Environmental Studies

This course explores theories and practices pertaining to urban sustainability, focusing on the fundamental issue that gives rise to the notion of sustainability—the integrity of the Earth's life-supporting system. It examines global and local environmental issues, as well as consequential socioeconomic problems, arising from urban development and continuous urban growth. It also explores existing and emerging approaches to urban sustainability. Throughout the course, students are challenged to contemplate on the core of the quest of urban sustainability—the relationship between humans and nature. Assessment: six in-class assignments (25%), two homework assignments (30%), one paper (25%), preparation and participation (20%).

This class focuses primarily on climate change and possible solutions such as systems for carbon removal and other types of fuels. It covers several topics including air pollution, gas emissions trends and sources, the integration of renewable energy systems, economics of climate change, and policies relating to climate change. The class explores how Germany and Europe could move towards net zero gas emissions, as well as any future likely scenarios and perspectives.

In this course, students are presented with a case study dealing with surface water that is suspected of being polluted. They are instructed in the composition of various environmental media, the nature of potential pollutants and guided through the selection of the media that need to be analyzed to identify the contaminants, sampling locations and the appropriate chemical analyses to address the problem posed. They then organize the collection of the relevant media (soil, water, etc.) and are trained in their chemical analyses in the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, School of Biology & Environmental Science. The results generated are analyzed with respect to available thresholds/regulations for the various contaminants and students write a report on the full investigation process.

This course examines perspectives and practices of ecological restoration in diverse ecosystems worldwide. 

This course discusses global environmental problems, with special attention to the Arctic, and international tensions that exist in the Arctic. Topics include: polar exploration; the Artic-- location and characteristics; climate change and its effects in the Arctic-- resource extraction and navigation of Arctic waters; Arctic states and the extension of their sovereignty over marine areas; Greenland and its historical and legal situation; the Arctic Council; indigenous peoples of the Arctic; the 2030 Agenda in the Arctic; security and defense; the EU; China; Arctic science as a tool for cooperation.

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 DEVELOPMENT,” UCEAP Course Number 176 and Bologna course number 19695, 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 GLOBAL CHALLENGES,” UCEAP Course Number 177B and Bologna course number 95931, 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.