Summary

The course introduces the concept of green and blue infrastructure in the context of global warming. It presents practical methods for planning, developing, and maintaining an efficient network of green and blue infrastructure in urban areas.

Content

Keywords

Green and blue infrastructure, Nature-based solutions, Ecosystem services, Climate change, Resilient cities, Biophilic design.

Learning Prerequisites

Required courses

The course does not require any prerequisites. It is aimed at people who want to understand and integrate the concept of green and blue infrastructure in urban development.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the student must be able to:

• Define the concept of green and blue infrastructures and their contributions to climate change adaptation in cities
• Analyze nature, density, and distribution of green and blue infrastructures in an urban territory.
• Design strategic plan to develop urban green and blue infrastructures networks that are ecologically, economically, and socially effective.
• Describe good practices for designing, building, maintaining, and evaluating green and blue infrastructure.
• Assess / Evaluate state and availability of ecosystem services provided by green and blue infrastructures in a given area.
• Develop projects using transdisciplinary methods.

Teaching methods

Interactive course mixing theoretical approaches, case studies analysis and practical exercises.

Expected student activities

Active participation in class, reading of course material, individual or group exercises and présentation.

Assessment methods

Continuous assessment during the semester:

• 2 exercises or individual projects = 50%
• 1 group project = 50%

Supervision

Resources

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI)

No

Bibliography

EBP, 2012: Adaptation aux changements climatiques dans les villes suisses. Rapport final du 16 août 2012 sur mandat de l'Office fédérale de l'environnement (OFEV). Ernst Basler + Partner (EBP), Berne, 79 p. Disponible en ligne : https://www.are.admin.ch/are/fr/home/media-et-publications/publications/villes-et-agglomerations/anpassung-an-die-klimaaenderung-in-schweizer-staedten.html

House, E., C. O'Connor, K. Wolf, J. Israel, & T. Reynolds. 2016: Outside our Doors: the benefits of cities where people and nature thrive. Seattle, WA: The Nature Conservancy, Washington State Chapter, 28 p Retrieved from: https://www.nature.org/content/dam/tnc/nature/en/documents/Outside_Our_Doors_report.pdf.

Metro Vancouver, (n.d): Connecting the dots. Regional green infrastructure network resource guide. Diamond Head Consulting Ltd, Ecoplan International and Calypso Design, for Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Retrieved from: https://metrovancouver.org/services/regional-planning/Documents/connecting-the-dots.pdf

New York City, 2005 (October). High Performance Infrastructure Guidelines: Best Practices for the Public Right-of-Way. New York City Department of Design and Construction, Design Trust for Public Space. 229pp. Retrieved from: https://www.nyc.gov/assets/ddc/downloads/Sustainable/high-performance-infra-guidelines.pdf.

OFEV (éd.), 2018 : Quand la ville surchauffe. Bases pour un développement urbain adapté aux changements climatiques. Office fédéral de l'environnement, Berne. Connaissance de l'environnement, No 1812 : 109 S. Disponible en ligne : www.bafu.admin.ch/dam/bafu/fr/dokumente/klima/uw-umwelt-wissen/hitze-in-staedten.pdf.download.pdf/uw-1812-f.pdf

Notes/Handbook

Course materials

Documents, articles, cases study and exercises will be distributed along the semester.