landscape architecture. land landscape heritage

L'insegnamento opzionale ha l'obiettivo di ampliare la prospettiva riguardo agli spazi pubblici, considerando le sperimentazioni e le analisi svolte negli ultimi decenni nel mondo dell'arte.

Risultato di apprendimento atteso è la conoscenza dell'opera dei principali artisti che hanno operato negli spazi pubblici.

Il corso “Architettura, Arte e Spazio Pubblico” guida gli studenti in un itinerario che, attraverso un dizionario critico di parole‑chiave, ripercorre l’intero arco del XX secolo per mostrare come le arti visive e l’architettura abbiano costantemente ridisegnato il concetto stesso di spazio pubblico: si parte dalle avanguardie storiche — dal Futurismo che esaltava la città elettrica e dinamica, al Costruttivismo che vedeva nell’opera un ingranaggio della vita collettiva, dal Neoplasticismo che sperimentava l’ordine astratto come modello di armonia sociale, al Dadaismo che reagiva al trauma bellico sovvertendo segni e funzioni urbane, fino alla Scuola Bauhaus che insegnava l’integrazione fra arti — per arrivare alle pratiche minimaliste e concettuali degli anni Sessanta e Settanta, tra happening, land art e interventi site‑specific, e giungere infine alle ricerche contemporanee improntate a ecologia, partecipazione e performatività. Ogni lemma (arte pubblica, monumento, site‑specific, partecipazione, ecologia, performatività) viene così esplorato sia nella sua genealogia storica sia come strumento progettuale utile a leggere, interpretare e trasformare la città di oggi, con esercitazioni che chiedono allo studente di analizzare il nesso opera‑luogo, valutarne l’impatto percettivo e immaginare nuove modalità di coinvolgimento della comunità.

Prova scritta obbligatoria, senza prove in itinere
Prova orale obbligatoria
Il voto finale è il risultato della media di un elaborato critico/progettuale strutturato dallo studente e dalla verifica della bibliografia di riferimento e degli argomenti delle lezioni.

Rosalind Krauss, Elio Grazioli (a cura di), Passaggi. Storia della scultura da Rodin alla Land Art, Editore: Mondadori, Anno edizione: 1998, ISBN: 9788842493495
Note: Disponibile anche in altre edizioni
Lorenza Perelli, Public Art. Arte, interazione e progetto urbano, Editore: Franco Angeli, Anno edizione: 2010, ISBN: 9788846477569
Alessandra Pioselli, L'arte nello Spazio urbano. L'esperienza italiana dal 1968 a oggi, Editore: Johan&Levi, Anno edizione: 2015, ISBN: 9788860101631
Matteo Colleoni, Francesca Guerisoli, La città attraente. Luoghi urbani e arte contemporanea, Editore: Egea, Anno edizione: 2014, ISBN: 978-88-238-2166-8
Note: pp. 107 - 196
Deianira Amico (a cura di), "Cercle et Carré". Arte e architettura a Parigi nel 1930, Editore: Abscondita, Anno edizione: 2026, ISBN: 979-12-5472-281-7

Planning, designing and managing landscapes requires the ability to read and understand complex interactions among a number of physical, biological and socioeconomic factors over space and time. In particular, peri-urban spaces, the landscape interface between town and country, raise critical sustainability challenges. They are transitional zones at the urban fringe where urban and rural land uses mix and often clash, yet they are crucial to the liveability and sustainability of cities, as they contribute significantly to the supply of natural resources such as water and food and to the satisfaction of recreational needs. Their proper management requires integrated approaches addressing environmental protection, ecosystem services provisioning and the creation of green infrastructures along with local socioeconomic development.
The main objectives of the course are to introduce students to the basic concepts of ecological and agronomic sciences and to foster their integration into landscape design. In particular, the course aims to develop students' knowledge and understanding of the main components of ecosystems and agro-ecosystems, their interactions, and their capability to read and understand landscapes in terms of ecological processes and dynamics.

At the end of the course, the student is expected to:
know which are the main components of ecological and agro-ecological systems, the main processes that take place therein, and how they interact with each other and with the surrounding environment;
understand the main benefits provided to humans by ecosystems and agro-ecosystems, as well as the main impacts of human activities on their functioning;
be able to analyse landscapes from an ecological viewpoint, understanding how different spatial configurations of the landscape mosaic can influence the main ecological processes;
be able to communicate the results of their work, finding the right balance between analysis and synthesis and using appropriate forms of communication to interact with professionals from different disciplines

The course is divided into two parallel modules: one on Agronomy and Agroecology, and one on Ecology.
Agronomy and Agroecology
The module will provide basic knowledge of botany, meteorology, and the principles of soil physics and chemistry, with a focus on cropping systems (cultivated fields) and/or crops, including their morphology and physiology. The module will also provide knowledge of the main agroecological principles and practices, that is, how to sustainably design and manage cropping and farming systems to effectively provide ecosystem services. This module is particularly connected to the second goal of Agenda 2030 (Zero Hunger).
Agricultural heritages: values, systems, knowledge, and practices; the origin and development of crops; the definition and historical evolution of the agro-ecosystem. Analysis of farming systems and their components: basic concepts and main properties of cropping, farming, and agricultural systems; components of the farming system: climate, soils, and vegetation. Climate change adaptation and mitigation. Farm level: strategies and tactics, crop rotations/irrigation/fertilisation/agroforestry design for sustainable production and ecosystem services. Sustainability of the agro-food system and the Agenda 2030, with focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 12 and 13.
Ecology
The module will introduce the fundamental concepts of ecology, providing basic knowledge of how organisms interact with their surrounding physical and biological environments, both under natural conditions and in the context of current anthropogenic change. The module is primarily related to the development goal number 15 (Life on Land) of Agenda 2030.
Introduction to ecology: introductory concepts; ecological levels; basic structure and functioning of ecosystems. The physical environment: physical drivers shaping landforms. Interactions between organisms and their environment: environmental conditions and resources; fundamental ecosystem processes; trophic interactions; energy and matter flows through ecosystems. Biodiversity concepts and metrics: geographical patterns in biodiversity; main threats to biodiversity; measuring biodiversity; biogeography. Landscape ecology: landscape patterns and drivers of landscape disturbance; landscape analysis and metrics; interactions of organisms with landscape heterogeneity. Urban ecology: anthropogenic biomes; human disturbance and novel ecosystems; effects of urbanisation on the physical environment; biological responses to urbanisation. Sustainability of the biosphere: the triple bottom line of sustainability; sustainability indicators; natural capital and ecosystem services. Industrial ecology: life cycle thinking: reconciling production systems and sustainability; industrial metabolism; life cycle assessment. The topics covered by the module are directly linked to SDG 15, with additional reference to SDGs 11, 12, 13 and 14.

Prova scritta obbligatoria, senza prove in itinere
Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, senza revisioni periodiche, senza presentazione/discussione finale
The exam is articulated into two parts, a group work and an individual written test. The group work, to be carried out during the semester, consists of analysing a case study and preparing a presentation. The individual part consists of a written exam with closed- and open-ended questions on the topics covered by the two modules. The final mark will be the sum of three scores: one associated with the group presentations, and two associated with the two parts into which the written test will be subdivided (one for each module).

Gliessman, S.R., Agroecology. The Ecology of Sustainable food systems, 3rd edition, Editore: CRC Press, Taylor and Francis Group, Anno edizione: 2015
Sher, A.A. & Molles, M., Ecology: Concepts and Applications. 9th Edition, Editore: McGraw Hill Education, Anno edizione: 2021
Dramstad, W.E., Olson, J.D., Forman, R.T.T., Landscape Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and Land-Use Planning, Editore: Island Press, Anno edizione: 1996
Turner, M.G., Gardner, R.H., Landscape Ecology in Theory and Practice, Editore: Springer, Anno edizione: 2015
Forman, R.T.T., Urban Ecology. Science of Cities, Editore: Cambridge University Press, Anno edizione: 2014

The integrated course aims to provide the fundamental knowledge and methods for reading and evaluating landscapes at different scales, and for interpreting relationships among environment, geology, and humans, both in the present and the past.
A special focus is given to landscapes and changes in landscapes from a historical, cultural, and geological perspective.
A key issue is how geology affects human activities and how societies, cultures, and individuals utilise and modify rocks, soil characteristics, and related landscapes.
The course aims to analyse and provide examples for interpreting the dynamics of landscape evolution and management, particularly in rural areas. Soil and climate contexts, the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy, and technical innovation are among the main factors to be examined. Starting with the historical evolution of landscapes, insights and reflections will be offered to understand the reasons for change and evolution over time and across space of crops, livestock, natural areas, and rural buildings.

Through this course, students gain skills in reading and understanding the historical and cultural characteristics of landscapes, as well as the fundamentals of geology and land and landscape morphology. Case studies will be analysed to examine how the authorities responsible for protection seek to safeguard historic landscapes or guide change in line with principles of sustainability.
With this purpose in mind, both a set of theoretical lectures and an application and site survey part are offered. The teaching objective is specifically aimed at integrating these two skills.
Knowledge and understanding: to acquire basic knowledge and skills to understand the geology of the territory, read landscapes, survey and describe geomorphology and interpret relationships between geology, environment and humans in its past and recent dynamics.
Applying knowledge and understandin g: to use the basic knowledge to read and understand a landscape following the principles and methods proposed, describe geodiversity, evaluate landscape and soil quality and interpret geology-landscape relationships.
Making judgements: to use the basic knowledge to support designs or plans according to characteristics of places (landscapes and geology) and their past and recent dynamics, understand actual and potential land use sustainability, evaluate the quality of soils and landscapes and predict territory and landscape vulnerability and potentialities, concerning human activities.
Communication skills: producing a synthetic report on the geology and landscapes of a selected real case helps develop the ability to clearly and concisely present and discuss the main issues to specialists and non-specialists.
Lifelong learning skills: ability in reading and assessing landscapes and geology and their relationships, using methodological approaches achieved during the course and in the exercises and study visits; ability in group collaboration achieved in the report definition; learning skills to autonomously explore the issues within their specific competences, to establish interdisciplinary relationships (consideration of multidisciplinary approaches) and infra-disciplinary relationships (consideration of stakeholders points of view) in the definitions of strategies and tools.

The course is developed in two modules, strictly related.
The main topics of Module 1 (Landscape Dynamics and Management) are: landscape as a product of the interaction between humans and the environment. Methodological processes and tools for interpreting and evaluating the characteristics and values of landscapes. The rural landscape as an example: relationships between evolution, existing characteristics and strategies and actions for planning and management.
The main topics of Module 2 (Physical Geography and Geomorphology) are: geological materials, geological dynamics, geological structures, geology and landscape, landscape changes, erosion and landslides, and geodiversity.
More in detail:
Module 1 Landscape Dynamics and Management
The educational content is: the evolution of the Common Agricultural Policy and how this policy has influenced, and continues to influence, landscape change. In-depth analysis of the tools used at the management level to interpret and guide landscape evolution. Landscapes intended as the product of human action and interaction with nature, highlighting the role of natural parks.
Module 2 - Physical Geography and Geomorphology

• Geological dynamics: basic concepts concerning Earth formation, tectonics, orogenesis and erosion.
• Geological materials: minerals, rocks and soils and their genesis and degradation.
• Geodiversity and landscapes: the assessment of the variability of Earth’s surface materials, forms, water and aquifer landscape modelling processes, physical processes and landform mosaics processes.
• Anthropogenic activities and landscape: roads, bridges, buildings and the restoration of landslides and contaminated industrial sites.
• Exercises: rock identification, geological maps reading and basic interpretation; geological cross-section drawing; reading and interpretation of land capability and land suitability maps.
  For the 2 modules, the learning activities are organised through:
• Field excursions, common for the two modules, will offer the opportunity to visit different landscapes, from the Po plain to the Alps, and to describe geodiversity and interpret geology-landscape relationships.
• Lectures and seminars held by teachers, and contributions of Italian and foreign experts.
• Tutoring in the classroom.
• Supplementary activities, extra classroom (personal study, report writing).

Prova scritta obbligatoria, senza prove in itinere
Prova orale obbligatoria
Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
For the exam, a group report on the integrated modules is required (2 to 5 people per group). The exam is structured as follows:
A multiple-choice test to be able to access the oral exam (the test must be done by every single student, not by the group, and the final result is either admission or non-admission.
A short presentation of the report (12 minutes per group, only students who have passed the multiple-choice test can present).
An oral exam with theoretical questions is administered to each student in the group admitted to the oral exam.
The final score is based on:
The quality of the group report
The quality of the presentation
The correctness of the answers
The ability to give a speech in complete English, and with the use of appropriate technical terminology

Emilio Sereni, History of the Italian Agricultural Landscape, Editore: Princeton University Press, Anno edizione: 1997
John Grotzinger, Thomas H. Jordan, Understanding Earth: Seventh Edition, Editore: W.H. Freeman and Company, ISBN: 978-1-4641-3874-4
Murray Gray, Geodiversity: Valuing and Conserving Abiotic Nature, Editore: Wiley Blackwell, Anno edizione: 2013
Bove M., Branduini P., Molina G., The Water Meadow-History of an ancient peasant invention that speaks to the future of Italian agriculture, Editore: Parco Lombardo della valle del Ticino, Anno edizione: 2020

The "Landscape and Infrastructure Design Studio" encompasses three teaching modules: 'Infrastructure and landscape design', 'Urbanism and Landscape’, and 'Landscape Hydrology'. The design activity deals with the theme of integrated landscape design through exercises applied to contexts of high landscape and environmental complexity.

The Studio aims to enhance specific knowledge and understanding through the study of complex contexts; student involvement in seminars promotes the application of knowledge and understanding, as well as autonomy in making judgments. The teaching methods enhance communication skills and promote collaboration between peers (communication and learning skills).

The Design Studio offers students a comprehensive and complex design experience, integrating landscape architecture, hydraulic design, and public open space design from a sustainability perspective.
The design experience will focus, as a case study, on areas of the Emilia-Romagna Region affected by floods in recent years, particularly the portion of the Region between the cities of Faenza and Ravenna, characterised by predominantly agricultural land use.
The Design Studio's activities will benefit from the collaboration of the Emilia-Romagna Region's "Territory, City, Landscape" office.
The Design studio is organised into 3 distinct yet highly integrated teaching modules.

