This assignment is worth

CVE80010: Principles of Sustainability
Assignment 1: Climate change and your home city
This assignment is worth 20% of your final mark for this unit. You MUST submit both hard
and soft copies. ELECTRONIC COPY must be submitted through the Turnitin Software via
the Blackboard under the Assessments and then Assignment 1 Submission tab. The hard copy
submission must be delivered to Dr Iqbal Hossain’s mailbox at level 7, ATC building.
Submission deadline: Friday 31st August 2018, 5:00 pm. Late assignments will be assessed a
10% penalty per day.
Your task is to write a report that examines the ways in which climate change is predicted to impact
upon your home city. What you consider to be your home city should be the one closest to your heart
– it is not necessary to be where you were born or have lived the longest.
The basic changes that you must cover are changes in precipitation, sea level, humidity, wind and
temperature. Your report must cover social impacts, and you have to integrate regional
considerations including water supplies, food supplies and refugee movements. You should include
the readily apparent adaptations or actions briefly that are taken likely to mitigate the impacts– but
this is not the primary focus of the task.
Climate change projections are typically discussed against a series of different reference years (e.g.
2030, 2050, 2100) because some regions will experience different impacts at different times (rather
than just increasing severity of each) – so make sure your report considers this variability over at least
two of the projected times.
If your home city has already developed a climate change risk assessment or adaptation plan, your
report should find a different angle to consider the issue from. It is not acceptable to take a single
report as your only reference source. If you feel the amount of work already completed for your
chosen city leaves you no room for originality, then you may wish to choose a different city that
you’re familiar with.
Your report should total 1500 words +\‐ 10% (excluding bibliography), but keep in mind the
effectiveness of images, diagrams, and maps in communicating complex information. It must be
succinctly written, i.e. it must communicate a large amount of information using the limited number
of words you’re permitted.
You MUST include at least 15 REFERENCES (RECENT) in the assignment with properly cited
in the text. You must follow Harvard style format in text citations and bibliography.
CVE80010: Principles of Sustainability
Assignment 1: Climate change and your home city
Assessment Rubrics

Criteria	Descriptor
Comprehensiveness with which climatic changes are considered /6	6/6: Student has given robust and thorough consideration to macro‐scale climate modelling and how its predictions interact with local geography and built form.	4/6: Student has made an effort to consider macro‐scale climate modelling and how its predictions interact with local geography and built form.	2/6: Student has considered the comprehensive set of climatic changes and their variability over 2030 – 2100. Little or no consideration of how macro‐ scale climate modelling will be realised at the local scale.	0/6: Student did not consider one or more of changes in: precipitation; sea level; humidity; wind; temperature. Did not consider variability in each of these climatic changes over the period 2030 – 2100.
Consideration of impacts from multidisciplinary perspectives (e.g. civil engineering, agriculture, social, ecological, building services engineering) /8	8/8: Student has extended to secondary/tertiary impacts and synergistic effects (e.g. HVAC systems failing, resultant heat stress compounded by food/water scarcity).	6/8: Student has gone into a level of detail and nuance that suggests a strong multidisciplinary understanding of the issues and impact mechanisms.	4/8: Student has considered a range of noncivil engineering aspects, but report does not demonstrate a strong understanding of the issues and/or impact mechanisms.	2/8: Student has only considered civil engineering aspects (i.e. structural, civil, geotechnical, drainage, water supply, coastal).	0/8: Student has missed some significant civil engineering aspects (i.e. structural, civil, geotechnical, drainage, water supply, coastal).
Consideration of impacts in a balanced way /2	2/2 Nuanced assessment of impacts, acknowledging uncertainty, political and economic realities. Demonstrates risk management ‘thinking’ where necessary.	0/2: Conclusions tend to be ‘black and white’, with little to no application of risk management ‘thinking’ (i.e. likelihood, consequence, risk, outrage).
Clarity of structure & legibility /4	4/4: Citation must be clear, structure, language, use of graphics and succinctness demonstrate a high level of care. Report of a quality that would be acceptable in a professional workplace.	2/4 Citation is clear, structure, language, use of graphics and succinctness demonstrates a level of care, but in places the report fails to communicate its ideas clearly	0/4: Not properly cited, structure is unclear, language is informal, or fails to communicate a satisfactory amount of information within the word limit.