Circular economy in cities and territories (Make visible the invisible)

CIVIS focus area: Cities, territories and mobilities
Open to: Bachelor's

Master's

PhD candidates/ students
Field of studies: Business and Management

Environment & Agriculture

Social Science and humanities

Environmental sciences, Urbanism, Geography
Type: Blended Intensive Programmes (BIP)
Course dates: 21 April - 9 June 2023

This course is covering a very important gap in the current university’s curricula regarding with the importance of circular economy not only for European cities but also for other territories around the world. The circular economy is an innovative way to build new solutions to the develop models of sustainability. However, circular economy is still in its infancy and a new framework is opened to discuss its theoretical and practical pillars. So, this is an excellent moment to engage students, to permeant the circular economy philosophy in the mind and behavior of the Europe future builders and to involve them in its development.

The principal objective of this courses is to deep in the circular economy of the cites and territories taking account the approaches of different disciplines (tourism, architecture, cultural heritage, business, economy, mobilities, etc.). The main idea of the course is to concern students about the negative impact of the actual consumption model based on the unlimited resources and to provide them with the knowledge and the reliable tools to create growth models much more sustainable, resilience and respectful with the particularities of the different territories. Also, this course will emphasize the importance of sustainable development goals and the urban agenda for the EU as a theoretical and practical framework.

The course will be structured by 3 ECTS which means 75 hours of working divided into four typologies of actions:

Action 1. Webinars
Action 2. Field trip in Madrid (Monday, 5 June to Friday 9 June) (both inclusive)
Action 3. Self-working time
Action 4. Projects presentations.

This course will be interdisciplinary and will focus on a wide perspective of the circular economy in cities.

Main topics addressed

Circular economy
Sustainability
New uses of the urban cultural heritage
Cities
Recycling
Urban agriculture

Learning outcomes

Make students understand the concept of circular economy through theoretical webinars and field trips.
Encourage students to meet the city’s stakeholders who work closely on aspects related to the circular economy.
Encourage students to learn to work as a team through the development of collaborative work.
To create international teaching-learning networks among CIVIS universities.

Dates: 21 April - 9 June 2023	Total workload: 75 hours
Format: Blended	ECTS: 3
Location: Madrid, Spain	Language: English (B2)
Contact: mar.alonso@uam.es; carmen.hidalgog@uam.es

Recognition of ECTS depends on your home university.

Physical mobility

The physical mobility part will be running from 5 to 9 June 2023.

During the physical part of the course, 3 actions will take place:

Field trip: students will spend 5 days in Madrid studying presently different cases connected with the topic of the course and talking with the cities’ stakeholders (administration, NGOs, cultural managers, etc.) linked with circular economy invited to participate in the course.
Self-working time: students will have a specific number of self-working time to develop a final project.
Projects presentations: student will present their project to debate the proposals among the rest of the students and teaching staff. This course will be interdisciplinary and will focus on a wide perspective of the circular economy in cities.

Virtual part

The virtual part will be running from 21 April to 12 May 2023.

This course will be interdisciplinary and will focus on a wide perspective of the circular economy in cities. Professors participating in the course, based on their background, will work with students on different perspectives of the circular economy in cities (economics, geography, anthropology, cultural heritage, agriculture, etc.). Sessions will take place as follow:

21 April (Friday): Salzburg (2 hours: 14:30-16:30)
28 April (Friday): Rome (2 hours: 14:30-16:30)
5 May (Friday): Tübingen (2 hours: 14:30-16:30)
12 MAy (Friday): Madrid (3 hours: 14:30-17:30)

Requirements

This course is open to students at CIVIS member universities enrolled in the following fields of study or related: geography, environmental sciences, ecology, economy, and philosophy.

Application process

Interested students should apply by filling in the online application form by 30 November 2022.

Applications will be evaluated based on the alignment of the CV and motivation letter with the topic of the course.

Assessment

Students will present their projects based on case studies to debate the proposals among the rest of the students and teaching staff. Presentations will take place on the last day of the presential course in Madrid.

Blended Intensive Programme

This CIVIS course is a Blended Intensive Programme (BIP): a new format of Erasmus+ mobility which combines online teaching with a short trip to another campus to learn alongside students and professors across Europe. Click here to learn more about CIVIS BIPs.

GDPR Consent

The CIVIS alliance and its member universities will treat the information you provide with respect. Please refer to our privacy policy for more information on our privacy practices. By applying to this course you agree that we may process your information in accordance with these terms.

Professors researching in circular economy, sustainability and innovation in cities and territories:

Kyoko Shinozaki and Stefan Lang (Paris Lodron University of Salzburg)
Alessandra Battisti (Sapienza Università di Roma)
Karin Polit (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen)
Mar Alonso, Carmen Hidalgo, Diego Barrado, Carolina Yacamán (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)

Cities’ stakeholders (administration, NGOs, cultural managers, etc.) linked with circular economy in cities will also be invited to participate in the course.