• The "Infrastructure and Landscape Design" module will explore systems linking people and nature, such as metropolitan areas, cities, or neighbourhoods, and how those relationships are increasingly understood as complex adaptive systems. The students will be asked to complete a project, defined at appropriate scales, of landscape, environment, and/or architecture; continuous social, economic, and political transformations will form the framework of each intervention as the driving forces of the physical environment's contemporary fragility.
• The “Urbanism and Landscape” module aims to provide students with the knowledge and skills necessary to design integrated territorial strategies, primarily focusing on open space, mobility, and the physical and immaterial networks that support settlements and the everyday lives and practices of inhabitants, communities, and populations. Lectures will also present a range of projects and research that explore the relationship between open space design and urban design in innovative ways, focusing on decision-making and social interaction processes.
• The "Landscape Hydrology" module, which explicitly focuses on river design, will address the most common problems and opportunities that the presence of watercourses may cause, particularly in interactions with infrastructure and urbanised landscapes. Present flood and environmental risks due to past neglect of river dynamics in urban and infrastructural development are generally problems whose solutions may also be seen as opportunities to improve the present urban texture. Sustainable design solutions will be presented and discussed within the framework established by the EU Water directive (2000/60) and Flood directive (2007/60), considering at the same time solutions that will increase the territory's resilience, reducing flood risk, producing improvement in the existing urban texture and last but not least assessing a watercourse and flood plain environmental improvement. The module will guide students through the main fluvial processes and teach them how landscape designs may include, control, and interact with these processes using both traditional hydraulic works and recent non-structural measures, merging sustainably Italian traditional design experience with recent outcomes in hydrology and river engineering.

Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
Students will work in design groups made of four (4) members.
For the final exam, students will present their final project using panels, a booklet, a physical model (maquette), and a short video (3 minutes).
Midterm deliveries will be scheduled and communicated to students on the first day of class.
For the final exam, there are no bibliographic alternatives to the project developed during the semester.
The evaluation will be based on both individual and group work.

Rosso R., Manuale di Protezione idraulica del territorio, Editore: CUSL, Anno edizione: 2000
Przedwojski B., Blazejewski R., Pilarczyk K.W., River training techniques, Editore: Balkema, Anno edizione: 1995
Julien P., River Mechanichs, Editore: Cambridge University Press, Anno edizione: 2018, ISBN: 9781316107072
Mancini M.,, Slides selection of River Engineering and Basin reclamation course, Editore: BEEP Polimi Platform
Jakob M., What is Landscape?, Editore: Listlab, Anno edizione: 2018
Belanger P., Landscape as Infrastructure, Editore: Routledge, Anno edizione: 2017
Girot C., Imhof D., Thinking the Contemporary Landscape, Editore: Princeton Architectural Press, Anno edizione: 2016

The course aims to provide technical knowledge about basic facts in hydrology, river morphology and road/railway engineering.

Knowledge and understanding: students will acquire technical knowledge about basic facts in hydrology, river morphology and road/railway engineering. These skills enable students to work with water systems and transport infrastructure in landscape design and to engage with engineers and other technical specialists involved in landscape change processes.
Applying knowledge and understanding: students will acquire knowledge of reading real landscapes and regional spaces shaped by transport and water networks, and of setting landscape design in these contexts.
Making judgments: students will acquire the ability to integrate knowledge and manage complexity, as well as to formulate judgments, including reflections on the interdisciplinary themes related to the proposals formulated.
Communication skills: students will acquire the ability to clearly and unambiguously communicate their reflections and design goals, as well as the knowledge and rationale underpinning them, to specialist and non-specialist audiences.

MOBILITY INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN
a) Transport systems in the landscape
Human settlements, transport system and transport modes
The environmental impact of transport systems
Ecological defragmentation
Vegetation and planting
b) Fundamentals of road design
Basic techniques of road design: cross-section
Basic techniques of road design: horizontal and vertical alignments
Road/railway structure: tunnels, viaducts and bridges
Road junctions
Shoulders, safety and safety barriers
Other modes of transport
c) Road/railway landscaping techniques
Earthworks and landscaping
Roads and water: drainage systems
Soundscapes: noise and noise barriers
Roads and public spaces: universal design
FUNDAMENTALS OF WATERSHED HYDROLOGY AND RIVER RESTORATION
Introduction: Water, Land, and Landscape
The Water Cycle: An Overview of Key Hydrological Phenomena and Their Importance in Infrastructure Design and Planning
Precipitation, Infiltration, Evapotranspiration and Runoff: definition and quantification
The Importance of Soil Parameters in Hydrology
Watersheds: From Theory to Practice
River Morphology and River Restoration Practices
Floods and Droughts: From Assessment to Risk Management
Water Infrastructure and Urban Hydrology
Nature-Based Solutions vs Floods and Droughts
Resource Use and Water Management
Non-Conventional Water Use
The topics will be presented through a combination of theoretical frameworks and case study analyses.

Prova orale obbligatoria
Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
For the "Mobility Infrastructure Design" section, the assessment procedure will be based on oral tests. The test will start with a commentary on a case study, randomly drawn 15 minutes before the beginning. During this time, students will have the chance to use any source of knowledge, but during the test, they will be asked for a transversal knowledge of the case. Subsequently, the exam will continue with standard questions on course topics and the contents of the compulsory/optional handbooks.
For the part on "Fundamentals of Watershed Hydrology and River Restoration", the assessment will consist of both an oral test and the presentation and discussion of a group project. Each student will select a case study relevant to the topics covered in class and will present and discuss it individually.
The oral tests for both parts will be based mainly on questions intended to assess the student’s ability to understand and discuss the various topics covered in the course program, and to connect them to other concepts acquired in previous studies.

WEB SITES https://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercyclesummary.html
WEB SITES http://www.therrc.co.uk/manual-river-restoration-techniques
WEB SITES https://watersensitivecities.org.au/
Egebjerg U., Friis P., Lützen N., Trslv N., le Maire Wandall B., Beautiful Roads - A Handbook of Road ArchitecturE, Editore: Danish Road Directorate, Copenhagen, Anno edizione: 2002 https://www.naturewithin.info/Roadside/TransTreesDenmark.pdf
Note: Danish guidelines for matching landscape and road design
Appleyard D., Lynch K., Myer J., The View from the road, Editore: The MIT Press, Cambridge (Mass.), Anno edizione: 1964
Note: A stepping stone in the study of roads and landscape (available on campus Leonardo library)
Hegemann W., Peets E., The American Vitruvius: an Architects' Handbook of Civic Art, Editore: The Architectural Book Publishing Co., New York, Anno edizione: 1922
Note: A famous handbook for the design of urban roads and public spaces (available on Campus Leonardo Library)
Landscape design guideline - Design guideline to improve the quality, safety and cost effectiveness of green infrastructure in road corridors, Editore: New South Wales Roads and Maritime Services, Anno edizione: 2018
Note: pdf available
Sipes J.L., Sipes M.L., Creating Green Roadways: Integrating Cultural, Natural and Visual Resources into Transportation, Editore: Island Press, Washington, Anno edizione: 2103
Note: An introductory manual about landscape, road design and traffic policies
Werquin A.-C., Demangeon A., Boulevards, rondas, parkways... des concepts de voies urbaines, Editore: CERTU, Bagneux, Anno edizione: 1998
Note: An interesting analysis of different road design experience in Paris and Barcelona (IN FRENCH)
(available on Campus Leonardo Library)
Zeller T., Driving Germany: the Landscape of the German Autobahn 1930-1970, Editore: Berghahn, New York, Anno edizione: 2006
Note: The history of the (politic) development of the concept of landscape during the building of German's motorway network before and after 2nd World War (available on Perlego)
Zeunert J., Landscape Architecture and Environmental Sustainability. Creating positive change through design, Editore: Bloomsbury publishing, Anno edizione: 2017
Note: available on Perlego
Allen, R. G., Pereira, L. S., Raes, D., & Smith, M., Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Editore: FAO Irrigation and drainage paper No. 56, Anno edizione: 1998
Richardson, K., Steffen, W., Lucht, W., Bendtsen, J., Cornell, S. E., Donges, J. F.,... & Rockström, J, Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries, Editore: Science advances, Anno edizione: 2023
Viessman, W., & Lewis, G. L., Introduction to hydrology, Anno edizione: 2003
Brooks, K. N., Ffolliott, P. F., & Magner, J. A., Hydrology and the Management of Watersheds, Editore: John Wiley & Sons, Anno edizione: 2012

The course provides basic knowledge of the history and theory of landscape, with an emphasis on its most important protagonists, events, and sites. Texts, images, and references to specific projects are part of a program oriented to provide a set of theoretical tools and relevant references for the design activity.

• Fundamentals concerning the history and theory of landscape.
• Essential knowledge regarding the history of landscape architecture and its most important protagonists.
• To acquire a catalogue of relevant forms, patterns, and models in order to modulate landscapes.

Program of the two modules ('Landscape Culture' and 'History of Gardens and Landscapes'):
I. Why a Theory of Landscape?
The Invention of Landscape
Landscape and (European) painting I
Landscape and (European) painting II
Landscape and/vs Nature: A brief History of Nature
Landscape and the Subject: A Brief History of Subjectivity
Landscape – an “Imperial” (Imperialistic) Pattern?
Landscape Beyond the Western Tradition
Aesthetics: a Modern Discipline that changed our « ways of seeing »
The Sublime and Landscape Experienced
The Picturesque and the Landscape Garden
Landscape and Time
Do Urban Landscapes Actually Exist?
Another story: Landscape and Technology
Synthesis
II. A Succinct History of Landscape Architecture
Landscape Architecture: Does it Really Exist?
A Silent Revolution? Humphry Repton, 1789
F. L. Olmsted and the Rise of the Profession
Flashback: Petrarch, the first person to “landscape” a site?
Paris: a Laboratory
Flash Forward: From the Promenade Plantée to the High Line Park
A Swiss Pioneer: Dieter Kienast
Scandinavian Minimalism: Carl Theodor Sorensen
Japanese Transgressions: Isamu Noguchi, Mirei Shigemori
The Complicated History of German Landscape Architecture
Two Essential Figures on the edge: Luis Barragan, Roberto Burle-Marx
The Persistence of Form: Dan Kiley
Some Recent Faux Mountains
Synthesis

Prova orale obbligatoria
The evaluation will be based on an oral presentation and a written document with illustrations on a topic that will be announced in class. The document is to be handed over before the end of the course (the submission date will be communicated during the course). The marks will be communicated on the exam date.

Michael Jakob, Il paesaggio, Editore: Il Mulino, Anno edizione: 2009, ISBN: 9788815130495
Alain Roger, Court traité du paysage, Editore: Gallimard, Anno edizione: 1997, ISBN: 207074938X
Simon Schama, Landscape and memory, Editore: Vintage Books, Anno edizione: 1995, ISBN: 0-679-73512-7

The course provides the fundamental tools and techniques for representing the landscape and land, as well as the environmental and heritage issues connected to it. Learning is based on both lectures and practical exercises. Specific focus is paid to the perception and design of the landscape on site.

The course aims to enhance specific knowledge and understanding through the study of complex contexts; student involvement in seminars promotes the application of knowledge and understanding and autonomy in making judgment; the teaching methods enhance communication skills and collaboration among peers (communication and learning skills).

The class in Landscape Representation will be based on the fact that the space we are dealing with can be considered as a book: it has to be read, understood (according to a specific language, grammar and words) and finally used for a specific purpose, in our case corresponding to the intention of transforming the existing space into a new one, resulting from our design actions.
The course will be introduced by a historical-critical review of various representations of different types of landscapes: natural landscapes or those resulting from the rich interaction between natural phenomena and human interventions. The aim is to cultivate the use of drawing as a fundamental basis for critical interpretation of places grounded in visual thinking, and as a tool for expressing design intentions at a territorial scale.
We shall try to learn from the direct experience of places (also drawing on case studies) to "embody" the features of the landscape and translate them into drawings. We will use common representation tools to describe their spatial performance before our intervention (analysis phase) and after our proposals (design phase).
This methodology is particularly suitable if applied to the contemporary complex landscapes that need most care, such as the urban fringes, where the traditional cityscape is fading into a combination of built and unbuilt elements: infrastructures, urban voids, wastelands and post-industrial ruins, with mixed characters taken from urban, industrial, infrastructural and agricultural landscapes that interact with nature.
Students will be asked to produce interpretive drawings and are free to use any communication tools, provided that the representations are effective. Sketches, thematic maps, diagrams, sections, and simple work models with photographic support will be the most common forms of representation.

Prova orale condizionata (a scelta del docente)
Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
We expect each student to be able to present five sets of products:
A critical description of one Landscape Design Drawing (chosen by the student) and a copy of it in A3 format.
First description of a landscape (chosen by the student), reported in A3 format. This part is mainly directed to explain "where" the place is, with a main attitude towards a "looking from above" point of view (general maps, sections, views).
Main features of the chosen place, reported in A3 format. This part is mainly intended to explain "what" the structural characteristics of the place are, using a "walking through" point of view (detailed views, sections).
Sketchbook in A5 format, containing analysis, interpretations, and impressions of the place that demonstrate a process of understanding and selection of facts resulting from a direct experience of the place.
Presentation of the work done in PPT/PDF format.
All drawings must be presented in their original form (no copies or digitalisations are accepted).
The product's evaluation will be completed through an oral discussion, including references to lectures and the proposed bibliography.
We shall evaluate, in the first instance, the students' ability to communicate, clearly and appropriately, the basic process of a place representation (to read, to understand, to explain), with attention to drawing and linguistic accuracy. Secondly, we shall evaluate how the products from this first phase of analysis can be used in practice in subsequent design actions.

McHarg, Ian, Design with Nature, Editore: John Wiley & Sons, Anno edizione: 1995, ISBN: 978-0471114604
Appleyard, Donald; Lynch, Kevin: Myer, John R., The View from the Road, Editore: MIT Press, Anno edizione: 1965, ISBN: 978-0262010153
Ingold, Tim, Being Alive: Essays on Movement, Knowledge and Description, Editore: Routledge, Anno edizione: 2011, ISBN: 978-0415576840
Winchester, Simon, The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology, Editore: Harper Perennial, Anno edizione: 2001, ISBN: 978-0061767906
Rolando, Andrea, Forma, geometria, struttura. Per il disegno dell'architettura, della città e del paesaggio, Editore: Citt Studi, Anno edizione: 2008, ISBN: 978-8825173376

The design studio encompasses three teaching modules of 'Landscape Design' (ICAR/15), 'Agronomy and Arboriculture' (AGR/02), 'Territorial and Landscape Design' or 'Landscape Heritage and Conservation' (ICAR/19). The studio's activity consists of a coordinated design experience that addresses the themes of the landscape project and conservation in urban and rural environments, as well as systems and networks of open spaces.

The studio aims to enhance specific knowledge and understanding through the study of complex contexts; students' involvement in seminars promotes the application of knowledge and understanding, as well as autonomy in judgment. The teaching methods enhance communication and collaboration among peers (communication and learning skills).

