Development Studies

This course offers a study of state-of-the-art research within the field of environment, society, and development with a specific focus on understanding theoretical approaches to development geography and coupled human-environment systems in the Global South. It provides the theoretical and historical foundations for understanding contemporary sustainability agendas, including approaches to sustainable development. The first part of the course focuses on societal transformation processes in urban and rural areas and discusses how contemporary scholars theorize and explore urbanization and rural transformation processes in the Global South. The second part of the course focuses on the dynamics of coupled human–environmental systems and the multiple conceptual models that have been proposed to understand this complex relationship, including cultural, human, and political ecology; land use intensification; land system science; sustainability science; and resilience and vulnerability approaches. The course discusses approaches that relate to interactions between the human and environmental spheres.

This course introduces the theory and practice of community leadership. Topics include basic leadership theories, models and frameworks including transformational leadership, transactional leadership, servant leadership, as well as contingent models of leadership. The course also covers concepts related to community leadership such as power, culture, and conflict in the community. Through this course, students develop critical competencies in leading and managing in the community such as influence and persuasion, negotiation, communication, empathy, and empowerment.

This is a special studies course with projects arranged between the student and faculty member. The specific topics of study vary each term and are described on a special study project form for each student. The number of units varies with the student's project, contact hours, and method of assessment, as defined on the student's special study project form.

This is an advanced course that is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. There are three versions of this course; this course, “GEOGRAPHY OF GLOBAL CHALLENGES,” UCEAP Course Number 177B and Bologna course number 95931, is associated with the LM in Local and Global Development degree programme. One of the other versions, “GEOGRAPHIES OF GLOBAL CHALLENGES,” UCEAP Course Number 177A and Bologna course number 81952, is associated with the LM in History and Oriental Studies degree programme. The final version “GEOGRAPHY OF DEVELOPMENT,” UCEAP Course Number 176 and Bologna course number 19695, is associated with the LM in Local and Global Development degree programme.
Climate change offers the opportunity for a multidisciplinary analysis. The course discusses various aspects of the topic through a primarily geographical approach. The course is structured into three parts. Part one introduces climate change as a global phenomenon, with its natural and anthropogenic root causes. Students discuss and reflect on the socio-spatial inequalities inherent in the climate crisis. Part two analyzes climate governance, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Post Kyoto adaptation and mitigation strategies. In addition to the policy-making process, the course critically examines theoretical frameworks of adaptation, notions of climate justice, and intersectional approaches to addressing the climate crisis and its colonial roots. Part three concerns climate change and mobility. The course examines the complex interconnections between climate change and (im)mobility. Empirical examples are drawn from the #ClimateOfChange [https://climateofchange.info/publications-press/] interdisciplinary research project to contextualize the climate crisis as it is manifested, resisted, and understood from diverse locations across the globe. At the end of the course students show understanding of some of the global challenges the population of the planet has been facing since the second half of the twentieth century. Among these, the critical relation with the natural resources and with the concept of development and, above all, climate change, with its connections to territorial development, ecological risk, food security, and the consumption of natural resources. At the end of the course, the students have acquired the theoretical and empirical tools to critically analyze the global strategies of climate resilience and cooperation and the relation between climate change and tourism.

Course goals

Please note: the information in the course manual is binding.

This course is developed as an integrative course that links to spatial planning, human geography (economic, social, spatial, and political aspects), sustainability, and other disciplines through addressing themes from each of these in the context of a large emerging and transforming country.

At the end of the course, participants are expected/able to:

• describe and understand the historical evolution of the country and the forces that have shaped its recent development;
• understand economic, political, social, and geographical transformation in China; 
• grasp regional and urban dynamics, development issues, and sustainability challenges in contemporary China;
• critically assess recent policies, governance changes, and planning transitions as a response to address the challenges;
• assess different discourses on the meanings for global and local development processes of China’s changing connections to and influence on the world.

Content

China’s rapid economic rise from the early 1980s has captured the world’s imagination. So does the profound social, cultural, and spatial transformation that the country has been undergoing and continues to undergo at an unprecedented scale. The latter is visible in every corner of the country, no matter how remote.

Rapid economic development has led to a number of sustainable challenges regarding environmental problems, issues of migrant integration, an aging population, and social inequality. Indeed, social, economic, and environmental sustainability and stability have come under pressure. It has been recognized that adjustment of the growth model - pursued by China’s leadership over the past decades - is imperative in order to not only sustain growth but also to achieve a broad-based increase in the standard of living and solve imbalances in development during the rapid urbanization process. In the meanwhile the main features of a new development model and path are clear. A range of reforms has been devised. What are the issues associated with the ‘old’ model of urbanization? What is the substance of the ‘new’ model of urbanization? What are the new institutional arrangements, governance models, planning practices, and social and environmental policies to address sustainability challenges? What outcomes are produced? 

Besides, China is increasingly manifesting itself in, and impacting, other regions on the globe through rapidly growing production, trade, investment, and people flows; its role in institutions of regional and global governance is changing. China going global and its growing impact (combined with the domestic issues) have given rise to substantial scientific discourse and public debate, in many parts of the world. What are the new foreign policy initiatives and how do they influence the world?

The course addresses the above questions. It starts by discussing the evolution of China and its historical development with a focus on the 19th and 20th centuries. Next, attention is given to the country's diversity, and the patterns of economic, social, and geographical transformation. Subsequently, the institutional forces, governance, and urban planning that have shaped China’s dynamics over the past decades are scrutinized. In this framework issues, unity focuses on the regional patterns of change, the position of ethnic minorities in the 'periphery', and the rural-urban divide; stability focuses on urbanization and unequal development, issues of migrant integration, and social and geographical fragmentation; and sustainability emphasizes on the aging population, energy issues, and environmental and social problems. It also discusses emerging planning practices and policies (e.g., collaborative planning/governance, smart /green city initiatives, sponge city, micro-regeneration) to address sustainability challenges.