Experiential, Adaptive Learning Tools for a Resilient Built Environment

The effects of climate change, inappropriate use and management of natural and human made resources, have combined with increases in urban populations interacting with natural hazards.

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Floods in central Melbourne. Looking up Elizabeth Street from Flinders Street, 17 February, 1972. The Age picture by Neville Bowler. Neg: A 6589 CN.

Human activities, particularly in urban areas, play a critical role in worsening vulnerability to natural hazards, particularly related to human settlements.  Cities and towns represent significant long-term human investments, and are increasingly the main site of catastrophic events. The concept of resilience is a key principle to act on these challenges.

This project aims to utilise the reflexive attributes of experiential learning as a key as a way of integrating resilience in the education built environmental professionals' as a highly adaptable professional skill that can be applied in a variety of other contexts over time. It uses group learning and the development of a living learning repository to build and improve knowledge and skill.

Thanks to Joe Ravetz, Co-Director CURE (Collaboratory in Urban Resilience), Manchester Urban Institute, School of Environment Education & Development at the University of Manchester, for facilitating this workshop. This facilitation was made possible by the University of Melbourne-University of Manchester Research Fund 2016-17.

This project was funded by the University of Melbourne's Learning and Teaching Initiatives Fund and is a collaboration between the Faculty of Science and the Melbourne School of Design.