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Urban Ecosystem

By Prof. Mahua Mukherjee   |   IIT Roorkee
Learners enrolled: 66
ABOUT THE COURSE:

This course offers an in-depth learning on ecosystem function, process, their unique characteristics and dynamics; this understanding is extended for urban ecosystem as the course delves into critical topics such as ecosystem theories and concepts, biodiversity, urban metabolism, urban imbalances, which thus helps to explain interactions between urban ecosystems and water, CO2, and methane. The course explores importance of ecosystem services (ESS) and nature-based solutions (NbS), providing insights into sustainable urban drainage systems, blue-green infrastructure, and transformative ecological strategies for climate adaptation and mitigation. This course acquaints attendees with ESS assessment, and application of cutting-edge techniques like GIS, remote sensing, used in GeoSM-NatEc toolbox to design sustainable and resilient cities of the future.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: PG and Pre-PhD

PREREQUISITES: B.Tech/B.Arch/B.Plan/BE/M.Sc or equivalent in disciplines such as urban planning, environmental science, architecture, civil engineering, geography, or related fields.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT: UNEP, EY, CEEW, WRI, SAADRI
Summary
Course Status : Upcoming
Course Type : Core
Language for course content : English
Duration : 12 weeks
Category :
  • Architecture and Planning
Credit Points : 3
Level : Postgraduate
Start Date : 19 Jan 2026
End Date : 10 Apr 2026
Enrollment Ends : 26 Jan 2026
Exam Registration Ends : 13 Feb 2026
Exam Date : 25 Apr 2026 IST
NCrF Level   : 4.5 — 8.0

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits



Course layout

Week 1: Ecosystem Basics
  • Introduction to the Course
  • Ecosystem Basics including Ecology
  • Ecosystem: Functions
  • Ecosystem: Processes
  • Examples of Ecosystem Functions and Process
Week 2: Ecosystem Types, Concepts and Theories
  • Ecosystem Types-I
  • Case Studies on Ecosystem types-II
  • Ecosystem Concepts
  • Ecosystem Theories 
  • Demonstration of Ecosystem theory and Concept 
Week 3: Urban Ecosystem
  • Urban Ecosystem Components
  • Urban Ecosystem Functions and Processes
  • Urban Metabolism
  • Urban Ecosystem and Water-I
  • Demonstration of Urban Ecosystem and Water
Week 4: Urban Ecosystem Process
  • Urban Ecosystem, CO2 and Methane
  • Urban Heat
  • Urban Ecosystem Imbalances and challenges
  • Urban Ecosystem and Ecological Balance 
  • Carrying Capacity
Week 5: Integration of Ecosystem Theories and Concepts
  • Ecosystem Concepts for Urban Integration
  • City and Ecosystem Theories
  • Case Study on City and Ecosystem Theories
  • Urban Ecosystem and Biodiversity 
  • Biodiversity conventions and IPCC
Week 6: Ecosystem Services (ESS)
  • Ecosystem Services
  • Types of ESS
  • Evaluation of ESS-I
  • Evaluation of ESS-II
  • Urban Ecosystem Services
Week 7: Development and Ecosystem
  • Effects of urban development on urban ecosystems 
  • Urban Ecology (Evolution)
  • Social aspects intertwined with urban ecosystems 
  • Urban landscape ecology as a planning strategy 
  • Role of Urban governance for Ecosystem Protection
Week 8: Mitigation and Adaptation
  • Disaster Risk and Climate Change
  • Mitigation and Adaptation
  • Transformative Solutions -Nature-based Solutions Basics
  • NbS for Climate Adaptation and Urban Resilience
  • Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) & Eco-DRR
Week 9: Nature-based Solutions
  • Blue-Green Infrastructure
  • Environmental Engineering (EnvE)  
  • Ecological Engineering (EcoE) 
  • Application potential for NbS
  • Policy Framework for NbS
Week 10: Assessment of Urban Ecosystem
  • Challenges in designing and deploying NbS
  • Urban Ecosystem assessment
  • Biodiversity- Ecological Footprint 
  • Biodiversity- City Biodiversity Index
  • Urban Infrastructure Assessment
Week 11: Future of Urban Ecosystem
  • Science, Engineering, technology and Innovation (SETI) 
  • Ecology and Future Cities
  • Instrumented study
  • Case Study on Eco-Engineering Solutions for Waste, Energy and Water
  • BMP on Eco-Engineering Solutions for Water 

Week12: Future of Urban Ecosystem
  • Risk and BGI Potential assessment tool
  • Case Study on BGI Solutions 
  • Concept of GeoSM-NatEc 
  • Demonstration of GeoSM-NatEc
  • Concluding Remarks



