MSc Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Reconstruction

As the world becomes increasingly urbanised, there is a growing adaptation imperative for towns and cities across the globe. Environmental threats, such as those associated with climate change do not have a uniform effect from city to city and community to community. Instead, they are driven by spatial determinants which affect both physical processes and human systems. Urban neighbourhoods often have very different socio‐economic characteristics and exhibit high variability over relatively short distances. The same is true of urban landscapes and the mosaic of green and blue spaces which comprise their green infrastructure. As a result, urban areas have a range of physical properties which can either enhance or offset risks at different spatial scales. This includes, for example, patterns in the extent of “surface sealing” which inhibits percolation and encourages runoff of rainfall though to influences on the urban thermal environment from building type and structure, vegetation types and structures, and even anthropogenic heat emissions.  

We live in a time of unprecedented concern about environmental hazards, risks and resilience. However, we also have the benefit of unprecedented availability of and access to geospatial data, geospatial data processing and geospatial analysis methods. With ever-more powerful platforms for handling and analysing geospatial data, how can these opportunities be harnessed to understand more about urban risks and responses? How can datasets shape our understanding of hazards and vulnerabilities and in turn help to target more effective responses to improve resilience? In this unit, we will explore the foundations of spatial risk assessment and build practical skills for using remote sensing, GIS and other spatial methods to both analyse risks and develop appropriate responses.  

The unit is especially suitable for students with an existing grounding in physical geography and environmental analysis and/or students with existing competencies in geospatial methods and geographical information science. It is not suitable for students who are completely new to GIS and spatial methods. 
 

Pre-requisite units:

GEOG60951 or previous UG GIS and/or RS module

Provide a foundation for understanding and assessing urban environmental risks and response from a spatial perspective. 

An indicative curriculum is provided below. Please note that this syllabus is indicative of staffing at the time of writing. The actual course content for 2024-5 and future years may vary according to staff availability and expertise.

For example:

Block 1 Week 2 Spatial Risks Case Study may be based on recent research projects and delivered by a staff member or external speaker centring on alternative themes, data and/or methods.  

Blocks 2, 3, and 4 may be based on alternative themes such as peri-urban wildfire risk assessment, urban flooding risks and responses or air quality episodes and mitigation measures depending on the specialisms of available staff.

Block 1: Introduction and Orientation

Week 1. Introduction: Spatial risks and the urban environment – frameworks, terms, concepts and theories. To include: Overview of Course Aims, ILO and Assessments; Assessment timetable, signposting and support. Key deadlines. Practical: A GIS-based risk assessment case study followed by a formative Quiz [Proposed 2024-5 staffing Sarah Lindley]

Week 2: Spatial Risks Case Study [Proposed 2024-5 staffing Mehebub Sahana covering Remote Sensing and GIS in Peri-Urban Research: Perspectives on Global Change, Sustainability, and Resilience. Practical: Peri-urban Analysis Tool (P-CAT) and its case studies]

Block 2: Hazards and their assessment.

Week 3. Workshop on Assignment 1 – Designing informative storymaps; Assessment discussion and guidelines [SL]

Week 4. Hazard Assessment 1 - [Proposed 2024-5 staffing Sarah Lindley covering Mapping and measuring the urban thermal environment. Practical: Data base development - Identifying and integrating spatial data on urban thermal environments]

Week 5. Hazard Assessment 2 – [Proposed 2024-5 staffing Angela Harris covering Remote sensing of Land Surface Temperatures. Practical: using satellite data for urban thermal monitoring]

Block 3: Assessing exposure, vulnerabilities and impacts

Week 6: Exposure, vulnerability and impact assessment 1 - [Proposed 2024-5 staffing Sarah Lindley covering Beyond hazards: the human dimension of risks and harm in the urban environment. Practical: Developing social vulnerability indices]

Week 7: Exposure, vulnerability and impact assessment 2 - [Proposed 2024-5 staffing Sarah Lindley covering Exposure and damage assessment: Practical Case study]

Block 4: Risk mitigation and adaptation measures

Week 8: City scale adaptions – [Proposed 2024-5 staffing Sarah Lindley & Richard Figueroa Alfaro covering urban cooling from green infrastructure. Practical: the InVEST model]

Week 9: Local scale adaptations – [Proposed 2024-5 staffing Matthew Tomkins covering modelling urban cooling from urban water bodies Practical: Case study of Manchester’s Canals]

Block 5: Conclusion

Week 10: Course conclusion & Workshop on Assessment 2 – Self-assessing your spatial risk assessment and using it to make recommendations for action for a city of your choice. [Proposed 2024-5 staffing Sarah Lindley]
 

Asynchronous activities will be posted weekly on the appropriate Virtual Learning Environment (Blackboard or its equivalent).Students will be expected to prepare through a mix of the following activities: listening to pre-recorded lectures (where available); reading key texts, consulting online materials and/or conducting preparatory exercises. There will also be a set of follow-ups (including follow-up reading, consolidation exercises and the completion of practicals) supporting learning for assignments.

