J reading 2 2016 unico by AIIG

Associate Editors: Cristiano Giorda (Italy), Cristiano Pesaresi (Italy), Joseph Stoltman (USA), Sirpa Tani (Finland)

J - READING JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND DIDACTICS IN GEOGRAPHY

Scientific Committee: Eyüp Artvinli (Turkey), Caterina Barilaro (Italy), Giuliano Bellezza (Italy), Tine Béneker (Netherlands), Andrea Bissanti (Italy), Gabriel Bladh (Sweden), Carlo Blasi (Italy), He Canfei (China), Laura Cassi (Italy), Raffaele Cattedra (Italy), Claudio Cerreti (Italy), Giorgio Chiosso (Italy), Sergio Conti (Italy), Egidio Dansero (Italy), Martin R. Degg (UK), Giuseppe Dematteis (Italy), Karl Donert (UK), Pierpaolo Faggi (Italy), Franco Farinelli (Italy), Maurizio Fea (Italy), Maria Fiori (Italy), Hartwig Haubrich (Germany), Vladimir Kolosov (Russian Federation), John Lidstone (Australia), Svetlana Malkhazova (Russian Federation), Jerry Mitchell (USA), Josè Enrique Novoa-Jerez (Chile), Wiktor Osuch (Poland), Daniela Pasquinelli d’Allegra (Italy), Petros Petsimeris (France), Bruno Ratti (Italy), Roberto Scandone (Italy), Giuseppe Scanu (Italy), Lidia Scarpelli (Italy), Rana P.B. Singh (India), Claudio Smiraglia (Italy), Michael Solem (USA), Hiroshi Tanabe (Japan), Angelo Turco (Italy), Joop van der Schee (Netherlands), Isa Varraso (Italy), Bruno Vecchio (Italy), Han Zeng Lin (China), Tanga Pierre Zoungrana (Burkina Faso). Secretary of coordination: Marco Maggioli (Italy) and Massimiliano Tabusi (Italy) Editorial Board: Riccardo Morri (Chief), Sandra Leonardi (Assistant Chief), Victoria Bailes, Daniela De Vecchis, Diego Gallinelli, Assunta Giglio, Daniele Ietri

Dipartimento di Scienze documentarie, linguistico - filologiche e geografiche

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND DIDACTICS IN

GEOGRAPHY

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Sponsoring Organizations:

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2016

GEOGRAPHY JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND DIDACTICS IN

Vol. 2, Year 5, December 2016

Editor in Chief: Gino De Vecchis (Italy)

9788868127800_152_LM_1

J - READING

ITALIAN ASSOCIATION OF GEOGRAPHY TEACHERS (ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA INSEGNANTI DI GEOGRAFIA)

ISSN online 2281-5694 ISSN print 2281-4310

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), Vol. 2, Year 5, December, 2016

J-Reading is an open online magazine and therefore access is free. It is however possible to make a subscription to receive the paper format

J-Reading has been awarded “Class A” by National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System and Academic Research, placing it at the top of the Italian ranking of Scientific Journals

Each Author shall be accountable for the entire content or parts thereof of the articles submitted to J-Reading

Contents 2016 International Charter on Geographical Education Joop van der Schee

Sustainability and Geography Education Guy Mercier

Le répertoire sémantique du mot paysage Tu Lan, Christian Sellar, Shuang Cheng

The transnational investment promotion community between Italy and China: an example of post Washington consensus neoliberalism Timothy Tambassi

Rethinking Geo-Ontologies from a Philosophical Point of View Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

Preparing and debriefing geography fieldwork: a scenario for open classroom dialogue around a core curriculum Ferrara Graziella, Francisco Ebeling Barros

Technology clusters: A cross-national analysis of geographical differences

5 11 19 35

51 63

THE LANGUAGE OF IMAGES (Edited by Elisa Bignante and Marco Maggioli) Matteo Puttilli, Raffaele Cattedra, M’Hammed Idrissi Janati, Rosi Giua

Youth geographies of everyday life. Methodological notes from a project of photographic storytelling in Fez MAPPING SOCIETIES (Edited by Edoardo Boria) Sara Luchetta

Teaching geography with literary mapping: A didactic experiment

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES AND (PRACTICAL) CONSIDERATIONS Monica De Filpo

“Defend this little planet called Earth. Human rights and environmental safeguard”, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. Rome, 6th June 2016 REFERRED

113

PAPERS FOR REMOTE SENSING (Edited by Alberto Baroni and

Maurizio Fea) Maurizio Fea, Gino De Vecchis, Cristiano Pesaresi

Remote sensing and interdisciplinary approach for studying Dubai’s urban context and development

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Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 5, Dec., 2016, pp. 5-10

2016 International Charter on Geographical Education The “2016 International Charter on Geographical Education” represents a precious document for J-Reading and the Italian Association of Geography Teachers, by way of the considerations and input regarding the contribution of geography to education and research, international cooperation and future planning. For this reason J-Reading has decided to give great importance to the “Charter”, reproducing the whole document, in order to open a multi-faceted, critical reflection on these issues. The main aim is to provide a concrete contribution to the international debate aimed at social utility, geographical analysis, didactics and the improvement of the geographical image, with its methodologies and tools, in an interdisciplinary perspective too.

1. The Proclamation In 1992, the International Charter on Geographical Education was endorsed by the General Assembly of the International Geographical Union at the 27th International Geographical Congress in Washington D.C., U.S.A. (www.igu-cge.org). The proclamation in the 1992 Charter is still a very important basis for Geography Education in the 21st century. The 1992 Charter proclaims that the Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union is: Convinced that geographical education is indispensable to the development of responsible and active citizens in the present and future world, Conscious that geography can be an informing, enabling and stimulating subject at all levels in education, and contributes to a lifelong enjoyment and understanding of our world, Aware that students require increasing international competence in order to ensure effective cooperation on a broad range of economic, political, cultural and environmental issues in a shrinking world, Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Concerned that geographical education is neglected in some parts of the world, and lacks structure and coherence in others, Ready to assist colleagues in counteracting geographical illiteracy in all countries of the world, and Supportive of the principles set out in: • the Charter of the United Nations; • the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; • the Constitution of UNESCO; • the UNESCO Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Cooperation and Peace; • the Declaration on the Rights of the Child; • the UN Sustainable Development Goals; and • many national curricula and statements on geographical education. The Commission commends the International Charter on Geographical Education to all people of the world. In subsequent years, the Commission on Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Geographical Education, on behalf of the International Geographical Union, published further Declarations as follows: The International Declaration on Geographical Education for Cultural Diversity, which was proclaimed at the 29th Geographical Congress held in Seoul, South Korea in August 2000. The Lucerne Declaration on Geography Education for Sustainable Development, which was proclaimed at the IGU-CGE Regional Symposium in Lucerne Switzerland in July 2007. The International Declaration on Research in Geography Education, which was proclaimed at the IGU Regional Conference held in Moscow, Russia in August 2015. Since 1992 the world has continued to change and with it the discipline of geography and geographical education have continued to develop. Therefore the Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union has drafted a new Charter. Compared with 1992 this new Charter is more concise and now includes an Action Plan. Geography educators seeking more detail are advised to consult the 1992 Charter and the Declarations and literature identified on the website of the Commission on Geographical education (www.igu-cge.org).

2. Affirmations The 2016 Charter affirms the proclamations of its antecedents and asserts that: • Geography is the study of Earth and its natural and human environments. Geography enables the study of human activities and their interrelationships and interactions with environments from local to global scales; • While geography often bridges natural and social sciences, it is pre-eminently the discipline that deals with spatial variability, i.e. that phenomena, events and processes vary within and between places and therefore should be regarded as an essential part of the education of all citizens in all societies; • Geographical education is neglected in some Copyright© Nuova Cultura

parts of the world, and lacks structure and support in others. This 2016 Charter specifically addresses policy makers, education leaders, curriculum planners, and geography educators in all nations and jurisdictions of the world to help to ensure that all people receive an effective and worthwhile geographical education, and to help geography educators everywhere to counteract geographical illiteracy.

3. The Contribution of Geography to Education When taught effectively, the study of geography can fascinate and inspire people. Ensuring the quality of geography in schools is, consequently, an essential duty of policy makers and education leaders internationally. Whether it is through appreciating the beauty of Earth, the immense power of Earth-shaping forces or the often ingenious ways in which people create their living in different environments and circumstances, studying geography helps people to understand and appreciate how places and landscapes are formed, how people and environments interact, the consequences that arise from our everyday spatial decisions, and Earth’s diverse and interconnected mosaic of cultures and societies. Geography is therefore a vital subject and resource for 21st century citizens living in a tightly interconnected world. It enables us to face questions of what it means to live sustainably in this world. Geographically educated individuals understand human relationships and their responsibilities to both the natural environment and to others. Geographical education helps people to learn how to exist harmoniously with all living species. Geographical investigation both satisfies and nourishes curiosity. Geographical perspectives help deepen understanding of many contemporary challenges such as climate change, food security, energy choices, overexploitation of Italian Association of Geography Teachers

natural resources and urbanization. Teaching geography serves several vital educational goals. Building on people’s own experiences, learning geography helps them to formulate questions, develop their intellectual skills and respond to issues affecting their lives. It introduces them not only to key 21st century skills but also to distinctive investigative tools such as maps, fieldwork and the use of powerful digital communication technologies such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

4. Research in Geographical Education Geographical education is vital to equip the next generation of people with the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practices to value, care, and make reasoned decisions for the planet. How best to teach geography to a range of learners is a deep concern and will require significant and ongoing research. We encourage policy makers and geography educators to build capacity to conduct both theoretical and applied research. Specifically we encourage policy makers and geography educators to:

geographical knowledge, understanding and skills? • How do we understand students’ learning progressions in geography? How are these best calibrated and assessed? • Which are the characteristics of effective teaching and learning materials and resources in improving the quality of geographical education? • What teaching methods are efficient and effective in improving the quality of geographical education? • How can the education of geography teachers be improved to raise the quality of teaching and the levels of achievement in geography in schools? As a result of such research, curriculum developers and geography educators at all levels will be able to • refine curriculum, pedagogic and assessment practices used in the teaching and learning of geography;

• invest time and resources to both research and its application to the classroom and beyond;

• develop a ‘research orientation’ amongst geography teachers and educators that enables reflective and critical engagement with educational practices, and professional ‘habits of mind’ that demand improvement in the quality of geographical education; and

• value current research and knowledge building in the field of geographical education; and

• clarify the purposes and goals of geographical education, no matter how the geography curriculum is expressed locally.

• seek constantly to identify appropriate and relevant research priorities in the field. Those who teach geography in primary and secondary schools, as well in further and higher education, must be supported by research intelligence. They need the best critical insights into, for example, the use of new technologies, problem based learning strategies and futures education. This is because teachers are the key to improvement in education, and good teachers need the best tools to work with. Important research questions include: • What geography do students need to know? What are their misperceptions and preconceptions? How can we enhance their Copyright© Nuova Cultura

5. International Co-operation Geographical education, at its best, makes a unique contribution to the emergence of critical global perspectives in people. However, the status of geographical education varies between countries around the world: some people have less access to a quality geographical education than others. One way to support the global development and awareness of quality within geographical education is to promote and encourage international co-operation by sharing limited resources and assisting educators in different countries to learn from each other. International co-operation amongst geography Italian Association of Geography Teachers

educators should be promoted and developed in the form of bilateral or multilateral exchanges of experience and research. This should include the exchange of students, teachers, teacher educators, and geographers. Such exchanges may usefully focus on teaching materials, and research-led developments in curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Geography educators and teachers in all countries are encouraged to promote such exchanges through the work of the Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union and through many other geographical societies and associations. Policy makers are encouraged to stimulate and facilitate international co-operation.

6. An International Action Plan In order that all people can benefit from a high quality geographical education as explained above, the International Geographical Union proposes the following action plan for policy makers, curriculum developers and geography educators to improve the quality of geographical education and geography education research internationally. 1 National and local education policy makers, as well as geography teachers at all levels, should make the focus and contribution of geographical education for society more explicit to encourage higher levels of public support for its place in the curriculum. Strong arguments for geographical education are: • As location is a key factor in life, especially in an era of globalization and the internet, geography with its focus on spatial variability provides a very practical and useful perspective on everyday life. • Geography is the discipline where knowledge about locations and regions has its base. The appreciation of unique contexts and circumstances in an interconnected world helps deepen our understanding of human diversity. • Geography is concerned with both the local and Copyright© Nuova Cultura

the global and the interconnections between these scales of human experience. • Geography is concerned with humanenvironment interactions in the context of specific places and locations and with issues that have a strong geographical dimension like natural hazards, climate change, energy supplies, migration, land use, urbanization, poverty and identity. Geography is a bridge between natural and social sciences and encourages the ‘holistic’ study of such issues. • Geography helps people to think critically about sustainable living locally and globally and how to act accordingly. Geography is much more than learning many facts and concepts. Its focus is on the patterns and processes that help us to understand an ever-changing planet. • Geographical knowledge and skills, especially when mediated through geospatial technologies offer unique opportunities to make sense of the modern world. Together they form an invaluable 21 century skill set for today and tomorrow. 2 National and local education policy makers should set minimum requirements for geography teaching and the geographical literacy of those who teach geography. This requirement is based on the convictions that: • All students at all levels in primary and secondary school need access to high quality geographical education as an important part of their curriculum. • As teachers are the key to innovation and quality in education, highly qualified geography teachers should be present in all schools to ensure effective curriculum leadership and implementation. Initial teacher training regulations should specify a minimum requirement for teachers of geography at both primary and secondary schools. • Geography teachers should be qualified in both physical and human aspects of geography in order that they may integrate both aspects of the discipline as appropriate for primary and secondary levels. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

3 National and local education policy makers and geography teacher associations should develop processes to encourage (inter)national exchanges of meaningful geography teaching and learning practices. Enhanced co-operation and exchanges between geography teachers in local jurisdictions, nations and internationally have the potential to: • strengthen the position of geography in schools and institutions of higher education; • clarify the purpose of geographical education for all students; and • develop innovative and effective pedagogic practices in geographical education. Comparison of geography standards and curricula from different countries and opportunities for international teacher exchanges should be encouraged in order to disseminate the knowledge, skills and values that are basic to all geographical education. 4 National and local education policy makers and the geographical education community should develop a relevant research agenda for geographical education and facilitate this research for the development of geographical education. Geography teaching in all jurisdictions may be enhanced by ensuring that all aspects of the geographical education enterprise are guided by evidence based on strong, peer-reviewed and relevant research findings. In order to achieve this: • Policy makers, curriculum developers and geography educators should review internationally published research in geographical education in order to determine identified best practice and where further research may be necessary. • Where current research in geographical education appears to be lacking, policy makers and geography educators should develop supportive mechanisms. • Policy makers, curriculum developers and geography educators should develop mechanisms whereby teachers in their schools can access international geographical education Copyright© Nuova Cultura

research in their own languages. • Teachers should be encouraged to undertake quality research in geographical education as part of in-service higher degree study and such research may be enhanced through the work of international research groups that enable researchers to draw upon the resources, intelligence and expertise which may be unavailable locally. 5 National and local education policy makers and geography teacher associations and teachers should create and maintain a strong professional network structure. National and international professional network structures are necessary to open new horizons for geographical education. These networks need support from a large range of educational policy makers, geographical organizations and other stakeholders. In particular, • Continued professional development in geographical education within and across networks needs to be encouraged and facilitated for all teachers; and • The visibility of the discipline and appreciation of the significance of geography in education requires a higher media profile. Professional networks locally, regionally, nationally and internationally should be encouraged to engage the public in their work. The geographical education of all people should be designed to address local and/or national priorities but be based firmly on the five points outlined above. While it is acknowledged that school curricula around the world will differ in significant ways, it is important that all geography curricula are recognizable around the world as reflecting the best of contemporary geographical scholarship. Acknowledgements This International Charter on Geographical Education, drafted by the International Geographical Union Commission on Geographical Education, was endorsed by the General Assembly of the International Geographical Union at the International Geographical Union Congress in Beijing, August 2016. The International Geographical

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Union commends the principles and practices presented here as an International Action Plan whereby people in all jurisdictions around the world may receive the geographical education to which they are entitled. The International Geographical Union, at its Congress in Beijing in 2016, affirms and proclaims this Charter to all governments and peoples of the world and commends these principles and practices as the basis on which sound geographical education in all countries should be maintained.

CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

Signed, Beijing, August 24th, 2016. Prof. Vladimir Kolosov President of the International Geographical Union. This 2016 Charter on Geographical Education has been prepared by prof. Joop van der Schee and prof. John Lidstone (co-chairs) on behalf of the IGU Commission on Geographical Education. Draft versions of the 2016 Charter have been discussed with representatives of EUROGEO, EUGEO, AAG, SEAGA and others.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 5, Dec., 2016, pp. 11-18 DOI: 10.4458/7800-01

Sustainability and Geography Education Joop van der Scheea a

Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Email: j.a.vander.schee@vu.nl

Received: September 2016 – Accepted: October 2016

Abstract The balance between man and nature has been disturbed in many places on Earth. At some places, however, we can see how people have been able to organize their society in a more sustainable way. One of the important conditions for a more sustainable society is to have knowledge of the functioning of the different systems that feature both humans and nature on Earth. Geography is the discipline where this knowledge is available. In spite of many good ideas about modern geography education, geography education in many schools is of low quality or not existing at all. The central question of this contribution is what kind of geography education can be helpful for the citizens of today and tomorrow to learn in a sustainable way about sustainability and other key issues in our society. Young (2008) and others argue that we need “Powerful Knowledge”, which means that we need knowledge to critically think about the systems we are living in. Geospatial technologies can be very useful tools in the process of knowledge acquisition and presentation. Systematic and meaningful geographic learning can be sustainable and enables people to travel on planet Earth with a different view. Keywords: Geography Education, Sustainability, Powerful Knowledge, Meaningful Learning, Charter, Geocraft

1. Introduction One of the best things of my secondary school period almost 50 years ago was that my biology teacher gave me a book to read that had a great impact on my life. The book was “Silent Spring” written by Carson (1962). Rachel Carson, a marine biologist, wrote about the increased use of pesticides, especially DDT. Her point was that although pesticides kill insects, they also kill fish, birds, and other animals and are even dangerous for human beings. This book fascinated me. Carson asked good questions about the impact of chemical industry and new Copyright© Nuova Cultura

technology. Carson wrote about the relations between man and nature and about the systems on Earth taking in account borders between different regions and the limits of what man and nature can manage. “Silent Spring” opened my eyes for sustainability and human-environment interactions in the context of specific places and locations. Looking back, it was my take-off for geography and geography education. In the next paragraphs, three issues will be presented about sustainability. Firstly, some aspects of sustainability in society will be presented, secondly the focus is on sustainability Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Joop van der Schee

in geography education and last but not least attention will be given to the sustainability of geography education. The three issues are related as will be made clear. Before the start of these paragraphs, it is good to give a definition of sustainable development. Many authors follow the definition of former Norwegian Prime Minister Brundtland, past chair of the UN World Commission on Environment and Development, who described in 1987 sustainable development as “the development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (De Wolf et al., 2012, p. 13). A useful definition because sustainable development is more than protecting plants and animals, it has also to do with the way we, rich and poor people, are living together on planet Earth. However, Wals (2015) argues that “sustainability remains a contested concept both normatively and scientifically although consensus about the rapidly declining state of planet earth seems to be growing”. Huckle and Wals (2015) advise us to be critical about sustainable development. Not everything what is advertised as green or sustainable really is green or sustainable. Be care of “green washing”, Huckle and Wals warn us, also in education for sustainable development. The title of their publication is not for nothing called “The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: business as usual in the end”.

2. Sustainability in society Ten years after “Silent Spring” Meadows et al. (1972) published “The limits to growth”. This report focuses on main global issues such as population growth, food scarcity, industrialisation, the use of resources and environmental problems. Although the foundation of the presented results was discussed in some reactions (Bardi, 2011), the report was the start for a worldwide discussion about economic growth and its effects. An important question is “Where do we stand 50 years later?” Has sustainable development improved after all this years? The answer is not easy to give. The answer is no if we look at all the media information about recent disasters which seem to be of the same category as the disasters Copyright© Nuova Cultura

described by Rachel Carson. If we look at air pollution in big cities such as Beijing, Jakarta and Mexico City or at the plastic soup in the great oceans on the globe, environmental problems do not seem to become smaller after 50 years but more global. The air pollution in Beijing has not only an impact on the people in the agglomeration of Beijing and in Northeast China but also on other continents. Researchers in the US say that part of the air pollution in San Francisco blows over from China (Ewing et al., 2010). In her book “Earth is our business” Higgins (2012, p. 3) says that “Ecocide is the extensive damage to, destruction of or loss of ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severely diminished”. Higgins argues that we need international laws to save the Earth. She adds that we have a Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but something like that does not exist for the Earth. Although we have no laws yet to save the Earth, many people will argue that after 50 years we are heading in the right direction. We have made steps forward with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, with the growth of solar energy and the extension of wind farms. It seems doable to harvest solar and wind energy in areas where there is plenty of it. Nevertheless investments in sustainable development go slow. Only 5% of the 2014 energy consumption in the Netherlands was based on renewable resources such as wind and sun (Ministerie van Economisch Zaken, 2016). Other countries do better but there is still a world to win. Short term economic and political advantages and the interests of those who have the power often impede real change. And there is more than just solar and wind energy to work on. Hazard management, water management, waste management, a more fair distribution of food and work, are all issues that need more attention if we really want to realize more sustainable development. So there is still a lot to do in the field of sustainable development. Geographers have a unique position to take the lead. Dansero and De Luca (2014, p. 387) cite Vallega who wrote that

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Con la sua capacità di leggere en interpretare in modo transcalare e connettivo le relazioni tra la società e l’ambiente, la geografia può contribuire alla riflessione sulla necessità di un’eco-ristrutturazione sociale, economica e politica che sappia coniugare innovazione tecnologica e sociale nel perseguire contemporaneamente i molteplici obiettivi della sostenibilità.

The message of this Italian text is that geography by its ability to relate society and environment can very well contribute to restructuring society bringing together modern technology and social renewal taking in account aims of sustainability.

3. Sustainability and geography education As sustainable development requires knowledge and engagement, education can play an important role in sustainable development. Geography education is in an excellent position to offer this knowledge and involvement. The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has 17 Sustainable Development Goals (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs). Geography education can help to build bridges between different goals. “Quality Education” (goal number 4) and other goals like “No Poverty” (goal number 1), “Clean Water and Sanitation” (goal number 6) or “Sustainable Cities and Communities” (goal number 11) can be connected in geography education. Another important document for geography educators is the 2016 IGU International Charter on Geographical Education, that states: “Geography is a vital subject and resource for 21st century skills living in a tightly interconnected world. It enables us to face questions of what it means to live sustainably in the world. Geographically educated individuals understand human relationships and their responsibilities to both the natural environment and to others. Geographical education helps people to learn how to exist harmoniously with all living species” (IGU-CGE, 2016). However, the same Charter also says “geography education is neglected in some parts of the world, and lacks structure and support in others” (IGU-CGE, Copyright© Nuova Cultura

2016). In many countries schools focus on teaching mathematics, sciences, history and languages and do not give much attention to geography education. De Vecchis, Pasquinelli d’Allegra and Pesaresi (2011) described the position of geography education in Italy and how to improve geographic illiteracy. One of the consequences of the weak position of geography in schools is that the time to learn about sustainable development is limited in many schools. That is strange. As we live in a time with big sustainability issues, a time in which the world is changing very fast, and a time in which a huge amount of information is coming to us, schools should help pupils to see the wood for the trees. To get attention for the contribution of geography education to society and particularly to sustainable development it is better to start sustainable development projects in which geographical knowledge is indispensable than to complain about the marginalized position of geography education. A good example of such a project is the 2016 “International Year of Global Understanding” (IYGU). This project is supported by several main organizations of scientist (ICSU, ICSS, AAG, and IGU) and will continue after 2016. It addresses sustainability in an increasingly globalized world. Societies determine the ways we live with and shape environments. IYGU wants us to realize what our daily actions mean for our local environment and for the world as a whole in order to overcome global challenges. IYGU focuses on essential daily activities such as eating, drinking, housing, working, travelling, and communicating (www.global-understanding .info). What we eat and how we handle our waste is important for the future of our local and global environment. Key messages are: 1. Everyday actions matter for global climate change. 2. Everyday decisions depend on lifestyle. 3. A global view reduces the risk of regional conflicts. 4. Global problems require sustainable solutions. 5. Sustainable change should emerge from the bottom. 6. Everyday life and science belong together.

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7. Global understanding is based on joint social and natural research. 8. Research should address the logic of everyday life. A second and related project is OURSUS (www.oursus.org) which stands for ‘our sustainable cities. This IGU project about global sustainable cities started in China and works with seven aspects of sustainability all represented by a different colour: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Red: Road and traffic Orange: Land and buildings Yellow: Energy and communications Green: Nature and landscape Blue: Water and climate Indigo: Pollution and governance Violet: Society and life

associated sustainability with the use of energy, solar energy and wind energy. More than 40% of the students stated that they did enough for a sustainable world using their bike to go to school or being aware where to put their waste. The second investigation is the “Atlas of the future” project organized in 2015 by the Royal Dutch Geography Society (Beek and Knuivers, 2015). This project challenged students between 12 and 15 years of age to draw maps of the Netherlands in 2040. Supporting questions for the students were: Where do people live? How do people live? Are there still traffic jams? How do cities look like? How do we react to climate change?

In many countries cities are growing fast and more and more people live in cities. The question is how we can develop living in cities in a more sustainable way. On the OURSUS website a whole range of inspiring initiatives can be found. Users of the website are challenged to be upload additional information. The website also includes some examples of teaching modules about sustainable energy, and water and waste management in cities. The change from a linear to a more circular economy is an important issue in these materials. These modules aim at secondary education and include student assignments and teacher guides. Although many curricula, schoolbooks and projects give attention to sustainability, this is no guarantee for what happens in classrooms. If we really want to know what happens regarding sustainability in education we have to go in the classroom and see what and how teachers teach about sustainability and more importantly what the students learn about it. It is a pity that research about students ideas about sustainability is scarce. We present here the results of two small Dutch research projects. The first investigation is a 2016 survey at a secondary school in Amersfoort, the Netherlands. 94% of a group of 14 year old students (N=123) reported in a questionnaire that sustainability is an important issue for them. Asked to write down there associations with the concept of sustainability, most of these students Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Figure 1. A collage of main characteristics in maps of “The Netherlands in 2040” drawn by 12-15 year old Dutch students in 2015. Source: Beek and Knuivers, 2015.

More than 90 atlases from groups of students in 42 schools were produced and more than Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Joop van der Schee

1000 additional questionnaires were collected. Figure 1 shows a collage of the main characteristics in the atlas maps. What is striking is the attention for green energy. We see solar plants and wind farms on an island in the North Sea and also hydropower plants in the rivers. The same trend can be seen in a comparable investigation five years earlier (Adang, Notté and van der Schee, 2010) and also in the small research project from the school in Amersfoort mentioned earlier. Secondary school students in this age group believe that technology can help to solve todays problems. These ideas will be generated by what they learn in school and at home. Although the maps are quite nice to look at, further research is necessary to investigate what the contribution of school, media and family is in the development of students ideas about a sustainable society. From the results of the questionnaires in the second investigation we learn that most students are really involved in thinking about sustainability but also that their knowledge base is not very well elaborated. Today’s Facebook generation may have more information than the generation of 50 years ago, but the question is what kind of knowledge is involved.

4. Sustainability of geography education A main question in education is which knowledge lasts. Teaching about sustainability is only useful if that what students learn endures. This is of course also true for other themes in geography education. Although geography education is often associated with learning place names, geography educators have a different idea about it. In September 2013 during the Congress of EUGEO in Rome, a joint Declaration on Geographical Education has been adopted. Representatives of the International Geographical Union (IGU), the Italian Association of Geography Education (AIIG), EUGEO and EUROGEO agreed on the content of an action plan for geography teaching (van der Schee, 2013). The joint declaration stresses the important role of geographical education in a changing world and expresses the growing concern of the international geographical community over the shrinking role of geography in secondary school curricula (Kolosov, 2014, p. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

78). This 2013 Rome declaration was the takeoff of a new International Charter on Geographical Education. The new 2016 International Charter states: “Geography is much more than learning many facts and concepts. Its focus is on the patterns and processes that help us to understand an ever-changing planet” (IGU-CGE, 2016). However, if we look at what happens in geography classes we must conclude that the aims of geography educators are often not realized yet. Bijsterbosch (2016) analysed more than 1000 geography assignments in summative tests for 15-year-old students in vocational schools in the Netherlands. Geography teachers developed these assignments. Using the classification model of Anderson and Krathwohl (2001) Bijsterbosch concluded that the majority of the test items were low-level assignments testing remembering and understanding of facts, concepts and simple relations. In other studies, we see outcomes that are in line with these results. Favier (2011) wrote a PhD study about the introduction of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in geography education. He discovered that after some training teachers and students are able to use the new digital technology but that they have difficulty to analyse geographical relations systematically. Geography is a complex subject but many geography lessons do not go beyond the level of education of facts and concepts and that is not very helpful for understanding of our complex life on planet Earth nor very good for engagement in learning geography. Since some decades we see a tendency to try to solve this problem systematically. Meaningful learning and deep learning are slogans that are used to describe the new direction in education. Structure and feedback are important characteristics (Hattie, 2009). Powerful knowledge and powerful thinking are terms used by geography educators, especially in the United Kingdom. Young (2008, p. 14) argues: “Powerful knowledge provides more reliable explanations and new ways of thinking about the world and acquiring it and can provide learners with a language for engaging in political, moral, and other kinds of debates”. De Wolf et al. (2012) offered a framework to Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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operationalize “powerful knowledge” for those who want to teach about sustainable development. Figure 2 shows the framework for lessons about food waste in the city. The framework has been developed to help teachers to structure their lessons about sustainable development. The authors argue that for all issues in which sustainability is at stake questions can be asked such as “What are the natural and human resources involved?” and “What are the causes and effects?”.

Figure 2. A framework for teaching about sustainable development. Source: De Wolf et al., 2012, pp. 39 and 48.

Apart from knowledge also engagement is important as has been shown in interviews with Hong Kong primary school teachers (Ng Yee Cheng and Wing Mui So, 2015). Teachers need to have in-depth knowledge but should also have a drive to act as a role model for their students to motivate them to protect and preserve the environment. A concrete example of powerful thinking and meaningful learning about sustainability can be found in the project “Regreening Africa” (Reij and Winterbottom, 2015). In this project farmers are successful in protecting and managing trees in the Sahel zone. Local knowledge and local initiatives are combined with international support in regenerating agriculture and forestry. The trees provide many benefits as they increase the area with shadow and doing so lower evaporation, but trees also provide nutrients, fruits and firewood. The trees and shrubs help to restore degraded lands and provide increased Copyright© Nuova Cultura

crop yields, recharging groundwater, providing fodder and storing carbon. More information can be found on the website http://www.wri.org/ourwork/project/re-greening and in a Youtube film “Re-greening in Niger, a road trip with Chris Reij”. The result is 5 million hectare of new agroforestry land in countries as Mali, Niger and Ethiopia. Instead of clearcutting of agricultural land we see the numbers of trees growing. Research in this region shows that from villages where regreening is found significantly less young man emigrate to Europe than from villages without regreening. This Regreening Africa project is a very inspiring project about sustainable development. It shows clearly how important thinking in geographical relations and geographical systems is. The system approach is a good way to integrate sustainable development into the teaching of geography (Danahar, 2016). Man and nature are interrelated and work out differently in different regions. Focusing on human and natural relations, processes and systems in different contexts is necessary to help students learn about scenarios for development in a lasting way. This Regreening Africa project can also be very useful in geography teaching as it helps students to get a different view of Africa. Sustainable geography education challenges students to think systematically and critically about the mosaic of regions in the world, their characteristics, relations and possible futures. Most students like to be involved in thinking about future scenarios and planning issues. Geospatial technologies enable students to do that in a modern way. An example is Geocraft. Geocraft can be seen as digital LEGO and is a variant of Minecraft (Scholten et al., 2016). All kind of data can be visualized with Geocraft: houses, traffic, the use of energy in different areas or the regional level of air pollution. It offers the opportunity to build a virtual 3D world, see Figure 3. It is not only useful for planners but also for students to build, analyse and discuss different geospatial scenarios.

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Figure 3. Screenshot from GEOCRAFT 2016. Source: https://geocraft.nl.

In 2016 the Dutch Ministry Infrastructure and Environment started to develop new islands in the Markermeer. On five small islands of all together 500 hectares the government wants to plan a nature reserve and space for recreation. In addition these islands can be used to generate sustainable energy. Students of a secondary school in the city of Lelystad, located near the Markermeer, used Geocraft to develop their vision on the future of these new island taking into account the different interest of different groups of actors and taking into account the characteristics of the area. They were invited to present their designs to the Minister of Infrastructure and Environment, who spoke highly about the results of the students. This is an example to show how modern technology can be used to help students think in a systematic and realistic way about different geospatial scenarios. This project also showed student how important systematic physical and human geographical knowledge is for deeper and meaningful learning about sustainable development and related issues. Other projects such as the Italian GIS4RISKS project (Pesaresi and Lombardi, 2014) have the same main characteristics. GIS4RISKS focuses on elaborating geophysics as well as social and economic parameters. Doing so it is giving input for geography education using GIS and raising the awareness of the population at risk.

