The module “Ecological and territorial networks" (M-GGR/02) is part of "Environment and sustinable Mobility" (12 CFU) together with the other module “Sustainable mobility planning” (ICAR/21).
At the end of the module, students will have acquired competence and understanding of several theoretical, methodological and conceptual approaches to the critical analysis of environmental politics and ecological networks. Students will also be guided in exploring the interrelationship between environment, landscape and policies, discourses and practices as a central element in the emergence of socionatures typical of the Anthropocene context.
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The course is held through lectures (20 hours), but with a specific attention to debates and students’ participation. For this reason, lectures will be interactive, with opportunities for students to further explore some of the topics. This will be supported by visual tools (power point presentations and videos) in order to facilitate learning. The remaining 16 hours of teaching are carried out within the project work – that is, an interdisciplinary activity built around territorial application projects involving the active participation of students – which pursues a unitary teaching between theoretical training and applied research in the area.
The exam is oral and consists of a discussion of the content covered in the two modules of the didactic area. The exam will assess the students’ achievement of the course objectives, and in particular:
- The knowledge of the course’s main concepts;
- The ability to critically apply the core concepts to specific examples, and highlight the interrelations between them;
- The ability to understand the questions and answer accurately.
In addition, it assesses the portfolio created within the project work, consisting of the set of projects made individually and collectively (mapping, infographics, dossiers, project plans and video clips) to measure the student's progressive maturation as well as the application capacity acquired in the training process. The mark relating to the teaching area is calculated with the arithmetic average of the marks reported in the two modules, to which is added the portfolio assessment which must correspond to one third of the overall assessment. This grade is communicated to the student and registered through the electronic booklet.
The module addresses the topic of ecological networks from a geographical perspective, investigating the interaction between environment and society and the protection of the landscape, combining theoretical discussions with the analysis of a number of national and international case studies. Themes will include:
• Theoretical and ontological debates on the key concepts of the environment and landscape;
• The social construction of nature and of landscape;
• Understanding the relationship between humans and nature;
• The Governance of ecological networks;
• Natural protected areas and the political ecology of protection and conservation of nature and landscape;
• The current environmental crisis and the challenges to sustainability;
• The climate crisis and socioecologcial consequences;
• Socionatural conflicts and the privatization and commodification of nature.
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