MSc Green Infrastructure

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Green Infrastructure: Principles, Policies and Practice 2 - Field class

Course unit fact file
Unit code GEOG64002
Credit rating 15
Unit level FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

The GI approach can be said to comprise two conceptual aspects; firstly, the biophysical components which comprise the green and blue patches and corridors in the urban matrix; secondly, the management approach to maximizing the social-ecological integrity of, and benefits issuing from, the configuration of those components.

Consideration of the first of these two aspects invariably relates to maximizing connectivity, diversity and multi-functionality in the physical landscape, and for this reason, a GI approach is particularly relevant to urban areas where fragmentation and degradation of natural land-cover render managing for connectivity and multi-functionality highly important. With reference to the second of these aspects, urban areas are suited to the application of a GI approach given that the recipients of the benefits issuing from the latter reside increasingly in towns and cities. Subsequently, a GI approach has been readily adopted in urban research and planning towards maximizing physical productivity and connectivity of natural resources and the associated delivery of benefits to society.

Over the past 30 years, approaches to GI planning have been embedded in a range of environmental management paradigms in attempts to maximize the coherence and collective benefits of these two aspects of GI. These include The Ecosystem Approach, Ecological Engineering, Ecosystem Services, Social-ecological Systems, Resilience Thinking, Natural Capital, Nature-based solutions and Nature’s Contribution to People. This module will consider the articulation and implementation of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) in the context of these evolving but interrelated paradigms.

The unit will take an international perspective and use a comparative approach to consider and understand how UGI has been operationalized in a variety of spatial, historical and social-ecological contexts. This will culminate in an international field course to a major European city that will facilitate a cross-national comparison in which students will critically evaluate the implementation of UGI in different European contexts. This international comparison will be facilitated by the field course itself, building on a Manchester-based field trip in GI PPP1 and preparatory spatial analyses using ArcGIS online and other asynchronous interactive materials.

Aims

Equip students with knowledge on the theory and practice of green infrastructure (GI) from the perspective of the science-policy interface and in the context international research on environmental land management. The unit will primarily focus on social-ecological methods, paradigms and principles.

Syllabus

Four weeks of classroom-delivered material focussing on key environmental resource management frameworks and social-ecological systems theory relevant to GI, including lectures and seminars. One week international field course exploring on-the-ground GI examples and interventions in a variety of urban contexts.

Teaching and learning methods

The module will be delivered through five class room sessions, a five-day residential field course to a major European city (nominally week 9) and drop-in support sessions for group work (provided in Week 10) with student presentations in Week 12.

The five classroom sessions will consist of two two-hour lectures covering the core ideas on the module, two seminar sessions and a fifth session will consist of a one-hour brief on the details of the field course followed by a one-hour GIS workshop exploring spatial characteristics as part of the cross-national characteristics of case-study cities for this module.

Asynchronous material (case-study profiles and interactive planning tools) will also be provided in preparation for the field course.

Knowledge and understanding

  • Appreciate the physical, spatial, conceptual and societal perspectives which shape UGI as a consideration in urban planning.
  • Understanding of GI in the context of key international environmental research and policy frameworks
  • Evaluate the role of user participation and poly-centrism in green infrastructure planning

Intellectual skills

  • Describe and analyse the spatial characteristics of GI
  • Critically evaluate the opportunities and limitations of applying different theoretical paradigms to the implementation of GI

Practical skills

  • Demonstrate, using examples, an understanding of the multi-functionality of GI in different social-ecological contexts.
  • Use geo-spatial software.
  • Presentation skills.

Transferable skills and personal qualities

  • Critical thinking and analysis
  • Design and delivery of group work
  • Report writing

Assessment methods

Assessment task

Length

How and when feedback is provided

Weighting within unit (if relevant)

 

 

Assessment 1: Submission of 2000 word essay on the contextualization of GI within international environmental research and policy. Deadline Week 6 (S2).

 

 

Assessment 2: Presentation of group work to be planned on the field course, with submission of slides (drop-in support sessions in Week 10 and presentation delivered in Week 12).

 

 

2000

Verbal and written feedback – Week 9

 

 

 

 

 

 

Verbal and written feedback – late May (2 weeks following submission)

60%

 

 

 

 

 

 

40%

Recommended reading

Austin, G. (2014). Green Infrastructure for Landscape Planning: Integrating Human and Natural Systems. New York: Routledge.

Beatley, T. (2000). Green Urbanism: Learning from European Cities. Washington DC: Island Press.

Benedict, M. A., & McMahon, E. T. (2006). Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities. Urban Land (Vol. June). Washington DC: Island Press.

Coutts, C. (2016). Green Infrastructure and Public Health. Abingdon: Routledge.

Dover, J. (2015). Green Infrastructure: Incorporating plants and enhancing biodiversity in buildings and urban environments. Abingdon: Routledge.

Firehock, K. (2015). Strategic Green Infrastructure Planning: A Multi-Scale Approach. Washington, DC: Island Press.

Hellmund, P. C., & Smith, D. (2006). Designing Greenways: Sustainable Landscapes for Nature and People. Washington DC: Island Press.

Mell, I. C. (2016). Global Green Infrastructure: Lessons for successful policy-making, investment and management. Abingdon: Routledge.

Sinnett, D., Smith, N., & Burgess, S. (2015). Handbook on Green Infrastructure: Planning, design and implementation. (D. Sinnett, N. Smith, & S. Burgess, Eds.). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Tzoulas, K., Galan, J., Venn, S., Dennis, M., Pedroli, B., Mishra, H., Haase, D., Pauleit, S., Niemelä, J. and James, P., 2021. A conceptual model of the social–ecological system of nature-based solutions in urban environments. Ambio, 50(2), pp.335-345.

Dennis, M. and James, P., 2018. Urban social-ecological innovation: implications for adaptive natural resource management. Ecological Economics, 150, pp.153-164.

Dennis, M., Barlow, D., Cavan, G., Cook, P.A., Gilchrist, A., Handley, J., James, P., Thompson, J., Tzoulas, K., Wheater, C.P. and Lindley, S., 2018. Mapping urban green infrastructure: A novel landscape-based approach to incorporating land use and land cover in the mapping of human-dominated systems. Land, 7(1), p.17.

Dennis, M., Barker, A., Anderson, J., Ashton, J.C., Cavan, G., Cook, P.A., French, D., Gilchrist, A., James, P., Phillipson, C. and Tzoulas, K., 2023. Integrating knowledge on green infrastructure, health and well-being in ageing populations: Principles for research and practice. Ambio, 52(1), pp.107-125.

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Fieldwork 30
Lectures 4
Seminars 2
Independent study hours
Independent study 114

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Matthew Dennis Unit coordinator

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