5. Conclusions Geography offers many perspectives for futures oriented education. In futures education sustainable development is one of the main topics to discuss (Pauw, 2015). For an optimal Copyright© Nuova Cultura

use of geography as discipline to help students think about sustainable development, geographers should be aware of the images of geography that people have and if necessary provide other images to show what modern geography has to offer. A condition sine qua non is that teachers have the powerful knowledge and the engagement to help students think in a systematic and critical way about sustainable development. Teachers have the key to give students a different view on what is happening around them and to help them to be well equipped for the future. Geography education is more than other subjects able to help students to think in relations, systems and scenarios and how they work out differently in different natural and cultural contexts. All this is not always easy in a time in which there is not much space for nuances and different perspectives, but it is worthwhile. Education should counterbalance to make students stronger and geography has important knowledge and good tools to do so (van der Schee, 2007). Acknowledgements The Author is grateful to Sapienza University of Rome and the European Union for their support to realize this publication. At Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on September 9th, 2016, a contribution in Dutch with the same scope has been published. This J-Reading contribution is an international variant on the same theme.

References 1. Adang A., Notte H. and van der Schee J., De toekomst in kaart, Utrecht, KNAG, 2010. 2. Anderson L.W. and Krathwohl D.R., A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: a revision of Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objectives, New York, Longman, 2001. 3. Bardi U., The Limits to Growth revisited, New York, Springer, 2011. 4. Beek A. and Knuivers R., Atlas van de toekomst, een analyse, Utrecht, KNAG, 2015. 5. Bijsterbosch H., van der Schee J. and Kuiper W., “Meaningful learning and summative assessment in geography education: an analysis in secondary education in the Netherlands”, Italian Association of Geography Teachers

6. 7.

10.

11.

12.

13. 14. 15.

16. 17.

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International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 2016, http://dx.doi. org/full/10.1080/10382046.2016.1217076. Carson R., Silent spring, Greenwich (Conn.), Fawcett Publications/Crest Books, 1962. Danahar M., “Expanding students’ ability to conceptualise the dynamics of changing places in the teaching of environmental geography”, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 2, 3, 2016, pp. 244-257. Dansero E. and De Luca A., “Green e smart: Spazi, progetti e retoriche nella transizione urbana”, in Scaramellini G. and Mastropietro E. (Eds.), Proceedings of the XXXI Congresso Geografico Italiano, vol. 1, 2012, pp. 381-388. De Vecchis G., Pasquinelli d’Allegra D. and Pesaresi C., “Geography in Italian schools”, Review of International Geographical Education Online (RIGEO), 1, 2011, pp. 4-25. De Wolf M., Van Otterdijk R., Pennartz P., Hurkxkens P. and Toebes T., Lesgeven over duurzame ontwikkeling, Apeldoorn, Garant, 2012. Ewing S.A., Christensen J.N., Brown S.T., Vancuren R.A., Cliff S.S. and Depaolo D.J., “Pb Isotopes as an Indicator of the Asian Contribution to Particulate Air Pollution in Urban California”, Environmental Science Technology, 44, 23, 2010, pp. 8911-8916. Favier T., Geographic Information Systems in inquiry-based secondary geography education. Theory and Practice, Enschede, Ipskamp, 2011. Hattie J., Visible learning, Abingdon, Routledge, 2009. Higgins P., Earth is our Business: changing the rules of the game, London, ShepheardWalwyn, 2012. Huckle J. and Wals A.E.J., “The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: business as usual in the end”, Environmental Education Research, 21, 3, 2015, pp. 491-505. IGU-CGE, International Charter on Geographical Education, Amsterdam/Beijing, IGUCGE, 2016, www.igu-cge.org. Kolosov V., “The International Geographical Union before its centennial: new challenges and developments”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 1, 2014, pp. 73-79.

18. Meadows D.H., Meadows D.L., Randers J. and Behrens W.W., The limits to growth, New York, Universe Books, 1972. 19. Ministerie van Economische Zaken, Energierapport Transitie naar duurzaam, Den Haag, Ministerie van Economische Zaken, 2016. 20. Nga Yee Chen I. and Wing Mui So W., “Teachers’ environmental literacy and teaching. Stories of three Hong Kong primary school teachers”, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 4, 1, 2015, pp. 58-79. 21. Pauw I., “Educating for the future: the position of school geography”, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 24, 4, 2015, pp. 307-324. 22. Pesaresi C. and Lombardi M., “GIS4RISKS project. Synergic use if GIS applications for analysing volcanic and seismic risks in the pre and post event”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 2014, pp. 9-32. 23. Reij Ch. and Winterbottom R., Scaling up Regreening: Six Steps to Success. A Practical Approach to Forest and Landscape Restoration, Washington D.C., World Resources Institute, 2015. 24. Scholten H., Fruijtier S., Bos S., Dias E., Opmeer M., Van Kaam H., Hettinga S., Simon van Leeuwen W., Linde M., Van Manen N. and Fruijtier C., Geocraft as a means to create Smart Cities getting the people of the place involved – youth included, Amsterdam, Spinlab VU/Geodan, 2016. 25. van der Schee J., Gisse leerlingen, Geografische informatiesystemen, geografisch besef en aardrijkskundeonderwijs, Amsterdam, Onderwijscentrum VU, 2007. 26. van der Schee J., “Looking for an international strategy for geography education”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 1, 2014, pp. 9-13. 27. Wals A.E.J., Beyond unreasonable doubt; education and learning for socio-ecological sustainability in the antropocene, Wageningen, WUR, 2015. 28. Young M., “From constructivism to realism in the sociology of the curriculum”, Review of Research in Education, 32, 2008, pp. 1-32.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 5, Dec., 2016, pp. 19-33 DOI: 10.4458/7800-02

Le répertoire sémantique du mot paysage Guy Merciera a

Département de géographie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada Email: Guy.Mercier@ggr.ulaval.ca

Received: September 2016 – Accepted: October 2016

Résumé Dans l’optique de comprendre l’objet et la portée de la norme paysagère, l’article étudie les significations que revêt le mot paysage dans les dictionnaires usuels. L’exercice porte sur le français, mais s’ouvre sur quelques autres langues naturelles (italien, espagnol, portugais, allemand et anglais). Considéré sur l’angle de l’origine du mot paysage et de la noèse (soit l’acte de penser) qui s’y rattache, cet inventaire lexical permet ensuite de distinguer le mot paysage lui-même de la chose que ce mot désigne et de l’idée qui le connecte à cette chose. S’il n’explique pas le rôle que tient la norme paysagère, un tel exercice offre au moins l’avantage d’établir le substrat sémantique de son répertoire. Mots clés : Connotation, Landscape, Landschaft, Norme, Paesaggio, Paisagem, Paisaje, Paysage, Périphrase, Synonyme

1. Introduction Le paysage est omniprésent. Peu importe où nous sommes, il suffit, pour y avoir accès, de regarder dehors, de mettre le pied à l’extérieur, de prendre le volant, de monter dans un autobus : il est là dans notre champ de vision et nous enveloppe (Corbin, 2001). Le paysage n’est alors rien d’autre que la surface terrestre au moment où, au contact du sol et du ciel, nous y posons l’œil1. Dès qu’un tel regard s’engage, le 1

Jean-Pierre Augoyard (1991) fut l’un des premiers à mettre en cause la primauté de la vision dans l’expérience paysagère. Si les autres sens y sont certainement pour quelque chose, il reste que le vocabulaire commun,

paysage nous apparait2 : il est, à cet instant, la face que nous présente la terre. Concentrés sur nos activités immédiates ou plongés dans nos pensées, il arrive que nous ne le remarquions pas. Il ne peut toutefois pas nous échapper complètement, sinon nous perdrions les repères indiquant où nous sommes, où nous allons, et à qui ou à quoi nous avons affaire. Si nous y accordons quelque attention, le paysage, au-delà des utiles indices géographiques qu’il nous fournit, peut susciter une émotion : nous comme nous le verrons plus loin, insiste sur cette prépondérance. 2 Le lecteur aura noté que nous utilisons l’orthographe rectifiée.

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ressentons du coup, ne serait-ce que légèrement, un plaisir ou, au contraire, une aversion. À moins que cela soit de la curiosité ou de l’étonnement, de la réserve ou l’inquiétude. Si l’indifférence ne prend pas trop rapidement le relai, selon que nous trouvons le paysage beau ou disgracieux, attrayant ou triste, adéquat ou inapproprié, captivant ou lassant, un jugement peut suivre. Et si, dans la foulée, nous exprimons tout haut cet avis, notre commentaire s’ajoute à tous les autres que les paysages inspirent. Ainsi est-il répété à l’envi que certains d’entre eux sont remarquables. Sans être aussi admirables, d’autres, en raison de leur charme discret, de leur convenance ou de leur caractère distinctif, reçoivent également l’approbation. Tous ces paysages estimés peuvent de plus devenir source de motivation : nous voulons alors en être entourés, chez soi, au quotidien ou en voyage. Certains paysages, en revanche, nous semblent laids, déplaisants et inopportuns, au point, parfois, qu’il faut le clamer, les dénoncer et qu’il parait préférable de les éviter, voire de les transformer ou du moins les dissimuler. Bref, quand le paysage ne nous laisse pas indifférents, nous pouvons lui reconnaitre une valeur positive ou négative et, parfois, parler et agir en conséquence3. La valeur du paysage est l’appréciation que nous avons de son état. Les motifs d’une telle appréciation n’ont pas à être explicites et élaborés, ni être cohérents ou constants. Ils peuvent tout aussi bien être inavouables, irrationnels, triviaux, tendancieux et évanescents. Quelle qu’en soit la base, la valeur du paysage, surtout si elle influence la fréquentation des lieux ou anime un débat public, ne manque pas de préoccuper les gouvernements. En effet, conscients de l’opinion générale sur le paysage, de la bonne ou mauvaise disposition de la population à son égard et des revendications de différents groupes d’intérêt à son sujet, les gouvernements conçoivent souvent qu’à la 3

Dans Le paysage (2008), Michael Jakob, comme beaucoup d’auteurs, rappelle que cette propension est aujourd’hui particulièrement forte, ce qui témoignerait de la grande préoccupation paysagère de notre époque. Selon Augustin Berque (2016), le souci paysager est désormais d’autant plus fort que notre société actuelle est la cause même de ce que Maurice Bardet (1973) appelait naguère la fin des paysages. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

valeur positive ou négative du paysage doive correspondre une norme pour le protéger ou le transformer. En se prolongeant de la sorte dans une norme paysagère, le paysage devient un objet politique, car, par-delà sa valeur, il porte, au nom du bien commun, une ambition4. Dans cette circonstance, il ne suffit plus de penser ou de dire si un paysage nous convient ou non. Encore faut-il estimer et soutenir qu’il est d’intérêt général de le conserver ou de le modifier. Ainsi, un paysage espéré se superpose au paysage réel, ce qui crée une tension quand, à des fins normatives, des mesures sont souhaitées ou adoptées pour accorder le second au premier, ne serait-ce que pour le préserver. Cette tension opère une surdétermination de l’être par le devoir-être5. Le paysage, dans ce contexte, ne se réduit pas à la face du monde que nous voyons et qu’éventuellement nous jugeons. Il est de surcroit ce dont le maintien ou l’avènement est souhaité, attendu, voire exigé. Le procédé, comme le soulignent Anne Cauquelin (2000) et Küster (2013), est probablement fort ancien. On peut même faire l’hypothèse qu’il est depuis toujours au fondement même de ce que l’on entend par paysage. Car il n’est pas interdit de penser que le paysage doive son existence à une norme (du moins à une impulsion normative) qui le précède, le fait advenir et assure sa perpétuation ou sa transformation 6. S’il est impossible pour le moment de statuer sur l’hypothétique préexistence normative du paysage, il semble à tout le moins pertinent de retenir que tout paysage est mesurable à l’aune

La littérature sur la politisation actuelle du paysage est abondante. Parmi les titres les plus récents, on peut souligner celui de Mario Bédard (2009), Le paysage, un projet politique, dont on retiendra notamment le texte de Jacques Bethemont qui dégage bien les enjeux de toute politique paysagère. 5 Poussé à son extrême, le devoir-être paysager peut même, comme le montre Le Couédic (2002), tuer le paysage. 6 N’est-ce pas cette possible antériorité structurelle que, déjà au premier siècle de notre ère, Stace révélait dans son éloge de la villa sorrentine de Pollius Felix. En effet, devant la beauté du lieu, l’auteur des Silves s’exclamait : “ Quae rerum turba ! locine ingenium an domini mirer prius ? ” Publius Paninius Statius, Silvae, II, 2, v. 44-45. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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d’une norme quelconque7. Notre époque en témoigne largement. En effet, au cours des dernières décennies, de nombreux gouvernements de tous niveaux ont entrepris de protéger, de mettre en valeur ou de créer des paysages. Certains États ont même promulgué des lois spécifiquement consacrées au paysage. C’est le cas de la France qui en 1993 adoptait la Loi sur la protection et la mise en valeur des paysages (Guttinger, 2007 ; Barrère, 2012). L’idée a aussi fait son chemin à l’échelle internationale, si bien que, depuis 1992, des paysages peuvent être ajoutés à la liste du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO et qu’il existe, depuis 2002, une Convention européenne du paysage (Domon et Ruiz, 2015). Or une telle insistance mérite, à elle seule, qu’on prête attention à la question de la norme paysagère. Toute norme, rappelait Hans Kelsen (1996), lie les êtres humains entre eux. Qu’on y adhère ou non, qu’on s’y plie ou non, le devoir-être qu’elle inspire ou impose modèle les rapports que chacun entretient avec les autres8. Car la norme est ce que l’État ou la société, par un moyen ou un autre, exige ou espère de chacun, de même qu’elle est ce que chacun peut exiger de l’État et espérer de la société. Cette exigence et cet espoir concernent une manière d’agir envers autrui, soit en respect des personnes elles-mêmes, soit par souci des biens auxquels ces personnes, individuellement ou collectivement, sont attachées. Or cette exigence ou cet espoir commande la définition de ce qui est en cause. On peut en effet supposer que la norme est d’autant plus effective que chacun comprend de quoi il en retourne. Ainsi en est-il du paysage quand il se conçoit dans l’horizon normatif. Le débat sur la définition du paysage est engagé de longue date au sein des sciences humaines et sociales, en géographie notamment9. Mais si la 7

La normativité paysagère n’est plus une question délaissée en sciences sociales. Plusieurs études y ont récemment été consacrées (Mercier, 2002, 2009, 2013), dont celle de Candau et al. (2011). 8 Comme François Brunet (2011, p. 173 et suiv.), il nous parait essentiel de lier normativité et liberté. 9 La littérature à ce sujet est pléthorique. Mentionnons simplement, la contribution fondamentale de Claude Raffestin à cet égard, dont son Dalla nostalgia del territorio al desiderio di paesaggio. Elementi per una teoria del paesaggio. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

science peut toujours aider à comprendre un terme, elle n’en efface pas le sens qu’on y donne dans la communication courante. D’où l’utilité, pour saisir l’objet et la portée de la norme paysagère, de considérer les différentes significations que revêt le mot paysage dans nos dictionnaires usuels. C’est l’exercice que nous proposons ici en ciblant d’abord le français et ensuite quelques autres langues naturelles, où le terme trouve une correspondance directe. Considéré sur l’angle de l’origine du mot paysage et de la noèse (soit l’acte de penser) qui s’y rattache, cet inventaire lexical permet ensuite de distinguer le mot paysage lui-même de la chose que ce mot désigne et de l’idée qui le connecte à chose. S’il n’explique pas le rôle que tient la norme paysagère, un tel exercice offre au moins l’avantage d’établir le substrat sémantique de son répertoire.

2. Le mot paysage en français Dans son emploi actuel, le mot paysage est polysémique. Les dictionnaires usuels de la langue française y attribuent au moins six acceptions, qui sont autant de significations qui permettent d’en moduler l’utilisation.

ENCADRÉ 1 Le paysage comme œuvre ou genre artistique 1. “ Tableau qui représente un paysage ” (Littré, 1877). 2. “ Peinture, gravure ou dessin dont le sujet principal est la représentation d’un site naturel, rural ou urbain ” (Larousse, 1997). 3. “ Dessin, tableau représentant la nature, un site naturel ” (Antidote, 2016). 4. “ Tableau représentant une certaine étendue de pays où la nature tient le premier rôle et où les figures d’hommes et d’animaux ne sont que des accessoires ” (Robert, 1962). 5. “ Tableau représentant la nature et où les figures (d’hommes et d’animaux) et les constructions ne sont que des accessoires ” (Robert, 2008). 6. “ Genre de peinture qui a pour objet la représentation des sites champêtres ” (Littré, 1877).