One river, multiple landscapes
The studio aims to develop a reflection focused on a river territory in northern Italy. Historically, the rivers of the Po Valley have played a crucial role in the economic and social development of rural contexts, serving as infrastructure for transporting goods and people, as a source of water for agriculture, and as a driving force for mills and industrial activities. Today, they retain considerable importance, albeit in a changed context. While roads and railways have supplanted their function as communication routes, they continue to represent a valuable resource for both economic activities (agriculture, industry and tourism) and cultural, ecological and environmental heritage, even though they are threatened daily by increasingly intensive human activity.
Moreover, there is a specific point to consider. The rivers of the Po Valley, particularly the right-hand tributaries of the Po, structure multiple landscapes: from mountain springs to the valley to dry and irrigated plains. Rivers act as true 'vectors of knowledge' and are an opportunity not only to deepen knowledge of the territory, but to study the similarities and differences between the various landscapes they cross.
These geographical features are relevant to the educational experience that is being pursued. It is an opportunity to apply a landscape reading methodology to different, naturally interconnected territories. The studio is a collective experience, based on collaboration and cooperative learning. Therefore, students are asked to contribute to a shared and interconnected knowledge of the river territory through the study of specific spatial fragments
The educational objectives of the Studio are:
To know and to apply tools and methods for analysing landscape and designing in and with the landscape at different scales;
To study the organisational structures and forms of settlements about rural and peri-urban areas, their interactions with the natural environment and with particular attention to the historic characters (tangible and intangible) of the rural landscape;
To define strategies for environmental and territorial regeneration, and for building reuse, requalification and enhancement of the rural heritage;
To "learn from the past", what are the strategies and knowledge helpful to solve contemporary social and environmental issues (retro-innovation);
To understand a conceptual model of agricultural landscape dynamics that illustrates the specific contribution of agronomy to landscape analysis, design and management;
To comprehend agro-ecological, biological and agronomic factors, traditional and innovative farming, as well as processes for the sustainable management of farming systems;
To start thinking about the rural landscape through an innovative approach, based on sustainability (environmental, economic, social and cultural).
To understand the relationships among culture, environment, and society in their evolutionary dynamics.
The Design studio theme is the preservation, enhancement, and management of a historic productive landscape, with particular reference to the rural area, through the reuse of existing artefacts, new functions, the active protection of the territory, and the use of agronomic and historical-cultural resources.
Learning activities are organised through:
Field visits in different landscape systems: from mountain to lake to irrigated plain;
Landscape analysis activity through in situ sketches, drawing and discussion;
Lectures and seminars held by the teachers, with the contribution of external speakers;
Tutoring in the classroom;
Development of the design process, with verification of progress at the different scales;
Final seminar to local stakeholders;
Supplementary activities, an extra classroom for the study and research.
A bibliography is provided along with the lecture slides.
The topics will focus on:
Landscape design principles and references;
Reading and assessing historical transformations: the landscape as a system at different scales;
Conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage (tangible and intangible) and sustainability;
Urban and peri-urban agriculture and cultural heritage;
Notions of ecology and applied agronomy;
Landscape agronomy theoretical background and models;
Green infrastructures and biodiversity.

Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
Valutazione continua obbligatoria
Groups of a maximum of 4 students are going to develop projects that will be evaluated according to the following aspects: quality of the idea in accordance with the principles and methods proposed; ability of argumentation and representation; quality of products and their formalisation, such as drawings, models, movies; learning ability in group collaboration, and sustainability of the proposal.
During the course, several learning progress checks will be scheduled and evaluated, and the results will be taken into account in determining the outcome of the final exam. For the final exam, the students will submit the design drawings along with their collection of analyses and preparatory studies.

Emilio Sereni (R. Burr Litchfield), History of the Italian Agricultural Landscape, Editore: Princeton Legacy Library, Anno edizione: 1997, ISBN: 9780691631325
Ian L. McHarg, Design with Nature, Editore: American Museum of Natural History, Anno edizione: 1969
Paola Branduini, Lionella Scazzosi, AgriCultura. Urban agriculture and the heritage potential of agrarian landscape, Editore: Springer, Anno edizione: 2022, ISBN: 978-3-030-49011-9
Elisabetta Rosina, Lionella Scazzosi, THE CONSERVATION AND ENHANCEMENT OF BUILT AND LANDSCAPE HERITAGE. A new life for the ghost village of Mondonico on lake Como., Editore: Poliscript, Anno edizione: 2018, ISBN: 978-88-6493-039-8
Marialessandra Secchi, Marco Voltini, They do it with layers. How design by layers is killing urban complexity / Oase journal, Editore: NAI, Anno edizione: 2020, Fascicolo: 107
Davide Rizzo, Elisa Marraccini, Sylvie Lardon, Landscape Agronomy: Advances and Challenges of a Territorial Approach to Agricultural Issues, Editore: Springer Cham, Anno edizione: 2022, ISBN: 978-3-031-05261-3
James Corner, Alison Bick Hirsch, The Landscape Imagination: Collected Essays of James Corner 1990-2010, Editore: Princeton Architectural Press, Anno edizione: 2014, ISBN: 9781616891459
Francoise Fromonot, Transforming Landscapes: Michel Desvigne Paysagiste, Editore: Birkhäuser, Anno edizione: 2020, ISBN: 9783038219828
Monique Mosser, Georges Teyssot, The Architecture of Western Gardens: A Design History from the Renaissance to the Present Day, Editore: MIT Press, Anno edizione: 1991, ISBN: 9780262132640
Emilio Sereni, Storia del paesaggio agrario italiano, Editore: Laterza, Anno edizione: 1961
Paola Viganò, Lorenzo Fabian, Bernardo Secchi (a cura di), Water and asphalt: the project of isotropy, Editore: Park Books, Anno edizione: 2016, ISBN: 9783906027715
Charles Waldheim, Landscape as Urbanism: A General Theory, Editore: Princeton University Press, Anno edizione: 2016, ISBN: 9780691238302
Andrea Gritti, Mauro Berta, Territori infrastrutturati in Re-cycle Italy: atlante (a cura di Lorenzo Fabian e Stefano Munarin), Editore: LetteraVentidue, Anno edizione: 2017, ISBN: 9788862422000
André Corboz (autore), Paola Viganò (a cura di), Ordine sparso, Editore: FrancoAngeli, Anno edizione: 1998, ISBN: 9788846405692
Annalisa Metta, Il paesaggio è un mostro: città selvatiche e nature ibride, Editore: DeriveApprodi, Anno edizione: 2022, ISBN: 9788865484128
Bernardo Secchi, Prima lezione di urbanistica, Editore: Laterza, Anno edizione: 2003, ISBN: 9788842060604
Bernardo Secchi, La città del ventesimo secolo, Editore: Laterza, Anno edizione: 2005, ISBN: 9788842077107
Marialessandra Secchi, Marco Voltini, Oltre il Rurale / Contesti. Città, Territori, Progetti, Editore: Firenze University Press, Anno edizione: 2021, Fascicolo: 2
Eugenio Turri, La megalopoli padana, Editore: Marsilio, Anno edizione: 2000, ISBN: 9788831775564
Marco Voltini, Palinsesto e microincrementalità: il territorio mantovano tra ostacoli e occasioni / TERRITORIO, Editore: FrancoAngeli, Anno edizione: 2023, Fascicolo: 104

The definition of the concept of Resilience says that it is the ability to adapt to something disturbing or to an adverse situation. In urban areas, the architectural discipline is increasingly seeking new reaction mechanisms from both public and civil society. In particular, in the conditions of risk, linked in first condition to the factors determined by climate change, but also to other phenomena that disturb the urban or social environment, cities need strategies to react to the events that may arise from this. The course seeks, therefore, to reflect on these possible strategies starting from the state of the art but opening up to experimentations that unite the ecological with the social.

The students will acquire categories and tools to face the design in risk situations with a broad perspective and to understand concepts such as urban governance, resilience, etc from a point of view strategic and not only technical or monodisciplinary.
The students will expertise the relationship between collective resilience strategies, and therefore the co-management mechanisms between city and citizens in risk conditions – ecological or social -, within the actions that from the architecture and urbanism allow to open mechanisms of governance and social innovation in a practical conditions.
The project will experiment diferrent methods to undestand and act in a new urban governance based on collectivity.

The course aims to examine contemporary cities and architecture, including buildings and public spaces, through the lens of their heritage and ecological components, as well as the contradictory relationship between the local and global scales, which poses a risk to urban resilience. As with the UN-Habitat concept, Agenda 2030 or New European Bauhaus, cities must look for new resilient strategies to address new risk situations, whether natural or human-made.
This process will be developed through the observation of a specific typology that characterises the ecological and social identity of the Mediterranean city. The PATIO HOUSE (a courtyard inside a building) represents not only historical architecture around which social relations are established, but also regulates the building's natural energy, lighting, ventilation and shade. In its sequence and repetition, it creates a dense and porous urban environment, such as that found in Mediterranean cities. The patio, in continuity with public spaces as collective courtyards, naturally regulates architecture and is a green cell system of the Mediterranean city that must be updated in a new urban and social ecology.
Phenomenon derived by climate change or gentrification and touristification - as ecological and sociological risks - often highlight contradictions between different scales of the city, as well as between its physical and social components. Starting from a specific typology and urban context, this course will explore new, bottom-up, co-management approaches to creating a sustainable cities with resilient communities, in an increasingly globalised world, with the aim of guaranteeing its ecological and social sustainability.
Theoretical classes and exercises in an semi intensive course, with the participation of external architects and invited experts, will integrate the development of a practical activity carried out in two stages. The first will be a project as strategy for a urban void and its surrounding public space in the historic centre of Seville, in southern Spain. The focus will be on urban heritage as a Nature-based solution within the courtyard as the anthropological and ecological cell of the Mediterranean city. The second exercise will involve interpreting the urban heritage and courtyards of the students' own culture.

Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
The final grade will be the result of the proportional addition of three partial grades:

• 25% corresponding to the participation on the seminar and debates.
• 50% corresponding to the first exercise.
• 25% corresponding to the second exercise.
  To pass the course, all partial grades must be evaluated. Particular attention will be given to the student's ability to reinterpret the theme within their own culture, and to the outcome of the project in the first exercise involving models, sketches, videos and drawings. A final critique/exam will synthesise the entire intensive course.

Gaia Redaelli, PAX-Patios de la Axerquía. Urban Regeneration and Social Innovation in a Heritage Context, Editore: Tongji University, Anno edizione: 2019, ISSN: 2096-3041, Fascicolo: 1/2019 https://www.built-heritage.net/gaia-redaelli-issue9
Richard Sennet, The Public Realm, Editore: Conference at BMW Stiftung Herbert Quandt, Anno edizione: 2008 https://www.richardsennett.com/site/senn/templates/general2.aspx?pageid=16&cc=gb
Gaia Redaelli, I Paesaggi inivisibili. Tre conversazioni portoghesi. João Luis Carrilho da Graca, Álvaro Siza, Eduardo Souto de Moura, Editore: Maggioli Editore, Anno edizione: 2007, ISBN: 978-88387-4124-1
Gaia Redaelli, Spazio pubblico e patrimonio: i paesaggi fragili della gentrification in G. Bertelli (a cura di),, Editore: Aracne, Anno edizione: 2018, ISBN: 978-88-548-9083-1
Simona Morini, il Rischio, Editore: Bollati Bolinghieri, Anno edizione: 2014, ISBN: 978-88-339-2502

Il corso è finalizzato a completare l'esperienza dello studente nei campi della pianificazione urbanistica e progettazione urbana, al tempo stesso conducendolo a riflettere criticamente sulle pratiche apprese e messe in atto.
The course aims at completing the students' experience in the fields of urban planning and urban design, by stimulating a critical thought on the design practices learnt and used by the participants.

Il corso è volto a completare l'esperienza dello studente nei campi della pianificazione urbanistica e della progettazione urbana, al tempo stesso conducendolo a riflettere criticamente sulle pratiche e tecniche apprese e messe in atto. La modalità didattica principale è quella del laboratorio di progetto, integrata da comunicazioni (lezioni e seminari) volte a fornire ai partecipanti strumenti tecnici e concettuali che potranno sperimentare e mettere alla prova sul tema di lavoro assegnato. Attività di peer learning saranno rilevanti per stimolare e favorire la riflessione critica da parte degli studenti e allenarli a usare l'attività di progetto come occasione continua di formazione.
Nell'affrontare un problema di trasformazione e rigenerazione della città contemporanea, gli studenti saranno a più riprese messi a confronto con temi e principi ricorrenti del dibattito urbanistico, a partire dalla metodologia stessa di progetto, basata sulla classica triade survey/analysis/plan, della quale si rintracceranno le origini, le ragioni e le condizioni attuali di validità. Allo stesso modo, si porteranno gli studenti a comprendere le principali specificità della città contemporanea e a riflettere sulla corrispondente evoluzione dei temi e degli strumenti dell'urbanistica.
Per affrontare l'esercizio proposto, di adeguata complessità, gli studenti condurranno rigorose, anche se sintetiche, ricognizioni sulla storia urbana del luogo, sulla vicenda urbanistica del contesto, sugli elementi rilevanti di urbanistica tecnica. Il tema di lavoro proposto farà riferimento a un caso reale di rigenerazione urbana e sarà selezionato avendo riguardo alla possibilità di effettuare ricognizioni dirette e all'opportunità di confronto con attori istituzionali e stakeholder.
Attraverso il proprio lavoro, e già dalle prime fasi, si chiederà poi allo studente di prendere posizione rispetto a questioni chiave del progetto urbano contemporaneo, quali: rapporto spazio costruito/spazio aperto; rapporto con il tessuto della città esistente; costruzione di un welfare materiale; pertinenza e coerenza del progetto a diverse scale; interpretazione delle stratificazioni di paesaggio, sia naturale che antropizzato.
Gli studenti lavoreranno in piccoli gruppi e in costante confronto con docenti e tutor. Sono previsti due momenti di presentazione formale dello stato di avanzamento del progetto: a metà percorso e alla fine, con specifici obiettivi ed elaborati. L'elaborato finale consisterà in una presentazione (ppt o pdf) e nella realizzazione di un singolo pannello poster in formato A1 illustrante il progetto.
Sebbene la lingua del corso sia l'italiano, il docente sarà disponibile a facilitare la partecipazione di studenti internazionali.
The course aims at completing the students' experience in the fields of urban planning and urban design, by stimulating a critical thought on the design practices and techniques learnt and used by the participants. The main teaching mode is that of an intensive design studio, integrated with lectures and seminars aimed at providing concepts and technical instruments to be used and tested in the project assignment. Peer learning activities will be proposed, as useful in order to foster critical thought by the students and to train them in using the design process as a continuing learning opportunity.
The students will be faced with urban transformation and regeneration problems and repeatedly confronted with themes and principles of the urban debate, including the project methodology itself: the classical survey/analysis/plan triad will be traced down to its origins, rationale and actual conditions of validity. In a similar way, students will be led to understand the specific issues of the contemporary city and the corresponding evolution of themes and instruments of urban planning.
In order to approach the proposed assignment, which will be of adequate complexity, students will be required to investigate and understand the local urban history, the relevant planning practices, the relevant elements of technical urbanism. The specific theme will be taken from the real world and will be selected considering the opportunity of a direct visit and the possible involvement of institutional actors and stakeholders.
Through their work, and since the beginning, students will be asked to express positions with respect to key issues of the contemporary urban project: relation between built and unbuilt space, relation the existing urban fabric, interpretation of both the natural and inhabited landscape layer.
Students will work in small groups, with a constant confrontation with teachers and tutora. A mid-term critic and a final critic will take place, with specific objectives and required deliverables. The final deliverables will be a presentation (ppt or pdf) and a A1 poster explaining the project.
Although the course language is Italian, the teacher will take care of facilitating the participation of international students.

