Details about the lectures

Learning Outcomes:

The students are able to identify problems of planning, construction, landownership and environmental law and assign them to a legal area as well as to develop possible solutions.

Study Content

• Public and private law
• Proof of landownership
• Rights to land plots
• Leasehold and condominium ownership
• Sale contract for properties
• Rights of neighbours
• Tenancy and leasing law
• Administrativ law
• Planing and constructing law
• Instruments and principles of environmental law
• Protection of nature, landscape and soil
• Law of climate protection and environmental energy
• Protection from emissions and radiation
• Basics of Vietnamese law of property and planning

Hours: 4 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor: Prof. Linke (TU)

Learning Outcomes:

The course will enable the participants
- to develop a basic understanding of and competence in the use of quantitative and qualitative data;
- to understand the main steps in carrying out a research project: identifying research problem, establishing research questions and objectives, choosing relevant research method, drafting research design, collecting and processing data, writing reports
- apply these skills to an urban planning and development problem.

Study Content:

The scientific analysis and understanding of urban phenomena and sustainable development require the skill to carry out empirical study and analyse empirical data. This module is designed to enable students to independently conduct an empirical research project.

Hours: 4 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor: Dr. Felipe Francisco De Souza

Learning Outcomes:

The course aims for the basic skills in GIS, based on hands-on seminars. The students can adapt standard GIS workflows to further projects; they may support projects of urban development with GIS techniques from the beginning of data capturing, processing, analysing up to the visualization of the results at the final stage. They can also use GIS for more advanced tasks in urban development and planning such as spatial analysis, catchment area analysis, network analysis, overlaying, etc.

Study Content:

The objective of GIS is to adopt GIS techniques to tasks of urban planning and analysis. The course facilitates the structure of GIS and the practice-based handling of GIS-Software by using ESRI-products. Therefore, the students will be introduced in
- basic introduction and handling of GIS,
- data capture from different sources, i.e. aerial images,
- editing of vector and raster based geographic data,
- visualization and map design,
- using different analysing methods to understand urban development related issues (for example catchment analysis, overlaying, spatial analysis, network analysis, etc.),
- using GIS to identify potential and suitable land for future urban development

Hours: 2 + 2 SWS/ Contact hours (each 45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor: Christian Hickel

Learning Outcomes:

The course will provide the students a knowledge on urban planning, urban design and architectural and typological aspects of cities. It will enable the students to understand and to analyse the importance and the demands of different usages in specific locations or urban neighbourhoods. They know about the main challenges of sustainable developments and construction and they are able to assess planning based on different instruments and procedures. They have extensive knowledge about the new stakeholder orientated planning culture and can create implementation strategies with participatory dimensions.

The students will also be able to analyse and assess the city, the neighbourhood and buildings from architectural, functional and technical perspectives. Basic urban design skill will help them to improve the city’s images at different scales.

Study Content

- Theory of urban planning from past to present
- Urban morphology and urban fabric
- Models and universal concepts of spatial planning
- Urban usages, their different forms, developments and demands on context, environment and infrastructures
- Development of sustainable spatial structures and the role of planning; instruments and procedures
- Society and participation, new planning cultures of integrated approaches – Concepts of urban design, especially for the public space, and neighbourhood characteristics
- The architecture of buildings as bricks of the urban environment
- City architecture at different levels
- Typology of buildings in the urban environment
- Typology of Housing
- Typology of office buildings
- Typology of building construction
- Materials of building construction

Hours: 2 + 2 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 3 + 3 CP

Instructor/s: Prof. Knaack / Prof. Linke

Learning Outcomes:

The course aims to teach the fundamentals of effective scientific writing and presenting. The course will enable the students to write scientific papers and give scientific talks.

Students know the structure of a scientific manuscript. They can write effectively, concisely, and clearly.
They know how to organise an oral presentation and know how to present scientific contents in an appropriate, well structured, and well understandable way.

Study Content:

- Structuring a scientific paper: abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion;
- Writing style: punctuation, parallelism, paragraph flow, conciseness, common mistakes;
- Presentation techniques: structure, presentation of tables and figures, presentation style, pronunciation;
- Quotation in papers and presentations.