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2.1 Œuvre ou genre artistique Dans sa première acception, le paysage est associé à l’art (encadré 1). Il est soit une œuvre d’art qui représente un site ou le genre artistique propre à cette œuvre. Selon cette acception, une œuvre d’art est désignée paysage en raison du sujet qu’elle représente. Littré qualifie ce sujet en usant d’une formule en miroir10. En effet, il désigne le sujet sous le même nom que celui qui désigne l’œuvre qui en est la représentation : “ un paysage est un tableau qui représente un paysage ”. Ainsi, le paysage est à la fois une chose et le reflet de cette chose dans une autre chose. Cette dualité sémantique du mot paysage, dans le contexte artistique, soulève un problème de fond : cette chose représentée artistiquement dans un tableau est-elle à priori un paysage ou l’est-elle parce que, justement, elle est artistiquement représentée ou représentable dans une œuvre ? Et si tel est le cas, quelle est la part de l’art dans la constitution du paysage, non pas seulement comme représentation d’une chose, mais aussi comme chose représentée dans une œuvre ou pouvant l’être ? En général, toutefois, les dictionnaires usuels évitent d’appeler indifféremment paysage la chose qui représente artistiquement et la chose qui est artistiquement représentée. Ils préfèrent nommer autrement cette chose que l’œuvre d’art appelée paysage met en image. Littré lui-même précise par ailleurs que le genre artistique paysage a pour vocation “ la représentation des sites champêtres ”. Larousse est moins spécifique en avançant qu’un paysage “ est la représentation d’un site naturel, rural ou urbain ”. Cet élargissement du sujet paysager au monde entier reste néanmoins minoritaire dans les dictionnaires. Antidote est même plus strict que Littré en mentionnant qu’un paysage représente “ la nature, un site naturel ”. Robert est plus nuancé quant au sujet d’un paysage : certes la nature y “ tient le premier rôle ”, mais on peut y adjoindre, à titre d’accessoires, d’autres figures, tels des êtres humains, des animaux ou des constructions. Si on évite de la sorte de confondre en un même mot ce qui représente et ce qui est représenté, l’ambigüité sur la 10

constitution artistique de ce qui est pris pour sujet de l’œuvre ne se dissipe pas pour autant. En effet, aussi réalistes soient-elles, la nature qu’on représente dans un tableau et les figures qu’on y ajoute à l’occasion n’en sont pas moins des éléments d’une composition. Or cette co mpositio n rest e l a prérogat ive d e l’imagination de l’artiste ou des codes du genre artistique qu’il pratique. Si bien que la chose représentée (le paysage) n’a en la circonstance d’existence que dans l’œuvre (un tableau du genre paysage) qui la représente. Car finalement le paysage comme œuvre d’art n’est pas une pure représentation d’une chose qui, par ailleurs, existe indépendamment de l’œuvre qui la représente. Le paysage est une manière de représenter artistiquement le monde, du moins une de ces parties. Et cette manière tient dans le choix des figures, fondamentales ou accessoires, qu’on y intègre, et dans le rapport que, graphiquement, on établit entre ces figures. C’est pourquoi les dictionnaires portent par ailleurs attention à la façon même de représenter artistiquement le paysage. À cette fin, Littré nomme quatre styles de paysage, alors que le Robert (1962) se limite à deux (encadré 2). L’existence de ces styles révèle que l’art a constitué des codes propres à guider la composition et l’interprétation des œuvres qui appartiennent au genre paysage. Or ces codes de composition et d’interprétation du paysage s’appliquent-ils seulement à la représentation artistique d’une chose, soit “ un site naturel, rural ou urbain ” pour reprendre l’expression du Larousse ? Ne peuvent-ils pas également s’appliquer à cette chose elle-même ? Autrement dit, le genre artistique du paysage n’aurait-il pas comme pendant une norme paysagère, avérée ou éventuelle, dirigeant la composition réalisée ou souhaitée des sites ? Si tel est le cas, le paysage serait autant une manière de représenter artistiquement le monde qu’une manière de le percevoir, de le concevoir et de l’aménager. Procédant par inclusion et exclusion, il ferait paraitre ou non des figures, fondamentales ou accessoires, sur la surface terrestre comme il les fait apparaitre ou non sur le tableau. Ainsi le miroir, dans la définition du paysage, serait davantage qu’un procédé littéraire. Il en serait, la réalité même, du moins on peut en faire l’hypothèse, puisqu’il y aurait paysage quand le site, dans sa composition actuelle ou souhaitée, Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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est la représentation de sa propre représentation dans un tableau déjà réalisé ou à venir. 2.2 Format En lien immédiat avec son sens artistique, le nom paysage désigne également un format, étiré à l’horizontale, de châssis pour un tableau. Ce format, qui sied au paysage, lui emprunte son nom. Par analogie, le mot désigne également un format d’imprimerie où la page, plus large que haute, s’étend sur une feuille couchée, par opposition au portrait, où la page, plus haute que large, demande que la feuille soit dressée. Dans les deux cas, le terme paysage concerne un cadre dont la forme est adaptée pour servir plus adéquatement le contenu, voire à en orienter l’interprétation.

ENCADRÉ 2 Les styles du genre paysage selon Littré [1 à 4] et Robert (1962) [5 et 6] 1. “ Paysage historique, ou paysage antique, celui dans lequel sont représentés des personnages héroïques, mythologiques, un trait de l’histoire ou de la Fable, un souvenir de l’antiquité, etc. ”. 2. “ Paysage mixte, paysage copié de quelque site ou paysage naturel, mais que l’artiste a modifié pour l’effet pittoresque ”. 3. “ Paysage idéal, paysage qui est tout entier de l’invention du peintre ”. 4. “ Paysage héroïque, paysage représentant un site choisi et noble, des temples, des ruines, des pyramides, etc. ”. 5. “ Paysage historique, animé ou composé. Paysage plus ou moins idéal dans lequel figurent des personnages historiques ou mythologiques, des scènes de l’histoire ou de la fable ”. 6. “ Paysage pur. Celui où la figure humaine est pratiquement exclue, et à plus forte raison toute scène narrative ”.

2.3 Site Le mot paysage, dans une troisième acception, désigne simplement une “ étendue de pays ” (Robert, 1962). Alors que dans sa première acception, paysage est la représentation artistique d’une partie de la surface terrestre, elle est, dans cette acception, cette chose elle-même, sans qu’il soit question de sa représentation artistique. La coexistence de ces deux acceptions autorise lexicalement la formule en miroir du Littré, commentée plus haut : “ un paysage est un tableau qui représente un paysage ”.

2.4 Vue Selon une quatrième acception, paysage désigne la vue qu’un observateur a, à partir de la position qu’il occupe, de la surface terrestre. Dans ce contexte, le paysage se comprend comme une opération visuelle qui inclut l’acte de voir un site, le site qui ainsi est vu et la vision qui en résulte. Ainsi, le paysage est autant ce sur quoi porte le regard, c’est-à-dire le site lui-même (encadré 3, définitions 1 et 2), que le fait de le regarder (définitions 3 et 4) ou que ce que l’on en perçoit, c’est-à-dire son apparence (définition 5).

ENCADRÉ 3 Le paysage comme vue 1. “ Étendue du pays que l’on voit d’un seul aspect ” (Littré, 1877). 2. “ Partie d’un pays que la nature présente à l’œil qui la regarde ” (Robert, 1962) ; “ partie d’un pays que la nature présente à un observateur ” (Robert, 2008). 3. “ Vue d’ensemble que l’on a d’un point donné : de ma fenêtre, on a un paysage de toits et de cheminées ” (Larousse, 1997). 4. “ Vue d’ensemble d’un site, d’une étendue de pays ” (Antidote, 2016). 5. “ Aspect de ce site, de cette étendue de pays ” (Antidote, 2016).

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2.5 Unité Selon une cinquième acception, le paysage se conçoit comme étendue terrestre dotée d’une identité propre. Sous cette condition, paysage ne désigne pas une étendue quelconque de la surface terrestre, mais une dont on peut, d’une façon ou d’une autre, reconnaitre l’unité en raison de la prépondérance de l’un de ses caractères. Ce caractère de premier plan fait de la portion de la surface terrestre où il se manifeste un paysage, ce que Larousse énonce en ces termes : “ paysage : étendue spatiale, naturelle ou transformée par l’homme, qui présente une certaine identité visuelle ou fonctionnelle ”. 2.6 Totalité Qu’il réfère à une portion de la surface terrestre, à la représentation artistique que l’on en fait ou à la vue que l’on en a, le mot paysage concerne toujours plusieurs éléments géographiques formant un ensemble. Le paysage est en effet la totalité de ce que l’on montre d’un site (première acception), de ce qui s’y trouve (troisième acception) et de ce que l’on y voit (quatrième acception). Certes, on conçoit que des figures accessoires, pour reprendre l’expression, puissent en être exclues. Mais l’essentiel est qu’il ne cesse d’être un ensemble d’éléments, plus encore un ensemble organisé autour des figures fondamentales qui lui confèrent une identité propre. Partant de ce principe, on en est venu, par extension, à utiliser le mot paysage pour désigner, selon une sixième acception, tout type de totalité. Il permet alors de qualifier l’aspect général qu’épouse un ensemble, quel qu’il soit (encadré 4, définitions 1 à 3). Par exemple, il peut être question du paysage politique d’un pays à une certaine époque. En évoquant et en qualifiant – ne serait-ce que par des sous-entendus – la totalité en cause, on peut du coup situer un des éléments qui la composent. En effet, par le seul jeu de la comparaison d’un élément avec l’ensemble auquel il appartient, on peut caractériser cet élément, notamment pour évoquer l’effet qu’il produit sur cet ensemble ou, inversement, l’influence qu’il en subit. Ainsi, on peut mettre en contexte un parti politique en le comparant à tous ses concurrents, voire expliquer que son action est infléchie par cette Copyright© Nuova Cultura

situation générale en même temps qu’elle la fait évoluer. Littré, dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, suggérait que ce sens figuré, de création récente, sert aussi à faire valoir par complaisance un élément au sein d’un tout (encadré 4, définition 4). Le but étant que l’élément en question fasse dans les circonstances “ bon effet ”, à tout le moins en apparence. On peut par ailleurs se demander si cette complaisance ne serait pas dans une certaine mesure révélatrice d’un art paysager qui compte sur l’illusion créée par chaque détail (c’est-à-dire la figure qu’on inclut ou non dans le tableau) pour parvenir à ses fins.

ENCADRÉ 4 Le paysage comme totalité 1. “ Aspect général ” (Robert, 2008). 2. “ Aspect d’ensemble que présente une situation : Le paysage politique du pays ” (Larousse, 1997). 3. “ Aspect général, situation globale dans un domaine ” (Antidote, 2016). 4. “ Fig. Familièrement (c’est une locution très récente). Cela fait bien dans le paysage, cela produit un bon effet. Elle a une grosse dot, cela fait bien dans le paysage. Je l’ai assuré de mon dévouement, cela fait bien dans le paysage ” (Littré, 1877).

3. En quelques autres langues naturelles Comme bien d’autres langues, l’allemand, l’anglais, l’espagnol, l’italien et le portugais ont des mots correspondant à paysage. Ces mots, comme en attestent les définitions citées dans l’encadré 5, sont eux aussi polysémiques et couvrent sensiblement le même champ sémantique que le français paysage. En effet, ces définitions, tirées de dictionnaires usuels, reprennent cinq des six acceptions du mot paysage en français. Leur lecture incite à revenir sur trois de ces acceptions.

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ENCADRÉ 5 Le paysage selon quelques langues naturelles 1. Allemand : Landschaft The FreeDictionary (http://de.thefreedictionary.com/) a) “ Ein Teil eines Landes, das bestimmte Eigenschaften und Merkmale hat ”. b) “ Ein gemaltes Bild einer Landschaft ”. c) “ Ein Teil der Oberfläche der Erde (mit Vegetation und Häusern), so wie der Betrachter ihn sieht ”. 2. Anglais : Landscape Cambridge Dictionary (http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us) a) “ A large area of countryside, usually one without many buildings or other things that are not natural ”. b) “ A view or picture of the countryside ”. c) “ The shape of the land and related features in a particular area ”. d) “ To landscape verb [T] to change the appearance of an area of land, esp. by planting trees, flowers, and other plants ”. Merriam-Webster Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/) a) “ A picture representing a view of natural inland scenery ”. b) “ The art of depicting such scenery ”. c) “ The landforms of a region in the aggregate ”. d) “ A portion of territory that can be viewed at one time from one place ”. e) “ A particular area of activity : scene the political landscape ”. 3. Espagnol : Paisaje Diccinario de la lengua española de la Real academia española (http://www.rae.es/) a) “ Parte de un territorio que puede ser observada desde un determinado lugar ”. b) “ Espacio natural admirable por su aspecto artístico ”. c) “ Pintura o dibujo que representa un paisaje ”. Vox-Larousse (http://www.diccionarios.com/) a) “ Lugar que se considera digno de ser contemplado por ser muy bello ”. b) “ Configuración del terreno en un lugar determinado ”. c) “ Dibujo, pintura o fotografía que representa un paraje natural ”. 4. Italien : Paesaggio Dizionario italiano Olivetti (http://www.dizionario-italiano.it/) a) “ Aspetto di un luogo che si abbraccia con lo sguardo ”. b) “ Pittura, fotografia che ha per soggetto un paesaggio ”. c) “ Particolare fisionomia di una regione determinata dalle sue caratteristiche fisiche, antropiche, biologiche, etniche ”. 5. Portugais : paisagem Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (https://www.priberam.pt/dlpo/paisagem) a) “ Extensão de território que se abrange com um lance de vista ”. b) “ Desenho, quadro, género literário ou trecho que representa ou em que se descreve um sítio campestre ”. Dicio. Dicionário Online de Português (http://www.dicio.com.br/) a) “ Extensão territorial que a vista alcança ”. b) “ Reunião dos componentes e elementos naturais, ou não, observados a partir de um determinado lugar “. c) “ Natureza, tipo ou característica de um espaço geográfico ”. d) “ Expressão artística (pintura, desenho, fotografia, gravura etc.) cujo tema é a natureza, as formas naturais, os ambientes do campo ”. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

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3.1 Œuvre ou genre artistique (bis) Landschaft (allemand), landscape (anglais), paisaje (espagnol), paesaggio (italien) et paisagem (portugais), désignent tous, comme en français, une œuvre ou un genre artistique (voir, dans l’encadré 5, les définitions : 1b, 2b, 2e, 2f, 3c, 3f, 4b, 5b et 5f). Cet art consiste à représenter graphiquement une partie de la surface terrestre ou à la suggérer à travers une image. Cet espace géographique, l’anglais le qualifie parfois, en ce contexte, de scenery, mot que l’on traduit généralement en français par paysage (2e et 2f : “ landscape : a picture representing a view of natural inland scenery; the art of depicting such scenery ”. La définition artistique du mot landscape appelle, en la circonstance, un synonyme pour distinguer la chose (scenery) de sa représentation artistique. Le procédé indique que l’acte de représentation (representing, depicting) est l’élément-clé de l’art du paysage. Une définition, en espagnol et en italien, renonce, comme Littré (encadré 1, définition 1), au recours à la synonymie et énonce, dans une formule en miroir, qu’un paysage est une image qui a pour sujet un paysage : “ paisaje : pintura o dibujo que representa un paisaje ” (3c) ; “ paesaggio : pittura, fotografia che ha per soggetto un paesaggio ” (2b). Comme en français, une telle formule souligne le fait que la représentation graphique d’un site est en quelque sorte plus importante que le site lui-même. En effet, on peut, dans un paysage, ne pas connaitre ou reconnaitre le site représenté. Ou encore, la représentation peut déroger à la physionomie réelle du site, voire en créer une sans chercher à imiter un site réel. Quoi qu’il en soit, l’objet du paysage en l’occurrence réside d’abord et avant tout dans l’image produite (sa qualité intrinsèque et l’effet qu’elle produit) et moins dans le site qui en est le sujet. 3.2 Site (bis) Les mêmes langues naturelles définissent également le paysage comme étant une partie de la surface terrestre (1c : “ Ein Teil der Oberfläche der Erde ”), quitte à confiner cette partie à la campagne (2a : “ a large area of countryside ”). Selon cette acception, le paysage Copyright© Nuova Cultura

