60
Urban Studies
REGGIO DI CALABRIA
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
In order to achieve the expected results for the course program and the proposed experimentation, the didactic offer divided into the different activities pursues the following training objectives
- Qualifying educational objectives: make students able to interpret the complex dynamics of change underlying the transition processes of the city and the territory and to understand how to manage them through the theories and tools of urban planning discipline (urban regeneration) and know the fundamentals of new technologies and new approaches for their understanding
- Specific educational objectives (with reference to the course/workshop theme): With respect to the course themes, the specific educational objectives refer to: 1) the understanding of the theoretical-conceptual aspects related to the transition according to the perspective of urban planning and design; 2) the understanding of the methodological-operational approaches of the transition processes through urban regeneration; 3) the acquisition of basic knowledge related to data-driven approaches to planning (open-innovation, urban informatics)
Course Prerequisites
None
Teaching Methods
COURSE STRUCTURE AND TEACHING
Lessons: (classroom hours/year): 40
Exercises: (classroom hours/year): 5
Practical activities: (classroom hours/year): 15
Training calendar
Module I - The new challenges of urban planning in the era of transition (February - March 2024)
- Week 1 (September 2025): Presentation of the course, introduction to the topics, structure of the course and methods of carrying out the activities in relation to the objectives;
- Week 2 (October 2025): Complexity and Transition. The city as a complex adaptive system and the new challenges of urban planning
- Week 3 (October 2025): Evolution of urban policies and planning tools and their current characterization on the principles of transition
- Week 4 (October 2025): Operational approaches for the urban transition between policies and plans
Module II – The new drivers of Urban Regeneration for the transition: strategic and operational approaches (March – April 2024)
- Week 5 (October 2025): Urban regeneration: theoretical-conceptual aspects, policies and plans
- Week 6 (October 2024): The new drivers of urban regeneration: ecosystem services, Enabling Technologies (Kets) and social inclusion
- Week 7 (November 2025): Urban regeneration in technical-normative approaches: town planning laws, urban plans and implementing tools
- Week 8 (November 2025): Urban regeneration experiences for the transition
Module III - Urban informatics: data-driven approaches for urban planning and design (April - May 2024)
- Week 9 (November 2025): Urban Informatics: introduction
- Week 10 (November 2025): Data as a new infrastructure, risks and opportunities
- Week 11 (December 2025): Cities and digital transformation processes between planning and governance: National and international experiences, The Open-Innovation approach and Smart Cities
Additional Seminars on specific/related topics could be delivered during the course
AUTONOMOUS LEARNING OF THE STUDENT
1 credit = 25 hours (10 hours frontal/15 by the student*)
- In-depth analysis/study on bibliography (theoretical part): 45 hours to consolidate the knowledge related to the theoretical-conceptual and methodological-operational aspects
- Test preparation (experimentation): 20 hours for the self-assessment of acquired knowledge aimed at preparing for tests
- Exam preparation: 25 hours to prepare for the final exam
Assessment Methods
Assessment Methods
The learning assessment methods consist of an intermediate assessment, a Final Workshop and the final exam. In particular:
- 1_An intermediate check (midterm) on the program of lectures and seminars is foreseen (October 2025). The verification consists of a presentation (power point) by the students to verify their understanding of the topics covered. The material must be delivered during the final exam
- 2 _Final exam – Final Review/WORKSHOP: the final exam consists in the preparation and presentation of a project linked to the themes of the course and the verification of the theoretical part and the arguments discussed during the course
Method of carrying out the exam: Theory and Practice
The exam will consist of an oral interview on the topics covered in the lessons and on the illustration and discussion of the experimental activities material developed during the course (including intermediate deliveries). The material produced during the experimentation activity must be delivered during the final exam and will be subject to evaluation.
The project can be elaborated individually or in groups (maximum four-five people) and its progress will be discussed through collective and individual reviews, intermediate checks and seminars which will regularly mark the course activity.
The student will have to carry out, outside the hours of frontal teaching, further in-depth studies concerning the topics covered by the frontal lessons/seminars and deepen the contents of the experimentation activity.
The assessment during the final exam will refer to: attendance; knowledge of the topics covered, ability to exhibit with language properties and critically re-elaborate the various topics; quality and pertinence of the proposed project contents; graphics quality; presentation and organization of work.
Presence is mandatory (art. 14 CdS Regulation)
Texts
Reference Textbooks
- Alberti M., McPhearson T., Gonzalez A, Chapter 2: - Embracing Urban Complexity
- Liliia Hrytsai, The Evolution of the European Union Urban Agenda: A Hard Path Towards a City-Oriented Policy?
