Environmental Studies

This course explores the relationship between ecology and cultural processes. It examines various current ecological issues, from an anthropological perspective. This course also discusses means of subsistence, sustainable development, land management, and conservation.

What can individual citizens contribute to making cities greener and more ecological? Will a concept of a climate‐friendly and healthy city grow over this ‐ in the truest sense of the word? And how specifically can urban and private areas be gardened? What are private and municipal strategies for dealing with urban gardens and their implementation? What are the costs to cities of private urban gardening? Which horticultural and which structural engineering aspects have to be considered? Which psychological and healthy effects does a green city have on its inhabitants? What kind of biodiversity exists in green cities? These questions form the thematic framework of this course. The questions are dealt with and answered within an interdisciplinary framework.

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, “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. One of the other versions, “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. 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.

This course covers the history of international environmental politics and examines various approaches, actors, and aspects of environmental politics. While in-class discussions focus on climate change, students work in groups to apply the concepts and approaches discussed in class to specific environmental problems, such as biodiversity loss, marine plastic pollution, or deforestation and desertification. This course is a partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI), St. Augustine Campus. All students have access to material from Sciences Po and UWI. Additionally, some students complete their coursework with peers from UWI.

Located within one of the global centers of biodiversity, Singapore is endowed with a rich natural heritage that is impacted by expanding urbanization. Development poses a great challenge to nature conservation and Singapore is an excellent model to study how a balance can be achieved. This course introduces the country's natural heritage, its historical, scientific and potential economic value; provides the opportunity to explore important habitats, and to think critically about the issues of sustainable development and the nation's responsibility to posterity and to regional and international conventions related to biodiversity conservation. Field practicals form the main component of the course and double-up effectively as tutorials. Guest speakers provide further enrichment on the challenges of conservation management in a densely-populated and highly urbanized city state. 

Cultures influence how sustainability issues are viewed and addressed in different contexts and situations. They determine the ways in which environmental, social, and economic considerations connect to sustainability and sustainable urban development. Success in our global sustainability efforts depends on our understanding of the underlying cultures and the connections between them, particularly in the face of urbanization. This coursre raises awareness of these issues and equips students with the critical thinking and collaborative decision-making skills necessary to find solutions to local and global problems of societal concern. Appropriate cross-cultural case studies will be discussed.