Technical University Berlin

This course takes into account the fact that planning is always a communicative process. It takes place against the background of the legal and social requirements for public participation in planning as well as the need to create acceptance for planning by involving affected and interested actors. In addition to the discussion of these requirements as well as practical examples of communication and cooperation in the context of nature conservation and environmental planning, the following topics are treated: basics of communication, moderation, participation process including mediation, creativity techniques, target groups and target group analysis, presentation techniques, communication through text and public relations. Students learn about typical social decision-making situations in which the environmental assessment of projects and plans plays a key role. A constellation for a project or a plan is dealt with in more detail on the basis of a case study, which is usually heavily influenced by social discourse (previously, for example, a Brandenburg wind farm in the forest or the Elbe pit to the Port of Hamburg).With the methodical approach of the constellation analysis the case studies are analyzed according to: the participating actors and actor constellations; the legal or societal, economic regulations, norms, framework conditions, which play a direct or indirect role; the scope for decision-making resulting from the respective technological or project/plan-immanent approach; the respective implications of the environmental situation. Subsequently, the meaning of the respective elements in the planning processes as well as their relation to each other are analyzed. It is determined which of the aspects promotes or inhibits the environmental friendliness and social compatibility of decision-making processes. This addresses constellations of actors, norms and discourses, political decisions, social developments, technical and economic developments as well as anthropogenic changes of natural systems to assess the significance of these influences in the context of environmental planning and environmental auditing and to analyze their implications. Overall, the students realize that action in the context of planning, environmental testing and nature conservation can not only be based on a scientific-ecological basis, but that social and political aspects must also be taken into account.

This course offers an introduction to electrical engineering specifically for Electrical Engineering majors. Topics covered include: electrostatic field, charge, field, potential, voltage, polarization, capacity; stationary electric flow field, current, Ohm's law, resistance, power; stationary magnetic field: flow rate, inductance, permeability, magnetic circuits; induction, Inductance, Energy, Motion Induction, Resting Induction; simple networks: current and voltage sources, Kirchhoff sets, resistor networks; mathematical basics. vector calculus, integral calculus, orthogonal coordinate systems.

This course covers the climate system and the components of the climate system, the basics of climate dynamics, circulation in the atmosphere, climate classification and zones, hurricanes and tornadoes, city climate, paleo climate, climate induced natural disasters by orders of magnitude, urban habitats and their effect on climate, climate and its effect on urban habitats, evidence of climate change, and climate change in the past and the future.

Students learn to participate actively in discussions on various topics, to give their opinion, to negotiate solutions in small groups and to find compromises. They acquire language structures and skills to reproduce information and present clearly structured presentations. In addition, students train to extract important information and detailed statements from texts on different academic fields. Using videos and listening exercises, students learn to understand longer academic texts and to filter for information on specific aspects. Regular writing exercises help students practice to present and justify their opinion on current topics, and to write personal accounts and commentaries. The class discusses current events in German society and in Berlin and examines news and points of view surrounding the topics of university, academic research, and international exchange. Finally, students also analyze language itself: learning German, language usage, communication, and intercultural aspects. The B2 level is split into two consecutive courses, the B2.1 course covers the first half of the level and the B2.2 course covers the second half of the level.

This course addresses theoretical problems at the interface of game theory and computer science, often inspired by internet applications such as sponsored search, crowdsourcing, and social computing platforms. Game theory studies strategic interactions of multiple agents in situations where the well-being of a single agent depends not only on the agent's own actions, but also on the actions of other agents. The course begins by discussing fundamental concepts from game theory and investigating algorithmic aspects of solution concepts. Then students analyze internet-inspired algorithmic problems from a game-theoretic perspective.

The focus of this class is on the collection and creation of different data sets on Berlin that are stored in a systems atlas. Students work with the digital tools of the Conscious City Lab and use the lab environment to present their results. They apply digital mapping techniques, including GIS and Arduino, among others, and learn to interpret urban data.

There is no dispute that an average global temperature rise of more than 2°C above the pre-industrial levels would lead to severe environmental and economic costs for society. A major challenge in tackling global warming is the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, especially in the electricity sector. The “Energiewende” in Germany proves that a decarbonization of the electricity sector in combination with a shutdown of all nuclear capacities is (technically) manageable and economically viable. As a result, learning effects and reduced investment costs enable a market-driven worldwide roll-out of new technologies. In 2014, already 144 countries set renewable targets. The resulting new global renewable generation installations in 2014 consequently outnumbered the combined new fossil and nuclear capacities. This course provides a general understanding of the economic, engineering, and political aspects of energy transitions. Additional insight is gained by guest lectures from practitioners and field excursions.

This course examines deep neural networks (DNN) and covers the following topics: DNN basics, model complexity and model selection, optimization of DNNs, DNNs for images, DNNs for time series, explaining DNN decisions, DNNs beyond classification.