- Peter Roberts, Hugh Sykes, Rachel Granger. Urban Regeneration
- Rob Kitchin . What makes Big Data, Big Data? Exploring the ontological characteristics of 26 datasets
- Chris Couch, Charles Fraser, Susan Percy, Urban Regeneration in Europe, Wiley, 2003
- Gaeta L, Janin Rivolin U. et Mazza L., Governo del territorio e pianificazione spaziale, Città Studi Edizioni, Milano,
- Pier Carlo Palermo, Il futuro dell’urbanistica post-riformista. Carocci Editore, 2022
- Ombuen, S., Ricci, M., Segnalini, O., I Programmi Complessi. Innovazione e Piano nell’Europa delle Regioni. Il sole 24 ore – Gestione del Territorio, 2000
- Sukhdev, P. et al. (2013) Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services: Challenges and Opportunities A Global Assessment
- O’Brien, D. (2022), Urban Informatics: Using Big Data to Understand and Serve Communities
- Moraci F., Welfare e Governance Urbana. Nuovi indirizzi per il soddisfacimento della domanda di servizi. Officina Edizioni, Roma, 2003 (some parts)
- Moraci F. e Bevilacqua C., Strategie di Città. La riorganizzazione dell’offerta dei servizi nei processi di trasformazione, Officina edizioni, Roma, 2007 (some parts
- Moraci F. e Bevilacqua C., I luoghi della competitività. Contesti locali e strategie urbane e territoriali (some parts)
Web references;
https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/driving-urban-transitions-to-a-sustainable-future-dut/
https://habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda/
https://civicdatadesignlab.mit.edu
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/casa/bartlett-centre-advanced-spatial-analysis
Other material will be provided during the course
Contents
DESCRIPTION
The course intends to provide students with the basic knowledge on the issues of urban transition, urban regeneration and urban informatics, for the planning and design of urban transformations in response to the complexity of the current socio-ecological, socio-technological and socio-economic dynamics related to the quality of life and the basis of the processes of change. The specific objective, in line with the contents of CEAR-12/B (ex SSD ICAR/21), is the integration of knowledge in the field of the city and the territory aimed at the urban planning and design process. This objective is in line with the training course that relates Architecture, City and Territory (art. 5 CdS Reg.), providing "adequate knowledge of urban planning, planning and techniques applied in the planning process" (art.2 CdS Reg. ) through the deepening of the theoretical and methodological aspects underlying the urban transition processes and their management through urban planning and design, approaches and tools useful for the management of the transition through urban regeneration, data-driven approaches related to new technologies (big data and cities) and planning (open innovation/urban informatics).
The course pays particular attention to the complexity of the challenges affecting the city and the territory in a political-programmatic framework centered on the transition towards sustainability and resilience and the ability of urban planning to manage this complexity. The main theme of the course will be that of the transition (ecological, digital, inclusive) of the city and its management from the point of view of urban planning/design through urban regeneration supported by data-driven approaches that materialize in urban informatics thanks to his ability to use technologies and tools useful for understanding the dynamics of the transition.
The course programme transfers the research activities carried out within the framework of the PLANET Research Project (Planning ecosystem services for cities in transition), funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), Mission 4 Component 2 – Investment 1.2 – Young Researcher Call, for which the instructor serves as the principal investigator
COURSE PROGRAMME
The course is grounded on three interconnected modules:
Module I - The new challenges of urban planning in the era of transition
The first theme highlights the new challenges for urban planning in the era of transition, tracing the evolution of urban planning policies and tools to arrive at their characterization on the drivers of the transition (ecological, digital and inclusive) which become the new strategic elements of development for urban transformation processes and which find in urban regeneration the ideal development context both from a strategic and operational point of view.
Module II – Urban Regeneration.
The second theme is oriented towards understanding the characterization of urban planning policies and tools according to the strategic and operational approach of urban regeneration, which thanks to its multidimensionality and the adaptive capacity of its strategic and operational development drivers, becomes central element for managing the complexity of the ecological, digital and inclusive transition of cities and territories.
Module III – Urban Informatics.
The third theme is oriented towards the knowledge of digital transformation processes useful for understanding the phenomena in progress and aimed at defining data-driven planning methods for the transition. In this module, the approaches and tools useful for characterizing the response to the dynamics of change within urban planning tools will be explored thanks to data-driven approaches deriving from the development of new technologies.
During the course, an urban planning and design experiment will be proposed, starting from the basic concepts of the urban informatics approach. Students will be required to analyze data (from open data portals developed by public administrations/cities), visualize and transform it—using new digital tools and technologies (big data and cities)—into information that can support urban planning and design processes for the transition, through the development of an urban regeneration initiative.
EXPECTED RESULTS
The expected results of the course in terms of knowledge acquisition by the student (Dublin Descriptors), are related to the main theoretical-conceptual and methodological-operational elements for understanding the dynamics related to the transition and their management through planning and data-driven urban planning focused on urban regeneration.
In particular:
- Knowledge and understanding: knowledge and understanding of issues related to the dynamics of transition according to the perspective of urban planning and design
- Applied knowledge and understanding: ability to apply acquired knowledge and ability to understand the complexity of the topics covered for critical reading and interpretation useful for developing innovative ideas for solving problems to be faced in the field of urban planning and design for transition ;
- Making judgements: ability to collect and interpret data deemed useful to determine autonomous judgments, including reflection on related social, scientific or ethical issues
- Communication skills: able to communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to specialist and non-specialist interlocutors, also through the use of new digital technologies
- Learning skills: have developed those learning skills that are necessary for them to undertake further studies on the topics of urban planning and design with a high degree of autonomy.