Ateneo - UPO

This course analyses the complex relationships among economic structures, cultural processes, and the organization of contemporary territories. It examines the demographic, social, migratory, and gender mechanisms that shape population composition and influence geopolitical and local economic systems. Utilizing economic and cultural geography methodologies, the course provides the tools to interpret the distribution of productive activities, globalization, and the spatio-temporal transformations of cultural landscapes.

ATTENDING STUDENTS and NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS:
1) E-learning lessons and documents uploaded on DIR - digital teaching platform.
2) Greiner A.L., Dematteis G., Lanza C., Geografia umana. Un approccio visuale, Quarta edizione a cura di A. Vanolo, Torino, UTET Università; 2023.

The course aims to provide basic geographical knowledge, methodological and content-related, in preparation for the analysis and interpretation of spatial organization, as well as the conditions. In particular, it provides the essential principles of the systemic approach and the main theoretical and practical criteria to analyse and represent the Earth surface - and the regions in which it is articulated - as a product of human activity. The course also provides the basis to understand territorial organizations, at urban, regional and national levels, as well as the key interactions between the physical, social and economic environment, allowing interpreting geographic differentiation of the relationship between man and nature as an expression of different social relations. Finally, more tourist case studies are presented to link basic geographical knowledge and the competences of the degree course.
The course awards 6 CFU (ECTS), corresponding to a total workload of 150 hours: 45 hours are allocated to in-person educational activities, comprising both lecture-based instruction and interactive learning sessions; the remaining hours are dedicated to self-study, via independent review of the reference texts and materials provided on the DIR platform.

Basic geographical knowledge at the high-school level.

Teaching Methodologies:Lecture-based learning: supported by multimedia tools (PowerPoint presentations, audio, and video content)Case study analysis: examined in-depth through relevant documents, reports, and digital resourcesCollaborative learning: guided group discussions in the classroom to foster critical debateOnline learning (E-learning): interaction, material sharing, and discussions via the University's DIR online platform (Didattica In Rete)

Students with physical disabilities, Learning Disabilities or Special Education Needs can request specific services and tools via the Staff Sviluppo e Coordinamento Carriere e Servizi alle Studentesse e agli Studenti, consulting the University webpage: https://www.uniupo.it/en/services/servicesstudents- physical-or-learning-disabilities Students with disabilities, learning disabilities or special education needs, once they have contacted the University Staff, can refer to the tutor in charge of the course to define the examination modalities, concerning academic aspects.

The final assessment is based on a written exam: the examination takes a written format and covers all the educational content, study materials available on the course DIR platform, and the textbook.The written exam lasts approximately one hour and is divided into two parts:Multiple-choice questions: this section assesses the understanding of basic concepts covered during the course and accounts for 1/3 of the final grade.Open-ended questions: this section evaluates the student's critical thinking skills.An exam will be evaluated as excellent when it demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of the topics studied, a well-structured capacity for synthesis and analysis of the subject matter, a strong command of expression, and a solid ability to develop personal and critical insights into the issues discussed.An exam will be considered commendable if it shows a fair knowledge of the subject; it will be deemed sufficient if it reflects a minimal understanding of the syllabus and limited personal arguments. The exam will be judged insufficient if it reveals significant knowledge gaps and an inability to contextualize the content.

The course consists of two-hour lessons and covers the following topics: - basic concepts and main methods of geographical analysis
- the natural environment and its interactions with human activities
- population, mobility, and cultural phenomena
- the city: its definitions and functions
- the world system and processes of economic and social development
- the sectors of the economy: primary, secondary, and tertiary
- globalization. Integration of the gender dimension:
Some basic notions of gender geography will be introduced, understood both as a social category and as an expression of power relations underlying the construction and management of space.

The course provides:the basic geographic KNOWLEDGE to the analysis and interpretation of the territorial organization and to link of the relations between theoretical and practical criteria to analyse the space.The course provides the APPLYING KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING to understand the connections between the territorial organization (regional and national levels) and the social and economic environment. The inter-disciplinary skills concern to use the critical and methodological tools appropriate to the analysis of the texts considered.