The lecture teaches the basics of ecology and soil science with a focus on engineering and spatial planning approaches. Students learn about soil properties, soil ecosystems, water, gas and material cycles as well as soil degradation, analyze and assess human interventions on soils and deal with concepts for soil protection and sustainable soil management.

Multidisciplinary, interactive course focusing on the complexity of environmental and energy problems. Concepts of risk theory, decision science, long-term governance and environmental economics are applied to case studies related to energy transition and climate change. The course is designed for a multidisciplinary audience and as a training ground for critical thinking.

Novel ecosystems, that are strongly influenced by humans, confront the environmental sciences with particular challenges including the need to integrate natural and social sciences for problem analysis and developing solutions for practice. In this course novel ecosystems will be discussed based on the example of the city of Zurich.

Green cities and nature-based solutions have become central themes of architecture and territorial planning. The course enables students to apply ecological thinking to urban design.