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Sustainable Landscapes (ENST90043)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
For information about the University’s phased return to campus and in-person activity in Winter and Semester 2, please refer to the on-campus subjects page.
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Please refer to the LMS for up-to-date subject information, including assessment and participation requirements, for subjects being offered in 2020.
Overview
Availability | Semester 1 |
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Fees | Look up fees |
Sustainable Landscapes combines social and ecological disciplines to consider the management of urban and rural/regional landscapes for sustainable futures. Subject teaching includes weekly lectures and a 1x weekend field trip to observe and discuss management of landscapes for sustainable outcomes. Australian and overseas case studies are drawn upon to cover the following topics:
- the meaning and significance of sustainability in the context of urban, urban fringe, rural, and regional landscapes and their futures;
- rural and urban land use, and drivers of current and future landscape change, including fragmentation, social change and transformation, biodiversity loss, industrialisation, intensification, pollution, sovereignty, and security;
- assumptions around land ownership, ethics and economics that influence issues of environmental security, commons and sustainable regional futures; · the utilisation, degradation, and management of rural and urban biophysical resources for sustainable futures, including maintenance of ecosystem services and processes;
- the involvement of different stakeholders in decision making for regional, service, rural, fringe and urban areas, including the role of relationships and social features such as politics, memory, and values; and
- the role of governance, including institutions, deliberative democracy, empowerment; and community based natural resource management in navigating landscape change.
The content and the issues raised will draw upon and integrate theory, knowledge and practices from different disciplines familiarising students with systems theory and how it is integral to framing an understanding of landscape management. Theories of complex adaptive systems, social ecological systems, uncertainty, resilience and complexity will also frame the investigation of these issues. Landscape ecology sciences, social sciences (including cultural geographies) and policy frameworks will be drawn upon in analysing and evaluating landscapes and their futures, with a strong focus on community-based knowledge systems. Students will engage deeply with the literature that informs these ideas and will develop a critical understanding of their value and limitations.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of this subject, students should be able to:
- define, assess and evaluate rural and urban land use and land use change, and discuss the implications for the sustainable futures of urban, rural or regional populations and biophysical resources;
- apply policy and planning tools that influence social, community, and ecological resilience and governance;
- apply different methods and methodologies to analyse issues of uncertainty, risk and conflict in landscape decision making and landscape management practice;
- apply different methods and methodologies to analyse issues of uncertainty, risk and conflict in landscape decision making and landscape management practice;
- chart agro‐ecological, stakeholder and social community interrelations;
- describe and evaluate issues of governance, land ownership, ethics and economics as they relate to environmental security, the commons, and sustainable regional futures;
- describe and consider Indigenous and other stakeholders contributions to landscape futures;
- demonstrate an understanding of the political and social constraints on the management of the wider landscape and its interface with peri‐urban spaces;
- identify interactions amongst rural, regional and urban social ecological systems, and apply an understanding of them to critically assess and suggest improvements to policy and planning approaches in the management and design of the regional landscapes;
Generic skills
- social and ecological systems thinking and their integration in landscape policy and planning;
- research, critical analysis and critical reflection through readings, lectures, and assessment;
- interdisciplinary thinking as an individual and collaboration as part of a team, through the application and integration of theory to complex issues;
- thinking through issues of complexity by developing methodological approaches and methods to assist decision processes and practice.
Last updated: 11 October 2023
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Admission into the Graduate Environmental Program (OEP), Masters of Urban Planning, Masters in Urban Horticulture, Masters of Ecosystem Management and Conservation or Masters of Geography or into Honours in the School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences. Students who have already undertaken Building Resilient Communities may wish to discuss taking this subject with coordinator.
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: 11 October 2023
Assessment
Due to the impact of COVID-19, assessment may differ from that published in the Handbook. Students are reminded to check the subject assessment requirements published in the subject outline on the LMS
Semester 1
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Literature Review (2000 words) due in week 5 or 6 (40%)
| Week 5 | 40% |
Revision of the previous literature review applied to a case study (3000 words) due in week 12 (60%).
| Week 12 | 60% |
Last updated: 11 October 2023
Dates & times
- Semester 1
Coordinator Andrea Rawluk Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 10 weeks of 2 hour/week lectures during the semester for the first 10 weeks of semester. 1x optional weekend field trip at the end of week 7 leaving Melbourne on Friday at 4pm, and returning Sunday approx. 4pm. Individual coordinator/tutor meetings throughout the semester by appointment. Field trip is not compulsory but includes +16 contact hours with lecturer and additional staff and local experts, and is highly recommended. It is capped at 50 participants. It is recommended that students need to do 3 hours of reading for each hour of contact. Total time commitment 170 hours Teaching period 2 March 2020 to 7 June 2020 Last self-enrol date 13 March 2020 Census date 30 April 2020 Last date to withdraw without fail 5 June 2020 Assessment period ends 3 July 2020
Time commitment details
Field trip is not compulsory but includes +16 contact hours with lecturer and additional staff and local experts, and is highly recommended. It is recommended that students need to do 3 hours of reading for each hour of contact.
Additional delivery details
Students maybe asked to contribute to, travel, and food expenses while in the field
Last updated: 11 October 2023
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Walker, B. and D. Salt 2006. Resilience Thinking: Sustaining Ecosystems and People in a changing World. Island Press: Washington.
Wylie, J. 2007. Landscape. Routledge: Oxon, UK.
Recommended texts and other resources
Harris, G. 2007 Sustainability in an age of complexity. Cambridge Press.
Other readings will be provided through LMS.
- Subject notes
Students may be asked to contribute to travel and food expenses while in the field.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Master of Environmental Science Course Master of Urban Horticulture Course Master of Environment Major Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Regions Major Climate Change Major Conservation and Restoration Major Conservation and Restoration Informal specialisation Landscape Management Major Tailored Specialisation Major Climate Change Major Sustainable Cities, Sustainable Regions Major Tailored Specialisation Major Tailored Specialisation - 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.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 11 October 2023