Hours: 180 h

Instructor/s: Language Center TU

Learning Outcomes:

Water Supply Techniques will enable the students to

- recognise the challenges of an urban water supply.
- understand the functionality of urban water supply systems.
- recognise (in brief) the challenges and possible solutions of rural water supply.
- know the most important technical components of a drinking water supply system and requirements for operation and maintenance.

Sanitary Engineering will enable the students to

- gain basic knowledge of urban drainage, wastewater and sludge treatment technology.
- recognise and assess influencing factors on wastewater treatment systems and dimensioning of treatment plants.
- evaluate drivers for water reuse concepts.

Hydraulic Engineering will impart knowledge on

- application of continuity, energy concept to open-channel flow, design of channels considering uniform flow and flow resistance, non-uniform flow, longitudinal profiles and calculation of water levels, design of channel controls and transitions
- Examples and applications: river engineering, flood protection, weirs, hydropower use, inland navigation

Study Content:

Sanitary environmental engineering deals with water supply techniques, wastewater discharge in sewer systems and wastewater treatment technologies.

Water Supply Techniques will give an overview about water sources, water treatment methods, water storage and transport systems as well as about the requirements and criteria for the selection of suitable water supply techniques to meet the most important challenges.

Wastewater engineering offers a fundamental knowledge of urban drainage and sewer systems, as well as municipal wastewater and sludge treatment technologies. Basic design criteria for wastewater treatment plants are discussed. We will also evaluate the effects of specific boundary conditions (e.g. wastewater composition, treatment objective, temperature) on the design of wastewater treatment plants and introduce water reuse concepts.

Hydraulic Engineering consists of the application of fluid mechanics to water flowing in an isolated environment (pipe, pump) or in an open channel (river, lake, ocean). The course is primarily concerned with open channel flow, which is governed by the interdependent interaction between the water and the channel.

Later applications include the design of hydraulic structures, such as flumes, sewage conduits, dams and breakwaters, the management of waterways, such as erosion protection and flood protection, and environmental management, such as prediction of the mixing and transport of pollutants in surface water. Hydroelectric-power development, water supply, irrigation and navigation are some familiar applications of water resources engineering involving the utilization of water for beneficial purposes.

More recently, concern for preserving our natural environment and meeting the needs of developing countries has increased the importance of water resources engineering.

Hours: 180 h

Instructor/s: Prof. Engelhart/Prof. Urban, Prof. Lehmann

Learning Outcomes

a) Solid Waste Management

The course provides students with a coherent understanding of waste management and the economic background. They are able to:

- Differentiate between the different waste types and technologies

- Develop a waste management concept and a pre-planning for a waste treatment facility

- provide independent self-reliant solutions for waste/engineering tasks – based on scientific knowledge

- cooperate in teams and provide an aligned solution for a waste/engineering task

b) Life cycle assessment

The course provides students with a coherent understanding of life cycle assessment methods. They are able to:

- understand the concept and importance of life cycle thinking

- conduct an LCA according to the international standards

- Select and apply the weighting method that applies in individual cases.

Study Content

a) Solid Waste Management

Solid waste management are all the activities and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. It includes (among other things) regulations, the generation, collection, transport, treatment and the disposal of waste.

Within this module the students will learn about different possibilities to manage waste. The course will give an overview about waste management in developing countries as well as best available technologies. The following topics will be part of the module:

- Types and origins of waste

- Waste collection and transport

- Waste treatment technologies (mechanical, biological and thermal treatment)

- Hazardous waste management

- Design of waste treatment facilities

- Case studies of waste management in developing countries

- economics

b) Life cycle assessment

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a structured, comprehensive and internationally standardised method. It quantifies all relevant emissions and resources consumed and the related environmental and health impacts and resource depletion issues that are associated with any goods or services along its whole life cycle: from the extraction of resources, through production, use and recycling, up to the disposal of remaining waste. Thus, it is a powerful decision support tool to avoid burden shifting between processes and/or impact categories. The following topics will be part of the module:

- Life Cycle Thinking approach

- Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment and the role of LCA

- LCA standardized methodology – 4 main phases. The ISO 14041 and 14044 frameworks.

- Optional steps in LCA: Normalization and weighting – Valuation methodologies in LCA: Distance to target, monetization (environmental control costs or environmental damage costs) and scoring approaches.