Prova orale obbligatoria
Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
La prova finale si svolgerà nella forma di una discussione sugli elaborati di progetto realizzati e presentati dagli studenti, nel corso della quale saranno valutate: la maturità e coerenza del progetto e in particolare la capacità di portare a sintesi i principali temi proposti, la completezza e qualità degli elaborati, la competenza dello studente nel motivare e difendere le scelte effettuate.
The final exam will be a discussion on the project deliverables produced and presented by the students. The evaluation will be based on: coherence and complexity of the project and ability to integrate the main themes proposed during the course, quality and completeness of the materials produced, competence in motivating and defending the design choices.

Questo insegnamento contribuisce al raggiungimento dei seguenti Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile dell'Agenda ONU 2030:
SDG4 - QUALITY EDUCATION
SDG11 - SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
SDG15 - LIFE ON LAND

Bartolomeo CORSINI
a.a. 2025/2026 - secondo semestre
The Landscape and the narrative Cinema – Piacenza Campus
The aim of the course is to explore the relationship between moving image and landscape within the traditional paths of research and thought. Landscape is seen as stage of change and as producer of symbols and cultural forms. Cultural industries, like Cinema, TV and Digital Media, and Architecture are distinguishing features of modern and post-modern society and can interpret all its changes. The analysis of landscape, cities and cinema, daily life, lifestyles and behaviour are the main elements of the course. The focus will be on visual components, space, line and shape, color and movement. Moreover, the screening of films and episodes of tv series will allow a thematic analysis of cinema used to narrate and reconstruct the sense of living in the past and in the future – from Metropolis to Budapest hotel.
The most significant topics will be:

• Birth of the image and study of symbols
• Digital technology applied to the image
• Urban lifestyles and landscape narrated by cinema
• Fiction and Cinema as a tourist attraction, cities anc cinema
• Film Commission: location scouting end architecture meaning

Prova scritta condizionata (a scelta del docente), con prove in itinere
Prova orale condizionata (a scelta del docente)
The course is divided into a series of frontal lectures on the topics indicated and will include some basic texts. A series of tests will monitor student progress. Lastly, part of the course will be based on a case study.
Students unable to follow the course are required to study the whole bibliography (compulsory and not).

Claudia Hellmann - Claudine Weber Hof, Location, Editore: C.J. Bucher Verlag GmbH, Monaco - Touring Editore SrL, Milano, Anno edizione: 2005, ISBN: 9788836539499 https://www.amazon.it/Location-città-del-mondo-film/dp/8836539491/ref=sr_1_2?__mk_it_IT=ÅMÅ¿ÕÑ&crid=2M96TNNUUB5WP&keywords=locations&qid=1657523148&s=books&sprefix=locations%2Cstripbooks%2C61&sr=1-2
Dietrich NEUMANN, Film Architecture, Editore: Prestel, Anno edizione: 1999, ISBN: 3-7913-2163-6
Note: From Metropolis to Blade Runner
Mircea ELIADE, Immagini e Simboli, Editore: Varie, Anno edizione: 1998, ISBN: 88-16-40070-6 https://www.amazon.it/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=immagini+e+simboli+eliade&tag=slhyin-21&index=aps&hvadid=46913546630&ref=pd_sl_18zn4i5xo6_b
Note: Saggi sul simbolismo magico-religioso
Marc AUGE', Rovine e macerie, Editore: Bollati Boringhieri, Anno edizione: 2004, ISBN: 88-339-1516-6 https://www.amazon.it/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=rovine+e+macerie&tag=slhyin-21&index=aps&hvadid=46913522030&ref=pd_sl_530udadj06_b
Note: Il senso del Tempo
Bruce BLOCK, The Visual Story, Editore: Focal press, Anno edizione: 2013, ISBN: 978-0-240-80779-9
Note: Creating the visual structure of film, TV and Digital Media
Jos© ORTEGA Y GASSET, L'uomo e la gente, Editore: Armando editore, Anno edizione: 1996, ISBN: 88-7144-561-9 https://www.amazon.it/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=l%27uomo+e+la+gente&tag=slhyin-21&index=aps&hvadid=98780805789&ref=pd_sl_5umu3jny07_b
Note: L'apparizione dell'altro
Marshall McLUHAN, City as classroom, Editore: Book Society of Canada, Anno edizione: 1977, ISBN: 978-0772550200 www.amazon.com/City-classroom-Understanding-language-media/dp/0772550204
Note: Understanding language and media

The design studio encompasses three integrated disciplinary modules: “Urban and territorial recycling” (CEAR-12/B), “Environmental Design” (CEAR-08/C), and “Landscape design” (CEAR-09/B), which address the theme of integrated landscape and territorial design through design practice applied to contexts of high environmental complexity and fragility.
In particular, the studio will focus on the transformation of declining settlements through a recycling-based approach: one aimed at reassigning new value and meaning to the built environment; reactivating natural resources and increasing landscape resilience; and innovating in technological and mobility infrastructures.

Students will be asked to develop design proposals for a portion of contemporary Italian territory, addressing specific processes of environmental crisis and climate change, as well as building decline and loss of property value. It will not be just a matter of learning how to integrate environmental, landscape and territorial design methods or techniques. Students will learn how to translate their design vision into a long-term transformation strategy across different scales that will necessarily address social context, building-embodied values (both material and intangible), and the limits of public action.
The course aims to develop the knowledge and understanding of the topics analysed during the studio activities and their application through the design process, the ability to make judgements demonstrated through the design choices, the acquired communication skills through the presentation of the project and, finally, lifelong learning skills through the learning of a working methodology.

Inhabiting the Apennines again. Sustainable economies, territorial regeneration and new living practices within climate change
Italy is mostly mountainous and has two main chains. To the north, the semicircle of the Alps defines the state border with France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia. Along the Italian peninsula, which is 1.000 km long and 200 km wide, runs the chain of the Apennines, lower than the Alps but equally important. The Apennines, whose ridge ranges in altitude from 1.000 to 3.000 meters, constitute a complex and varied orographic system comprising cities and villages, forested and cultivated areas, industrial districts and tourist areas, rivers, and natural and artificial lakes.
The Apennines run close to the coastlines of the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic seas and form the southern edge of the Po River Plain, stretching from Turin to Venice, which is rich, industrialised and densely populated. Their deep valleys are markedly different in topography and economics from their long ridges. The Apennines are multifaceted and full of contrasts; they are prone to frequent earthquakes and landslides and are environmentally sensitive.
Since the end of the 19th century, and with increasing intensity after 1945, many parts of the Apennines have experienced population decline, leading to abandonment and reforestation. The decline of traditional rural economies has gradually led to the abandonment of settlements and production sites, only partially offset by the development of seasonal tourism and productive activities in the valleys and foothills.
Today, climate change is further transforming the Apennines, interacting with long-term demographic, economic and environmental processes. Landscape architects are increasingly confronted with landscapes and built environments in transition, where changing climates, emerging forms of inhabitation and new economies call for new design approaches. A key challenge is to address the relationship between landscape transformation and the recycling and reuse of existing settlements and infrastructure, and to imagine new forms of habitation and productive landscapes.
The case study
The studio work will focus on the Apennine territory around Monte Cimone, about 50 kilometres south of the town of Modena, in the central-southern part of the Emilia-Romagna region. This territory can be reached from Piacenza by car in about 2 hours.
The area is part of Central Emilia Park and has significant natural capital. The settlement structure comprises a network of small towns, which in recent decades have experienced both demographic decline and tourist development, and a series of small winter ski resorts with related infrastructure.
Its configuration and its small, scattered urban settlements refer "in plan" to the topography of the surrounding valleys, and "in section" to the different climates and economies that characterise its varying altitudes. Historically, the surviving urban settlements – such as Sestola, Fanano, Montecreto and Riolunato – benefit from and form a network of winding roads and footpaths, which have continued to serve Monte Cimone over the last seventy years of winter-sports economy.
However, the ongoing climate change represents an economic threat to the area, since the winter-sports economy is likely to disappear, but simultaneously a design opportunity, forcing us not only to reconsider the physical nature of our collective world but also our individual lifestyles.
In such an evolving scenario, seasonal winter locations and resorts might become year-round stable nuclei, endowed with the fundamental functions of small urban settlements. Various forms of multi-local living might replace week-long tourism, year-round cycling and walking might replace skiing, abandoned and rough landscapes might eat up today’s domesticated and groomed landscapes, new-age and diffused accommodation models might take over definitely, and the economic relationship of Monte Cimone with the Po Valley plain might need to be radically reconsidered. It is likely that the infrastructure and communication system on Monte Cimone, together with its rural and winter-sports landscapes, will also require reconsideration in the future. As the Po plain will get increasingly unlivable in the summer periods, the Apennines, from an altitude of about 800 metres, will get increasingly livable year-round.
So, existing villages will serve as both points of arrival and departure for future residents and visitors to the upper stations. The upper stations will no longer be primarily dedicated to seasonal skiing but will gradually acquire the features typical of year-round villages. In this scenario, abandoned villages could play an important new role. Skiing chair lifts (as they’re already in use in various Alpine contexts) might, in the future, become fully automated infrastructures, acting as hubs that generate their own urbanity. The Monte Cimone district is considered a testing ground for imagining a new model of mountain settlement, in close contact with and directly serving the dense population of an increasingly climate-sensitive and highly industrialised lowland region.
Within this perspective students will be asked to rethink the landscapes of lower towns (focusing on meaningful second-houses neighbourhoods), intermediate centres (historic rural villages) and high altitude mountain (ski resorts), from a perspective of the evolution of tourism, temporary living and new economies in the mountain, being aware of the impacts of climate change, rediscovering and enhancing the rich natural resources and cultural identity, the tangible and intangible legacy of the place. Landscape design will be centre stage in this process, as a driver for reassigning value and new uses to the built environment.
Within this framework, the laboratory’s activities will be carried out in three main steps:
the definition of a reinhabitation scenario, consistent with the site’s existing natural landscape and the built environment. Fieldwork and activities allowing direct engagement with the territory will constitute an integral part of the studio activities, thanks to an ongoing collaboration with local authorities;
the selection of a suitable location to ground the proposed vision, through in-depth analysis of the site;
the prefiguration of a progressive transformation of the site addressing the nexus between landscape transformation and the adaptation of existing cultural and modern built heritage.
The Design Studio’s activities will benefit from the collaboration of the Emilia-Romagna Region’s “Territory, City, Landscape” Office.

Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
Valutazione continua obbligatoria
Students’ evaluation will consider both individual and group work and will include intermediate evaluations based on seminars.
The final evaluation will comprise the presentation and discussion of the design proposal and the activities performed during the program. Deliverables will consist of a research booklet, project panels and models.

Landscape Urbanism, Anno edizione: 2012, Fascicolo: Lotus International n. 150
Resilient Cities and Landscapes, Anno edizione: 2015, Fascicolo: Topos, n. 90
WTO World Tourism Organization, Sustainable Mountain Tourism - Opportunities for Local Communities, Anno edizione: 2018
Daniel Scott, C. Michael Hall and Stefan Gössling, Tourism and Climate Change Impacts, adaptation and mitigation, Editore: Routledge, Anno edizione: 2012
A more detailed list of references will be provided at the beginning of the course

The purpose of the course is to provide preservation theory and practice to enable students to understand the complexity of historic gardens and to learn how to survey, represent, analyse, evaluate, conserve and reuse them. The course aims to teach how to recognise the cultural and botanical significance of historic gardens and landscapes, and to consider them as current urban, architectural, ecological, and social resources.
Lectures and in situ surveys will teach how to evaluate, at different scales, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the case study. The course will provide methodological and theoretical references, as well as operational tools, necessary to develop a historic garden preservation and management plan using a multidisciplinary approach.
Particularly, the Botany and Arboriculture course purposes are:
-To understand that trees are living beings, their structure, and their functions.
-To show that urban green areas can add historical, cultural, ecological, social, environmental, and sanitary values to urban sites.
-To learn how to select species for urban plantings, as well as how to plant and manage them according to widely recognised best practices.
The two modules of this course are strictly integrated during the analysis phase and the proactive design step to demonstrate the importance of a multidisciplinary approach and cooperation.

According to the Dublin Descriptors (DdD), passing the exam certifies the acquisition of the following results:
DdD 1 – Knowledge and understanding

• Knowledge and understanding about: history of the European gardens, Historic garden Preservation Theory, Historic garden typologies and features, Historic Garden critical analysis methodologies, including multi-temporal analysis.
• Knowledge and understanding about: ability to identify key tree species, plan ecology in Historic Garden, and management of trees and shrubs in Historic Garden.
  DdD 2 – ability to apply knowledge and understanding
• ability to recognise in an historic gardens the cultural significance and the current architectural, urban, landscape, ecological and social value;
• ability to analyse the constructive and material components and features of an historical garden, to recognise typologies and construction techniques, to understand the vegetation settlement, recognising tree and shrub species and roles, to evaluate the level of decay, the connected climatic and microclimatic issues;
• ability to define a SWOT analysis about an historical garden in order to define preservation and management strategies;
• ability to develop conservation plans for historic gardens and to define preservation management plans in order to control the transformations over time;
• ability to quantify ecosystem services provided by vegetation in the Historic Garden;
• ability to select suitable species for specific planting sites, based on their ecological characteristics;
• ability to evaluate correct and wrong planting and management techniques;
• ability to evaluate risk associated with urban trees;
• ability to develop a project involving theoretical aspects and practical tools learned during the course, merging all the issues of the two modules.
  DdD 3 – autonomy of judgment and DdD 4 – communication skills
• ability to operate and communicate independently, the analysis and design choices made, and to explain methods, tools and strategy developed.

