Interdisciplinary Studies in Built Environment Education: A Case Study

The School of the Built Environment at the University of Salford redesigned its undergraduate programmes to include multidisciplinary project work at all 3 levels. This chapter provides a case study of the development and implementation of the interdisciplinary module at final level catering for students from five different disciplines. Overall, students responded positively to the module and academic tutors and visiting practitioners were also positive about student performance, but thought insufficient time had been allocated for module delivery and management, which was demanding than the traditional lecture/ tutorial pattern. The use of a dedicated website for communications was seen as a useful co-ordinating and cohesive device although the use of ICT could be significantly expanded. The greatest challenges concern operational difficulties associated with managing large numbers of students in teams, and composing clear requirements with associated assessment criteria.