LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS

Module SOCIO-GEOGRAPHICAL LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS

The course aims to provide students with the theoretical and methodological skills and knowledge necessary to investigate the social, perceptual, and symbolic dimensions of landscape, understood in its complex articulations and diverse expressions. The objective is to develop the ability to critically read and interpret the processes that shape landscapes in relation to the communities that inhabit or pass through them across different territorial contexts, from urban to rural areas. Students will acquire competencies in analysing the socio-economic and cultural components of the landscape and in identifying intervention methods that support its planning, management, and protection, taking into account its social and symbolic-perceptive dimensions.

Students will be able to read, analyse, and evaluate both the natural and human-made components of the landscape and their connections with economic sectors (agriculture, industry, tourism), territorial processes (urbanisation), and environmental phenomena. They will learn to collect, process, and interpret both quantitative and qualitative data, and to organise and systematically elaborate them within the framework of local territorial systems.

In detail, in the first theory-based module, students will gain knowledge of the conceptual evolution of landscape, its polysemic nature, and the values it has acquired in both scientific debates and within the framework of the European Landscape Convention.

The key stages of its recent evolution will also be studied, in dialogue with transnational themes and strategies (Agenda 2030 and sustainable development; UNESCO Conventions and protected areas; the Faro Convention and the landscape as heritage), as well as European and Italian regulatory frameworks.

The second part of the course will focus on acquiring methodologies, tools, and qualitative-quantitative techniques for analyzing the socio-geographic dimensions of the landscape, considering both its tangible and intangible components. This will be explored through applied case studies, working groups, and classroom exercises, complemented by fieldwork and the use of GIS.

A particular emphasis will be placed on acquiring methodologies for analysing and interpreting perceptions, value attributions, and possible conflicts among different actors and functions assigned to landscapes by communities. These will be approached through methods and techniques from socio-territorial sciences, serving as a foundation for developing competencies in participatory landscape design (interviews, focus groups, ethnographies and visual methods, community mapping, qualitative GIS, etc.).

The final part will focus on collaboratively developing the theoretical and methodological framework needed for the preparation of the final project, which will be subject to evaluation.