59239 - Sociology of Territory

Learning outcomes

The aims of this course is showing the connections between social system and territory (natural and cultural resources, production system, communication and transport infrastructures, settlement processes). Students will be able to individuate the factors which change the equilibrium between human society, settlement forms and territorial relations. At the end of the course, students will also be able to individuate territorial problems as well as to define methodological tools and research steps to focus on them.

Course contents

In the first part of the course (30 hours), a general framework of the discipline will be given, with attention to some frequent concepts (in particular: space/place, ecological analysis) and some frequent and/or recent topics (in particular: housing, tourism, public space, mobility/accessibility, sprawl/suburbanizationquality of life). 

In the second part (30 hours), the aim is showing some examples of territorial studies in the national and international debate. For this reason, some Italian studies will be presented with particular attention to the Bologna metropolitan area, and also a study on a neighborhood in Boston. In this part of the course, the presentations of the team works will be scheduled too (see the section "Assessment methods" for further details).

 

Tutorial course

The tutorial course includes 8 online meetings via Teams, Mondays from 5pm to 7pm starting from February 26th. Participating students are asked to interact with their PCs, laptops or tablets connected home together with the tutor; however, simple viewing/listening is also permitted.

Students who intend to work in sync with Google My Maps files must necessarily have a Google e-mail account. Furthermore, a registration on a Google Form is requested (the link will be provided at the first lesson of the course on February 20th).

The aim of the tutorial course is to provide a basic knowledge in the potential of the web services offered by Google Ltd, namely Google My Map and the ESRI-G.I.S IBM-SPSS. Some possible research topics will be chosen, such as: the city and urban parks, the city and sports facilities, the city and commercial and industrial areas, dimension of the lived territorial area compared to the legal one, the city and the local tourist vocation.

After the thematic data collection session on Google My Maps, some simple analysis will be done on SPSS 25.0 to check some indexes, ratios and correlation coefficients.

Readings/Bibliography

Compulsory texts for the exam

For the part one:

G. Nuvolati, M. D'Ovidio (a cura di), Temi e metodi per la sociologia del territorio, Utet Università, Milano, 2022.

For the part two:

M. Bergamaschi, A. Lomonaco (a cura di), Esplorare il territorio. Linee di ricerca socio-spaziale, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2022 (open access available on the FrancoAngeli website).

M.L. Small, Villa Victoria. Povertà e capitale sociale in un quartiere di Boston, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2011.

NB: the third textbook can be changed with teaworks presented by groups of 4-5 students and selected by the teacher on research topics of contemporary sociology of territory.

Teaching methods

The course is based on lectures and seminars with guests. It also   includes the use of Powerpoint slides as well as videos that will be discussed at class.

Assessment methods

The assessment will focus on the critical and methodological skills acquired by students and their ability to confront the texts and topics dealt with during the course.

For students attending classes, assessment will be done through two parts:

- the written part will consist on two exams with three-four open questions (60 minutes): the first one (a midterm test) will focus on the book Temi e metodi di sociologia del territorio plus eventual material uploaded on Virtuale, the second one (at the end of the course) on the book Esplorare il territorio plus eventual material uploaded on Virtuale. Each part will receive a note from 0 to 30. Students who do not pass one or both midterms will have to repeat it/them through an oral talk in one of the ordinary exam sessions after the end of the course (by September 2024).

- the oral part will consist on the book Villa Victoria in one of the exams after the end of the course (by September 2024). This part can be changed with the presentation at class of  teamworks (4-5 students). The research topics will be decided with the teacher in the first part of the course. This part will receive a note from 0 to 30. The final note will be the average between this one and the notes obtained in the two midterm exams.

The exam is based on the topics presented at class. Therefore, any aspects of the textbooks not considered at class will not be asked and, vice versa, examples or other contents presented at class and not in the textbooks may be requested.

A lesson by the end of  February 2024 will be focused on teamworks. The groups must be formed directly by the students and communicated to the teacher by March 15 by e-mail, together with an abstract (1.500 -2500 characters including spaces) about the topic of the presentation, the research aim, the specific link with the course contents/concepts, the eventual research tools and three bibliographical/web references. The work will be presented in one of the lessons between the end of April and the beginning of May 2024 (20 minutes for each group). All students in the group must be present and they are requested to make a part of the presentation. The slides used for the presentation (Powerpoint or Pdf format) will be given to the teacher who will upload them on Virtuale to make them available to all the other students.

NB: If the average note results with decimals, it is rounded upwards (Example: 27.5 becomes 28).

For who are not doing the midterm exams, assessment of learning will take place through an oral exam about the material mentioned in the section "Readings/Bibliography". Talks will take place during the exams after the end of the course. As regards students attending classes, however, please see the clarifications above for the topics of the talk.

 

Tutorial course

The participation of students will be evaluated through the number of meetings attended and the work carried out on the Google file. A bonus of maximum 2 points will be given to be added to the note of the course exam.

 

Office hours

See the website of Gabriele Manella