Aim
The course aims to expand the perspective of sustainable development for students in the Industrial Design, Architecture and Technical Design Programmes. The course also aims to increase the understanding that sustainable development requires systematic thinking and a cross-disciplinary approach. The objective is to make the complex of problems manageable so that it can be translated into concrete design proposals.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

· Provide an historical review of the development of Swedish society from a sustainable. perspective to increase knowledge of the requirements that are being placed on future societies when it comes to recycling, managing resources, transport, focus on local economies, etc.

Provide opportunities to examine existing sustainable solutions in the areas of architecture and design and by doing so, gain insight into their qualities and deficiencies

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

· Convert knowledge of sustainable development into concert design of objects and building.

· Collaborate with other professions to develop new concepts and concrete solutions for sustainable design and architecture.

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

· Collaborate with other professionals with insight into the demands this places on one’s own role as a professional.

Contents
The course is intended for students who want to increase their knowledge and practical competence when it comes to designing objects and buildings based on a sustainable approach. It offers theoretical and practical knowledge on sustainable development from both global and local perspectives. The course will also convey a vision of how a conversion of such things as transport systems, increased recycling and self-sufficiency can contribute to changes in societal development in Sweden as well as the rest of the world, and how this can be accomplished while maintaining and improving our welfare and preserving good quality of life. The vision will inspire the students to discuss the future work assignments they may be given in the face of such a process of change and how their professional roles will be affected.

The theoretical content of the course will be covered in lectures, seminars and reading assignments. The practical portions will include design assignments such as the examination of existing attempts to build in a sustainable manner (e.g. ecovillages, energy and resource efficient housing and places of work) as well as the study of products in which sustainable production and material utilization have been the goal.

In brief, the practical exercises and workshops will initially motivate the students from the different programmes to practise their problem solving and creative abilities together through cross-disciplinary efforts. In the later part of the course, they will work with a more comprehensive design assignment, individually or in groups, in their own areas of expertise.

In addition to teachers from the Industrial Design and Architecture Programmes, lecturers from Traffic Technology, Human Ecology and Environment and Energy Systems will also be involved.

Literature
Diamond, Jared (2005): Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed
Diamond, Jared (1999): Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies
Klein, Naomi (2002): No Logo
Edman, Stefan (2005): Bilen Biffen Bostaden, Hållbara Laster Smartare Konsumtion, SOU2005:51
Florida, Richard (2002): The rise of the creative class
Gore, Al (2006): Inconvenient Truth
Koolhaas, Rem (2004): Content
Kunstler, James Howard (1993): Geography of Nowhere, The rise and decline of America’s man-made landscape
Kunstler, James Howard (2005): The Long Emergency, Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the twenty-first Century
Pollan, Michael (2006): The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
Rogers, Richard: Cities for a small planet
Schlosser, Eric (2002): Fast Food Nation
På väg mot ett oljefritt Sverige (swedish), download: http://www.regeringen.se/sb/d/6316/a/66280;jsessionid=awtsl-BHCzk5