- Case studies

Hours: 180 h

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor: Prof. Schebek

Learning Outcomes

The course provides students with a coherent understanding of infrastructure systems, their challenges and economic background. At the end of the course, students should:

• be able to identify, categorize and explain the characteristics of infrastructures in theory and applied to real infrastructure systems
• be able to explain the main steps and contents of an infrastructure planning process
• be able to discuss, select and apply the most suitable investment appraisal methods and valuation techniques for a given project
• be able to calculate a cost-benefit analysis for a given infrastructure project
• be able to explain the main aspects of project management and compare the advantages of different techniques
• be able to identify the main risks for local infrastructure systems and develop approaches to minimize these risks and build resilience
• be able to discuss locally suitable strategies for the modernization and transformation of infrastructure systems

Moreover, students should be able to reflect on the limitations of the application of theoretical concepts to real systems (critical thinking)

Study Content

The course consists of weekly lectures and their associated weekly exercise/workshop sessions. The lectures are grouped in 3 parts: “1 – Understanding & planning infrastructures”, “2 – Economic assessment of infrastructures” and “3 – Current challenges & adaptation requirements of infrastructures”.

Part 1 aims to teach students how to examine & plan infrastructures. It begins with insights into the main organizational characteristics of technical and social infrastructure systems (such as water supply, waste water disposal, electricity supply, transport facilities or educational facilities) as well as their importance for the development of cities and regions. In this part, students will also learn about the planning process of infrastructure projects, including the examination of suitable locations. The financing of infrastructures will also be addressed.

Part 2 will address how to evaluate infrastructure economically. First, students will get to know how to conduct feasibility studies for infrastructure projects. Afterwards, students will learn the basics of common economic evaluation methods and how to apply them. Next to financial mathematical principles, students will learn to master the most commonly used economical valuation methods needed for decision-makers of large infrastructure projects (discounted cash flow, net present value, and cost-benefit-analysis). Furthermore, the course will impart basic knowledge about project management and address methods of agile management, which can be useful for construction projects.

The focus of part 3 is on making infrastructure fit for the future. There, the current challenges of urban and rural development will be addressed (e.g. demographical change, climate change) as well as ecological modernization. Expanding of the basics of economic assessment learned in part 2, students will learn economic valuation methods for environmental assets. The topic of the vulnerability of infrastructures to current risks (e.g. wars, climate change) and the possible approaches to limit the impacts of negative events (adaptation strategies) will conclude this course.

Hours: 2 + 2 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor: Prof. Linke

Learning Outcomes

- Students are basically able to establish construction project organisation
- Students are able to classify essential members of construction project organisations
- Students have an overview of construction technologies in urban spaces
- Students are able to estimate costs basically and to specify bid prices
- Students are able to deal with processes in construction
- Students are able to create time schedules
- Students basically understand and are able to apply the risk assessment methods concerning health and safety in construction projects

Study Content

- Construction Project Organization
- Time Scheduling in Construction Projects
- Estimating Methods in Construction
- Lean Management – Lean Construction
- Health and Safety in Construction
- Exposed Concrete Technology
- Construction Site Installation in Urban Spaces
- Tunneling in Urban Spaces

Hours: 4 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor/s: Univ.-Prof. Dr.-Ing. Christoph Motzko

Learning Outcomes

After the successful completion of the module, the students will be able to understand and apply the constructive, technical and physical relations of the relevant solutions used in the construction industry for Green Buildings. The students will have the ability to detect different solutions of Green Buildings according to scientific principles by editing subject-specific problems independently. They will be able according to a special situation to decide and justify an individual solution and to explain this decision following scientific basics factually and comprehensive.

Study Content

- Basics of housing concepts, construction, and building technology
- Constructive design
- Green skins
- Green Building balancing
- Objectives of health and ecology
- Resource-efficiency considering also energy, water, aeration and materials

Hours: 4 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor/s: Prof. Stefan Schäfer

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, students are able to:
• Differentiate the models of governments and position Vietnam’ model amongst major typologies to govern development, especially Germany;
• Understand the substance of government in coordinating development activities in local level that links to Vietnam development context;
• Understand the influence of government & governance in planning, development;
• Navigate the development processes among the stakeholders to address basic development issues: building consensus using negotiation and mediation skills.

