Jaargang 19 editie 1 - ConcepT - Universiteit Twente

Figure 2: Christ the Redeemer, an
enormous statue, Rio de Janeiro
generations. The theme takes into
account all three aspects of sustainability;
this means that we will
focuses on economic, environmental
and social sustainability.
Within these aspects, thematic research
focuses on developments
and plans in traffic and infrastructure,
water management and urban
planning and development.
The study tour is not just an
unprepared trip to a random chosen
foreign country. The tour has
an extensive preparation procedure
and is worth study credits. All
the participants prepare the tour
by conducting contract research
and attending special classes related
to the study tour theme (thematic
research). We finalise this
preparation in two official documents:
the preliminary and final
report. Every study tour participant
has a significant contribution
to this product. Thematic research
is an extensive master package
that aims at getting insight in Brazil’s
foundations for a sustainable
future. The master package has
started in the third quartile of this
academic year (February 2010).
It consists of three sub-courses:
Figure 3: The Amazon rainforest. The study tour will also visit Manaus. Manaus is
the capital of the state Amazonas.
the first course is a macro study
which enables the students to explore
Brazil in general (e.g. on social,
economical, ecological, political
and legal aspects). The second
course, the meso study, zooms in
on sustainability of the civil engineering
sector in Brazil. In the
micro study, participants will con-
Figure 4: The study tour committee.
duct a case study that’s related to
the theme. This last study generates
research questions which participants
will answer partially in
advance of the tour. From this information,
the committee and participants
will consolidate the preliminary
report. During the study
tour, participants try to collect
ConcepTueel feb. 2010 - 7