concerne plus spécifiquement les caractères propres du site en question (4c : “ particolare fisionomia di una regione determinata dalle sue caratteristiche fisiche, antropiche, biologiche, etniche ” ; 5e : “ natureza, tipo ou característica de um espaço geográfico ”), et, au premier chef, son aspect (3e : “ configuración del terreno en un lugar determinado ” ; 2c : “ the shape of the land and related features in a particular area ”), notamment son relief (2g : “ the landforms of a region ”). 3.3 Vue (bis) Comme en français, un site est appelé paysage parce qu’il est offert à la vue (4a : “ Aspetto di un luogo che si abbraccia con lo sguardo ” ; 5a : “ Extensão de território que se abrange com um lance de vista ”). Dans cette acception, le paysage n’existe que parce qu’une personne en est l’observateur ou le spectateur (1c : “ Betrachter ”). Ainsi, le site devient un paysage à la condition qu’une personne en ait une expérience visuelle. C’est pourquoi le lieu et le moment où se réalise cette expérience sont tout aussi déterminants, dans la définition du paysage, que le site observé (2k : “ a portion of territory that can be viewed at one time from one place ” ; 3a : “ parte de un territorio que puede ser observada desde un determinado lugar ”). Autrement dit, au site observé, s’adjoint, pour qu’il y ait paysage, un site d’observation. Il reste, comme l’espagnol le précise, qu’un site observé, pour mériter le titre de paysage, doit posséder quelque valeur esthétique. Car pour transformer une personne en spectateur, encore faut-il, précise-t-on, que le site observé soit beau (3d : “ Lugar que se considera digno de ser contemplado por ser muy bello ”), qu’il ait un “ aspect artistique ” (3b : “ espacio natural admirable por su aspecto artístico ”. Sinon, le site ne pourrait déclencher le regard autrement qu’à des fins de repérage et encore moins susciter l’admiration. Par conséquent, pour attirer l’attention, pour être contemplé et reproduit en image, le site doit, en lui-même, être remarquable. Mais, à la vérité, cette qualité appartient-elle vraiment au site ? Si un site est admirable, n’est-ce pas plutôt en raison de l’admiration que, par inclination ou par imitation, le spectateur lui porte ? Il reste qu’un Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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site peut être, comme maint jardin d’agrément, l’œuvre d’un artiste et acquérir, par ce geste, une qualité esthétique qui lui appartient en propre. De plus, il n’est pas interdit de penser que l’être humain, quand il se résout à écouter son âme foncièrement poétique, transforme le territoire qu’il aménage en œuvre d’art, du moins qu’il y ajoute immanquablement une touche artistique. C’est pourquoi il est difficile de nier qu’un site ne puisse, grâce aux soins qu’on lui prodigue, revendiquer un “ aspecto artístico ” qui le rendrait “ bello ”, ne serait-ce qu’aux yeux de quelques-uns. Que dire, toutefois, de l’espacio natural ? Comment peut-il être, en soi, “ admirable por aspecto artístico ” ? Si la nature est libre de toute action humaine, il faut dans ce cas imaginer que, née d’un créateur surnaturel artistiquement doué, elle soit capable de subjuguer le mortel qui se donne la peine d’en découvrir l’immanente beauté. Toutefois, comme ce créateur putatif est impénétrable, il ne reste, pour expliquer comment un espacio natural devient admirable por su aspecto artístico, que cette seule admiration que porte l’être humain au spectacle du monde. À moins que cette nature qui mérite le nom de paysage ne soit qu’illusion. N’est-ce pas ce que suggère la langue anglaise qui n’hésite pas à faire de landscape un verbe afin de désigner l’action de changer l’apparence d’une partie de la surface terrestre en y intégrant des éléments naturels (2d : “ to landscape : to change the appearance of an area of land, esp. by planting trees, flowers, and other plants ”) ? La nature, dans cette perspective proprement paysagère, n’estelle pas en effet qu’apparence, parce que création humaine qui tient à l’implantation réussie de figures naturelles, notamment des arbres et des fleurs ? La version française du même verbe ne contredit pas l’hypothèse : “ Paysager : aménager (un site) à la façon d’un paysage naturel ” Antidote (2016). Ainsi, l’action en question consisterait à conférer à un site une apparence naturelle, comme si la nature, ou plutôt l’idée que l’on s’en fait, était à la fois la cause et l’effet de l’acte paysager.

4. Le nom Au-delà de ce que lui réserve le lexique contemporain, le mot paysage se comprend aussi grâce à l’étymologie. Apparaissent sous cet angle une autre série de nuances qui invitent à penser le paysage tels une action, une collection et un état. 4.1 Art de représenter un pays Le nom commun paysage apparut au XVe siècle pour nommer l’art du “ tableau représentant un pays ” (Dauzat et al., 1971, p. 545). Il fut forgé en assemblant le substantif pays (pais selon l’ancienne graphie) et le suffixe –age. Dérivé du latin pagus, que l’on traduit par bourg, village, canton, district voire ville (Gaffiot, 2000, p. 1118), pais, en vieux français, voulait alors dire région, contrée (Dauzat et coll., 1971, p. 545). Greimas (2012, p. 434) précise que pais, à partir du XIIIe siècle, signifiait également pays natal, ce qui suggère que la région ou la contrée en question doit se concevoir comme un milieu où habitent et d’où proviennent des gens (en latin pagensis, habitant du pays). Ce sens est toujours actuel puisque pays, selon une récente édition du Larousse, désigne une “ région envisagée au point de vue d’une certaine identité ou communauté d’intérêts de ses habitants ”. Ajouté à pays, le suffixe –age indique qu’un art (l’œuvre et le geste qui la crée) offre à voir une image du monde. Non pas le monde dans son entièreté, mais une portion à la fois et un tableau après l’autre, si bien que l’on peut supposer que cet art de figurer le monde consiste notamment à composer des unités géographiques cohérentes. L’enjeu étant que l’œuvre, tout en répondant à des critères stylistiques, soit fidèle à l’identité du pays, c’està-dire à ce qui fait que ce pays est lui-même et pas autrement. À moins que ce soit l’inverse et qu’il faille que le pays acquière, grâce à l’art paysager, l’identité qui lui manque ou qui est en mal d’affirmation.

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4.2 Pays et paysage L’originelle définition de paysage, à caractère artistique, s’est maintenue jusqu’à aujourd’hui. Ainsi, un récent Larousse précise que le mot paysage veut dire : “ peinture, gravure ou dessin11 dont le sujet principal est la représentation d’un site12 naturel, rural ou urbain ”. Mais ce sens primitif et toujours actuel n’est plus unique, puisque paysage, à notre époque, désigne autant la représentation d’un site que le site lui-même. En effet, comme le note le Robert en 1962, le paysage est aussi, selon une autre acception du mot, “ une étendue de pays ”. Cette définition remonte au XVI e siècle, quand le mot paysage prit également le sens de “ coin de pays ” (Dauzat et al., 1971, p. 545). Dans cette acception, la distinction entre les mots pays et paysage sert à signifier, avec le premier, une plus grande étendue, et, avec le second, un découpage géographique plus fin. 4.3 Paysage : Action, collection, état 4.3.1 Action : aspect Selon Grevisse (1980, p. 100), le suffixe – age “ marque une collection d’objets de même espèce, un état, une action ou le résultat de cette action ”. Au XVe siècle, quand apparut le mot paysage, ce suffixe indiquait que le paysage est le résultat d’une action (la représentation graphique) portant sur une chose (le site représenté). Qu’en est-il maintenant que le paysage n’est plus seulement une représentation du monde, mais aussi le monde lui-même, du moins une partie de celui-ci ? Une première interprétation, en lien avec le caractère à l’origine artistique du mot, est que paysage se rapporte plus spécifiquement à l’aspect du 11

On pourrait ajouter la photographie à cette liste. Dans cette définition actuelle, le mot site se substitue à pays pour indiquer la partie du monde que l’art représente sous forme de paysage. Cette substitution s’explique par le fait qu’aujourd’hui le mot pays désigne plutôt une vaste entité géographique, la plupart du temps assimilée au territoire et aux habitants d’un État souverain, alors que le pays, tel que l’on concevait jadis, était de taille plus réduite, d’où le terme site qu’on lui préfère dorénavant.

monde, de chacun des sites qui le composent. Littré, par exemple, donne la définition suivante du mot paysage : “ Étendue du pays que l’on voit d’un seul aspect ”. Robert, de son côté, mentionne cette acception : “ partie d’un pays que la nature présente à un observateur ”, ou encore, dans son édition originale : “ Partie d’un pays que la nature présente à l’œil qui la regarde ”. Cette signification retient du sens primitif du mot paysage l’idée d’une image du monde. L’image en question n’est cependant plus celle produite spécifiquement par la peinture, la gravure, le dessin ou la photographie ; elle est plutôt celle que toute personne perçoit en regardant le monde. Ainsi, à notre époque, le paysage, selon cette acception, suppose simplement la présence d’un observateur, peu importe qu’il soit artiste et qu’il en résulte une œuvre. Il suffit, pour qu’il y ait paysage, que, par le regard, une représentation de la surface terrestre se forme dans l’esprit d’un observateur. Cette représentation acquiert du coup une existence en soi, devient susceptible d’un jugement de valeur et se prête à une éventuelle action. 4.3.2 Collection : ensemble Suivant le principe que le suffixe –age évoque une collection, une seconde interprétation veut que le paysage ne soit pas seulement un site spécifique (un coin de pays), mais la totalité des sites (l’entièreté du pays), comme le feuillage équivaut à l’ensemble des feuilles d’un arbre, voire de plusieurs arbres ou encore de tous. Mais alors que les mots feuille et feuillage, en existant séparément, indiquent nettement la distinction entre le particulier et le général, le mot paysage, en désignant indistinctement l’élément et le tout, absorbe ces deux niveaux et, selon le contexte, les exprime tour à tour ou, au contraire, les confond.

4.3.3 État : identité Considérant que la quantité inhérente à une totalité corresponde en même temps à une qualité que partagent ou que constituent, en étant ensemble, tous ses éléments, on peut, selon une troisième interprétation, concevoir le paysage comme un attribut fondamental d’un site, voire Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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comme son facteur constitutif. Dans cette perspective, un site doit son existence au fait qu’un paysage lui confère une unité. Le paysage est ce qui permet de l’identifier. Sinon, le site ne serait qu’une étendue spatiale indéfinissable. C’est pourquoi Larousse définit le paysage comme étant l’identité que l’on reconnait à un site : “ Paysage : étendue spatiale […] présentant une identité visuelle ou fonctionnelle : paysage forestier, urbain, industriel ”. Or l’identité en question exige que le paysage soit posé comme une essence incarnée dans la substance même du site. Autrement dit, il y a paysage quand les éléments présents sur le site (sa substance, géographique en l’occurrence) forment un tout cohérent. Cette cohérence étant le principe de l’essence paysagère qui fonde son identité. Dans ces conditions, un paysage forestier, pour reprendre un des exemples du Larousse, ne correspond pas nécessairement à un site dont la substance se limite à l’élément forestier. Certes, cet élément doit être présent, mais d’autres n’ont pas à être exclus pour autant. Il suffit que, par la manière dont il s’assemble au reste, l’élément forestier y donne le ton. L’essence paysagère d’un site tient donc à l’agencement des éléments qui composent sa substance. Tant que cet agencement perdure, même quand sa substance est modifiée, le site conserve son identité et demeure solidaire de son paysage. Si, toutefois, les modifications déstructurent l’ensemble, le site se désolidarise du paysage qu’il avait jusque-là donné à voir et qui définissait son identité. D’où la tentation, parfois, de se contenter des apparences pour préserver au site le paysage qui, avant que des modifications ne le perturbent, lui semblait indissociable, voire indispensable.

5.1 Individualité et généralité Une chose est un élément du monde dont la réalité est à la fois susceptible d’individuation et de généralisation. C’est pourquoi le paysage est autant une chose qui est devant nous dans l’instant immédiat et que toute autre chose que l’on peut désigner de même. Par opposition, un être, du moins dans l’acception que nous retenons dans le présent contexte, est ce qui n’est pas généralisable en raison d’une individuation radicale et absolue, d’où le nom propre qui lui est réservé13. Le nom commun désigne la chose autant dans son individualité que dans sa généralité. Ainsi, le nom paysage s’applique à la fois au site spécifique dont on fait au présent l’expérience et à tous les autres dont, au même moment, on se rappelle, connait ou suppose l’existence. Autrement dit, un nom commun, qu’il s’agisse de paysage ou d’un autre, assigne une essence (ce qui permet de concevoir qu’une chose est la chose qu’elle est et non pas une autre) à une substance (ce dont on fait l’expérience) et permet de penser que d’autres substances, tout aussi réelles même si on n’en fait pas immédiatement l’expérience, correspondent à cette essence. Ceci étant dit, il n’est pas interdit de concevoir un paysage tel un être et, en conséquence, le désigner sous un nom qui lui est propre. Québec par exemple, qui est une ville, mais aussi un paysage, dont on peut dire qu’il est unique, puisqu’il n’existe aucune ville identique ailleurs dans le monde. Ce statut d’être découlerait par conséquent d’une individuation radicale et absolue du paysage qui le rendrait irréductible à aucun autre, de sorte que l’on ne pourrait préserver sa spécificité seulement en lui conservant les attributs communs à tous les paysages.

5. La chose Le mot paysage est un nom commun. Or un nom commun désigne une chose. Que retenir alors du paysage en tant que chose ? En soulevant cette question, l’étymologie évolue vers l’étude de la noèse, c’est-à-dire de l’acte de penser le paysage.

Il reste qu’un même élément du monde peut être à la fois une chose et un être, si bien qu’il peut être désigné à la fois par un nom commun et par un nom propre. Par exemple, un chien est une chose étant donné qu’il possède sa propre individualité (un chien est toujours différent d’un autre chien) et qu’il appartient à un groupe partageant les mêmes caractères (les attributs communs faisant qu’une série d’individus forment la même sous-espèce animale, en l’occurrence Canis lupus familiaris), alors que Rex, le chien du voisin, est un être. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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5.2 Fait et phénomène

6. L’idée

Les vertus du nom commun font que le paysage, à titre de chose individuée et généralisée, est en même temps un fait et un phénomène (Nadeau, 1999, p. 60). Un fait est la manifestation d’une chose. Du point de vue humain, il repose sur l’expérience. Ainsi, en étant présente sur un site, une personne en perçoit le paysage. Le paysage est alors un fait. Il y a phénomène quand un lien est établi entre différentes manifestations de la même chose. Car le phénomène est la récurrence de faits de même nature. Il n’est par conséquent pas soumis à la contrainte spatiotemporelle du fait, dont l’occurrence est toujours liée à un moment et à un lieu précis. Posant que le paysage soit un phénomène, une personne, comme d’autres avant ou après elle, peut se rendre sur un site pour en percevoir le paysage. Dans cette perspective phénoménale, le paysage est dès lors posé comme une essence qui est en quelque sorte imposée à la substance du site visité.

Le paysage, en tant que chose, est à la fois un fait et un phénomène. Or ce fait et ce phénomène peuvent être évoqués dans la langue autrement que par le vocable paysage. Cela tient à l’idée qui, en plus de souder une chose et un mot, permet d’évoquer cette même chose en d’autres mots.

5.3 Dualité noétique Sous l’angle de la noèse, la différence entre fait et phénomène est fondamentale. On peut expliquer un fait par des causes qui lui seraient spécifiques. En revanche, le phénomène suppose que les faits qui lui donnent sa réalité relèvent d’une seule et même cause, produisent le même effet ou présentent un quelconque caractère uniforme. Ainsi, une des difficultés de l’analyse du paysage est de faire la part entre deux types de causalités : celles faisant que la substance du site détermine le paysage et celles faisant que l’essence du paysage détermine le site. Le premier type tend à l’explication factuelle et la seconde, à l’explication phénoménale. Or cette dualité épistémologique devient dilemme quand il faut caractériser un paysage pour en déduire, aux fins de sa protection ou de son amélioration, une norme. La question, en l’occurrence, est de savoir si l’on préfère agir en faveur du paysage dont on fait l’expérience dans un site (approche factuelle) ou encore du paysage dont on pense ou veut faire l’expérience dans un site (approche phénoménale).