Books and references

  • Mukherjee, M., & Shaw, R. (2021). Ecosystem-Based Disaster and Climate Resilience- Integration of Blue-Green Infrastructure in Sustainable Development, Springer, Singapore. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-4815-1 
  • Steele, J. B. (2005). Ecological Architecture: A Critical History. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:106871310 
  • Bonan G. Frontmatter. In: Ecological Climatology: Concepts and Applications. Cambridge University Press; 2015
  • Deb, S., Environmental Management, Jaico University Press, 2003 
  • Harnessing Geospatial Data to Design Blue-green Infrastructure for Building Regional and Local Scale Disaster Resilience. Atul Kumar, Arjun Satheesh, Mahua Mukherjee, Vickyson Naorem, Shirish Ravan, Louise Schreyers, Sudmeier-Rieux, Yvonne Walz, Ananda Mallawantantri. Proceeding on Fifth World Congress on Disaster Management: Volume V. 2023. Routledge. eBook ISBN9781003342090
  • Oke, T.R. (1987). Boundary Layer Climates (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203407219 

Instructor bio

Prof. Mahua Mukherjee

IIT Roorkee

Dr Mahua Mukherjee is Professor and in the Department of Architecture and Planning, and Joint Faculty and Ex-Head of Centre of Excellence in Disaster Mitigation and Management (CoEDMM), IIT Roorkee, India.  Her educational qualifications are B. Arch (Jadavpur University), M. Tech (Building Science and Technology) IIT Roorkee, and PhD in the field of sustainable urban development. She has pursued her career in Architecture Office and Academic think-tank NGO before joining Teaching. 

Dr Mahua Mukherjee is Secretary General of the South Asia Alliance for Disaster Resilience Institutes (SAADRI). Currently she is a member to UNDRR- APSTAG and GADRI Board of Directors. Her graduated research interest includes sustainable urban development to risk resilience, including urban climate and climate responsive campus and housing design. Association with international academia like Lund University, Sweden through SIDA Fellowship and Penn State University as a Fulbright Fellow among others, influenced her intellectual pursuit. She was Visiting Associate Professor and Researcher with DPRI, Kyoto University in 2016.

Dr. Mahua Mukherjee has been deeply involved in research related to disaster mitigation, sustainable urban development, and climate resilience. With extensive experience in urban climatology and architecture, her work focuses on understanding the impacts of urban morphology on climate change, especially in the context of disaster risk reduction. She has made significant contributions in areas such as urban heat island effect mitigation, flood risk assessment, and the design of sustainable urban infrastructure.

Her key contributions include the development of blue-green infrastructure frameworks for urban areas, advancing techniques for climate-responsive design, and spearheading multi-disciplinary research projects on disaster management. Dr. Mukherjee has led efforts to promote nature-based solutions and has developed innovative tools for assessing climate resilience in cities. She has also guided several research projects and contributed to policy development, providing insights into climate-resilient urban planning and adaptive design. Her current research interests include urban risk management, sustainable architecture, and the role of ecosystem services in enhancing urban resilience.

Few relevant publications to course:

  • Ecosystem-Based Disaster and Climate Resilience- Integration of Blue-Green Infrastructure in Sustainable Development; edited by Mahua Mukherjee and Rajib Shaw. 2021. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-16-4815-1
  • Kshitij Kacker, Piyush Srivastava, Mahua Mukherjee. Heat stress risk at an intra-urban level: A case study of Delhi, India. Building and Environment, Volume 264, October 2024, 111897, ISSN 0360-1323, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.111897.
  • Ojha, S.K., Mukherjee, M. Investigating the potential of integrated urban greening strategies for reducing outdoor thermal stresses: a case of asymmetrical configuration in the tropical city of Bhopal. Int J Biometeorol 68, 1451–1474. April 2024 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-024-02680-y
  • Vivekanand Tiwari, Atul Kumar, Mahua Mukherjee. GIS and AHP-based groundwater recharge potential zones in urban region: A study of Ajmer City, Rajasthan, India. Urban Climate. Volume 54, 2024, 101840, ISSN 2212-0955, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2024.101840. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212095524000361)
  • Mukherjee, M., Chatterjee, R., Khanna, B. K., Dhillon, P. P. S., Kumar, A., Bajwa, S., Prakash, A. and Shaw, R. (2020). Ecosystem-centric business continuity planning (eco-centric BCP): A post COVID19 new normal, Progress in Disaster Science, Vol. 7, October 2020, 100-117
  • Mukherjee, M. and Takara, K. (2018) ‘Urban green space as a countermeasure to increasing urban risk and the UGS-3CC resilience framework’, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Volume 28, June 2018, Pages 854-861

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: April 25, 2026 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Roorkee .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team
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