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Studies in Building Cultures and Markets (ABPL90311)

Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Online

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Overview

Availability(Quotas apply)
September - Online
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This subject investigates the organisation of the construction industry in various contextual environments, with an emphasis on a socio-ecological approach involving the strategic selection of construction technologies and methods according to specific social, cultural, economic, environmental, legal and technological contexts as well as regional traditions.

Consisting of a seminar component and a travel component (which can vary each year depending on the focus provided by the subject coordinator), the subject will expose students to different cultures, places and people, thus stimulating their ability to reflect critically on the mainstream construction environment of Melbourne.

Approximate Costs:
Flights: $600
Accommodation (8 nights), Food and Local Activities: $400
Local Travel: $500

Note: Prices listed are subject to change. The costs per student are likely to be $1000 in total. Participating students will receive a one-off subsidy of $500 from the Faculty which will be utilised toward local travel. Students will be expected to contribute $400 to cover food, accommodation and local activities not later than 2 days prior pre-teaching. Students will be required to arrange and pay for the return flight to Cairns.

Intended learning outcomes

  • To observe and record building industry operations in contexts outside urban Melbourne and provide a holistic perspective of construction approaches.
  • To enable comparisons of construction markets, technologies and processes in different countries and regions.
  • To help students understand contingent relationships between construction technologies and national cultures.
  • To identify and assess the impact of cultural drivers within construction.
  • To encourage students to identify and engage critically with issues of geographic specificity in construction.
  • To apply learnings to real and live projects to critically reflect on the role of construction and its impact in a given context.

Generic skills

At the completion of the subject students should have developed the following skills and capabilities:

  • Ability to understand and navigate social and cultural differences with cultural competency;
  • Ability to undertake ideal-type analysis;
  • Ability to understand the type of industrial data required in socio-technical studies;
  • Ability to derive theoretical positions from empirical analyses;
  • Ability to prepare and conduct technical interviews with industry representatives;
  • Ability to combine data from primary and secondary sources for the development of a scholarly argument;
  • Ability to translate these data into a cohesive piece of original research.

Last updated: 3 November 2022