Environmental Studies

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrolment is by permission of the instructor. At the end of the course the student is able to evaluate the scientific basis of Earth’s past climate system, identify past states of the climate system that offer the closest analogs to the climates of the coming decades, and appreciate the scientific context for the long view on a warming world, based on the recognition of natural, past climate variability rather than mathematical models of future potential scenarios. The course consists of two modules. Module I focuses on pre-Quaternary examples of global climate changes, including quantitative methods for the study of past global changes, examples of rapid climate changes in the geological past, and the relationships between geodynamics, paleogeography, and climate. Module II focuses on climate variability during the Quaternary (glacial and post-glacial), with emphasis on the high-resolution signature of climate change in the stratigraphic record on millennial to centennial timescales, from quantitative dating methods to climate proxies.

This is a challenging interdisciplinary first-year course, based on a series of high-profile, evening lectures given by prominent members of staff from the three Colleges. The course engages students in thinking about the global challenges that confront society, and makes them aware of the role of academic research and scholarship in meeting these challenges. Students are expected to address key global issues across discipline boundaries, and develop an understanding of the relevance and impact of their own subject in the broader context. Students in the course attend the public lectures, research the topics in depth, participate in facilitated group discussions on each topic, work in small groups to produce a collaborative project on a chosen topic, and produce an individual research report on an aspect which may be closer to their own subject area. Our Changing World is a pass/fail grade-only course.

This course provides an overview of natural hazards such as floods, severe storms, droughts, multi-hazard interrelationships, the perception of natural hazards, and the complex relationship that exists between natural hazards and society. Lectures on specific hazards are addressing the basic theory for the creation and/or existence of each hazards, along with an understanding of some of the primary and secondary effectives (both negative and positive) of each hazard, including case study examples. 

The course provides an introduction to the science of the natural environment and gives an overview of the processes that shape the evolution of our environment. Topics include (1) global cycles that operate in the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere, and the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, water, and energy; (2) natural hazards and their impacts on human society and how these are monitored, assessed, and mitigated; and (3) natural resources exploitation focused on water, minerals, and fossil fuels, and the environmental issues associated with their extraction and use.

From the first European measures to the European Green Deal, this course focuses on energy transition plans and strategies. To do so, it analyzes the stakes inherent to the multilevel governance of energy in the EU, between European objectives, national policy-making, and local implementation of energy infrastructures. Through this multi-scale approach to public policy, the course explores and compares the challenges raised by the regulation of different energy forms in various European countries. It tackles renewable energies such as wind power, fossil fuels such as shale gas, and provides an overview of European energy policy-making through national case studies.

This course focuses on the ability of green infrastructures to contribute to resource management, climate adaptation, and social-cultural performance of urbanized areas. The main focus of the course is on the freshwater cycle in urban settings and there is a special focus on adaptation to more extreme weather conditions, especially stormwater management and flood control. The interdisciplinary course, relevant for urban designers and planners as well as for agronomists, geographers, and biologists, encourages a transfer of scientific knowledge into new urban designs at multiple scales to increase sustainability and climate resilience. The course contains a number of lectures in which relevant knowledge from environmental chemistry, agronomy, climatology, and biology is presented. The lectures are supported by several exercises and study tours for a better understanding. By means of innovative learning methods, the theory is transferred to design criteria and specific design proposals.

This course explores the concept of sustainability. Topics include: crossroads of unsustainability; systemic thinking; poverty and inequality; socio-environmental conflicts; governance (tragedy) of the commons; institutions for sustainable development; education for sustainability; food systems; sustainable cities; new economies-- circular economy; ethics of care.

This course examines the ecology and conservation of shallow aquatic habitats, with a major emphasis on the ecology of marine coastal systems such as kelp forests, coral reefs or seagrass meadows but also including freshwater ecosystems. There is a very strong emphasis on experimental ecological analysis of benthic communities.

Many tools are available to governments, industry and citizens to help them make and implement good environmental management decisions. These include, for example, EIA, environmental risk management, environmental auditing and corporate reporting. This course focuses on the essential techniques and methods and outlines their application to resolving problems of sustainable development and investigates how these tools fit within legislative and institutional frameworks, and trends in the use of particular tools at project, local, regional, national and international scales.