This course is intended to demonstrate how environmental decisions can be optimized and conflicts better dealt by using mediation. Case studies will focus on construction of windmills for electricity purpose, landfills, sustainable city-planning or Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence.
Learning objective
- Develop comprehension of legal and social responses to environmental conflicts - Recognize the most important participative techniques and their ranges - Develop concepts for doing and evaluating mediation processes - Estimate the potential and limitations of cooperative environmental planning - Train communicative skills (presentation, moderation, discussion design, negotiation), especially by participating at a mediation
Content
To this end, we will look at the most important techniques of mediation and put them into the context of today's legislation, participation and conflict culture. The potential and limitations of the individual techniques will be discussed using current Swiss and international case studies, namely in the field of windenergy as well of landfills and Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence (wolves, bears, elephants). Students can do conflict analyses, for instance, as part of individual and group analyses and a half-day mediation-simulation, develop technique concepts and train their own communicative and negotiation skills.
Lecture notes
A reader will be handed out.
Competencies
Subject-specific Competencies
Concepts and Theories
assessed
Method-specific Competencies
Analytical Competencies
assessed
Decision-making
assessed
Media and Digital Technologies
fostered
Problem-solving
assessed
Social Competencies
Communication
fostered
Cooperation and Teamwork
assessed
Self-presentation and Social Influence
assessed
Sensitivity to Diversity
fostered
Negotiation
assessed
Personal Competencies
Creative Thinking
assessed
Critical Thinking
assessed
Self-awareness and Self-reflection
assessed
Performance assessment
Performance assessment information (valid until the course unit is held again)
Performance assessment as a semester course