Corso di Laurea Magistrale Interateneo in Geografia e Scienze Territoriali (LM-80)

Analytical and policy tools for urban and regional systems

Anno accademico 2017/2018

Sommario insegnamento

• Obiettivi formativi
• Risultati dell'apprendimento attesi
• Modalità di insegnamento
• Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento
• Attività di supporto
• Programma
• Testi consigliati e bibliografia
• Strumenti didattici

Obiettivi formativi

- Consolidating the basic knowledge previoulsy acquired in the Economic
geography courses
- In-depth knowledge of the urban and regional dimension as  - intertwined - spatial scales for the analysed
processes and as operational contexts for actors and institutions
- Acquiring competences on  urband and regional development policies carried out by States,
European and regional(local institutions.

Risultati dell'apprendimento attesi

1) Knowledge and understanding abilities.

Students should acquire the key-concepts of the regional geographical analysis:
i) the different definitions of 'region';
ii) the regional imbalances and the relate theoretical explanations;
iii) the relationships between regional theories and representations and the
intervention tools for the socio-economic development;
iv) the 'artificial' nature of regional boundaries and the role of regions as both
spaces for policies and actors of policies.

2) Capabilities to apply knowledge and understanding

Students should be able to interpret the development/underdevelopment processes
applying the conceptual cathegories learned in class, identifying the territorial
dynamics drivers as first elements of assessment for defining consistent territorial
policies.

3) Capabilities to approach the subject in a critical manner

Students should be requested to do in-depths about specific topics, in order to
assess their capability of autonomous elaboration.

4) Communication abilities

Students should manage the technical language and be able to present the core
elements of the discipline in a clear and mature manner. Further personal in-depths
will be discussed in devoted seminars, in which students should publicly shown their
communication abilities.

5) Learning abilities

Students should be able to intepret economic processes unfolding within the
spatial dimension, connecting each other the different institutional, social and
material factors affecting the levels of development.

Modalità di insegnamento

The course will be delivered as a mix of face-to-face lessons and periodical seminars devoted to a collective discussion of the issues raised during the classes and further in-depth through reading assigned to the students.

Modalità di verifica dell'apprendimento

Students will be assessed according to the outcomes of the seminars. The final mark will be the average grade of the various seminars.

Attività di supporto

A certain amount of the hours will be devoted to the Geographical Informations Sistems' learning, using the Q-GIS open source software, in collaboration with the LaRTU (Laboratory of Urban and Territorial Representations), DIST, University and Politecnico of Turin.

Programma

The concept of ‘region’ has longtime played a central role in the geographical
discourses , especially in the geographical analysis of economic development.
In conventional analytical schemes, each geographical region is ‘contained’ in a
pertinent territorial scale which includes other geographically ‘smaller’ scales– e.g.
the urban one – and it is ‘contained’ in superior scales – national and global ones.
The complex integration between local and global, induced by the enlargement of
economic relationships, the markets integration and the intercultural dynamism,
undermines this mechanical vision of the relationships between spatial structures
and scales.
After providing the students with some basic definitions concerning the different
kinds of region – natural, economic, functional, etc. – and some keys to the reading
of the re-scaling process engendered by the globalization, the course will focus on
the ties among regional structures, development/underdevelopment processes and
the ‘regional Renaissance’ occurred since the Nineties of the last century.
Furthermore, we illustrate some elements of the recent debate on the territorial vs
relational approach in regional geography.
These different perspectives, focused on the emergence of a development
paradigm known as 'New Regionalism' and the critique to it, allow to introduce
theories and experiences of local and regional planning which will be treated in the
more advanced courses.
Programme
Introduction
Concepts of ‘region’:
- The natural region
- The anthropic region
- The functional region
- The political region

The development/underdevelopment dialectics:
- Structuralist theories
- The Myrdal’s model of cumulative and circular causation
- The neo-Marxist theories
Regions and development policies:
- The polarised region: the development poles à la Perroux
- The Marshallian industrial district: theoretical definition and examples
- The learning region: neo-institutionalist foundations and examples
- The region as a social construct: the territorial local system theory and examples
Regions and Regionalism:
- The Regionalism in the European history
- The three 'crisis' in Nation-state/regionalism relationships
- The three driving forces of New Regionalism

Pike A., Rodríguez-Pose A.,Tomaney J. (eds.) (2010), Handbook of local and regional development , Abingdon: Routledge:

Section I: all;

Section II: 8;

Section III: 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19;

Section IV: all;

Section V: 28, 29, 32, 34, 38, 39.

Agnew J., Mitchell K., Toal G.  (eds. )(2003), A Companion to Political Geography, Oxford: Blackwell,  8 (Territory) e 11 (Place)

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