive technology based learning where applicable. The contact sessions will build upon this material to explore, discuss and aid understanding and application of the covered material. These will include sessions with specialist lecturers.

Blackboard directed activities and material - 50 hours
Independently derived research and study - 50 hours
Direct assessment preparation - 26 hours