The access to energy and material resources is a key development issue – for quality of life and justice – now and for the years to come. Energy and material inputs are indispensable factors of production as well as a necessary prerequisite for the use of many consumption goods and services, among these modern communication and learning services. Development hence critically depends on the availability, affordability and common access for all to these resources, in particular of renewable resources.
The prevalent system of energy supply, based mainly on fossil fuels, and in peripheral regions also on traditional bio fuels, faces serious challenges. It is widely acknowledged today that the present system is not sustainable. The threats being faced are the expected shrinking of finite, economically reasonably exploitable fossil resources (“peak-oil”), as well as the negative impacts of their use on the world climate. The transition to a new, sustainable and decarbonized energy future is already on its way and policies to promote change are being designed and increasingly implemented.
The situation in less developed, particularly peripheral regions in all countries of the world, but particularly in the global South, is precarious. Access to energy and material resources, is very limited and the necessary change to a sustainable supply system presents a daunting challenge for many countries. Limited financial resources and the necessary technological know-how have greatly reduced the potential progress in the endeavor to guarantee access to energy and material resources for all. The situation is often aggravated by the fact that the scarcity of many material resources has driven up prices via increasing demand by highly industrialized countries. Many regions in the global South have become exclusive suppliers of material resources to industries in the North, making it very difficult to create an industrial base in own regions or countries of the global South.
Concrete topics of the seminar and of seminar papers:
- Options of urban/local/regional production of renewable energy sources
- Urban mining and recycling as new opportunities for sustainable resource management
- Circular economy and closed-loop resource flows on the local and regional level – perspectives of urban and regional planning
- Overcoming the carbon-lock in: planning for flexible infrastructures
- Social, spatial and economic impacts of large scale energy and mining projects
- Infrastructure policy (basic infrastructure, social and education infrastructure)
- Access to natural resources and energy
- Renewable resources and development
- Spatial planning and strategies in developing countries
- Environmental policies, spatial planning, and the connection to development
- Measurement of development, quality of life, economic growth, social development
- Investment in necessary infrastructure
- The choice of appropriate technologies: an evidence and place based necessity
The seminar will be held as an international and inter-university seminar; besides the seminar units at TU, there will be two workshops organized jointly by SID (Society for International Development), together with support from UNIDO and the Austrian Development Bank, and with lecturers of the University of Vienna, Modul University, and Vienna University of Economics and Business. The seminar provides the opportunity not only to exchange information of students of different universities but also to collaborate in an interdisciplinary way with them in several workshops.
In addition, participating institutions giving input to the general topic, include SID (Society for International Development), UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization), and ADA (Austrian Development Agency).
Please consider the plagiarism guidelines of TU Wien when writing your seminar paper:
http://www.tuwien.ac.at/fileadmin/t/ukanzlei/t-ukanzlei-english/Plagiarism.pdfPlease consider the plagiarism guidelines of TU Wien when writing your seminar paper:
https://www.tuwien.ac.at/fileadmin/t/ukanzlei/t-ukanzlei-english/Plagiarism.pdfPlease consider the plagiarism guidelines of TU Wien when writing your seminar paper:
Directive concerning the handling of plagiarism (PDF)