CONSERVATION OF HISTORIC GARDENS AND LANDSCAPES
The course analyses some significant conservation or rehabilitation projects referred to historic gardens and designed cultural landscapes, and examines current preservation approaches, techniques and treatments, with a focus on conserving the historic stratification of the architectural/landscape heritage and defining compatible reuses.
Course topics:

• A brief overview of the history of European gardens.
• Study of historic gardens: historical sources, surveys, thematic maps and interpretations, inventory and cataloguing tools.
• Complexity and vulnerability of the components and issues involved in historic gardens/cultural landscapes and the consequent multidisciplinary approach.
• Analysis and evaluation of the environmental, architectural, landscape and perceptive features and characteristics of the historic garden and its surroundings in order to identify conservation and management criteria.
• The current theoretical debate on the restoration and conservation of historic gardens and parks: comparison of methodological and operational tools.
• The practice of management plans and conservation treatments of historic parks and gardens in some significant Italian and international experiences, including UNESCO sites and the related management strategies and tools..
• Preservation of historic parks and gardens: national laws, international conventions, "Charters" and recommendations.
• Conservation plan of historic gardens: extraordinary maintenance, ordinary maintenance, use and management of the site.
• Preservation goals to prevent decay, mitigate impacts, establish a maintenance programme and a management plan, considering the historical stratification of the site and its context.
• Identification of conservation and design objectives, including aesthetic and symbolic issues, agronomic-productive issues and social needs, considering the SDGs.
  Several historic garden typologies will be the object of analysis, including those originating in more recent times in close relation to urban planning developments (such as systems of tree-lined avenues and squares, and districts of private houses and housing blocks), which, however, have acquired historical significance.
  The course activity will include a direct survey and planning activity of a historic garden (the Giardini Pubblici in Milan) and its relationship to its context. Architectural, botanical, and material surveys; historical evolution; and studies of features, environmental and cultural landscape relationships will be considered in the critical analysis to define proposals for a preservation and management plan.
  BOTANY AND ARBORICULTURE
• Basics of Botany.
• Taxonomic classification of plants.
• Cells and tissues.
• Specific vegetative parts of a plant, stems, leaves - leaf structure, roots - root structure.
• Flowers and fruits; pollination, fertilisation, fructification.
• Seeds, seed structure, germination, plant propagation.
• Photosynthesis and plant growth, photosynthesis - the photosynthetic apparatus and process.
• Respiration.
• The role of water, water movement in the plant, transpiration stream.
• Movement of water and assimilates through the plant, nutrient uptake, absorption and transport of mineral nutrients, translocation of sugars, food and water storage organs.
• Tropisms - phototropism, geotropism, plant hormones.
  Management of Trees and Shrubs in Historic Gardens
• Benefits of trees in historic gardens: environmental, social, health, ecological, cultural
• Trees and the historic garden environment: factors affecting the health and survival of trees in historic garden sites: soil quality, compaction, water stress, irradiance, pollution, human intervention, pests and pathogens.
• Species selection, planting techniques and irrigation
• Management in historic gardens: pruning, risk assessment
• Identification of ornamental trees commonly used in historic gardens

Prova scritta obbligatoria, senza prove in itinere
Prova orale obbligatoria
Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
Students will be evaluated based on knowledge and understanding of the theoretical lectures; survey, analysis and planning practices; and applied knowledge acquired during the course lectures and field visits.
The final assessment will be the result of the following steps:

• Milestone presentations (including communication skills) on the field work, where students will explain their own material, highlighting the personal questions and reflections related to the lecture topics, their own choice of references and their design purposes (DdD1, DdD2, DdD3, DdD4).
• Botany and Arboriculture Final written test and Conservation of Historic Gardens oral exam focusing on the topics discussed in class and the related bibliography, including the technical skills acquired during the field work (DdD1, DdD2, DdD3).
• Group work: the group result of the field work will be assessed, taking into account the survey and analysis phase (map analysis; geometric, botanical, decay survey; critical SWOT analysis), the design activity (conservation strategies, management objectives, conservation treatments) (DdD2, DdD3, DdD4).
• The final oral Group work presentation will focus on the project developed in the group and on the topics discussed in class and on the related bibliography. Each student will have to demonstrate their knowledge of the theoretical topics by showing the relationship between the class lectures and the case study, and the coherence between the practical skills acquired and the theoretical objectives of the course as applied in the project (DdD1, DdD2, DdD3, DdD4).
  Students should attend all lessons, on-site visits, and surveys.
  Attendance at the onsite activities is only possible after completing the online Basic Course on Safety and submitting the final certificate.
  A printed copy and a digital copy of the group work (PDF and data source) must be delivered 3 days before the exam date.
  Delivered materials will be archived; neither printed nor digital copies (including CD or USB key) will be returned.

G.Van Zuylen, The garden: Vision of Paradise, Editore: Thames&Hudston, London, Anno edizione: 1995
Note: Disponibile anche in italiano:
G.Van Zuylen, Il giardino. Paradiso del Mondo, Electa-Gallimard, 1998
Marion Harney, Gardens and Landscapes in Historic Building Conservation, Editore: Wiley-Blackwell, Anno edizione: 2014
Gordon Campbell, A Short History of Gardens, Editore: OUP Oxford, Anno edizione: 2016
Michel Conan, José Tito Rojo, Luigi Zangheri (a cura di), Histories of garden conservation: case-studies and critical debates. Colloquio internazionale sulla storia della conservazione dei giardini, Editore: L. S. Olschki, Firenze,, Anno edizione: 2005
Lorraine Harrison, How to read gardens, Editore: Bloomsbury, London, New York, Anno edizione: 2010
Ehrenfried Kluckert, European Garden Design: from classical antiquity to the present day, Editore: H.F.Ullmann, Anno edizione: 2007
Filippo Pizzoni, The Garden: A History in Landscape and Art, Editore: Aurum Press, Anno edizione: 1999
Georges Teyssot, Monique Mosser, The History of Garden Design: The Western Tradition from the Renaissance to the Present Day, Editore: Thames & Hudson, Anno edizione: 2000
Tom Turner, European Gardens: History, Philosophy and Design, Editore: Routledge, London, Anno edizione: 2011
Mirella Zoppi, Storia del giardino europeo (with English text), Editore: Alinea, Firenze, Anno edizione: 2009
Maurizio Boriani, Alberta Cazzani,, Il difficile governo del giardino storico: molteplicità degli approcci conoscitivi e complessità della gestione degli interventi, Editore: Ed. Del Miglio, Cremona, Anno edizione: 2004, Fascicolo: pp. 49-63
Note: in M.Brignani, L.Roncai, Giardini cremonesi
Maria Adriana Giusti, Restauro dei giardini: teorie e storia,, Editore: Alinea, Firenze, Anno edizione: 2004
Luigi Zangheri, Storia del giardino e del paesaggio,, Editore: Olschki, Firenze, Anno edizione: 2003
Urban Tree Manual, Editore: Copyright Forest Research 2019, Anno edizione: 2019 https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/urban-tree-manual/
Roger Phillips, Trees of North America and Europe, Random House Inc, Editore: Random House Inc, Anno edizione: 1978
Note: OR
Roger Phillips,
Trees in Britain, Europe and North America, Trans-Atlantic Publ. 1st Edition 1978
Geoff Hodge, Botany for gardeners: The Art and Science of Gardening Explaining & Explored, Editore: Editore: RHS, Anno edizione: 2013
Francesco Ferrini, Cecil C. Konijnendijk van den Bosch, Alessio Fini (edited by), Routledge Handbook of Urban Forestry Measuring and monitoring urban trees and urban forests, Editore: Routledge, Anno edizione: 2017, ISBN: 978-1138647282
Stefano Mancuso, The Revolutionary Genius of Plants: A New Understanding of Plant Intelligence and Behavior, Editore: Atria Books, Anno edizione: 2018
Nelda Matheny, Sharon Lilly, Thomas Smiley, Tree Risk Assessment - Best Management Practices, Editore: ISA- International Society of Arboriculture, Anno edizione: 2011
Andreas Roloff (edited by), Urban Tree Management: For the Sustainable Development of Green Cities, Editore: MILEY Blackwall, Anno edizione: 2016

“Contemporary Landscape Theory and Practice” is an elective course within the Master of Science in Landscape Architecture – Land Landscape Heritage program, which is taught annually by a Visiting Professor. The course incorporates two modules: Contemporary Issues in Landscape Architecture (4 ECTS) and Urbanism (4 ECTS).
Course Introduction
With our environments being challenged more than ever by the consequences of the climate crisis, there is an increasing need to critically interrogate our relationship with nature and with each other. Mounting scientific evidence confirms human impact as the main cause, and narratives have moved from ‘arresting climate change’ to ‘mitigating the climate crisis’. The social and economic consequences will be felt in every corner of the globe, and thus, we urgently need to facilitate change and address our moral imperatives. These times have been referred to as a permacrisis, an extended period of instability and insecurity. Shifting trends mean that traditional values are being tested, opening the need for additional discourses and reviewing the subjects to be valued. This affects the way landscape architects understand environments, which should be embraced from an interdisciplinary perspective and adopt whole systems approaches that are nature-based, environmentally sensitive and socially aware.
With a clear majority of the world’s population now living in urban agglomerations, the emphasis of much of the work in landscape architecture is on cities. With today’s pressures caused by global change and international ratifications, there will be increasing demands for sustainable, ‘green’ or ‘eco’ cities. This will manifest itself in the creation of new cities that adhere to natural processes, but also in the regeneration and adaptation of existing ones. Indeed, what should the ideal models for development of sustainable cities be; should they be compact, or should they incorporate areas of forests and urban agriculture, for example? Could living, working, and recreation be integrated more effectively? How do we prevent the increasing dominance of the car, and how can we create cities that are more friendly to pedestrians and cyclists? And more importantly for this module, what can we learn from past and current urban forms, the many typologies, theories and practices which have evolved over centuries? The main objective for this module is to provide inspiration and motivation for both intellectual and creative aspects of your design practice. The insight into past landscape cultures and practices will provide the basis on which to develop thought patterns and solutions to contemporary landscape issues.
Course Aims
This course aims to:
Introduce and explore selected landscape concepts, theories, principles and practices related to urban and rural environments.
Encourage critical understanding of the development of the historic built environment with an emphasis on the role of spaces between buildings that structure environments.
Introduce specific examples of open space networks in urban and rural contexts through chronological and comparative studies.

The learning and teaching of this module aims to deliver on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
By the end of the module, students will be able to:
Distinguish between various approaches to landscape issues related to the built environment.
Demonstrate an understanding of the role of open spaces in the historic environment.
Demonstrate critical understanding through comparative analysis of specific case studies.
The module will include material and transferable skills directly relevant to landscape practice, specifically: Communication; Critical Thinking; Continuous Development of Skills; Core Knowledge.

Teaching and Learning Strategy
A series of lectures, presentations and seminars will introduce students to key landscape concepts and practices in urban environments. Tutorial sessions will provide guidance to support the students’ independent research, study, and essay writing.
The lectures, presentations and seminars will focus on planning projects and interventions at the landscape scale. They will explore strategic thinking in urban landscape planning practice. Key landscape planning ideas and projects will be introduced and analysed to provide inspiration and references. This will be further explored through independent study as preparation for the final assignment. Exploration through drawings is encouraged to analyse spaces between buildings. These should illustrate your critical essay.
Lectures and Topics
Lectures continue beyond the project work, but continue to be relevant to this module in that they link a range of broader issues that widen the scope of landscape architecture to include topics that are vital to the transition of urban environments. More specific topics may be selected in relation to student interest.
The lectures will be linked to bibliographies that enable students to further explore these topics where desired:
1. Environmental crises and landscape architecture
2. Water and land
3. Trees and politics
4. Trees in the built environment
5. The landscape of the modernist city
6. Landscape planning: scope and perspective
7. Park systems
8. The rise of town planning and environmentalism
9. Landscape for housing
10. Self-sufficiency and Germany: Leberecht Migge
Core References
Students will be expected to demonstrate critical engagement with aspects of the content of at least two of the following references in their illustrated essays.
Alexander, Christopher, et al, A Pattern Language, (Oxford: Oxford University Press,1975)
Ahern, Jack, ‘Urban landscape sustainability and resilience: the promise and challenges of integrating ecology with urban planning and design’, Landscape Ecology, 28 (2013), pp.1203-1212.
Blundell Jones, Peter, Architecture and Ritual (London: Bloomsbury, 2016)
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1963)
Choay, Françoise, The Rule and the Model (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,1997)
Dilip da Cuhna, The Invention of Rivers (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2019)
Gehl, Jan, Life between Buildings; Using Public Space (Washington DC: Island Press, 2011)
Hough, Michael, Cities and Natural Process: A basis for sustainability (2004)
Jacobs, A., Great Streets (Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1993).
Jacobs, Jane, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (London: Jonathan Cape, 1962)
Jacques, David, Landscape Appreciation: Theories since the Cultural Turn (Chichester: Packard, 2019)
Kostof, Spiro, The City Assembled: The elements of urban form through history (London: Thames and Hudson, 2004)
Kostof, Spiro, The City Shaped: Urban patterns and meanings through history (London: Thames and Hudson, 1991)
Larice, Michael and Macdonald, Elizabeth (eds.), The Urban Design Reader (London: Routledge, 2013)
Le Corbusier (1929) ‘The pack-donkey’s way and the man’s way’, The City of Tomorrow and its Planning, in: Larice, M. and Macdonald, E. (eds.), The Urban Design Reader (London: Routledge, 2013) pp. 90-93.
Lynch, Kevin, A Theory of Good City Form (Cambridge, MA: MIT, 1891)
Macdonald, E. (eds.), The Urban Design Reader (London: Routledge, 2013), pp. 36-44
Maslin, Mark, How to Save Our Planet (London: Penguin Life, 2021)
Morris, A.E.J., History of Urban Form (Harlow: Longman, 1987)
Moudon, A.V., ‘A catholic approach to organizing what urban designers should know.’ Journal of Planning Literature, 6 / 4 (1992), pp.331-349 in: Larice, M. and Macdonald, E. (eds.), The Urban Design Reader (London: Routledge, 2013), pp. 235-257.
Newman, Oscar, Defensible Space (New York: Macmillan, 1972)
Robert, Marion and Suzy Nelson, Research Handbook on Urban Design (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2024)
Roberts, Brian, The Making of the English Village (Harlow: Longman, 1987)
Satterthwaite, David, The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Cities (London: Earthscan, 1999)
Taylor, Nicholas, The Village in the City (London: Temple Smith, 1973)
Thayer, Robert, Gray World, Green Heart: Technology, nature and the sustainable landscape (New York: Wiley, 1994)
Turner, Tom, Landscape Planning and Environmental Impact Design (London: UCL, 2 nd ed. 1998)
Woudstra, Jan and David Jacques, Teaching Landscape History (New York and London: Routledge, 2024), chapters 2 & 3

Prova scritta obbligatoria, senza prove in itinere
Prova orale obbligatoria
Assessment method and requirements
Students will be assessed through an oral presentation (50%) and a 2000-word illustrated critical essay (50%) on a specific self-selected urban or rural area that captures aspects of the components, concepts and theories drawn from lecture content and associated literature. Tutorials will provide support for the preparation and development of the content and structure of the final essay. Anne Vernez Moudon’s paper: ‘A catholic approach to organizing what urban designers should know’ can be used as a reference to identify a specific approach to structure the research and develop arguments. The approaches defined as ‘concentrations of inquiry’ (Moudon, 1992, p.335) include:
Urban history studies
Picturesque studies
Image studies
Environmental-behaviour studies
Place studies
Material cultural studies
Typology-morphology studies
Space-morphology studies
Nature and ecology studies
Choosing one type of inquiry does not exclude the others, but it might help students to focus their research and essay structure.
Assessment criteria
Demonstrate an understanding of urban landscape planning issues
Demonstrate a more profound understanding of the role of open space in the built environment
The quality and coherence of the analysis of the urban or rural development of the case study selected
The quality of written and visual communication demonstrating an understanding of academic conventions (structure, layout, referencing).

