2021 Faculty Courses School of Environment and Society Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Graduate major in Urban Design and Built Environment
Sustainable Built Environment II
- Academic unit or major
- Graduate major in Urban Design and Built Environment
- Instructor(s)
- Hideki Kobayashi / Atsushi Suzuki
- Class Format
- Lecture
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 3-4 Thu
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- UDE.P405
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2021
- Offered quarter
- 2Q
- Syllabus updated
- Jul 10, 2025
- Language
- Japanese
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
To think about policies for a sustainable urban environment, it is necessary to understand geographical, climate, and weather information that form the basis of cities. The environment of cities is also closely related with farms and woods on the outskirts, so it is necessary to focus attention on the environment of the outskirts. This course covers the basics of climate for understanding the environment of the city and outskirts, such as basic spatial information and sunlight conditions. We will also go over understanding land cover through remote sensing technology, a technique for monitoring the urban environment, as well as the acquisition of three dimensional information such as urban street shade trees.
Energy Supply and Demand is one of the key factors to develop the sustainable urban environment. Recently there have been seen movements to promote smart energy network system in at various levels, from "smart house" to "smart community". However discussion only to the extent of demand side energy utilization is not sufficient for appropriate understanding of global warming, energy saving and other relevant problems. It should be important to get a whole picture, from primary energy supply to final energy consumption.
This lecture will provide basic explanation of energy balance, followed by introduction of current technologies and policies of energy related issues and technological development trend toward the future. Through this lecture, students will be able to discuss the relation between energy and urban environment from a broader perspective.
Course description and aims
Through this course, students will be able to:
1-1) Understand the geospatial information and climate in urban environments.
1-2) Understand the remote sensing technology and some application examples for urban and suburb monitoring.
2-1) Understand the energy balance.
2-2) Understand the energy supply structure.
2-3) Build their own ideas about the energy related issues.
Keywords
Remote Sensing, GIS, micrometeorology, microclimate
Energy balance, Primary energy supply, Final energy consumption, Energy conversion
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
Class flow
This class was followed by the handouts provided by the instructor. Students need to prepare a calculator.
At the middle and end of this course, instructors will give some topics for reporting assignments.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction to geospatial information for urban environmental monitoring - Basics of geographic information system | Map coordination used in GIS system, map projection, definition of geospatial data sets |
| Class 2 | ntroduction to the micrometeorology and microclimate for urban environmental monitoring - Light environments, radiation budget, and energy budget | Understand the physics behind the micrometeorology |
| Class 3 | Environmental monitoring in urban and suburb areas I - Basics of remote sensing | Principle of remote sensing |
| Class 4 | Environmental monitoring in urban and suburb areas I - Land cover and land cover change monitoring, and laser scanner technology | Understand remote sensing application such as land cover classification and three dimensional information |
| Class 5 | How to read the energy balance | Understanding of energy balance of Japan and the essence of energy efficiency. |
| Class 6 | Energy demand structure | Understanding of energy demand structure of each sector, and demand side energy efficiency. |
| Class 7 | Energy supply structure | Understanding of primary energy supply structure and energy conversion system, and deicussion of relevant issues. |
| Class 8 | Recent energy technology development trend | Overview of smart energy technologies and discussion about important points of view for sustainable urban environment. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.
Textbook(s)
None
Reference books, course materials, etc.
None
Evaluation methods and criteria
Report on the first half of this course: remote sensing and GIS (50 points)
Report on sustainable urban environment and energy supply & demand (50 points)
Related courses
- None
Prerequisites
None
Other
None