6.1 Correspondance langage-réalité Lorsque l’on prononce ou entend un nom commun, on pense d’emblée à la chose qu’il désigne. Ce lien immédiat entre un nom commun et une chose réside en une idée. Les idées sont ce qui, dans l’esprit humain, coordonne dans la pensée le langage et la réalité, c’est-à-dire l’ensemble des choses et des êtres. Elles mettent de l’ordre en établissant entre les noms et les entités réelles une correspondance stable qui autorise l’apprentissage et facilite la communication. Ainsi, dès lors qu’un interlocuteur a appris que paysage est un nom donné à cette chose qu’est une partie du monde extérieur que le regard humain englobe, il suffit de prononcer ce nom pour qu’il sache de quelle chose il est question. Pour la même raison, il suffit de lui indiquer cette chose pour qu’il puisse la nommer paysage. 6.2 Synonymie et polysémie L’idée, élément fondamental de la noèse, consiste à savoir ce à quoi (chose ou être) un nom correspond dans la réalité en lui attribuant une définition. Bien entendu, cette définition peut être plus ou moins nette, de sorte qu’on peut errer. En mal d’une idée claire, la pensée vacille. Deux difficultés, qui ressortent de l’incompétence, contribuent à ce vacillement. Une première incompétence explique qu’une personne peut ne pas ou mal connaitre ce que signifie le mot paysage. Une seconde fait qu’une personne peut ne pas, sinon difficilement, reconnaitre une chose que l’on nomme paysage. Cela permet de comprendre que l’idée, c’est-à-dire l’association d’un nom à une entité réelle, relève, chez la personne, d’un apprentissage. Or cet apprentissage est acquisition d’un savoir qui participe de la culture propre à une société. C’est Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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pourquoi le vacillement de la pensée relativement à une idée peut également être éprouvé collectivement. On peut s’en désoler et espérer plus de clarté, mais on peine par ailleurs à imaginer que, dans nos langues naturelles historiquement et socialement si riches, une chose n’ait qu’un seul nom et qu’un nom n’ait qu’une seule définition. Aussi faut-il s’accommoder de la synonymie et de la polysémie. La synonymie veut, par exemple, que scenery puisse être utilisé pour signifier la même chose que landscape. La polysémie, pour sa part, fait que le mot paysage, comme il a été mentionné plus haut, a plusieurs acceptions, dont celles qui lui valent de désigner tout autant une chose que l’image de cette chose. Si l’idée à laquelle se rattache le mot paysage peut s’en trouver brouillé, elle n’en gagne pas moins en nuance et en profondeur, du moins quand on y voit la possibilité de préciser notre pensée pour l’adapter aux circonstances. 6.3 Connotation et périphrase Médiateur entre le langage et la réalité, l’idée l’est également entre les langues naturelles. Elle permet par exemple d’associer le mot français paysage, à l’anglais landscape, à l’allemand landschaft, à l’espagnol paisaje, à l’italien paesaggio, au portugais paisagem, etc. Ce foisonnement nominatif s’orchestre autour d’une seule idée en même temps que chaque langue naturelle tend à soumettre la définition du mot qui lui correspond à des conditions spécifiques. Ces inflexions définitoires témoignent d’autant de cultures qui, en étoffant l’idée que nous nous faisons du paysage, enrichissent la pensée et qui, à l’opposé, contribuent, si elles sont négligées ou mal considérées, à son vacillement. Il reste que certaines langues n’ont pas de mot spécifique pour exprimer l’idée que porte, en français, le terme paysage. On peut alors supposer que cette idée n’a pas, a peu ou a moins de résonance dans la culture dont ces langues se font l’écho. Ce serait toutefois négliger le fait que le langage peut transmettre une idée en recourant simplement à la connotation ou à la périphrase. Grâce à la connotation, le vecteur langagier de l’idée est un mot dont la définition première (dénotation) est infléchie à cette fin par le contexte d’énonciation. Ainsi, le mot latin locus, dont l’acception première est de désigner une Copyright© Nuova Cultura

partie de la surface terrestre (c’est-à-dire un lieu, un endroit, une place), exprime souvent, par exemple chez Stace dont il a été question plus haut, ce que l’on peut aujourd’hui nommer paysage. Avec la périphrase, l’idée se manifeste dans le langage à travers non pas un seul mot, mais plusieurs. Formant une expression, ces mots assemblés adoptent un sens spécifique. C’est le cas, par exemple, quand le législateur québécois utilise l’expression “ partie du territoire présentant un intérêt esthétique ” (Loi sur l’aménagement et l’urbanisme, art. 5) pour désigner une chose que ses commentateurs n’hésitent pas pour leur part à nommer tout simplement paysage.

7. Conclusion La formulation, la mise en œuvre ou la contestation d’une norme témoigne toujours d’une orientation définitoire spécifique. C’est pourquoi l’étude de toute norme paysagère commande une réflexion sur le sens que cette norme, en suivant le vocabulaire usuel ou savant, accole au mot paysage, de même qu’aux synonymes, aux connotations et aux périphrases qu’elle emploie pour en évoquer l’idée. Mais l’enjeu de la norme, qu’elle soit paysagère ou non, n’est pas purement sémantique ou plus largement discursif. La norme, plus encore, engage des personnes les unes envers les autres. Ainsi reste-t-il à comprendre comment cette chose que l’on nomme ou peut nommer paysage concerne-t-elle, quand elle est saisie par la norme, les êtres humains, et comment, dans cette même condition, compose-t-elle avec les territoires que ces êtres occupent et les biens qu’ils y disposent.

Bibliographie 1. Antidote, Dictionnaire français, 2016. 2. Augoyard J. F., “ La vue est-elle souveraine dans l’esthétique paysagère ? ”, Le Débat, 65, 1991, pp. 51-58. 3. Bardet M., La fin du paysage, Paris, Anthropos, 1973. 4. Barrière O., “ Le paysage façonné par le droit, entre la rationalité du droit positif et l’empirisme culturel juridique ”, VertigO – Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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la revue électronique en sciences de l’environnement, 14, 2012, http://vertigo. revues.org/12482. Bédard M. (Ed.) Le paysage, un projet politique, Québec, Presses de l’Université du Québec, 2009. Berque A., La pensée paysagère, Bastia, Éditions Éoliennes, 2016. Bethemont J. “ Les paysages au risque des politiques “, Bédard M. (Ed.), Le paysage, un projet politique, Québec, Presses de l’Université du Québec, 2009, pp. 163-188. Brunet F., La normativité en droit, Paris, Mare et Martin, 2011. Candau J., Aznar O., Guérin M., Michelin Y. and Moquay P., “ L’intervention publique paysagère comme processus normatif ”, Cahiers d’économie et sociologies rurales, 84-85, 2007, pp. 167-190. Cauquelin A., L’invention du paysage, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2000. Convention européenne du paysage, Conseil de l’Europe, 2002. Corbin A., L’homme dans le paysage, Paris, Textuel, 2001. Dauzat A., Dubois J. and Mitterand H., Nouveau dictionnaire étymologique et historique, Paris, Larousse, 1971. Dictionnaire Littré. Originellement paru de 1873 à 1877, http://www.littre.org/. Domon G. et Ruiz J., “ La convention européenne des paysages : quels enseignements pour le Québec ? ”, VertigO — la revue électronique en sciences de l’environnement, 2015, http://vertigo.revues.org/15367. Dupriez B., Gradus. Les procédés littéraires, Paris, Éditions 10/18, 1984. Gaffiot F., Dictionnaire latin-français, Paris, Hachette, 2000. Grand usuel Larousse. Dictionnaire encyclopédique, Paris, Larousse-Bordas, 1997, Cinq tomes. Greimas A. J., Le dictionnaire de l’ancien français, Paris, Larousse, 2012. Grevisse M., Le bon usage. Grammaire française avec des remarques sur la langue française d’aujourd’hui (onzième édition), Paris et Gembloux, Duculot, 1980. Guttinger P., “ Approche du paysage en droit français ”, Cahiers d’économie et de

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sociologie rurales, 84-85, 2007, pp. 11-60, https://ideas.repec.org/a/rae/jouces/v8485y2007p11-60.html. Jakob M., Le paysage, Gollion, Infolio, 2008. Kelsen H., Théorie générale des normes, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1996. Küster H., Petite histoire du paysage, Strasbourg, Circé, 2013. Lalande A., Vocabulaire technique et critique de la philosophie, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2002. Le Couédic D., “ Le paysage tué par ceux-là mêmes qui l’adoraient ”, Cahiers de géographie du Québec, 46, 129, 2002, pp. 281-297, https://www.erudit.org/revue/ cgq/2002/v46/n129/023055ar.pdf. Loi n. 93-24 du 8 janvier 1993 sur la protection et la mise en valeur des paysages et modifiant certaines dispositions législatives en matière d’enquêtes publiques, Journal officiel de la République française, 7, 1993, p. 503. Mercier G., “ La norme paysagère. Réflexion théorique et analyse du cas québécois ”, Cahiers de géographie du Québec, 46, 129, 2002, pp. 357-392, http://www.erudit.org/revue/cgq/2002/v46/n 129/023059ar.pdf. Mercier G., “ Incommensurable, irréductible et immédiat paysage ”, Bédard M. (Ed.), Le paysage, un projet politique. Québec, Presses de l’Université du Québec, 2009, pp. 189-196. Mercier G., “ Le drame du paysage ”, Paquet S. and Mercier G. (Ed.), Paysage, entre art et politique, Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval, 2013, pp. 127-153. Nadeau R., Vocabulaire technique et analytique de l’épistémologie, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 1999. Raffestin C., “ Paysage et territorialité ”, Cahiers de géographie du Québec, 21, 5354, 1977, pp. 123-134, https://www.erudit. org/revue/cgq/1977/v21/n53-54/021360ar. pdf. Raffestin C., “ Les paradoxes du paysage ”, Compar(a)ison, 2, 1998, pp. 109-118. Raffestin C., Dalla nostalgia del territorio al desiderio di paesaggio. Elementi per una teoria del paesaggio, Florence, Alinea, 2005.

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35. Robert P., Dictionnaire alphabétique et analogique de la langue française, Paris, Société du nouveau Littré, 1962. 36. Robert P., Le nouveau petit Robert de la langue française, Remanié et amplifié par J. Rey-Debove et A. Rey, Paris, Dictionnaires Le Robert, 2008.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 5, Dec., 2016, pp. 35-49 DOI: 10.4458/7800-03

The transnational investment promotion community between Italy and China: an example of post Washington consensus neoliberalism Tu Lana, Christian Sellarb, Shuang Chengc a

Department of Geography, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA Department of Public Policy Leadership, University of Mississippi, University, MS, USA c Department of Teaching Chinese as Foreign Language, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao Economic and Technological Development Zone, Shandong, China Email: tu.lan@unh.edu b

Received: February 2016 – Accepted: October 2016

Abstract Since investment promotion practices have been a hallmark of the neoliberalizing global economy, how these practices changed after the 2008 economic crisis becomes a critical question for the viability of neoliberalism. This article studies the role of an Italian investment promotion community (IPC) in Shanghai in promoting transnational investments between Italy and China. It is based on 12 semi-structured interviews and trade and investment data collected between 2013 and 2014 as well as individual authors’ longer term research in both countries. There are two main findings. First, the Italian IPC in Shanghai is better organized with more functions than the similar communities in Central and Eastern Europe before the crisis. Second, there have been emerging practices of investment promotion catering to the bidirectional investment flows between Italy and China. The central theoretical contribution is that the Italian IPC in Shanghai signals the tension between continuity and change in neoliberalism since 2008. Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), Investment Promotion Practices, Neoliberalism, Economic Crisis, Italy, China

1. Introduction Geographers have long debunked a notion of neoliberalism as inevitable or paradigmatic, replacing it with a multiple and contextualized concept in which neoliberal ideology articulates itself with existing political economies (Springer, 2014). Neoliberal policies have proven to be adaptable to different institutional Copyright© Nuova Cultura

contexts, dynamic, and resilient over time. In particular, after the 2008 crisis, existing neoliberal policies have been recalibrated to adapt to the new conditions of the global economy (Peck, Theodore and Brenner, 2013). One of these new conditions has been the emergence of large suppliers located in rapidly developing economies, which are reshaping the

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Tu Lan, Christian Sellar, Shuang Cheng

core-periphery relationship in the post Washington Consensus (Gereffi, 2014). Within the discussion on the diffusion and adaptability of neoliberalism, it is well-established that the promotion of foreign direct investments (FDI) plays a crucial role in aligning national and local institutions with neoliberal-minded transnational actors (Phelps, Power and Wanjiru, 2007; Drahokoupil, 2008; Sellar and Pastor, 2015). First, neoliberal ideology considers FDI as the highest form of financing development (Phelps, Power and Wanjiru, 2007, p. 84). Second, the competition for FDI is pervasive, and has led to widespread building of investment promotion (IP) institutions. In fact, more than 160 countries have established public investment promotion agencies (IPAs), and their activity is complemented by, and overlaps with, a large private sector comprising location consultancies, banks, and other service firms (Phelps and Wood, 2006). We emphasize the community nature of IP, in which the public IPAs have “thick” relations with private IP firms and business associations in specific places. As a whole, we call these communities “investment promotion communities” (IPCs). Together, actors in these communities push national and local policies to align with the interests of transnational investors. Using the Italian IPC in Shanghai as an example, we investigate the ways in which IPCs changed after the 2008 crisis. Our overarching question is to what extent the Italian IPC in Shanghai represents trends in the broader evolution of neoliberalism. This article has two main findings. First, after the 2008 crisis, the IPC began supporting not only Italian firms, but also Chinese investors to Italy, because bi-directional capital flows have been emerging between China and Italy. Based on this finding, we argue that the evolution of neoliberalism needs to be put into the historical context of both the global expansion of the emerging powers and the relative decline of some Western economies. Second, although inheriting the basic structure of predecessors in Central and Eastern Europe, the Italian IPC in Shanghai has become better organized thanks to the leadership of the Italian consul. This finding suggests a substantial evolution in the institutional arrangements promoting FDI. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

The rest of the article is structured as follows. The second section presents our methodology. Section 3 reviews the literature of actually existing neoliberalisms and neoliberalism postcrisis. Section 4 focuses on the changing roles of Italy and China in the post-2008 world economy. It is followed by the 5th section which discusses the changing flows of the two countries’ outward and inward investments globally. Section 6 focuses on the ways in which the Italian IPC in Shanghai changed after 2008. The concluding section discusses the new paradigm of IP promotion in the post Washington Consensus neoliberalism.

2. Methodology This article is primarily based on 12 semistructured interviews conducted in Shanghai between November 2013 and July 2014. Despite the limited number of interviews, our interviewees represent a spectrum of Italian public and private actors providing services to internationalization of Italian and Chinese firms: three state agencies, three public-private partnerships, and the private companies including law firms and tax advisors supporting the legal and logistical aspects of internationalization. Questions focus on the evolution of institutional support to internationalization, the new services offered after 2008, and the changing challenges to Italian and Chinese investors. In addition to the interviews, we draw trade and investment data from Italian National Statistics Agency (ISTAT), National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC), and Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The article is also based on materials from our previous research, which we did individually. Lan conducted 80 interviews with Italian and Chinese entrepreneurs, workers, policymakers, and social activists between 2011 and 2013, focusing on the transnational entrepreneurship of Chinese immigrants in Italy. This research led to the discovery of the bidirectional capital flows between China and Italy and the collaboration between Italian and Chinese governments on FDI promotion. Sellar conducted 120 interviews in Central and Eastern Europe between 2005 and 2012. His research has focused on Europeanization, institutional Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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change, and the activity of Italian firms in Central and Eastern Europe. Cheng has provided institutional support and assisted in conducting interviews in China.

3. Neoliberalization and IPCs Neoliberalism comprises the policy applications of neoclassical economic theory, tracing back to the work of Friedrich Hayek (Hayek, 1944). As such, it identifies the free market reforms implemented in the early 1980s in the USA and UK, and their worldwide diffusion in the 1990s including curtailing welfare programs, lifting barriers to trade especially in the financial sector, reducing state intervention in the economy, and privatizing public assets (Lipietz, 2001; Harvey, 2010). Since then scholars have used the term neoliberalism to critique the societal consequences of the free market ideology, in an ever broadening research agenda (Springer, 2014). Scholars highlighted that neoliberalism produces place-specific policies that combine the neoliberal credo with local, inherited, and path-dependent institutional structures, regulatory regimes, and cultures (Brenner and Theodore, 2002; Brenner, Peck and Theodore, 2010; McCann and Ward, 2011). More recently, the global financial crisis of 2008 has led to new research on the relationship between free market ideology and post-crisis economic policies (Neilson, Pritchard and Yeung, 2014). Scholars have variably argued that neoliberalism has run out of ideas politically (Smith, 2008, p. 2), but also that it is resilient and will take time to lose its hegemonic position (Aalbers, 2013). Additionally, the discursive representations of the crisis and the proposed solutions vary, but little new material is in fact being presented (Oosterlynck and Gonzalez, 2013, p. 1079). Peck et al. (2013, p. 1095) demonstrated that the responses to the crisis consisted chiefly of the recalibration of existing policies rather than in brand new developments. Some scholars pointed out that the belief system among elites, rather than hard economic data, are contributing to the resilience of neoliberalism. This is the case with urban policies in Frankfurt (Schipper, 2014) as well as national and regional economic policies in Slovakia (Sellar and Pastor, 2015). These institutional responses went hand in hand with the Copyright© Nuova Cultura

changing geography of global powers. In particular, Gereffi (2014) argued that the neoliberal project has changed so profoundly that it is possible to talk about a post Washington Consensus world. In this new world, the Western institutions that led neoliberalization in the 1990s (Washington Consensus) are now sharing power with emerging economies in the South and East. This paper argues that a closer look at investment promotion may provide insights on the continuity and new trends in the post Washington Consensus world. In studying investment promotion, different scholars used widely diverse case studies and named these communities differently, for instance either as “communities of investment promotion practice” (Phelps, Power and Wanjiru, 2007) or “investment-promotion machines” (Drahokoupil, 2008). However, they described strikingly similar phenomena, i.e. communities of institutions, belonging to different countries, different levels of government and the private sector. Across the board, these institutions shared a certain level of coherence in order to stabilize FDI (Phelps and Wood, 2006, p. 494). This literature identifies two most important ways in which IPCs contribute to neoliberalization. First, as Phelps et al. (2007) argued, IPCs have been playing a central role in transferring neoliberal policies across national borders. By so doing, IPCs are crucial actors shaping actually existing neoliberalisms. Their research shows that the national agencies such as investment promotion bureaus and private actors such as banks and consulting companies were the most active actors in translating neoliberal models into actual policies and institutional arrangements. More recent research also indicated that private actors were closely involved in the transferring of neoliberal policies between cities (Phelps et al., 2014). Second, scholars also found that the IPCs were playing a central role in the localization of investment promotion practices and intermediation between subnational governments at different levels (Tewdwr-Jones and Phelps, 2000; Phelps and Wood, 2006; Drahokoupil, 2008). For example, both Phelps and Wood (2006) and Drahokoupil (2008) identified similar processes in liberal democratic UK and US as well as in post-socialist Central Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Europe. In both cases, while national governments signed large projects with foreign investors, they relied on subnational institutions to translate national interests into regional and local contexts. Because of different levels of government are elected separately and presumably have its own political autonomy, such a translation often means the violation of the liberal-democratic ideals (Tewdwr-Jones and Phelps, 2000; Phelps and Wood, 2006).

