Climate and Spatial Planning

Code:

MRCOT005

Acronym:

CLOT

Instance: 2010/2011 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Geography
Course/CS Responsible:	Masters in Hazards, Cities and Spatial Planning

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
EPT	0	Course Programme	1	-	2,5	-
MRCOT	9	Study Plan in Hazards, Cities and Sp. Planning	1	-	2,5	-
MSIGOT	3	Study Plan in Geo.Inform. Systems and Sp. Planning	1	-	2,5	-

Teaching language

Portuguese

Program

I. Introduction
1. Climatology – object, methods and techniques
2. Taxonomic categories for organizing the Climate System and appropriate theoretical and methodological strategies

II. Climate and Society – a complex one-to-one relationship
1. Climate as a natural resource and natural hazard
2. Reflections of the climatic context in progress and social-economic development throughout history.
3. Codes of perception and memory of the behaviour of climatic elements
4. Climatology in an era of great media protagonism
4.1. The media and global warming
4.2. The media and the perception of climatic catastrophic hazards

III. Local and Regional Climatology Applied to Spatial Planning
1. Urban Climatology
1.1. Energy balance in urban areas
1.2. Water balance in urban areas
1.3. Biogeography in urban areas – natural resources perceived and ignored
1.4. Natural and artificial morphology in urban areas
1.5. Air quality in urbanized areas – case studies
1.6. Climate mosaics in urbanized areas of different dimensions – c ase studies
1.7. The contribution of climatology towards sustainable strategic planning in urbanized areas
2. Bioclimatology
2.1. Limitations of the human being’s resistance and adaptability to light, temperature, humidity, etc.
2.2. Definition of thermo-hygro-anemometric comfort according to the activities to be developed
2.3. Comfort indexes
2.4. Climate and Health (mental and physical)
2.5. Climate and Architecture
2.6. Climate and Tourism
2.7. Climate and Road Safety
2.7. The contribution of bioclimatology to spatial planning.

Teaching methods and learning activities

Particularly as regards the subtopics of the thematic nucleus of Applied Regional and Local Climatology, the teaching/learning process requires a considerable number of practice hours for students to apply concepts and specific methods while developing small projects and preparing the final research paper. This course unit is designed for students to:
i) feel motivated by developing an individual project in particular that choose to carry out;
ii) acquire methodological skills (learn how to manage and organize their time, learn to tackle and solve a problem, etc.);
iii) gain instrumental and methodological know-how (ability to select essential bibliographical and statistical sources and the most suitable methodological procedures for problem-solving);
iv) have the opportunity to develop their autonomy through individual and group work.
It is, therefore, crucial that students have free time to overcome each of the stages of the research process with our supervision.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Eligibility for exams

Students are assessed based on the following criteria:
i) class attendance (a minimum attendance of 75% is required) - 2%
ii) student participation in teaching sessions - 2%
iii) overall quality of writing performance - 2%
iv) overall quality of oral performance - 2%
v) creativity and individual initiative - 2%
vi) progress in individual scientific interest - 5%
vii) written test - 20%
viii) critical essay - 10%
ix) quality of the oral presentation on a subtopic - 20%
x) research assignment (plan and progress report) - 5%
xi) research assignment (final report) - 25%
xii) research assignment (presentation and discussion) - 5%

Calculation formula of final grade

Information on the individual marks of students undertaking continuous assessment will be disseminated in accordance with the assessment plan discussed and approved during the first session and according to the Assessment Regulations in force.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Not applicable

Classification improvement

Not applicable

Observations

Assessment Components:
Since the number of students enrolled in this course unit is not expected to exceed 30 students, and taking into consideration the above-mentioned pedagogic-didactic aims, we propose Continuous Assessment as the preferred type of assessment.

Continuous assessment results from the combined assessment of the following set of components:
i) compulsory written test with the possibility of open-book consultation (bibliographical references and information sources that students may consider relevant);
ii) written essay on a bibliographical source suggested by the lecturer;
iii) research work to be developed individually or in groups, consisting of two written papers - a progress report and a final report;
iv) oral presentation and discussion of the research process and findings;
v) oral presentation on a subtopic included in the course program.