The course aims to provide students with the theoretical foundations and practical skills required to acquire, manage, analyse, and interpret geospatial information for environmental analysis and landscape mapping. Geographical information is presented as a primary source of knowledge for understanding environmental issues and as a support for decision-making and planning activities, environmental monitoring, and the interpretation of urban and rural landscapes.
The course is structured around two complementary modules. The first module introduces the fundamentals of geomatics, including geodata acquisition and management, geodesy and cartography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), and photogrammetric techniques.
The second module focuses on the principles and applications of remote sensing for landscape mapping and environmental monitoring. Students will gain an understanding of the fundamental principles of remote sensing, as well as practical knowledge of Earth observation satellite systems and digital image processing techniques.
Practical activities constitute a fundamental component of the course and include the use of open-source and professional software environments. Through laboratory exercises, students will learn to process, analyse, and visualise geospatial and remote sensing data. The course concludes with a project work carried out in small groups, aimed at applying the methodologies and tools introduced during the course to real-world environmental and landscape case studies.

Lectures, exercise sessions, and team projects will allow students to:
Understand how geographical data is acquired, managed, and analysed in relation to different environmental and landscape concerns, as well as evaluate which techniques/methods are more suitable for each specific purpose.
Understand the basic principles of Remote Sensing techniques and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), and carry out analysis using appropriate tools, which allow the management of geographical data.
Understand the value and advantages of integrating different types of geographical datasets (existing and/or newly produced), and perform multitemporal analysis to highlight specific landscape aspects and their evolution.
Communicate the results of their analysis in a technically appropriate way and share them using adequate tools.

Geomatics for Environmental Analysis
1) Geodata and Geoinformation. Sources and main applications of geographic data.
2) Geodesy and Cartography. Reference surfaces used to model the Earth (sphere, ellipsoid, geoid) and their role in geodetic measurements. Geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude), ellipsoidal vs. orthometric heights, and geoid undulation. Reference systems and datums (e.g. ED50, WGS84), including simple and complex datum transformations. Cartographic transformations (geometric vs. analytic) and the resulting map distortions (angular, area, distance). Classification and types of map projections — cylindrical (Mercator, Transverse Mercator), conical, and azimuthal (Polar Stereographic) — including the UTM system. Georeferencing workflow for maps/images (GCPs, transformation, resampling). Past and current Italian reference systems (Roma40, ED50, ETRS89, WGS84).
3) Geographic Information Systems (GIS). What a GIS is and its core components (hardware, software, data, people, procedures). Main functionalities: data capture, manipulation, management, query/analysis, and visualisation. Distinction between spatial data (location) and attribute data (characteristics), and key properties of spatial data (projection, scale, accuracy, resolution). The two spatial data models — vector (points, lines, polygons) and raster (grid cells) — each with its own strengths and limitations. Overview of geospatial analysis tools (measurement/query functions, overlay operations, buffering, network analysis) and major open geodata sources.
4) Photogrammetry and SfM. Photogrammetry principles and techniques for obtaining metric 3D information (shape, position) from photographic images. Collinearity equations (exposure station, object point, image point, rotation parameters). Image acquisition geometry through strips and blocks. The processing pipeline — image acquisition, orientation, and object reconstruction — with bundle adjustment computing external orientation parameters from GCPs and tie points. Structure from Motion (SfM) extending these principles to UAV/drone imagery for reconstructing large-scale landscape infrastructure, using GNSS-based GCPs for georeferencing.
5) GNSS. Definition and purpose of GNSS, and its three system components (space, control, and user segments). Overview of the main systems (GPS, GLONASS, Galileo) and their characteristics. The positioning problem and the geometric logic behind needing multiple satellites, plus code and phase pseudorange measurements and their respective precisions. Main error sources (ionospheric, tropospheric, multipath, satellite geometry/DOP) and typical error magnitudes. Positioning schemes — absolute vs relative, static vs kinematic — and differential techniques (DGPS, RTK, PPK) with their achievable precision levels.
Practical exercises: GIS hands-on work using QGIS, covering georeferencing, layer creation, attribute queries, spatial queries, and geospatial analysis. SfM processing hands-on work using Agisoft Metashape, covering dense point cloud generation and 3D textured mesh model production from drone imagery.
Remote Sensing for Landscape Mapping
1) Introduction to Remote Sensing. Brief History of Remote Sensing; Review of Electromagnetism; Regions of the Electromagnetic Spectrum.
2) Fundamentals of Radiometry and Thermal Radiation. Measurement of Electromagnetic Radiation and Fundamental Radiometric Quantities: radiance, irradiance, radiant power, brillance, emittance, luminance; Blackbody Radiation; Planck’s Law; Concepts of emissivity and brightness temperature; Wien’s displacement law; Rayleigh-Jeans approximation; Wien’s approximation; Stefan-Boltzmann law.
3) Radiation–Matter Interactions. Radiation-matter interaction; Concepts of transmittance, absorbance, and reflectance; Kirchhoff’s law; Emissivity-reflectance relationship for opaque bodies; Radiation-matter interaction in the visible and beyond the visible.
4) Spectral Behaviour of Natural Surfaces. Basic principle of multispectral observation; Lambertian and specular surfaces; Bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF); Bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF); Radiation-matter interaction at the surface of opaque bodies; Rayleigh criterion for roughness; Composition of spectral signatures (linear mixing); Theoretical explanation and generalisation of the basic principle of multispectral observation.
5) Natural Sources and Observation Principles. Natural sources for Earth observation from space: the Sun, the Earth; Active and passive remote sensing techniques; SAR techniques.
6) Atmospheric Structure and Radiative Processes. Structure and chemical-physical composition of the Atmosphere; Radiation-matter interaction in the atmosphere; Rayleigh and Mie scattering; Spectral windows for Earth surface observation under standard and variable conditions.
7) Earth Observation Satellites and Sensor Technologies. Satellite systems for Earth observation; Space segment and ground segment; Polar and geostationary orbits; Optomechanical imaging systems; Linear CCDs; Whiskbroom scanners; Across-track scanning; Relationship between orbital parameters (V/H) and scanning speed; Along-track scanning; Two-dimensional CCDs: Pushbroom scanners. Advantages and disadvantages of along-track and across-track acquisition; Scanning from a geostationary platform.
8) Digital Image Formation and Sensor Characteristics. Digital image reconstruction; Spatial, spectral, temporal, and radiometric resolution of a sensor; Major satellite missions: high and very high spatial resolution; Major satellite missions: high and very high temporal resolution; Sensor selection: trade-offs between spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution.
9) Digital Image Processing and Classification. Definition of a multispectral digital image; Preprocessing of digital images; Correction of sensor radiance for atmospheric effects; Concepts of spectral, spatial, temporal, and intensity signatures; Vegetation indices: NDVI; Maximum Value Composite (MVC); Scatterplot; Satellite image classification: supervised classification, unsupervised classification.
10) Applications of Remote Sensing. Practical exercises on Remote Sensing using open solutions (i.e., SNAP) and Google Earth Engine.
A project work is designed as part of the course. The objective of the project is to help students apply the approaches and principles covered during the class. The project can be carried out in small groups of students (3-4 students in each group). Project topics (related to the SDGs) will be introduced during lessons and discussed throughout the semester. Project outcomes are expected to be released at fixed deadlines. The project work will include class discussions supervised by the course instructor.

Evaluations will be based on:
1) a presentation and public discussion of the project developed at the end of the course;
2) an oral exam concerning all topics covered during classes.
During the final exam, students:
Should demonstrate a deep understanding of the role of geographical data, the technologies and tools to obtain geoinformation and their applications for landscape analysis and environmental mapping.
Should demonstrate a deep understanding of how to carry out a proper analysis by using the tools introduced during the course.
Should answer properly to questions and issues that may be raised during the discussion of their project activity.
Should demonstrate the ability to carry out teamwork.

Ravi P. Gupta, Remote Sensing Geology, Editore: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg
P. K. Garg, Remote Sensing: Theory and Applications, Editore: Publisher: Mercury Learning and Information, Anno edizione: 2024, ISBN: 978-1-68392-748-8
[GIST] Geographic Information Science and Technology https://geospacebok.eu/GIST
Huisman O., de By Rolf A., Principles of geographical information systems An introductory textbook https://webapps.itc.utwente.nl/librarywww/papers_2009/general/principlesgis.pdf
De Smith, Michael John, Michael F. Goodchild, and Paul Longley, Geospatial analysis: a comprehensive guide to principles, techniques and software tools., Editore: Troubador Publishing Ltd, Anno edizione: 2007
Burrough, P. A., McDonnell, R., McDonnell, R. A., & Lloyd, C. D., Principles of geographical information systems, Editore: Oxford University Press, Anno edizione: 2015
Smith, J. R., Introduction to geodesy: the history and concepts of modern geodesy (Vol. 1), Editore: John Wiley & Sons., Anno edizione: 1997
John P. Snyder, Map projections: A working manual https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/1395/report.pdf

The course aims to prepare graduate students in scientific and technical disciplines to reason about the ethical consequences of their work, with specific reference to the impact on the environment. Specifically, the first part of the course will introduce students to important topics in the ethics of climate change: e.g., what principles should guide our preservation of the human species? What are the possible policy responses to climate change and how should they be evaluated from a moral standpoint? What, if anything, do we owe to the natural environment and to non-human animals? In the second part, we will bring the discussions of the first part to bear on the question of what constitutes 'due diligence' for technologists in light of climate change, using case-studies from scientific and technical sectors to illustrate the issues at stake. This will help bring out the dimensions of responsibility that are incumbent upon technological production today.

The course introduces various aspects of Environmental and Landscape policy in Europe, and several project categories will be presented to familiarise students with European Projects.
The goal of the course is to give students a basic understanding of European Landscape and Environmental policy, the 7th Environment Action Programme to 2020, the renewed Sustainable Development strategy, and the integration of environmental issues into the decisions and actions of other policy sectors.
Students should be able to explain European Environmental and Landscape policy based on its underlying principles, the actors and interest groups involved, and its historical developments.
Students will also be encouraged to compare European-level policies with those adopted in the United States and to explain the reasons for these differences.
This course should help sharpen students’ analytical skills in assessing the effectiveness of environmental policies and enable them to assess European Environmental politics within a global framework.
Students will be familiar with the multiple interfaces of the European Landscape Convention, the world’s first international treaty specifically concerning landscape, signed by the Member States of the Council of Europe in Florence, Italy, on October 20 th, 2000.
Several case studies of European Projects are going to be presented during this course to achieve the aforementioned goals

Following a brief synopsis of the basics of policy-making in the EU, students will learn about the principles underlying developments in European Environmental policy, the main actors and their interests in this area, and how these actors influence the policy-making process at the national level.
As a result of taking this course, the student should be able to:
Explain the process of Environmental and Landscape policy followed by the EU, including public participation, access to environmental information (Aarhus) and the roles of the several stakeholders.
Demonstrate knowledge of the principles and rules that constitute EC environmental policy-making and key environmental topics.
Identify the interests of the key actors formulating European Community Environmental policy and law, such as member states, institutions and interest groups.
Examine the application of strategies for integrating the environment into European Policies (Cardiff, June 1998).
Evaluate and explain the success or failure of key policy examples within the EU and the forthcoming challenges and opportunities for EC Environmental policies.
Develop the ability for presenting and communicating in a written form through academic papers or orally through arguments and presentations on current and future Environmental and Landscape policies.
Develop their overall understanding of the European Landscape Convention.
Understand strategies for sustainable development (Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, 1992).
Develop the ability to understand and draft the main concept of a European Project.

The main topics of this course are:
Emphasis on the European Union (EU) as the key entity shaping Environmental and Landscape policies in European countries; the EU’s impact on non-Member States will also be examined.
Analyse the European Climate Change Strategy as well as the policies and instruments adopted to mitigate the threat of global warming. The growth of renewable energies and the Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) will be examined.
Policy areas such as biodiversity, nature conservation, waste and recycling policies will be examined. Furthermore, the EU's efforts to shape Member States' transport policy and reduce emissions in this sector will be analysed.
Analyse the role of European Environmental policy in determining Environmental policies of non-European countries and global climate dialogues. The recent global climate summit in Paris in late 2015 will be given particular consideration.
Discuss the role that the Landscape Convention Plays in Europe and the interfaces with law, landscape ecology, heritage, and globalisation. Furthermore, the European Landscape Convention will be examined as a discursive interface, with its contradictory and synergistic aspects.
Develop and discuss several European Projects related to the Environment and the Landscape (e.g. LIFE+, HORIZON 2000: Natural Based Solution, Central Europe: Environmental Risk Management and Climate Change).