Study Content

Supporting target groups with the understandings & awareness of legal and institutional framework to govern urban development processes with engagement of different stakeholders in modern democratic society. The discussions will unveil how State, communities, and developer to exercise their powers in addressing the conflict of interests. Students will apply negotiation and mediation skills to navigate through different issues in a case study extracted from reality.

Students will discuss following questions:
- How to differentiate government models and how government and politics work in a democratic/pluralist society?
- How to position Vietnamese system amongst typologies of government systems and their reforms?
- What makes the essence of local government and metropolitan governance in Vietnam development’s context?
- What are the influence of (local) governance in planning and development?
- How Interest are mediated via government processes on development activities?
- How to analyse stakeholders in development games, including mapping out stakeholders and analyse their interests in real development issue?
- What are the basics to prepare the negotiation to settle disputes, including to prepare, negotiate, and close a deal in real development issue?
- Which calculations are needed to facilitate a deal, including prepare, facilitate, and finalise a mediation case?
- What are the meaning of humanity approach to development from government perspective?
- What are the ethics of mediator and negotiator in building consensus?
- How to develop active listening, effective communication, and making strategies adapting to context?

Hours: 6 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor/s: Dr. Nguyen Hieu

Learning Outcomes:

The course will equip the students with the skills and knowledge required for the management of ecological system in the context of urban development. The students will be able to understand the importance and complexities of urban ecology and its related matters towards sustainable development. The course will also enable the students to understand the basics of urban climate, the problems of climate change in relation to urban development, and the ways forward for dealing with these.

Study Content:

The module aims to provide the students a wide range of knowledge on the ecological system and its relation to the city development. Further how to manage it in the context of urban complexities and dynamics. These include:
- Urban ecological system (concept, components and its services);
- Urban ecology concept, determinants, and methods;
- Matters of shrinking and growing cities in relation to the eco-system.

In addition, in responding to the environmental problems, which have become more serious in developing countries creating higher burdens on the urban eco-system, several agendas/actions and methods have been set up with the involvement or participation of different stakeholders. The module contents regarding this matter include:
- Environmental issues and management agendas;
- Urban green and its particular importance; and
- Sustainable Urban Development towards Eco-cities

More importantly, the matter of Urban Heat Island (UHI) integrates the module’s contents and the students will study about the urban climatic city in relation to the urban structure and architecture. Besides, as climate change is growing to become a very critical issue all over the world, the module also makes the students to understand the mutual impacts and relationship between the cities and climate change matters. The knowledge includes on mitigation measures, adaptation measures, how to make the cities become more resilient to the impacts of climate change as well as to certain types of disaster in relation to the disturbance of eco-system.

Hours: 6 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor/s: Dr. Huong

Learning Outcomes:

The students understand the problems of rural areas in the surrounding of fast growing cities and the interaction as well as interdependencies between these two zones. Regarding local economic development for the rural areas, they know how to identify possible value chain for such rural areas and to realise such a value chain in cooperation with urban areas. Students are able to use valuation methods for ecosystem and its services that are important for sustaining both urban and rural zones.

Study Content:

The module provides knowledge about the various roles and responsibilities of rural functions in metropolitan development in a holistic way and with the skills and abilities to respond to changes. Exploring the roles and contribution of the cities for rural development and emphasizing their negative impacts to the rural areas. By examining a range of rural areas, the module emphasises the importance of multi-scalar approaches, addressing the interaction between urban and rural areas and their development across time and space. The specific contents include:

- Functions, structure and propositions of rural and urban areas
- Relations between urban and rural regions, their interdependencies and linkages
- Urban-rural dependency and local economy
- Networks, regional and local co-operation and partnership
- Macro migration between metropolitan and rural areas and different stages of urbanization process
- Valuation of ecosystems
- Urban-rural development and scenario analysis

By critically examining theory and practice of rural as well as urban-rural development at the international, national and local levels in a variety of contexts, the module seeks to provide students with an understanding of the processes generating sustainable development. It especially discusses how partnership between urban and rural areas in different aspects would bring the benefits to both.

