Course syllabus

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ACE440 Beyond sustainability lp1 HT26 (10 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Contact details

Contact details

 

Course purpose

The overall aim of the course is to provide critical, theoretical, and practical knowledge regarding sustainable development, by focusing on perspectives and frameworks that lift challenges and questions beyond sustainable building to include also social, economic, cultural, and political aspects. This course will introduce approaches and theories that explicitly define sustainability and ecology in terms of the complexity, relationality, and interconnectedness of the stakes and problems at hand and that approach these at multiple scale levels: from planetary to local communities. Through combining a close study of theories and approaches with hands-on practical assignments, this course aims to prepare students to become both problem-identifying and problem-solving professionals who can act as critical and ethical agents for the sustainable transformation of the built environment at all scale levels. The course aims to provide deeper understandings of sustainable methods and approaches that can be further developed in the students’ ensuing design studio trajectories. In doing so it aims to encourage and support students to act critically and caring vis-a-vis environmental challenges, as thinkers and designers.

Groups: Students will be working in groups. The groups will be formed by the examiner.

 

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Overview of the Schedule

For full schedule, see Canvas calendar.

Below is an overview of the schedule, showing  only introductions/kick-starts of each Modul. Go to the Canvas Calendar for the full schedule, and to the each module for more details.  
Any updates or further details to the schedule, see the dedicated modules section on Canvas. 

 

INTRODUCTION MODULE 1

4 September 2026

08.00-11.45: Course Introduction (Room: SB-H4, SB2)

13.15-14.00: Introduction to Module 1 (Room: SB-H4, SB2)

 

INTRODUCTION MODULE 2

17 September 2026

08.00-08.45: Introduction to Module 2, (Room: SB-H4, SB2)

 

INTRODUCTION MODULE 3

22 September 2026

08.00-09.45: Introduction to Module 3 (Room: SB-H3)

 

INTRODUCTION MODULE 4

1 October 2026

09.00-09.45: Introduction to Module 4 (Room: SB-H4)

 

INTRODUCTION MODULE 5

13 October 2026

09.00-09.45: Introduction to Module 5 (Room: Kunskapstrappan)

 

INTRODUCTION MODULE 6

22 October 2026

09.00-9.45: Introduction to Module 6 (Room: SB-H4, SB2)

 

PRESENTATIONS and EXHIBITION 

29 October 2026

Group work: Wrap up and final submission

30 October 2026

08.00-11.45: Presentations and exhibition (Room: Lightyard)

 

Course literature

All mandatory readings as well as additional readings are provided within the dedicated Modules sections on Canvas.

 

Course overview

The course comprises lectures, literature studies, seminars, and design exercises/testing. The seminars are carried out in smaller groups. The course assignment is carried out through a series of assignments following dedicated modules, and will be carried out in groups.

In the course different perspectives on sustainable development are presented and discussed, and selectively tested, with a particular focus on wider societal perspectives. These can include, for example, collaborative learning and world-making, place-based analysis, multi-scalar sustainability, circular economy, planning for communities and social-environmental justice, relational and urban ecologies, and critical planetary care. The role of designers will consequently also be approached in a broader sense, including their capacity, in addition to providing sustainable designs, to generate critical awareness and imagine alternative futures through critical storytelling, novel imaginations for the future etc.

 

Course design

PART 1: Thinking-With: Theories and critical frameworks ‘beyond’ sustainability

Amid various old and new approaches to sustainability in architecture and the urban, this part of the course will zoom in on specific theories that lift the discussion ‘beyond’ sustainability. It will be taught through reading and discussion seminars and lectures.

Module 1 will provide a general introduction to frameworks that have theorised the need to move ‘beyond’ sustainability. This is an exercise in how to approach research. Different groups study different topics. Together they will paint a picture of the context in which you will need to orient yourself as architects and planners. The format will move progressively from self-study to group synthesis. 

Module 2 will explore various propositions for design as a force for change, from direct actions on the ground to visionary visions. What role is there for architecture and urban design and what are the effects of climate action mainstreaming on design e.g. carbon footprint offsets, greenwashing, green economics, and even climate change denialism?