Prova orale obbligatoria
Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
The course is structured through:
Class lectures, interactive learning (class discussions, group work), video and PowerPoint presentations, and case studies.
Exercises and primary source documents are assigned as homework, and the answers and critical responses to them are reviewed in class.
International guest speakers specialised in European Projects.
Students’ projects and presentations.
Evaluation of an existing European Project.
Student Evaluation Assessments will be based upon the following:
In-class participation and attendance (10%). This covers all the assigned reading requirements and participating in the discussions.
One in-class presentation (20%). Students will be asked to give a 10- to 15-minute presentation on a case study from a European Project (information and relevant websites will be provided in class) related to environmental and Landscape Policies. The presentation should be held during the session covering the respective topic. Students have until mid-March to inform the instructor of the presentation topic.
Mid-term essay presentation (20%). Students will have to write a take-home essay (around 3000 words, +/- 10% including references) in which they compare a specific aspect of environmental policy in Europe with that of their home country. The exact topic can be the same as the one chosen for the in-class presentation, but should also include the suggestions made during the presentation. Supplementary reading is required for the essay and can be discussed with the instructor. The mid-term essays are due at the end of March.
Final in-class presentation of the essay (50%). The final in-class presentation will be held during the exam period and will last around 15 minutes per student.
Bibliography
Butler A. (2016) Dynamics of integrating landscape values in landscape character assessment: the hidden dominance of the objective outsider. Landscape Research 41:2, pp.239-252
Cervera M. Alonso de Medina (2022) A Landscape Architecture Guide to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, ISBN: 9788496842-80-9, pp 59.
Daniel N. Laven, Sandra Wall-Reinius, Peter Fredman. (2015) New Challenges for Managing Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas: An Exploratory Study of the European Landscape Convention in Sweden. Society & Natural Resources 28:10, pp. 1126-1143.
Dresner, Gilbert N. (1999) Decision-Making Processes for Projects Requiring Environmental Impact Assessment: Case Studies in Six European Countries, Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, Vol. 01, No. 01, pp. 105-130
EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, Directorate I — Climate Action and Resource Efficiency, Unit I.3 (2005) — Sustainable Management of Natural Resources, Towards an, EU Research and Innovation policy agenda for, Nature-Based Solutions &, Re-Naturing Cities, Final Report of the Horizon 2020 Expert Group on, 'Nature-Based Solutions and Re-Naturing Cities', do i: 10.2777/440514, pp. 35.
Fairclough G. (2018) Landscape and heritage: ideas from Europe for culturally based solutions in rural environments. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 0:0, pp. 1-17.
Jordan, A. and Adelle, C. 2013. Environmental Policy in the European Union: Actors, Institutions and Processes. 3rd ed., Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 170–188
Paarlberg R., Pray C. (2007) Political Actors on the Landscape, AgBioForum, 10(3), pp. 144-153.
Jones, M., Howard, P., Olwig, K.R., Primdahl, J. & Sarlo¨v Herlin, I. 2007. Multiple interfaces of the European Landscape Convention. Norsk Geografisk TidsskriftNorwegian Journal of Geography Vol. 61, 207215. ISSN 0029-1951.
Kara E. Dempsey, Stephanie M. Wilbrand. (2017) The role of the region in the European Landscape Convention. Regional Studies 51:6, pp.909-919.
Kenneth R. Olwig (2007) The practice of landscape ‘Conventions’ and the just landscape: The case of the European landscape convention, Landscape Research, pp. 579-594
Liarikos C., Lang S., Beckmann A., Torkler A. P. (2005) EU Funding for Environment A handbook for the 2007–2013 programming period, WWF, pp. 104.
Ludger Gailing, Markus Leibenath. (2017) Political landscapes between manifestations and democracy, identities and power. Landscape Research 42:4, pp. 337-348.
Martín María García-, Claudia Bieling, Abigail Hart, Tobias Plieninger, Integrated landscape initiatives in Europe: Multi-sector collaboration in multi-functional landscapes, Land Use Policy, 58,2016,43-53, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.07.001.
Marte Lange Vik. (2017) Self-mobilisation and lived landscape democracy: local initiatives as democratic landscape practices. Landscape Research 42:4, pp. 400-411.
Merk, M., & Werthmann, C. (2026). A characterization of interventions in european landscape architecture: An approach from different perspectives. disP - The Planning Review, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/02513625.2026.2658957
Montis A. (2016) Measuring the performance of planning: the conformance of Italian landscape planning practices with the European Landscape Convention. European Planning Studies 24:9, pages 1727-1745.
Newig J., Fritsch O.(2008) Environmental Governance: Participatory, Multi-level – and Effective? November 2008, Submitted to Environmental Policy and Governance, pp. 1-26
Prieur, M, Luginbuehl, Y, Zoido Naranjo, F, De Montmollin, B, Pedroli, B, Van Mansvelt, J D, Durousseau, S (2006) Landscape and sustainable development - challenges of the European Landscape Convention, Media Info, Pagination, pp. 213
Rametsteiner E., Pu¨ H. lzl, Alkan-Olsson J., Frederiksen P. (2009), Sustainability indicator development—Science or political negotiation? Ecological Indicators (2009),

The "Frontiers of Landscape Design Studio" aims at defining and experimenting (at the different scales at which landscape architecture works) categories, instruments, and strategies to describe, interpret and transform open spaces and landscapes, in their natural and anthropological components, also concerning the historical transformations and the socio-economic and territorial context to which they belong.

Students:

• will acquire knowledge and understanding of the techniques and tools for landscape design;
• will be capable of facing a critical approach to all necessary scales of a landscape design with advanced levels of specialisation and detail;
• will be capable of facing design problems where soil, terrain, geology, mineral resources, climate, water, plants, wildlife, and living systems interactions are major drivers;
• will acquire high levels of understanding of design research, strategic thinking, technical resolution and graphic expression.

The "Frontiers of Landscape Design Studio" investigates how landscape architecture can interpret and transform landscapes across a range of scales. The course approaches landscape as a socio-ecological and spatial construct shaped by environmental processes, cultural practices, political and economic forces, and ongoing transformation. Particular attention is given to the challenges and opportunities emerging in the Anthropocene, including climate change, ecological degradation, resource management, and evolving patterns of urban and territorial development.
The studio addresses questions of orientation and experience, scale and pattern, topography, climate, vegetation, and ecological processes, exploring their role in shaping spatial form, ecological resilience, urban development, and climate adaptation. Through site analysis, representation, and design experimentation, students develop the tools to engage critically with contemporary landscape conditions and to formulate grounded, rigorous, and projective design responses.
Within the sequence of Master's design studios, the course strengthens spatial literacy and cultivates a diverse set of analytical, representational, and design research skills essential to contemporary landscape architectural practice.

Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
Attendance at all proposed studio activities is mandatory.
The final exam consists of the assessment of the project and, in general, of the works carried out during the semester, as well as the verification of the students' awareness on a theoretical-critical level, concerning the contents developed in the laboratory and the texts suggested.

McHarg, Ian, Design with Nature (1969), Editore: NHP, Anno edizione: 1971, ISBN: 03-85055-09-9
Jackson John Brinckerhoff, A Sense of Place, a Sense of Time, Editore: Yale University Press, Anno edizione: 1994, ISBN: 978-03-000-6002-7
Corner, J, and A H Balfour (Ed.), Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Theory, Editore: Princeton Architectural Press, Anno edizione: 1999, ISBN: 978-15-689-8179-6
Engler, M.E., Designing America's Waste Landscapes. Center Books on Contemporary Landscape Design, Editore: Johns Hopkins University Press, Anno edizione: 2004, ISBN: 9780801878039
Berger, A., Drosscape: Wasting Land Urban America, Editore: Princeton Architectural Press, Anno edizione: 2007, ISBN: 1568987137
Deming M. Elen (Ed.), Values in landscape architecture and environmental design: finding center in theory and practice, Editore: Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, Anno edizione: 2015, ISBN: 978-08-071-6078-7
Note: see especially Elizabeth K. Meyer's contribution
Kennen, K., Kirkwood, N.,, Phyto: Principles and Resources for Site Remediation and Landscape Design, Editore: Routledge Taylor & Francis, Anno edizione: 2015, ISBN: 978-0415814157
Girot, Christophe, Thinking the Contemporary Landscape, Editore: Princeton Architectural Press, Anno edizione: 2016, ISBN: 978-16-168-9520-4

The "Landscape and Sustainable Design: Rhetoric and Argumentation" course aims to provide students with the skills to understand and adequately work with 'rhetoric' (the ability to persuade and convince, the technique of discussion and deliberation), investigating sustainable design as a form of argumentation.

By attending the course and passing the exam, students will understand and learn the fundamental concepts, principles, and methods of rhetoric and argumentation, especially in the field of sustainable design. The students will also be able to apply the acquired knowledge to their future design activities.

In a time in which Governments, intergovernmental organisations, policymakers, universities, scholars, etc., are committed to promoting and supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015, the course is an opportunity for students to develop analytical skills and narrative tools in the field of rhetoric and argumentation for sustainable design.
Sustainable design concerns the future by definition: we design to shape or transform 'something sustainably’. And the results of design activities will occur at a time that is not present hic et nunc. Therefore, designers must always deal with uncertainty and persuade their audience that what they envisage is possible and will have positive outcomes. It is a cultural (not just technical) challenge that is becoming crucial in our era of radical uncertainty.
Landscape designers, urban designers, urban planners, etc., need to develop the capability to understand and effectively work with the practice of persuasion and conviction through design. It is necessary to interpret design as a form of argumentation within complex societies, where the shift toward a sustainable future at both the local and national levels is met with scepticism, resistance, and sometimes opposition from various social, political, and economic groups.
At the same time, it is crucial to develop critical skills to correctly interpret the growing number of sustainability narratives that crowd the everyday lives of citizens and practitioners, and to cultivate the capability to distinguish between efficiency and effectiveness.
The course will provide theoretical and methodological lectures and case study presentations.
During the semester, students will be asked to develop a case study analysis (Exercise 1) and a brief 'scenario building' experience (Exercise 2) concerning the design of possible and alternative spatial configurations for an urban or peri-urban public space.
Both Exercises (1 and 2) will also provide students with the opportunity to investigate and practice the rhetoric of Artificial Intelligence, working with images, texts, and other media.
Students will work in groups (the number of members in each group will depend on the total number of students attending the course).
In addition to the suggested bibliographical references, other bibliographical references and materials will be provided to students at the end of every lecture.

Prova orale obbligatoria
Progetto/i - Elaborato/i obbligatorio, di gruppo, con revisioni periodiche, senza presentazione/discussione finale
Students will work in groups during the semester. Every group will deliver an intermediate report concerning the case study analysis (Exercise 1) and a final report about the 'scenario building' activity (Exercise 2). Each delivery will be evaluated.
The final exam will be individual.
The assessment will consider the results of the two reports submitted as a group, the individual knowledge of the lectures delivered, and the contents of the bibliography compiled by each student.
Attendance is not mandatory, but every student must join a group and work with group colleagues on the two proposed exercises, as discussion and debate among students working together are a fundamental step in the course learning process.

Perelman Chaïm, Olbrechts-Tyteca Lucie, The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation, Editore: University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Anno edizione: 1969, ISBN: 9780268001919
Fracarolli Nunes Mauro, Lee Park Camila, Extreme Sustainability Rhetoric and Sustainable Development, Editore: Routledge, Abingdon and New York, Anno edizione: 2022, ISBN: 9780367644789
Ortony Andrew (ed.), Metaphor and Thought, Editore: Cambridge University Press, Anno edizione: 1993, ISBN: 9781139173865
Gerber Andri, Patterson Brent, Metaphors in Architecture and Urbanism: An Introduction, Editore: Transcript, Bielefeld, Anno edizione: 2013, ISBN: 9783837623727

Questo insegnamento contribuisce al raggiungimento dei seguenti Obiettivi di Sviluppo Sostenibile dell'Agenda ONU 2030:
SDG4 - QUALITY EDUCATION
SDG11 - SUSTAINABLE CITIES AND COMMUNITIES
SDG17 - PARTNERSHIP FOR THE GOALS

Pianificazione e progetto del colore nella rigenerazione urbana
Colour Planning and Design in Urban Regeneration
Argomenti trattati
Il colore è parte dell’esperienza individuale e collettiva in ogni ambito. Anche se possiamo scegliere di non occuparcene, non possiamo realmente evitare il colore. Esso è ovunque. È onnipervasivo (Doherty 2010): ne siamo consapevoli o meno, la sua presenza connota e definisce la nostra esperienza del mondo a tutti i livelli. Il colore rappresenta, forse più di ogni altro, l’elemento capace di fornire una persistente connessione di carattere culturale tra la sfera fisica e quella sociale (Pastoreau 2007), tra il mondo degli oggetti e l’universo delle percezioni a essi relative. Ciò è certamente vero anche per quanto riguarda l’ambiente urbano e la sua ‘figurabilità’ (Lynch 1960).
Oggetto dell’insegnamento
Il corso ha come oggetto la definizione dei caratteri cromatici degli interventi edilizi sul patrimonio costruito in diversi contesti di applicazione, eletti dallo studente in relazione allo specifico orientamento del Corso di Laurea frequentato. L’insegnamento si articolerà in relazione alle questioni inerenti alla rigenerazione urbana, del territorio e dei patrimoni edilizi, attorno a cui si ridefiniscono, in questa fase, i paradigmi teorici e tecnici fondativi degli approcci contemporanei alla pianificazione e alla progettazione a diverse scale e nelle diverse forme. L’ intervento sul costruito potrà dunque rappresentare il campo prevalente di riflessione teorica e di applicazione pratica dell’esperienza didattica proposta.
Obiettivi
Gli obiettivi formativi perseguiti riguardano: la formazione di attitudini di carattere critico-riflessivo, lo sviluppo di consapevolezza circa gli aspetti di carattere culturale implicati nell’uso del colore nei diversi contesti storico-geografici, nonché la formazione di adeguate conoscenze di carattere teorico e tecnico circa l’uso del colore e delle implicazioni che ne derivano rispetto alla definizione dei paesaggi urbani.
Contenuti
I contenuti dell’insegnamento riguarderanno la presentazione delle principali teorie del colore formulate ed espresse con diversi gradi di sistematicità in relazione a diversi campi disciplinari e tradizioni di studio; l’illustrazione dei più diffusi sistemi di codificazione, standardizzazione e normalizzazione del colore attualmente in uso nelle attività di progettazione orientate alla trasformazione dello spazio fisico; la riflessione critica sugli orientamenti progettuali pertinenti in relazione a diversi contesti e campi di applicazione; la definizione dei criteri teorici e delle modalità tecniche di organizzazione degli interventi a diverse scale; la definizione degli aspetti normativi relativi alla selezione delle tinte colore utilizzabili; la definizione delle forme di regolazione degli interventi sul patrimonio costruito.
Modalità didattiche
L’esperienza didattica offerta agli studenti si articolerà attraverso lezioni ex-cathedra della docenza sugli argomenti definiti in relazione ai contenuti dell’insegnamento e interventi seminariali di esperti.
In relazione ai caratteri specifici dell’insegnamento, l’offerta didattica prevede la possibilità di svolgere un’esercitazione applicata a un contesto di elezione identificato dallo studente stesso in maniera pertinente rispetto agli argomenti del corso e all’orientamento del percorso di studi sviluppato dallo studente nell’ambito del Corso di Laurea di afferenza. In questo senso, contenuti specifici e modalità di svolgimento dell’attività esercitativa potranno essere personalizzati e concordati con la docenza. Lo svolgimento dell’attività esercitativa costituirà una delle modalità possibili per l’assolvimento dell’impegno didattico richiesto dalla frequenza al corso.
Per gli studenti che intendano espletare il programma del corso secondo modalità non applicative, potrà tuttavia essere garantita una significativa esperienza di approfondimento teorico e tecnico attraverso lo studio di testi (libri e/o articoli) ed esperienze (piani o progetti) selezionati dalla docenza, oppure proposti dallo studente e concordati con quest’ultima.
L’insegnamento sarà erogato in italiano (ed eventualmente in lingua inglese, laddove si ravvisasse la necessità), rendendo disponibili materiali bibliografici e didattici sia in lingua italiana che in lingua inglese (nel caso in cui specifiche esigenze lo rendano necessario). Sarà ugualmente garantita la possibilità di sostenere la prova d’esame in lingua inglese agli studenti afferenti a Corsi di Laurea erogati in questa lingua.