Synchronous activities are in the form of 2 hour timetabled sessions. Each of these sessions will normally comprise of a staff-led introductory element (normally ranging from 30 mins to 1 hour) followed by computer-based practical work for the remainder of the 2 hour timetabled session.

As part of the synchronous activities, there will be two one-hour workshop sessions, one to support Assignment 1 and the other to support Assignment 2. The remainder of these sessions will be a Practical Surgery, i.e. staff-supported session for students to work on their own assignment work.  
 

• Identify, define and explain spatial risk assessment frameworks and concepts, including related terms, such as hazard, exposure, vulnerability and resilience. 
• Articulate and demonstrate how urban environmental risks and underpinning ideas relate to spatial factors and processes, including how they can be measured. 
• Explain how concepts, data, processes and methods in Geographical Information Science apply to urban environmental risks as spatial phenomena.
• Set out and evaluate the potential of risk mitigation and adaptation measures to address urban environmental risks. 
   

• Critically assess how spatial data, methods and approaches can be used for analysing risk, risk components, and/or responses and some of the core limitations.
• Use critical thinking to apply theory on spatial risk assessment and responses to at least one urban environmental theme (such as heat or flooding).
• Evaluate and interpret the results of a spatial risk assessment.
• Identify and evaluate appropriate responses (risk mitigation and/or adaptation) to urban environmental risks as spatial phenomena.
   

• Generate a suitable geospatial database covering different aspects of urban environmental spatial risks (including hazards and vulnerabilities) 
• Conduct a spatial risk assessment in GIS for at an urban area and environmental case. 
• Apply spatial analysis and/or modelling to evaluate risk mitigation and/or adaptation measures. 
• Produce informative mapped outputs which accurately convey the outcomes of practical work conducted
   

• Independently gather, sift, synthesize and organise material related to spatial data, methods and Geographical Information Science
• Independently gather, sift, synthesize and organise material related to urban environmental risks
• Demonstrate numeracy and handling of geospatial concepts and ideas. 
• Prepare, plan, conduct and report on a case study assessment
   

Formative Assessment Task:

Quiz based on Block 1 and the GIS-based risk assessment case study 
Set Week 1; Deadline Week 3.

Length(word count/time):  12 questions (<500 words)/1 hour class & 3 hours self-study

Feedback:  Week 1 initiated with VLE-based quiz completed outside class time in Week 2 or 3. VLE-based Quiz provides primary feedback method

Assessment Task:

(1) Assignment 1: Development of a storymap outlining urban environmental hazards and their spatial characteristics. 
Set Week 3; Deadline Week 7
Length: 1000 words 
Feedback:  Via Turnitin; Week 8                                                                             Weighting:  33%

(2) Assignment 2: Production of a spatial risk assessment for a case study city* and recommendations for risk mitigation and/or adaptation options. 
Set Week 6*; Deadline Week 12
* List of indicative cities and data resources to be provided
Length:  2000 words
Feedback:  Via Turnitin 3 weeks after submission                                                 Weighting:  67%

VLE-based quiz and via Turnitin

Cutter, S. (2021) Urban Risks and Resilience. Chapter 13 in Wenzhong, S., Goodchild, MF; Batty, M; Kwan, M-P and Zhang, A (Editors) Urban Informatics Springer. 
Gunawardena, K. R., Wells, M. J Kershaw, T. (2017) Utilising green and bluespace to mitigate urban heat island intensity. Sci. Total Environ. 584–585, 1040–1055.
Hathway, E. A. and Sharples, S (2012) The interaction of rivers and urban form in mitigating the Urban Heat Island effect: A UK case study. Build. Environ. 58, 14–22.
Lindley, S. J., Handley, J. F., Theuray, N., Peet, E., & Mcevoy, D. (2006). Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change in the Urban Environment: Assessing Climate Change Related Risk in UK Urban Areas. Journal of Risk Research, 9(5), 543–568. 
Ostadtaghizadeh A, Ardalan A, Paton D et al (2015) Community disaster resilience: a systematic review on assessment models and tools. PLoS Curr 1:1–19. 
Veerkamp, C. J. Schipper, A. M. Hedlund, K. Lazarova, T. Nordin, A. Hanson, H. I. (2021) A review of studies assessing ecosystem services provided by urban green and blue infrastructure. Ecosyst. Serv. 52, 101367.
Zawadzka, J.E., Harris, J.A. and Corstanje, R., 2021. Assessment of heat mitigation capacity of urban greenspaces with the use of InVEST urban cooling model, verified with day-time land surface temperature data. Landscape and Urban Planning, 214, p.104163.
Zhou, D., Xiao, J., Bonafoni, S., Berger, C., Deilami, K., Zhou, Y., Frolking, S., Yao, R., Qiao, Z. and Sobrino, J.A., 2018. Satellite remote sensing of surface urban heat islands: Progress, challenges, and perspectives. Remote Sensing, 11(1), p.48.