GEOGRAPHY OF THE TERRITORY

Knowledge and understanding: at the end of the course, students will have specific skills in the field of ​​the economic-political geography of the territory, with a specific focus on the peculiarities of the geographical spaces at the different scales (global, regional, local). Moreover, they will deeply know the theoretical-methodological concepts of environment, territory and landscape, in addition to the territorial governance of rural and urban contexts as well as the relationships between territory, anthropic action and use/perception of space.

Applying knowledge and understanding: students will be able to use the theoretical and analytical tools of economy geography specifically conceived to plan, manage and enhance territories. Furthermore, students will be able to collect, process and evaluate quantitative and qualitative data about urban and rural spaces, in order to organize and systematize them within specific local systems.

Making judgements: students will be able to critically evaluate territorial peculiarities of urban and rural spaces from a time-space perspective in order to understand their inherent complexity.

Communication: students will be able to transfer their knowledge about the territorial systems and their related economic local contexts at different scales trough the in-depth knowledge of the specific vocabulary as well as analytical tools of the discipline.

Lifelong learning skills: students will have the necessary knowledge and skills to frame economic concepts with the geographical perspective of the territory.

Frontal lessons (with interactive e-tools)

Group works & workshops

Seminars

Classroom Participative analysis of case studies through visual methods (pictures and videos)

Flipped classroom

Fieldworks

The course is focused on the geographical analysis of the territory at different scales (global, regional, local). It covers several sub-topics which range from the conceptual pillars of the discipline (environment, territory, landscape) to the territorial transformations caused by global tendencies, economic trends and bottom-up socio-cultural dynamics. Trough the combination of a mix-method methodology, which includes in-depth theoretical survey and on-field case studies, on the one hand the course is aimed at exploring the complexity of the relationship between landscape and territory as well as between enhancement and protection. On the other hand, it is finalised to scrutinize the complexity of conflictual uses of spaces by the several actors involved. As a result, the main aims are to critically scrutinize multiscalar dynamics of territorial processes owing to the growing complexity of a globalized world; as well as the multidimensional paradigm of sustainability, included the conflicts and new social inequalities deriving from different uses of spaces.

Textbook 1. De Matteis G., Lanza C., Nano F., Vanolo A., “Geografia dell’economia mondiale”, Torino, UTET, 2010.

Textbook 2. Turri E., "Il Paesaggio degli uomini", Zanichelli, Bologna, 2003.