Ethics over aesthetics - A content analysis on the inclusion of environmental ethics within the undergraduate architectural curriculum

Abstract: This document analysis study primarily investigates the inclusion of environmental ethics with an undergraduate architectural curriculum in Sweden. The curriculum documents analyzed in this study contain specific literature and objectives which primarily guide pedagogy both in theory and in the design studio. Specifically the aim of the study is to analyze how the concepts of environmental ethics, the skills regarding environmental ethics and the dispositions toward environmental ethics are addressed within the curriculum. The theoretical perspectives involve the concepts from Kronlid &Öhman’s (2013) value-oriented analytical framework and Farmer & Guy’s (2010) pragmatic framework. These perspectives were used to analyze the knowledge, skills and dispositions on environmental ethics that students gain which could help them develop sustainable practices and behaviours in the future. Following this, a coding scheme was developed with codes and sub-codes in three levels – concepts, skills, and dispositions towards the environment. The results show that the concepts, skills and dispositions are present in the curriculum to varying degrees. The concepts of anthropocentrism highlighting human-nature relationship, skills of systems thinking and disposition toward social responsibility being most frequently mentioned in the documents. Further, the results demonstrated an alignment with national policy documents, although concepts of ecocentrism and skills of collaboration were not as present in the curriculum documents as compared to the national policy documents. Aim: To understand how environmental ethics is addressed implicitly or explicitly within the undergraduate architectural curriculum. Theory: Kronlid &Öhman’s value-oriented framework and Pragmatic framework. Method: Content analysis of the course syllabus and documents based on analytical frameworks drawn from value-oriented and pragmatic framework theories. Results: The results show that concepts, skills and dispositions related to environmental ethics are both explicitly and implicitly mentioned in the curriculum documents. The concepts of anthropocentrism, in particular, the human-nature relationship, skills of system thinking and disposition toward social responsibility were the most frequently occurring in the curriculum documents. The results also show an alignment to some degree with the same concepts, skills and dispositions present in the national policy documents in Sweden. i