Academic year/semester: 2025/26/2

ECTS Credits: 5

Available for: Only for the faculty’s students

Lecture hours: 1
Seminarium:0
Practice: 2
Laboratory: 0
Consultation: 0

Prerequisites: 1 absolved semester related to urban planning, urban infrastructure or traffic. IMPORTANT: Students can choose whether ONLY MSc (incl. YAROESFBNF) courses, or ONLY vertical studio courses! Exceptions we can make on individual decisions based on special requests, maximum for less than 50% of the courses - please contact our international coordinator.

Course Leader: Zsolt Cseh

Faculty: Ybl Miklós Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, 1146 Budapest, Thököly út 74.

Course Description:
The aim of the Course is to demonstrate to students what sustainable design means in the projects of urban Public Open Spaces and how to improve the environmental condition of existing, sometimes neglected or outdated urban public areas, how spectacular results can be achieved with design tools. Through site visits, lectures, presentations and small-scale design exercises, students will gain insights into the methodology available to architects and urban designers for sustainable design of public spaces. The design task is to develop a proposal for selected public squares in Budapest that adequately addresses global warming and sustainability issues as follow:
 increasing the green space ratio;
 improving the comfort of the users of the POS;
 user-friendly design of street furniture;
 micro-climate and heat islands;
 urban mobilisation – alternative transportation on POSs;
 rainwater retention and harvesting;
 use of renewable energy;
 affordability and accessibility

Competences:
 Ability to develop context-aware energy concepts  Integration of structural and material thinking in early energy design phases  Effective collaboration in multicultural and interdisciplinary teams  Visual and verbal communication of complex ideas

Topics:
Topics:

Week 1: Introduction Project briefing, team formation, mapping the context
Week 2: Detailed project description The importance of sustainable design in public open spaces (POS), the different types of sustainability in POS
The preparation of site visit
Week 3: Site visit – Site 1
Week 4: Site analysis Introduction of the existing context and aspects
Week 5: First ideas Assessing relevant options from a sustainability perspective
Week 6: Conceptual master plan Consultation
Week 7: Detailed proposal Student Presentation + Joint discussion and evaluation of the proposal
Week 8: Site visit – Site 2
Week 9: Site analysis Introduction of the existing context and aspects
Week 10: First ideas Assessing relevant options from a sustainability perspective
Week 11: Conceptual master plan Consultation
Week 12: Detailed proposal Student Presentation + Joint discussion and evaluation of the proposal
Week 13: Final presentation

Assessment: final grade based on semester tasks, group work, design project outcome – semester project presentations

Exam Types:

no exam – project-based evaluation

Compulsory bibliography: -

Recommended bibliography: Articles and case studies shared during the course

Additional bibliography: -

Additional Information: The course will be held in English. Students are expected to work in mixed teams. Special skills are not required.