Prova orale obbligatoria
Progetto/i - Elaborato/i facoltativo (a scelta dello studente), di gruppo, senza revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
Indipendentemente dal grado di frequenza e dalle modalità di partecipazione all’attività didattica in aula, si ritiene opportuno offrire allo studente la possibilità di determinare autonomamente e rispetto alle proprie attitudini la modalità di assolvimento degli obblighi didattici previsti secondo una delle seguenti modalità d'esame:

• presentando e discutendo gli elaborati esercitativi predisposti nel corso del semestre, insieme a una ristretta selezione bibliografica di carattere teorico e/o tecnico (connessa e di supporto allo svolgimento dell’attività esercitativa) operata dallo studente rispetto alla bibliografia del corso e/o ad altri testi selezionati direttamente dallo studente e concordati preventivamente con la docenza;
• sostenendo un colloquio su una selezione estesa della bibliografia di riferimento del corso proposta dalla docenza. Quest'ultima potrà eventualmente essere integrata o parzialmente sostituita con testi inerenti all’argomento del corso, selezionati e proposti dallo studente in relazione alla loro pertinenza ai contenuti del corso, nonché agli argomenti caratterizzanti il percorso di studio in cui lo studente è impegnato nell’ambito del Corso di Laurea di afferenza. La selezione bibliografica, così specificata, dovrà in ogni caso essere concordata con la docenza e approvata preventivamente.
  La bibliografia definisce un primo insieme di riferimenti bibliografici a cui lo studente potrà fare riferimento. Ulteriori e più specifiche indicazioni bibliografiche potranno essere fornite durante il semestre per indirizzare e supportare l'attività esercitativa e/o per configurare specifici percorsi di studio e di approfondimento che lo studente concorderà con il docente.

Albers J., Interazione del colore, Editore: il Saggiatore, Milano, Anno edizione: 2013, ISBN: 978-88-428-1985-1
Note: or. ed. Interaction of Colour, Yale University Press, New Haven CT, 1963
Di Giovanni A., Progettare la città con il colore. Il Piano urbano del colore di Vigliano Biellese, Editore: Quodlibet, Macerata, Anno edizione: 2024, ISBN: 978-88-229-2195-6
Doherty G., Urbanism of Colour, Anno edizione: 2010, Fascicolo: New Geographies n.4
Färginstitutet, NCS Digital Atlas, Editore: Scandinavian Colour Institute AB, Stockholm, Anno edizione: 2007
Goethe J. W., La teoria dei colori, Editore: il Saggiatore, Milano, Anno edizione: 2025, ISBN: 978-88-428-3567-7
Note: or. ed. Theory of Colours, John Murray, London, 1840
Itten J., Arte del colore, Editore: il Saggiatore, Milano, Anno edizione: 2022, ISBN: 978-88-428-3064-1
Note: or. ed. Kunst der Farbe, Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg, 1961
Mahnke F.H., Il colore nella progettazione, Editore: UTET, Anno edizione: 1998, ISBN: 88-02-05365-0
Note: or.ed. 1996, Color, Environment and Human Response. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Norberg-Schulz C., Genius Loci. Paesaggio Ambiente Architettura, Editore: Electa, Milano, Anno edizione: 2023, ISBN: 978-88-928-2369-3
Note: ed. or. 1971
Pastoreau M., Dizionario dei colori del nostro tempo, Editore: Ponte alle Grazie, Milano, Anno edizione: 2010, ISBN: 978-88-683-3855-8
Note: or. ed. Dictionnaire des couleurs de notre temps, Christine Bonneton Èditeur, Chamalières, 2007
Serra Lluch J., Color for Architects, Editore: Princeton Architectural Press, Anno edizione: 2019, ISBN: 978-1616897949

Redazione e discussione della tesi di laurea.

Il corso affronta le principali questioni teoriche sulle dimensioni sociali dell'ambiente (i limiti dello sviluppo e la modernizzazione ecologica, il conservazionismo, l'ecologia politica, la transizione ecologica e la giustizia ambientale) mostrando come cambia la definizione di natura in rapporto alle visioni, i valori e gli interessi di società e attori sociali diversi. Analizza come le definizioni della questione ambientale e del rapporto uomo-natura si sono manifestate 'in azione' con l'emergere di controversie ecologiche (il nucleare, gli organismi geneticamente modificati, la crisi climatica). Affronterà anche il legame che le questioni ambientali hanno in rapporto con il mutato ruolo sociale della scienza e della tecnologia.

Attività di tirocinio.

This course explores landscape and architectural design as active tools for transforming post-industrial and degraded territories within ongoing ecological and energy transitions. Focusing on brownfields, contaminated sites, and abandoned agricultural or infrastructural areas, the course introduces a design-driven interpretation of landscape metabolism: the dynamic interaction of soil, water, biomass, energy, materials, and human use.
Through Italian and international case studies, students investigate how design can redirect disrupted metabolic flows toward sustainable and resilient spatial systems. Reforestation, bioremediation, renewable energy integration, and the circular use of resources are addressed not as technical add-ons but as core design components that shape space, form, and landscape identity.
The course is framed by the European Landscape Convention (2000), the EU Nature Restoration Regulation (2024), and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These frameworks are interpreted as conceptual and operational references that inform design decisions at multiple scales.

By the end of the course, students will develop design-oriented competencies, enabling them to:
Interpret degraded landscapes through spatial, ecological, and metabolic lenses.
Translate sustainability and resilience principles into coherent design strategies.
Integrate ecological restoration processes into landscape and architectural form.
Use policy frameworks as generative inputs for design concepts.
Propose design solutions incorporating agrovoltaics and other renewable energy systems.
Connect landscape interventions to relevant UN SDGs and indicators.
Communicate design ideas through diagrams, mappings, sections, and oral presentations.

Landscape Metabolism as a Design Framework
Metabolic flows as drivers of spatial form
Design narratives based on soil, water, energy, and biomass cycles
Sustainability and resilience as design criteria
Post-Industrial Landscapes and Design Strategies
Brownfields as spatial and ecological structures
Design responses to contamination, abandonment, and fragmentation
Case studies of site-based and regional transformations
Bioremediation and Design Integration
Phytoremediation and soil regeneration as spatial devices
Water management and vegetation systems
Design implications for public space and productive landscapes
Reforestation and Ecological Form
Forest structures, edges, and ecological connectivity
Reforestation as climate adaptation and spatial strategy
Design of multifunctional green systems
Energy Landscapes and Circular Design
Agrovoltaic systems as hybrid spatial models
Renewable energy infrastructures integrated into the landscape form
Circular use of materials, energy, and water in design strategies
Links to SDG indicators (7.2.1, 11.3.1, 12.2.1, 15.3.1)

Prova orale obbligatoria
Progetto/i - Elaborato/i facoltativo (a scelta dello studente), individuale, con revisioni periodiche, con presentazione/discussione finale
The final assessment consists of a mandatory individual oral examination.
The oral examination assesses:
knowledge and critical understanding of the topics discussed during lectures, seminars, and flipped-classroom activities;
familiarity with the compulsory bibliography and additional readings presented during the course;
the ability to discuss and critically relate theoretical concepts, policy frameworks, and case studies addressed throughout the course;
the capacity to develop informed reflections on the relationships between landscape metabolism, sustainability, resilience, ecological restoration, and energy transition.
Students may voluntarily undertake an individual research project on a topic related to the themes explored during the course. The project may consist of a graphic investigation, a written essay, or a combination of visual and textual materials. Research topics will be defined in agreement with the instructor and developed through periodic reviews and discussions during the semester.
The research project is not a mandatory component of the assessment and does not constitute a separate percentage of the final grade. Rather, it is intended as an opportunity for students to deepen their understanding of specific topics, experiment with methods and tools, and develop a more advanced critical understanding of the course content. Students who undertake the project will present their work in a public seminar at the end of the course and may discuss it during the oral examination as evidence of their individual learning process and intellectual engagement with the subject.
The use of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) is permitted in the development of the research project, provided that it is employed in a conscious, transparent, and responsible manner. AI tools should support, rather than replace, the student's analytical capacity, critical judgment, and original contribution. Students may be required to explain and document how AI was used during the development of their work.

Council of Europe, European Landscape Convention., Anno edizione: 2000 www.coe.int/en/web/landscape
European Union, Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 on Nature Restoration (Nature Restoration Regulation), Anno edizione: 2024 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/summary/nature-restoration.html
United Nations, Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Editore: New York: United Nations, Anno edizione: 2015
Note: UN Resolution A/RES/70/1
Steiner, Frederick R., The Living Landscape: An Ecological Approach to Landscape Planning, Editore: Washington, DC: Island Press, ISBN: 978-1597263962
Forman, Richard T. T., Urban Ecology: Science of Cities, Editore: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Anno edizione: 2014, ISBN: 978-0521188241

The Urban Forestry and Landscape Planning course consists of two modules, "Applied Botany and Landscape Design" (Bio 03, by Prof. Giorgio Vacchiano) and "Urbanism and Landscape Planning" (Icar 21, by Prof. Maria Chiara Pastore). The teachers integrate skills in landscape design and urban forestry with those in applied botany, focusing on soil improvement and landscape ecology. The two teaching modules collaborate around a set of issues and themes fundamental to the technique and practice of Landscape Design and Planning.

Landscape Planning is a transdisciplinary field increasingly needed to integrate diverse practices, expertise, visioning skills, and integrated action around systemic knowledge, sensitive perception, and the problem definition of places. In an interconnected world marked by increasingly extreme global phenomena (environmental, social, and economic), it is necessary to address environmental and ecological problems through planning and management actions that consider both a global approach and the specificities of places. Considering the territory with differentiated looks and across scales is fundamental; for this reason, the course addresses general themes and then applies them to a specific context.

The course aims to provide knowledge, skills, and competencies, both theoretical-methodological and technical, specialised, and interdisciplinary, through lectures, conferences, site visits and applied activities. The course will be carried out through both outdoor (field trips) and indoor (class) activities.
Lectures and seminars' topics
PART 1:
Environmental Change at Global and Regional Scales: Analysis of key indicators and landscape evidence of environmental change, including urban expansion, land-use transformations, agricultural system dynamics, and territorial events, with a focus on their drivers and consequences.
Landscape Planning and Governance: The role, tools, and opportunities of landscape planning, with case studies from all over the World.
The Milan Urban Region: Territorial dynamics, planning challenges, and sustainability strategies within the Metropolitan City of Milan.
Integrated Approaches for Territorial Transformation: Strategies and policy frameworks to support sustainable environmental and urban change.
Nature-Based Solutions and Systemic Planning: The contribution of specific Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and their integration within broader territorial and ecological systems.
Urban Forests as Climate Adaptation Strategies: The role of urban forests in climate change mitigation and adaptation, including improvements in air quality, urban cooling, biodiversity enhancement, and quality of life.
Citizen Engagement and Participatory Planning: Methods and experiences in involving local communities in environmental management, urban greening, and landscape planning processes.
PART 2:
Fundamentals of Plant Ecology and Site Analysis. Ecosystem functioning and the ecological hierarchy: from individuals to ecosystems. Abiotic factors and site conditions: light, temperature, water, and soils. Abiotic site analysis in urban green areas: practical tools and case examples. Introduction to forest botany and species identification tools. Urban Tree Species and Site Conditions: Tree species for urban environments: ecological requirements, stress tolerance, and selection criteria.
Population, Community and Disturbance Ecology. Population and community ecology - structure, dynamics, and species interactions. Succession and vegetation change in natural and urban contexts. Forest management in peri-urban environments: dynamics, regeneration, and multifunctionality. Field trip: identification of native and non-native tree species, ecological niches, and assessment of site conditions; observation of forest structure and succession, discussion on urban forest restoration and management strategies.
Forest Dynamics and Urban Forest Management. Climate change impacts, extreme events, resilience and adaptation. Tree stability and health assessment. Tree planting techniques, tree reproductive material. Monitoring urban forests; forest inventory; basics of remote sensing for urban forest management.
Landscape Ecology and Biodiversity. Biodiversity levels and their assessment in urban landscapes. Principles and metrics of landscape ecology: structure, configuration, and ecological connectivity. Biodiversity assessment tools and data, biodiversity-based solutions for cities.
Ecosystem Services. Urban cooling, urban air quality, and the benefits of urban green on human health. Forests and climate mitigation: carbon sequestration, forest carbon accounting. Quantifying ecosystem services in urban forestry.

Prova orale obbligatoria
Valutazione continua condizionata (a scelta del docente)
The course assessment will be based on readings, applied works, and an oral exam. Marks will be given based on the result of any in-course exercises and on the oral exam. The students will have to demonstrate that they have acquired an overall, in-depth, and critical knowledge and understanding of the issues examined. The evaluation of students’ engagement in the course, including lecture attendance, will be integral to the final mark.

F Salbitano, S Borelli, M Conigliaro, Y Chen, Guidelines on urban and peri-urban forestry., Editore: FAO Forestry Paper 178, Anno edizione: 2016 https://www.fao.org/3/i6210e/i6210e.pdf
Cecil C. Konijnendijk, Kjell Nilsson, Thomas B. Randrup, Jasper Schipperijn., Urban Forests and Trees: a reference book, Editore: Publisher: Springer., Anno edizione: 2005, ISBN: 978-3-540-25126-2
Hansen, Rieke & Rall, Emily & Chapman, Eleanor & Rolf, Werner & Pauleit, Stephan, Urban Green Infrastructure Planning: A Guide for Practitioners, Anno edizione: 2017
Sustainable Urban and Peri-urban Forestry An Integrative and Inclusive Nature-Based Solution for Green Recovery and Sustainable, Healthy and Resilient Cities, Editore: Policy Brief UNECE, Anno edizione: 2022

attività extracurriculari