Hacking Cities - Upgrading Urban Life (ABPL20054)
Undergraduate level 2Points: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
Overview
| Availability | Winter Term |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
Many aspects of city life could be improved, but change seems hard. Some interventions are ineffective, others have unintended side effects. Cities are complex systems, and complexity makes it a challenge to change them. Hacking means using your knowledge of a system to design an intervention – the hack – that will produce a desired outcome. Easier said than done in a complex system.
In this subject we will analyse a portfolio of city interventions, ranging from small to very large. Each of the interventions will illustrate one or more principles or typical dynamics of complex systems. We will explore parallels of the dynamics in cities with systems from biology and physics. We will investigate why changing complex systems often is hard, or only seems to progress along certain paths. We will also investigate how sometimes seemingly little changes have disproportionally large effects. Another important topic we will address it how to deal with the – sometimes deep – uncertainties complexity presents us with. You will also learn how to assess what `upgrading' would mean – in other words, when can you say something improved city life?
And you get to hack a city yourself. You can choose from the portfolio we treated in the lectures and propose a hack that would have done or would do a better job. Or, you can propose a different city and hack. Either way you will have to explain how the hack makes use of the complexities of the city you are trying to upgrade and how it deals with the uncertainties involved. You get to write up your hack in the form of a policy brief – a document that will not only explain how it works and what it does, but that also would convince a policy maker to implement it.
Intended learning outcomes
Students who successfully completed this subject will be able to:
- Explain why and how cities can be understood as complex systems;
- Use a theoretical framework to analyse systemic normative issues (e.g.\ liveability, sustainability, resilience);
- Analyse and conceptually model or map complex systems such as cities;
- Convey the consequences of complexity, non linearity and uncertainty in theoretical and practical terms;
- Articulate what transformative change entails, both conceptually and in the context of a real-world case;
- Work with some of the tools to deal with uncertainty such as scenarios and exploratory thinking;
- Describe and communicate interventions in complex systems to a general audience and policy makers.
Last updated: 9 April 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 9 April 2025
Assessment
Additional details
- Assignment 1 (individual) / Research Report – 1500 words, due Day 5, 30%
- Assignment 2 (group) / Hack Presentation – 10-20 min, 500 words equivalent per student (group size 3-7), due Day 8, 10% ;
- Assignment 3 (group) / Research Report, including Modelling Report – 1000 words equivalent per student (group size 3-7), due first weekday after last lecture, 40% ( 25%+15%);
- Assignment 4 (individual) / Hack Proposal – 1000 words equivalent (individual), due one week after the last lecture, 20%.
Last updated: 9 April 2025
Dates & times
- Winter Term
Principal coordinator Fjalar de Haan Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 40 contact hours over 10 days contact hours over 10 days (10 days of 2 hour lecture + 2 hour tutorial) Total time commitment 170 hours Teaching period 2 July 2018 to 13 July 2018 Last self-enrol date 4 July 2018 Census date 6 July 2018 Last date to withdraw without fail 14 July 2018 Assessment period ends 20 July 2018 Winter Term contact information
Email: fjalar.dehaan@unimelb.edu.au
Time commitment details
170 hours
Last updated: 9 April 2025
Further information
- Texts
- Breadth options
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Last updated: 9 April 2025