4. Italy and China in the post Washington consensus world Italian-Chinese investment flows nicely embody both the continuity and new trends in neoliberalism. As predicted in the literature on actually existing neoliberalism, both countries have been places of selective and highly contested adoption of neoliberal practices. Both countries have deployed new state regulations after 2008 to reshape and support their participation in the global economy. Finally and most importantly, they are at the opposite ends of the spectrum in the post Washington consensus world: Italy is an established capitalist economy, member of the G8, but crisis ridden and struggling to redefine its role in global economy, whereas China is the leader among the rapidly developing economies that are reshaping the post Washington Consensus world. On the one hand, as many scholars have pointed out, the Chinese economy is a crossscalar and cross-sectoral mixture of neoliberal and regulatory doctrines (Lim, 2014; Lan, Pickles and Zhu, 2015). In particular, Lim (2014) showed that the Chinese government has become a neoliberal advocate for export and outward FDIs while remaining regulatory when it comes to import and inward FDIs. Since the years immediately preceding the 2008 crisis, China has been transitioning from a lower-cost production hub to a major consumer market and global investor (Buckley et al., 2007). Supported by the nation’s “Go Out” policy, the Chinese capital has been seeking investment opportunities around the world (Zhu and Pickles, 2014). More importantly, as Dunford and Yeung (2010) recently argued, the 2008 economic crisis marks the “convergence” of the global economy Copyright© Nuova Cultura

in which China’s continuous growth and the decline of the West are inevitable. Based on a similar hypothesis, Henderson et al. (2013) argued that the externalization of Chinese capital(-ism) might usher in a new version of globalization with different impacts on different countries. While most scholars have been particularly interested in the impact of Chinese capital in the developing world (e.g. Kaplinsky, 2013), there is also an emerging interest regarding Chinese investments in Europe (Pietrobelli, Rabellotti and Sanfilippo, 2010; Si, Liefner and Wang, 2013). On the other hand, considered by many scholars far from the neoliberal model, the Italian economy has been defined as a ‘mixed market economy’ in which government subsidies compensated for the financial weakness of the private sector, and in which ‘firms and trade unions have veto power over the state and can demand compensation for state intervention (Molina and Rhodes, 2007; Hassel, 2014). However, due to competitive pressure since the 1990s, Italy had to adopt elements of the neoliberal model, including painful fiscal restructuring, privatization, and more openness to international trade. First, since the 1990s Italy has seen decreasing GDP growth which has developed into a recession since 2007. As a response, the Italian state has slowly begun the process to proactively remove trade barriers, by developing new policies to shift from a purely outward FDI promoter to an inward FDI facilitator (Pietrobelli, Rabellotti and Sanfilippo, 2010). Second, since the 1990s Italian firms had to open up and extend their value chains abroad. While some firms became suppliers for large multinationals (Rabellotti, Carabelli and Hirsch, 2009), others extended their own value chains to emerging economies by outsourcing production and opening up new markets (Chiarvesio, Di Maria and Micelli, 2010). Given Italy and China’s complementary position in the postWashington Consensus world, an analysis of their IPCs may shed some new lights on the emerging features of post-2008 neoliberalisms. In this article, we focus on the ways in which Italian IPCs have changed in response to the crisis. In Italy, the practices of promoting outward FDI has an origin in the 1920s and further developed since the early 1990s. When Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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former socialist states in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) opened to the West, Italian banks and consultancies emerged to offer localized services to Italian small and medium-sized investors (Sellar 2015). Similar to the functions identified by Phelps et al. (2007), the Italian IPCs in CEE have been active translators of foreign cultures for Italian investors (Sellar, 2009). What has been new since 2008 is the emerging inward investment promotion in Italy, and thus the alignment between the Italian laws and the needs of transnational capital (interview lawyer, Shanghai, February 09 2015). The following sections show that the emergence of Chinese outward FDI is offering new opportunities to Italian IPCs and making them into “investment promotion machines” working in two directions. 5. Chinese and Italian FDI flows: growing

interconnections in the post-2008 world Phelps et al. (2007, p. 107) rightly pointed out: “existing geographical patterns of FDI promote IP expenditures, not the other way round.” If the increase in FDI is to be considered a feature of neoliberalism, then both Italy and China have become more neoliberal after 2008. In turn, the intensification of FDI flows has led to a proliferation of IP. Figure 1 compares the employment generated by Italian firms in different world regions in 2007 and in 2011, the most recent year reported by the Italian government. The data show clearly a decline in Western Europe, a relatively stable Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) (reported as “other EU countries (EU 27)” in the figure), a growth of “other European countries” (meaning mostly the growth of Russia) and the emergence of North and South America as well as East Asia. The data are consistent with the trends observed from the 1990s to the mid-2000s (Federico, 2004; Sellar, 2009; Sellar, 2015). These scholars detected that Italian investments were

progressively becoming more capital intensive and expanding from close-by locations in Romania and Slovakia to further-away places in the Balkans, former Soviet Union, and North Africa. These were mostly offshored manufacturers serving Italy’s traditional markets in Western Europe. The geographical advances of Italian outward FDIs went further after 2008. The nature of the investments also changed from purely manufacturing outsourcing to developing new export markets (interview chairman, IC & partners, June 19 2014). Sellar (2009; and Sellar, 2015) argued that the progressive intensification and geographic expansion of Italian investors created a demand for place-specific knowledge, and thus led to the emergence of IPCs. Because of their small average size and thus limited resources, many firms could not gain local knowledge by themselves (Sellar, 2015). Therefore, investment promotion communities (IPCs) made of banks, service firms, and public agencies, emerged to cater to their needs. In a later paper, Sellar and Pastor argued that the post-2008 recession in Italy was pushing Italian firms to seek export and sourcing opportunities even further, and that also consultancies were looking for opportunities in new markets, chiefly in Asia and Latin America (Sellar and Pastor, 2015). In the same years, Chinese outward FDI also expanded, as shown in Figure 2, which presents the Chinese outward FDI flows by world region before and during the crisis. Chinese investment does not exhibit the same cautious geographical progression as Italy’s. While Italy’s internationalization was driven by SMEs in industrial districts since the 1990s, in response to globalization (Cento Bull, 2011), China’s outward FDI has usually been led by stateowned enterprises (Si, 2014). These large firms usually have enough resources and so do not need the incremental approach to internationalization like Italian SMEs (Cattani and Tschoegl, 2002).

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Figure 1. Turnovers of Italian firms by world region in million euros. Source: elaboration of ICE data.

Figure 2. Chinese outward FDI flows by world region in million US dollars. Source: elaboration of data from NBSC.

In China, the strategic decision of the government to develop the domestic market shaped the geographies of outward FDI (Buckley et al., 2007; Si, 2014). Encouraging Chinese firms to invest abroad has been part of key national policies for the Chinese government (Zhu and Pickles, 2014). Because it needed reinvesting the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest foreign currency reserve, China started a wave of outward FDI prior to the 2008 crisis (Buckley et al., 2007). Si et al. (2014) recently showed that the Chinese outward FDI in

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fact follows different models in developing and developed countries: while in developing countries these Chinese multinationals focus on access to natural resources and labor force, in developed countries they prioritize knowledge acquisition. At the same time, the Chinese domestic market has attracted the attention of foreign firms. Even though foreign investors still largely use China as a manufacturing base, an increasing number of them has begun to produce to sell in China (Whalley and Xin, 2010). A recent report shows that although Chinese Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Tu Lan, Christian Sellar, Shuang Cheng

consumers only spent 8% of private consumption in the world, “it contributed more than any other country to the growth of consumption in 201113” (The Economist, 2014). Besides consumer markets, Li et al. (2012) also showed that China had also been highly integrated into the international trade of intra-industry intermediates, in particular with the European Union. Tables 1 shows the bilateral investment flows between Italy and China, before and during the crisis, resulting from the trends described above. On the one hand, Italian investments in China grew nearly 81 folds between 2003 and 2012, despite the significant drop in 2009. On the other hand, Chinese FDI flows to Italy were almost negligible before 2008, though grew dramatically after that. Even though the FDI flows from China to Italy were still incomparable to the other way round, it was still a 29-fold growth between 2003 and 2012. Year Italy to China China to Italy 2003 42 5 2004 103 -2 2005 230 8 2006 204 3 2007 388 -6 2008 737.63 16.85 2009 36.23 180.99 2010 1089.05 -19.77 2011 1144.09 142.18 2012 3401.16 147.44 Table 1. FDI flows between Italy and China reported by Italy in million euros. Source: elaboration of data from OECD.

Table 2 shows the sectoral breakdown of FDIs from Italy to China in 2005 and 2011. Manufacturing firms represent the bulk of Italian investments: their turnover grew 60%, from 3.8 to 6.1 billion of euros. However, the sharpest growth was registered in wholesale trade (from 340 to 911 million of euros), reflecting firms’ need to develop China’s export market. This is a new trend, differentiating pre 2008 sourcing investments from the contemporary emphasis on export to compensate for the decline of the Italian market. Among manufacturing sectors, Copyright© Nuova Cultura

the sharpest growth rates are registered in automotive, machine building, IT, as well as food processing and home appliances. These data show a dual trend: first, Italian firms are tapping into China’s industrialization efforts by providing intermediate goods to Chinese manufacturers; and second, they are trying to tap into the fast developing Chinese consumer market (interview Italian lawyer, Shanghai, January 07 2014). Sectors 2005 2011 Minining 1 2 total manufacturing 3,793 6,103 food processing 571 993 textile 134 174 clothing 138 143 leather accessories 52 51 wood processing 4 4 paper products 11 11 coal and oil 1 1 refineries chemical industries 169 204 pharmaceuticals 23 23 rubber and plastics 397 349 other non-metal 100 130 mineral products metal industries (excluded machine 114 224 building) computer and 270 786 electronics home appliances 469 765 machine building 389 718 automotive 523 1,279 other transportation 24 105 devices furniture 383 130 other manufacturing 21 13 - service and repairs energy, gas and water 4 7 contruction 14 9 wholesale trade 341 911 logistics and 4 31 transportation telecomminication and 1 9 IT other services 149 515 Total 4,307 7,587 Table 2. Italian FDI stock in China by sector in million euros. Source: elaboration of ICE data.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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We are not able to access to the sectoral breakdown for the FDIs from China to Italy. However, some existing studies have shown its sectoral pattern. For example, Pietrobelli et al. (2010) showed that at least until 2009, the Chinese FDI in Italy were highly concentrated on a very few number of strategic projects, which then resulted in the fluctuating FDI flows. These were usually the industries which Italy had comparative advantage such as motorcycles and home appliances. Thus, China’s need for knowledge acquisition found a favorable environment in Italy after 2008 because many Italian firms in industrial districts began seeking inward FDI after the crisis. Many scholars (Belussi and Sedita, 2009; Belussi and Sedita, 2012) have shown that district firms have been increasingly relying on global knowledge pipelines with distant firms outside the districts. By so doing, the Italian partners can provide Chinese firms with advanced technology, while Chinese partners provide Italian firms with capital and tacit knowledge for the Chinese market. Altogether, the post Washington Consensus world brought substantial changes to the geographies of both China and Italy’s FDI. In both cases the spatial distribution of investments has widened and flows have intensified; the complementary conditions of the two countries have led to substantial cross investments. However, unlike in the older Washington Consensus regime, this intensification has not occurred because of deregulation and tax cuts. Instead, it is the fruit of circumstances and active involvement of public and private actors. The next section discusses one aspect of such increased institutional involvement: the Italian effort to build an investment promotion community (IPC) in Shanghai and beyond.

have become better organized to match the new needs of Italian firms. Since 2008, the Italian expatriate community in Shanghai has grown exponentially. From a few dozen individuals in the 1990s, Italian permanent residents in Shanghai doubled between 2004 and 2009, reaching 2,800 by 2013 (interview, undisclosed interviewee, December 19 2013). These data correspond with the national-level data on Italian immigration to China. The Italian government reports a 239% growth of Italian citizens permanently residing in China since 2006 (Today, 2013). The overwhelming majority of those expatriates are students, entrepreneurs and consultants (Today 2013). In a nutshell, the crisis in Italy has been pushing young Italians to look for opportunities abroad, firms to internationalize and entrepreneurs to emigrate. Such growth in the community attracted Italian lawyers and other service firms while also giving Italian institutions more opportunities to organize trade fairs and other promotional events (undisclosed interviewee, December 19 2013). By the mid-2010s, the Italian IPC in Shanghai comprised the following public, semipublic, and private actors, which played complementary and sometimes overlapping roles in support of the business community: -

6. Continuity and change: what is new in the Sino-Italian IPC? The emergence of a strong IPC in Shanghai is in many ways a product of the post-2008 environment. In this section, we show that despite some similarities between the IPC supporting Italian firms in CEE in the 1990s and those in China in the 2000s, the IPC in Shanghai

Consulate General (public), representing the Italian Government in Shanghai and three surrounding provinces. It provides the overall strategy for all institutions. ICE – Institute for foreign trade – (public), focuses on market analyses, promotion, and dissemination of information. Italian cultural institute (public). Established in 2007. Even though its goal does not involve business promotion, it was able to support Italian cultural firms, especially in publishing. It also helped an Italian firm to win the tender for the restoration of the city walls of Nanjing. Consorzio Camerale per l’Internazionalizzazione (semi-public). Formerly called Promos, it is a representative of the Chamber of Commerce of Milan, plus a consortium of other chambers. It supports the internationalization of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Its services inItalian Association of Geography Teachers

Tu Lan, Christian Sellar, Shuang Cheng

clude: organizing firms’ participation in trade fairs; providing database of service providers; organizing business missions. These are visits by groups of around ten Italian companies seeking to work in China, which include developing portfolios and organize meetings with potential Chinese partners. China-Italy Chamber of Commerce (semipublic). It is a bottom-up organization, an association of Italian and non-Italian enterprises in China, officially recognized by both the Chinese and Italian government. It chiefly serves the interests of Italian companies who are already established in China. Sino Italian Campus, Tongji University (public, Chinese). It coordinates dual-degree programs, in which both Italian and Chinese students are trained in Italy and China. It organizes with ICE an annual job fair for Italian firms. Around ten well established lawyers (private). Several accounting and interpreting firms (private).

It stands to the logic that there are strong elements of continuity between this IPC and similar communities that emerged in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) since the 1990s (Sellar, 2009, 2015; Sellar and Pastor, 2015). First of all, the public actors in the IPC are global organizations with rotating personnel. Second, business associations and consultancies in Italy have a certain degree of information sharing and influence over foreign affiliates (Sellar, 2013). In fact, IPCs across CEE share the same basic structure with Shanghai. In both CEE and China, ICE and other institutions organize trade fairs and events to market the Made-in-Italy brand and provide information to investors. In both cases, entrepreneurs founded Italian chambers of commerce and business associations. Following a quite established pattern, these organizations are special cases in international law, because they start as private non-profits, and later acquire a public dimension and recognition by the Italian state and host governments (Sellar, 2015). Finally, lawyers, accountants and business consultants sell place-specific knowledge to businesses. In both CEE and China, IP actors Copyright© Nuova Cultura

have branded their services as ‘culture’ and cultural mediation. For example, the following interview excerpts with two different business consultants, the first collected in Slovakia in 2005 and the second in Shanghai in 2014, describe cultural mediation as the core of their professional activity in remarkably similar ways: [We] provide ‘cultural’ support, providing a bridge between Italian and local [Slovak] entrepreneurial cultures. ... First of all, we insist on the concepts of ‘listening’ the inputs coming from the local people. Second, we provide detailed information on norms and customs (interview entrepreneur, EDAS, September 26 2005). Cultural issues are of paramount importance. Chinese entrepreneurs now are aggressively seeking foreign partners, but companies must be prepared to engage them. …, in Western countries relationships are easy and recognizable. Here they are not (interview Italian lawyer, Shanghai, January 07 2014).