This part of the course contains 2 modules:

Module 1: Beyond What?

Module 2: Perspectives

 

PART 2: Acting-With: Design methods and approaches 'beyond' sustainability

This part of the course will introduce the students to specific methods and approaches that allow for architects and urban designers to act ‘beyond’ sustainability and contribute to change. In each module, students will be introduced to a method or approach suitable for addressing ‘beyond’ sustainability challenges, and they will be tasked with hands-on research and design exercises. Each of these modules introduces the students to a specific approach / method that allows them as designers to address complex questions of sustainability. Each module uses distinct scales, geographies, typologies, and tools or ‘sites’ for analysis (e.g., policy documents, construction materials, stakeholders) in order to study sustainability in a broad and complex way, and to formulate suitable responses.

The selected methodological approaches are offered as stand-alone learning modules, but they also will serve, to some degree, as a prelude to specific methods used in the different MPDSD design studios. 

This part of the course contains 3 modules. The design (research) exercises within these three Acting-With modules are taught through a combination of lectures, tutorials, self-study (design and analysis), and reviews.

Module 3: The Broader Context

Module 4: Stakeholder Analysis

Module 5: Reuse and Circularity

 

Part 3: Thinking-with and Reflecting-on-Acting

Module 6 aims at discussing the implications of architecture and urban design, and the​ possible ways to intervene in climate justice, interspecies democracy, and to mitigate the​ environmental imprints of materials (including extraction and toxicity) and other forms of​ climate injustices. Drawing from M1 and M2, M6 literature with focus on the climate footprints of materials, extractivism,​ environmental ethics and justice, ecological grief and healing, and management of (natural​ and human) resources, and reflections of M3-M5 studies this module will study how architecture and urban design can contribute to positive change.​

FINAL SUBMISSION: (Assignment 6+ Reflection): 29 October​

EXHIBITION LIGHTYARD: 30 October

This part of the course contains one module:

Module 6: Manifesting Beyond Sustainability

 

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

Knowledge and understanding

  • Critically analyse, and selectively test, different aspects of the built environment that are connected to but also beyond sustainability.
  • Critically compare different frameworks and models for conceptualizing, and developing solutions for environmental challenges, understood in a broad societal sense.

Competence and skills

  • Critically analyse, select, and selectively test/apply existing approaches towards a complex and relational understanding of environmental challenges and for designing for environmental care, drawing from multiple fields of study, and working at different scale levels.
  • Critically assess and synthesize varied types of and approaches to knowledge, which is a key competence required for designing sustainable environments.
  • Correctly cite and reference precedents (both projects, methods, and ideas) when synthesizing knowledge in a design project.
  • Evaluate the capacity of architectural/urban projects towards sustainable development and environmental care and for developing ways of responding to complex challenges through design.

Judgement and approach

  • Critically analyse opportunities and challenges of thinking about sustainable development through wider societal forces and perspectives and the implications for architectural, urban, and environmental design.
  • Evaluate and formulate their own societal and critical role as professionals vis-a-vis questions of sustainability, and reflect upon the possibility of becoming agents of change.

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen: https://www.student.chalmers.se/sp/course?course_id=45317

 

Examination form

To obtain a pass in this course the following requirements must be fulfilled.

  • Presence at scheduled lectures and seminars - 80 % at the minimum.
  • Active participation in seminars and group work
  • Submission of course assignment in accordance with assigned criteria (see Canvas - Assignments)

Specific assignments will be set for each of the course modules. You will submit these assignments at the end of each module. At the end of the course you will be asked to submit a final reflection of the course as a whole. You will also together in the groups create a representation of your work/insights from the course to exhibit at the Lightyard. 

The final course grade will be based on the performance of the group throughout all modules (average of all Module-specific grades).

 

Student representatives

MPDSD   ms.alekseyko@gmail.com          Viktoriia Alekseiko
MPDSD   finn.karp@icloud.com                 Finn Karp
MPDSD   moorkjulia@gmail.com               Julia Möörk
MPDSD   marius.reichhart@gmail.com      Marius Reichhart
MPDSD   wendy-wg@hotmail.com            Guan Wang

Course summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due