Journal article
Integration of environmental sustainability considerations within architectural programmes in higher education: A review of teaching and implementation approaches
Journal of cleaner production, v 342, 130989
15 Mar 2022
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
As education providers, universities play a pivotal role in developing and delivering quality education that contributes to the achievement of the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and the related “Sustainable Development Goals”. Given the large impact of the built environment industry on global emissions and climate change, integrating environmental sustainability principles and architectural education is of paramount importance for the achievement of such targets.
Through a systematic and comprehensive literature review, this article explores how and to what extent environmental sustainability considerations have been integrated within architecture curricula in tertiary education providers across North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, highlighting common approaches, future directions and areas that still need further development. Over 500 published refereed research outputs were analysed and 111 selected for inclusion and discussion in this article, with attention given to understanding course structures, pedagogy, relationship with design studios, types of assessment, teaching and learning technologies, and engagement of the wider architecture profession across undergraduate and graduate architecture programmes. 68% of the documents use case study methodologies to evaluate the impact of sustainability education, while theory only papers represent 15% of the total. Studies using a combination of theoretical discussions and applicative evidence are the 17% of the total. Among the case studies category, it is to be noted that the work done at course level (26%) almost equals that done at curriculum level (29%), signalling that attention has been paid to both the macro and micro scale.
The research shows that more attention in the past was given to the ‘what’ (content and structure of courses and programmes), while more recent studies focus on the ‘how’ (pedagogies and implementation processes for teaching and curriculum development purposes). The latest works, on the other hand, start to be more focussed on assessing students' learning and increase active engagement, in an attempt to shape the profile of future graduates and make them ready to produce the substantial market transformation still needed to achieve environmental sustainability goals worldwide.
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•The integration of environmental sustainability within architecture curricula.•A systematic and comprehensive literature review is conducted across continents.•Common approaches, areas to develop and future directions are highlighted.•In the past, attention in architecture curricula was given to the what and the how.•Nowadays, more attention is given to assessing students' learning and engagement.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Integration of environmental sustainability considerations within architectural programmes in higher education: A review of teaching and implementation approaches
- Creators
- Paola Boarin - University of AucklandAntonio Martinez-Molina - The University of Texas at San Antonio
- Publication Details
- Journal of cleaner production, v 342, 130989
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Architecture, Design, and Urbanism
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000774288300003
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85124970040
- Other Identifier
- 991021889912304721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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InCites Highlights
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Engineering, Environmental
- Environmental Sciences
- Green & Sustainable Science & Technology