Towards a Sustainability-Centred Design Curriculum in Civil Engineering

Abstract

To improve the green engineering and active learning of the civil engineering program at the University of Victoria, Canada, we are developing a design spine: a series of courses running throughout the program with major design activities based on a sustainability-centred design approach. This paper describes our design spine approach and presents a conceptual framework for sustainability-centred design that we are developing. The framework organizes both the subjects of design and of sustainability into four high-level categories: 1) foundations, 2) frameworks, 3) tools and techniques, and 4) application areas. We have piloted the design spine approach in a second year course on sustainability.