LABORATORIO DI PIANIFICAZIONE DEL TERRITORIO E DEL PAESAGGIO M - Z

Class activities aim at making students aware of the complexity of land and landscape, of the evolution of critical thinking related to them, and of the modes of intervention through the practical and conceptual tools of land use planning in connection with those of strategic planning. Within this general objective, students are expected in particular to develop the ability to envision regional and landscape transformations starting from existing spatial relationships.

The studio specifically aims at strengthening not only theoretical knowledge but also design skills and competencies, encouraging students to use both the conceptual and technical–practical tools of physical–spatial planning—stemming from the reformist period and the so-called “environmental turn” in planning—and those of integrated strategic process-based planning. To pursue these objectives, students will be guided to combine learning the use of GIS (Geographic Information Systems), an essential tool for acquiring, analyzing, evaluating, and cross-referencing georeferenced data, with regional and landscape design and co-design skills.

The aim is to enable students, through critical reflection on a practical experience, to acquire not only technical competencies but also the cognitive-creative and reflective skills and sensibilities required of professionals (deutero-learning, or learning how to learn) involved in the complex processes of managing and designing contemporary territories and landscapes.

The pedagogical approach is based on action-learning (learning through action). Building on a mutual learning agreement with a real territorial community facing significant problems and challenges, students work through a reciprocal relationship with local actors. This represents a stimulating opportunity to foster not only professional development, but also ethical dispositions and active citizenship.

The practical work, in which activities carried out in the classroom are continuously shared and critically reworked with territorial partners, also promotes communication skills, not only of a technical nature but, above all, the ability to communicate knowledge to a broader audience.

Class attendance is compulsory, according to university rules.

This studio is based on both theoretical and practical components. Both components are conceived as interwined with the aim to provide, through a hands-on approach grounded in critical theoretical reflection, an understanding of the main issues and the key conceptual, regulatory, and process-based tools through which spatial planning and the paradigms of control, protection, and co-production of territorial and landscape transformations are defined.

From the very beginning of the course, students will be guided in learning a critical use of GIS.

Within this framework, particular attention will be given to the integrated protection of landscape and environmental assets in relation to emerging issues such as spatial risks, the ecological transition, and the climate crisis. Particular attention will also be paid to the relationship between planning and programming, with specific reference to disadvantaged areas and recent policies aimed at reducing regional disparities, such as SNAI (National Strategy for Inner Areas).

The main topics covered are:

• Introduction to the course

• Planning levels and thematic cartography

• The territory: definitions and concepts

• Sustainable development: from the concept of sustainable development to the territorialist approach

• From communities to civil society

• Landscape: definitions and concepts

• Planning territory and landscape

• Strategies and projects in the landscape

• The climate crisis and its effects on territories: adaptation and mitigation

• Ecosystem services

• Southern Italy (Mezzogiorno): territories and landscapes

• Policies aimed at reducing territorial disparities

• The National Strategy for Inner Areas

• Planning and contemporary paradigms of economic development (foundational economy, solidarity economies, transformative economies)

Course reader, provided by the instructors, made of excerpts from the following texts:

1-    Paolo D’Angelo, Filosofia del paesaggio, Quodlibet, Roma, 2010, cap. 15.
2-    Simin Davoudi et alii. (2013) Evolutionary Resilience and Strategies for Climate Adaptation, Planning Practice & Research, 28:3, 307-322
3-    Marco Esposito, Vuoto a perdere, Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli, 2024
4-    Alberto Magnaghi, Il progetto locale, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 2000
5-    Alberto Magnaghi, Il principio territoriale, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 2020
6-    Fausto Carmelo Nigrelli (a cura di), Paesaggi scartati, Manifestolibri, Roma, 2020
7-    Convenzione europea del Paesaggio, Firenze 2000.
8-    Michael Jakob, Il paesaggio, il Mulino, Bologna, 2009
9-    Rossano Pazzagli et alii (a cura di), Appaesati. Storie di ordinaria ruralità, Radici ed. Capistrello, 2025
10-    Domenico Sorace, Paesaggio e paesaggi della Convenzione europea, in G.F. Cartei (a cura di), Convenzione europea del paesaggio e governo del territorio, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2007
11-    Gianfranco Visti, I divari territoriali in Italia, Carocci, Roma, 2024

12-    Watson, V. (2014) Co-production and collaboration in planning – The difference. In Planning Theory &Practice, 15:1, 62-76

13 - AA. VV. (2019) Economia fondamentale. L’infrastruttura della vita quotidiana. Einaudi

Additional readings are going to be suggested during the semester.

Planning, like all applied disciplines, requires a practical know-how that cannot be acquired in isolation by studying from books and notes. For this reason, not only attendance at classes but also active participation in the laboratory activities is mandatory (especially compliance with deadlines).

At the end of the first semester, two written in-course assessments will be held. The first will consist of open-ended questions designed to assess students’ progress in learning the theoretical topics covered; the second will assess their acquired GIS skills. The results of these assessments will contribute to the final grade.

Additional in-course assessments may be scheduled during both the first and second semesters.

The final examination will consist of a written test on the content covered during the second half of the course and an oral examination, during which students will be expected to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the theoretical topics addressed in class, also through discussion of their course work relating to the case study developed during the course.

Students will be required to present all exercises and coursework produced during the laboratory. The final examination may also involve setting up an exhibition featuring all the materials produced and presenting the graphic work and the broader topics addressed during the year to an external visiting professor.