Teaching Module (TM) - Workshop & Summer School (WSS) - Master (M)
City and Territory (TM)
City and Territory (TM)
The teaching block encourages a projectual stance that
requires specific attention to be paid to three significant dimensions:
The environmental dimension: The inseparability of city
and territory does not simply imply a spreading of the city onto the territory
but above all a dilation of inhabiting towards places that may be outside the
compact city but also convey the collective identity. The territory and its
environmental processes become a part of urban organisation.
The collective dimension: This is linked with the
project’s objectives, namely coherence with the expectations and aspirations of
local societies, and with recognition of the importance of the project as
cooperative action, unfolding both in the exploration of inhabitants’ aspirations
and in their involvement.
The dimension of openness to possibilities: This
requisite covers the need for the project to be built up not in a resolutive
way, but as a process that opens up different possibilities for future
generations, a requisite connected with the concept of reversibility.
Environmental and regional design studio (TM)
The course of "environmental and territorial project" is focus on issues that require a deepening of the relationship between architectural design and urban development processes.
The interdisciplinary approach is directed on building skills that relate to:
- the territorial and architecture project that is built through the interpretation of the ecological permissiveness of "sensitive" landscapes,
- the dynamics and strategies of the urban and territorial organization of the city;
- the transformation of landscapes that represent significant places of the contemporary city
- the programs that considers the territory/landscape as the center of the environmental and cultural future of the city.
The student will be able to problematize the practice of architectural design by reference to the problem of objectivity and realism of the theories of models and explanations (especially as regards the analysis which accompanies the project) and to the problem of meaning (in reference to the question of meanings objectively identifiable in architectural communication)
The aim is the management of urban processes involved by interactions between environmental dynamics and settlement. This interactions have strong roots in the project that is sensitive to the tradition, but it is above all a tool for innovation because it can generate new landscapes that respond to new conditions requested by the contemporary world.
The territory and its landscapes recall the need for new actions that activate environmental policies no longer linked to an attitude only regulative, but based on selective elements that interact with the dynamics of the environment, actions supported by communicative and dialogic approaches involving social rationality and ethical responsibility of the designer.
The interdisciplinary training is directed on skills that relate to: the interpretation of the ecological dynamics of the "sensitive" landscapes, the dynamics and the urban strategies and territorial organization of the city; the design of actions to transform the landscapes that represent significant places of the contemporary city; the public policies that will highlight the landscape as the cultural center for the future of the city.
The thesis laboratory deals with the theme of the
architecture project in connection with the more general project for the city
on the territory. This work has an environmental tendency of the project for
architectural space in the background whereby the concept of environment is not
limited just to natural aspects but refers to the density of nature and history
of the places representing the meaningful context of the project.
The laboratory proposes some fundamental themes that are
currently of great interest, not just for the regional territory. Possible
contexts are suggested for each theme. Other themes may be chosen by the
student, coherent with activities carried out and places visited during their
placement. The following are some examples of themes developed:
- Projects for reorganising public spaces in edge areas of urban centres or external territories
- Projects for urban redevelopment of tourist-residence nuclei in coastal zones
- Projects for urban reconversion of historic sites and abandoned mining areas
- Projects for constructing urban perspectives for park areas.
The International Master Course in Waterscape. Designing settlements for sustainable coastal territories is organized jointly by the École d’Architecture Faculté d’Aménagement, d’Architecture, d'Art et Design Université Laval , Québec and the University of Sassari - Department of Architecture Planning and Design (DADU) - Italy
The aims of the Master is to generate interdisciplinary knowledge and skillsregarding various forms of waterscapes: coastal territories, ecosystems,interfaces between sea and land, small and bigger lakes, lagoons, wetlands, etc.
The Master training will touch upon:
- the regeneration of existing landscapes
- planning of new urban settlement, and new architectural expression in territories and ecosystems characterized by the presence of water
- sustainable planning
- organization of policies for territorial management in coastal areas
Building the landscape. Environmental risks and river contracts
The International Master Course "Building the landscape. Environmental risks and river contracts" is organized by the University of Sassari - Department of Architecture Planning and Design (DADU) - Italy in collaboration with partners such as the General Directorate of the Regional Agency of the Hydrographic District of the Sardinia region, the Interreg Maritime IT-FR RESEAU project, and the National River Contracts Table.
The university Master's degree aims to train and update experts and designers of the territory and landscape capable of operating through new integrated and interdisciplinary approaches to planning and design, development, and sustainable management of the territory, with adequate predictive capacity and consequent programming of the ecological transition.
The interdisciplinary training activities of the Master's degree enable the design-based approach to address the vulnerabilities of habitable spaces at the territorial, urban, and architectural scales. The issue of territory safety, according to the approach outlined by Directive 2007/60/EC, should be pursued not only through the implementation of infrastructural works but also through non-structural and prevention actions, operations for the renaturalization of watercourses, integrated relocation of elements at risk, with a medium and long-term perspective. The need to adopt new design approaches for adaptation to climate change and extreme events arises from the urgent need to increase the safety of territories and cities and create new opportunities to rethink and redesign safe urban spaces.
In this context, river contracts represent innovative forms of project planning that can activate virtuous processes and strategic alliances among various actors, both public and private. The objective is to make different professional skills adequate in the face of the need to prepare territories and cities for problems related to climate change.
The Master's degree mobilizes consolidated and innovative interdisciplinary skills that respond to the necessity of designing urban territories today to be ready to accommodate the effects of current and future climate changes. This challenge forms the basis of online theoretical lessons and in-person design workshops that involve various figures in an interdisciplinary and specialized process capable of addressing the design of new urban landscapes from an adaptation perspective.
The knowledge acquired through the Master's degree allows for the deepening of professional skills in relation to the ability to:
- Operate in forecasting situations related to the environmental risk scenarios of territories, plan and implement civil protection projects and programs.
- Outline regulatory tools and approaches related to river contracts for managing the complex problems of risk territories and the active collaboration of different actors.
- Design structural and non-structural prevention actions to reduce environmental vulnerabilities and prevent damages resulting from calamitous events.
- Plan urban planning and land management tools, design action plans with innovative approaches related to adaptation and process-oriented approaches.
- Work in interdisciplinary teams, expanding the range of experiences on river contracts gained from the comparison with other contexts.