Hours: 6 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor/s: Dr. Huong

Learning Outcomes:

The course will equip the students with the skills and knowledge required for the spatial planning of city and its neighbourhoods. They will become familiar with different planning methods and/or instruments, know how to assess and analyse the settlement structures with respect to ecological, socio-economic, and administrative dimensions. The students will also learn about the ecological, social and economic fundamentals of spatial planning as well as about the major constraints of sustainable urban development. In more specific, the learning objectives mainly include:

- Understand the concept of spatial planning in relation to the conventional urban planning
- Understand the basic elements and principles of spatial planning through different case studies
- Understand the rationale of choosing appropriate implementing tools to deal with different planning issues
- Understand the basics and familiarize essential skills to apply administrative and collaborative tools to Vietnam’s situation
- Know how to incorporate implementation tools and strategies in a case study.

Study Content:

- Spatial planning: definition of spatial planning, spatial planning and urban planning, purpose of spatial planning, basic elements of spatial planning
- System of spatial planning: case studies of Germany and Asian countries.
- Principles of Spatial Planning: key principles, principles of spatial planning in Germany.
- Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in spatial planning.
- Site analysis in spatial planning: site planning, site selection and programming, site inventory and analysis, SWOT analysis.
- Overview of instruments for spatial planning: planning implementation strategies (Planning system and implementation, Regulatory approach, Collaborative approach)
- Administrative instruments: legally binding plan, other administrative instruments (Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA), relocation and compensation, development freeze, temporary development regulations)
- Collaborative Instruments: Transfer of Development Rights (TDR), Land Pooling and Readjustment (LPR), Transit Oriented Development (TOD).
- Seminar on ‘Advanced planning tools’: Adaptive Strategic Planning, Implementation Oriented Planning (MOTA Model)

Hours: 6 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor/s: Dr. Pham Thai Son (Part 1), Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Hieu (Part 2)

Learning Outcomes:

The course provides students with understanding, knowledge and skills on how to make planning and management schemes for an integrated urban and transport development. Students will learn key concepts and methods for planning and analysis through real-world examples. At the end, students applies what they have learnt in conducting an assignment aimed at addressing issues in either developed or developing cities.

Study Content

• Introduction of Urban Transport Systems (0.5 CP)
• Integrated Urban-Transport Planning: Concept, Methods, and Examples (including TOD: Transit-Oriented Development, TOR: Transit-Oriented Region, TOC: Transit-Oriented Nation) (1.5 CP)
• Sustainable Transport Policy (0.5 CP)
• Smart Mobility Management (1 CP)
• Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA): Principles and Practices (1.5 CP)
• Field Trip and Report (1 CP)

Hours: 6 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor/s: Dr. Vu Anh Tuan

Learning Outcomes:

The course will enable the students to work in a complex urban development processes by using the methodologies they have learned during the study program. They are able to combine several economic, ecologic and social aspects of an urban sustainable development to get a sustainable planning result as well as to realize these results.

The students are well-organised, communicative, open minded, and capable to work independently in such an urban development process.

Study Content:

Training methods of integrated research on the urban and neighbourhood scale in a case study. Therefore, the students have to develop in small groups ideas for a sustainable urban development of a confided area of Ho Chi Minh City according to land use planning, green buildings, technical and social infrastructure. They have to develop a process of realising the new development. Therefore, they have to identify the economic, ecologic and social problems of that area as well as the framework of the development of that area (involvement according to the environment). They have to develop a vision for that area and measures for implementing. Therefore, they have to consider ecologic, economic and social aspects. Working on that project they have to show that they are able to use the methodologies, like analytical skills, critical assessment and so on, they learned in several other modules to identify convertible solutions.

The students train their soft skills and their ability to work independently in teams. They learn as well the using of project management tools to realize the project during the defined time and with the expected result. With a final report they have to describe the results, they gained during the project.

Hours: 6 SWS/ Contact hours (45 min) per week

Credit Points: 6 CP

Instructor/s: Prof. Hans Joachim Linke, Dr. Pham Thai Son, Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Hieu, Dr. Le Thi Thu Huong

Learning Outcomes:

Students acquire the
• ability to independently conduct scientific research and problem analysis,
• ability to identify and structure a research topic in a scientific environment,
• ability to independently plan, conduct and presentation of a research project

Study Content:

The aim of the thesis is to apply scientific methods and knowledge to specific problems encountered in practice and issues of sustainable urban development. The student has to decide between the introduced research methodologies by the study program, and by using them, what are the advantages and disadvantages of these methods.

Requirements for participation:

A student can release the master thesis, if he/she has to pass only modules of totally 12 CP (meaning 2 modules of 6 CP each).

Hours: 720 h

Credit Points: 24 CP