Even though there are vast differences between Slovakia and China, the two business consultants made nearly identical statements about listening and understanding local cultural norms. However, there are also some new features in this IPC in Shanghai. The first is the tight synergy between agencies of the Italian government and private actors, under the leadership of the Italian consulate. Relationships in the IPC have grown organically alongside the expatriate community as shown by an undisclosed interviewee: [Since the mid-2000s] we increased more and more the coordination between government agencies, and between agencies and firms. Consider there are around 1,000 Italian firms in Shanghai and three surrounding provinces, leading to significant trade flows with Italy. We call our experience here ‘Shanghai Laboratory’, because we achieved an exceptional level of coordination between the consulate, IC and the other agencies, and the firms, and because our most important events were implemented thanks to everyone’s support (interview, undisclosed interviewee, December 19 2013).

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Tu Lan, Christian Sellar, Shuang Cheng

In recent years, the consul general has streamlined the work of Italian institutions and built synergies with Italian consultants and manufacturers by introducing strategic planning, regular stakeholders meetings, and informationsharing. In so doing, the IPC in Shanghai has been collectively branded as the Sistema Italia (Italian System) (Consulate, 2013). The regular meetings with Italian state agencies and firms soon became a central feature of the Italian IPC in Shanghai (interview, undisclosed interviewee, December 19 2013; interview, China Chief Representative, Consorzio Camerale per l’Internazionalizzazione, December 19 2013). Second, while in CEE IPCs focused almost exclusively on the needs of Italian companies, IPCs in Shanghai started serving Chinese companies, too. Even though already in the 1990s Italian chambers of commerce were designed to serve the interests of both Italians investing in host countries and host country entrepreneurs investing in Italy, investments from CEE to Italy were not significant (interview General Secretary, Italian-Slovak Chamber of Commerce, June 07 2006). However, several actors in Shanghai are now also serving the Chinese business community. In so doing, they are becoming bi-directional knowledge pipelines because they provide legal and place-specific knowledge about China to Italians and about Italy to Chinese clients. One well-established Italian lawyer described the situation as follows: Chinese companies to Italy are roughly 25% of our turnover, but they are very interesting to us. Our traditional customers, Italian companies in China, face terrible competition... Instead, Chinese investments to Europe are very interesting: the world market is more difficult, so Chinese companies are starting to buy businesses in Italy for supply chain management (interview Italian lawyer, Shanghai, January 07 2014).

Law firms help Chinese companies navigate the Italian regulatory system and bridge the cultural gap between the two economies. As one lawyer indicated:

The first question a Chinese investor asks is ‘what is the tax level in Italy?’ We need to tell them that there is not a straightforward answer. When we say that, they think we are incompetent, but it is not true, it’s just that Italian laws are not geared towards attracting investors yet (interview Italian lawyer, Shanghai, January 07 2014).

Business associations are also contributing to turning the IPCs into two-way streets. Consorzio Camerale per l’Internazionalizzazione represents the Chamber of Commerce of Milan and a consortium of other chambers. Beyond its original goal to support the internationalization of Italian SMEs, it has recently established Investlombardy, a new division to support Chinese firms in Italy. This new operation is small but growing quickly and it is also aimed at promoting Italy to Chinese government officials who play a crucial role in directing Chinese outward FDI flows. Third, Italy’s crisis and the new opportunities arising in China are reshaping structures and behavior in the IPC. Italian public agencies must contend with both expanding functions and budget cuts. In particular, the Italian government is taking several initiatives to promote export as anti-crisis measure (interview chairman, IC & Partners Group, June 19 2014). In this new policy climate, Shanghai’s consulate has shifted from working mostly on visas to becoming an active trade and investment promoter. However, the expanding functions were not matched by any significant increases in budget or personnel. Therefore, these new initiatives had to involve other agencies and private firms, starting the leading role of the consulate in the IPC (interview, undisclosed interviewee, December 19 2013). Not only does the crisis mean reduced tax revenue, it also means a contraction of credits for Italian businesses, estimated in -2.5% in 2012 (Del Principe et al., 2013). Paradoxically, less credit to business meant more work for the consulate and the rest of the IPC in Shanghai. ICE, Italian lawyers, and chambers of commerce are now receiving more service requests from Italian firms. In fact, firms have more limited Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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budget to travel and thus need the IPCs to work on their behalf (interview China Chief Representative, Consorzio Camerale per l’Internazionalizzazione, December 19 2013). Overall, tighter budgets and expanded functions has improved the efficiency of the IPC in Shanghai, especially when compared with Central and Eastern Europe in the mid-2000s (Sellar, 2015). In particular, conflicts and overlapping functions between actors have diminished, even though not been completely removed. Specifically, some of the private actors claimed that there are still gray areas of overlap and competition with public agencies in the same IPC (interview Fondazione Italia Cina, Milan, November 12 2013; interview Italian lawyer, Shanghai, January 07 2014). Finally, looking beyond Shanghai the strong institutional interest of the Italian government in promoting export to China as well as attracting inward investors allow the IPC in Shanghai to adapt to local business environments in China. One example is the Milan-based Fondazione Italia Cina which also serves both Italian and Chinese investors at the same time. In particular, in order to build effective relationships between Chinese and Italian business partners, the Fondazione has created a business model adaptive to the Chinese business culture. Realizing the importance of ‘guanxi’ between the managers in China, the Fondazione has created a number of training programs which allow managers from one company to work in its Chinese partner company for a period of time. Such a model has been particularly successful in Guangdong with supports from that provincial government. Meanwhile, similar to Italian chambers of commerce in CEE, the Fondazione has maintained its status as a ‘private subject with a public dimension’ (interview Fondazione Italia Cina, Milan, November 12 2013). Such a hybrid status allows the institution to work with a wide range of similarly hybrid Chinese institutions and thereby avoid many bureaucratic processions that incur additional costs. Even without exaggerating the importance or the uniqueness of ‘guanxi’ in China, the underlying ethics and norms of guanxi practitioners (as characterized by Ho and Redfern, 2010) are apparent in the following

interaction between the Italian cultural institute and the local environment: Any business proposal has to be introduced by a local mediator. For example, if I want to promote an Italian author and go talk directly with a publisher here, everyone will be polite and nothing will happen. Instead, I will be successful if I first speak with a respected Chinese intellectual and then he will talk to the publisher on my behalf. Another example is student exchanges: first, local agencies contact the men of the households; then those fathers and their sons and daughters will meet with the representatives of Italian schools to finalize their programs (interview cultural attache, Italian Cultural institute, Shanghai, December 18 2013).

Italian firms, and especially SMEs, come to this connection-based context with the goal of selling their products. This requires a different kind of services than in the earlier IPCs in CEE, where the main goal was sourcing – i.e. establishing factories to supply the Italian and Western European markets. Thus, in CEE consultants focused largely on labor laws and relations with labor. In Shanghai, the emphasis is on cultivating relationships with Chinese business partners and building distribution networks (interview China Chief Representative, Consorzio Camerale per l’Internazionalizzazione, December 19 2013). Services focused on relationship-building are becoming more and more important because consultants’ clientele is changing. In fact, interviewees reported an increased demand from professionals: engineers, architects, and other kinds of professionals are immigrating to Shanghai and seek for consultants support to build the relationships they need to operate in China (interview Italian lawyer, Shanghai, January 07 2014). In sum, in recent years Italian expatriates improved the IPC in Shanghai in a number of ways. Although the structure of this IPC is similar to IPCs that emerged in CEE in the 1990s, it has some innovative traits responding to conditions in the post Washington Consensus world.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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7. Conclusions In the context of a rapidly unfolding post Washington Consensus neoliberalism, the present paper studies the growing FDI flows between Italy and China, two countries occupying complementary positions in the new global economy. To support those flows, an investment promotion community (IPC) has emerged in Shanghai: an assemblage of public institutions, public-private actors, and private consultancies aimed at supporting investment flows to and from Italy. This community has structural similarities, but also important differences when compared with earlier IPCs that emerged in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1990s. First, the Italian IPC in China has a more centralized organization through government institutions. While IPCs in CEE are loose and conflict ridden, the Italian consulate in Shanghai has taken a more proactive leadership role and prevented many, if not all, conflicts between Italian actors. Second, Shanghai’s IPC has begun to support bi-directional capital flows. In CEE in the 2000s, IPCs worked almost exclusively to support Italian firms in the host countries, while in Shanghai the IPC supports both Italians in China and Chinese in Italy. At present, Chinese investors in Italy are still few, but are rapidly growing. Third, the Italian government’s new emphasis on export promotion has led to more agreements with Chinese institutions. Fourth and final, the services provided are geared towards export promotion and building distribution networks, rather than sourcing and labor management Theoretically, this expansion of FDI flows between Italy and China and the micro-level emergence of the Shanghai’s IPC shed some light on the tension between continuity and change in post Washington Consensus neoliberalism. On the one hand, post Washington Consensus neoliberalism has important elements of continuity with the past, and represents an acceleration of existing trends. Data reported in this paper show that Italian investments as a whole have been following a pattern of intensification and geographical expansion, entering Asian (but also American) markets a decade after sourcing patterns were established in Central and Eastern Europe and North Africa.

The IPC in Shanghai is obviously a strong case of path dependency with experiences Italians acquired in Central and Eastern Europe before the crisis. On the other hand, both inward and outward FDI promotion efforts are closely linked within Shanghai’s IPC, and both play a crucial role in sustaining Italy and China’s neoliberalization in new ways. When compared with the existing literature on IP and its focus on inward promotion, the Shanghai case shows that new forms of institutional support to markets are emerging. The traditional logic of capturing value through investments coexists with a broader logic of promoting profits through bilateral flows. This new logic is a part of an acceleration of neoliberalization. In the past decades, both countries have been highly selective and limited in their embrace of neoliberal ideology. In different ways, after 2008, both government have attempted to further implement the neoliberal principles of open economies, encouraging (in different ways) both inward and outward FDIs. Therefore, this post Washington Consensus neoliberalization is qualitatively different from the past. Our case shows that similarly to Werner et al. (2015) argument, Italy is not pursuing the neoliberal utopia of free market through state minimalism. Instead, in Shanghai the Italian consulate is actively translating the goals of the Italian government to local contexts by coordinating between the public and private institutions. Acknowledgements The Italian Cultural Institute, Shanghai Section, The Center, 989, Changle Rd. 200031 Shanghai, P. R. China provided institutional support for this research. The authors thank the Director, Dr. Giorgio Casacchia, Luisa Bergonzoni, and Giulia Dal Maso for their invaluable helps. Funding provided by a Faculty Travel Support Grant, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP), University of Mississippi, and a Student Travel Grant, Department of Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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References 1. Aalbers M.B., “Neoliberalism Is Dead... Long Live Neoliberalism!”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37, 3, 2013, pp. 1083-1090. 2. Belussi F. and Sedita S., “Life Cycle vs. Multiple Path Dependency in Industrial Districts”, European Planning Studies, 17, 4, 2009, pp. 502-528. 3. Belussi F. and Sedita S., “Industrial Districts as Open Learning Systems: Combining Emergent and Deliberate Knowledge Structures”, Regional Studies, 46, 2, 2012, pp. 165-184. 4. Brenner N., Peck J. and Theodore N., “Variegated Neoliberalization: Geographies, Modalities, Pathways”, Global Networks, 10, 2, 2010, pp. 182-222. 5. Brenner N. and Theodore N., “Cities and the Geographies of ‘actually Existing Neoliberalism’”, Antipode, 34, 3, 2002, pp. 349-379. 6. Buckley P.J., Clegg L.J., Cross A.R., Liu X., Voss H. and Zheng P., “The Determinants of Chinese Outward Foreign Direct Investment”, Journal of International Business Studies, 38, 4, 2007, pp. 499-518. 7. Cattani G. and Tschoegl A., “An Evolutionary View of Internationalization: Chase Manhattan Bank, 1917 to 1996. Wharton Working Paper Series 02-37”, Wharton Financial Institutions Center, 2002, http:// fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/papers/02/p0237.h tml. 8. Cento-Bull A., “Forced to Respond to Globalization: The Disembeddedness of Italian Industrial Districts and Its Discontents”, in Huysseune M. (Ed.), Contemporary Centrifugal Regionalism: Comparing Flanders and Northern Italy, Brussels, The Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, 2011, pp. 95-108. 9. Chiarvesio M., Di Maria E. and Micelli. S., “Global Value Chains and Open Networks: The Case of Italian Industrial Districts”, European Planning Studies, 18, 3, 2010, pp. 333-350. 10. Drahokoupil J., “The Investment-Promotion Machines: The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment Promotion in Central and Copyright© Nuova Cultura

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21. Lan T., Pickles J. and Zhu S., “State Regulation, Economic Reform and Worker Rights: The Contingent Effects of China’s Labour Contract Law”, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 45, 2, 2015, pp. 266-293. 22. Li L., Dunford M. and Yeung G., “International Trade and Industrial Dynamics: Geographical and Structural Dimensions of Chinese and Sino-EU Merchandise Trade”, Applied Geography, 32, 1, 2012, pp. 130142. 23. Lim K.F., “‘Socialism with Chinese Characteristics’ Uneven Development, Variegated Neoliberalization and the Dialectical Differentiation of State Spatiality”, Progress in Human Geography, 38, 2, 2014, pp. 221247. 24. Lipietz A., “The Fortunes and Misfortunes of Post-Fordism”, in Albritton R., Itoh M. (Eds.), Phases of Capitalist Development: Booms, Crises and Globalization, New York, Palgrave, 2001. 25. McCann E. and Ward K., Mobile Urbanism: Cities and Policymaking in the Global Age. Minneapolis, Minnesota University Press, 2011. 26. Molina Ó. and Rhodes M., “The Political Economy of Adjustment in Mixed Market Economies: A Study of Spain and Italy”, in Hancké et al. (Eds.), Beyond Varieties of Capitalism: Conflict, Contradictions, and Complementarities in the European Economy, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 223-252. 27. Neilson, J., Pritchard B. and Yeung H., “Global Value Chains and Global Production Networks in the Changing International Political Economy: An Introduction”, Review of International Political Economy. vol. 21, n. 1, 2014, pp. 1-8. 28. Oosterlynck, S. and González, S.,. “‘Don’t Waste a Crisis’: Opening up the City Yet Again for Neoliberal Experimentation”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, vol. 37, n. 3, 2013, pp. 1075-1082. 29. Peck J., Theodore N. and Brenner N., “Neoliberal Urbanism Redux”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 37, 3, 2013, pp. 1091-1099. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

30. Phelps N., Bunnell T., Miller M.A. and Taylor J., “Urban Inter-Referencing within and beyond a Decentralized Indonesia”, Cities, 39, 2014, pp. 37-49. 31. Phelps N., Power M. and Wanjiru R., “Learning to Compete: Communities of Investment Promotion Practice in the Spread of Global Neoliberalism”, in England K. and Ward K. (Eds.), Neoliberalization: States, Networks, Peoples, London, WileyBlackwel, 2007, pp. 83-109. 32. Phelps N. and Wood A., “Lost in Translation? Local Interests, Global Actors and Inward Investment Regimes”, Journal of Economic Geography, 6, 4, 2006, pp. 493-515. 33. Pickles J. and Mayer F., “Re-Embedding the Market: Global Apparel Value Chains, Governance and Decent Work”, in Rossi A., Luistra A. and Pickles J. (Eds.), Towards Better Work: Understanding Labour in Apparel Global Value Chains, New York and Geneva, Palgrave MacMillan and ILO, 2014, pp. 17-39. 34. Pietrobelli C., Rabellotti R. and Sanfilippo M., “The ‘Marco Polo’ Effect: Chinese FDI in Italy”, International Economics Programme Paper, 2010, http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk /files/16054_pp0210italy.pdf. 35. Rabellotti R., Carabelli A. and Hirsch G., “Italian Industrial Districts on the Move: Where Are They Going?”, European Planning Studies, 17, 1, 2009, pp. 19-41. 36. Schipper S., “The Financial Crisis and the Hegemony of Urban Neoliberalism: Lessons from Frankfurt Am Main”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 38, 1, 2014, pp. 236-255. 37. Sellar C., “From ‘Exotic’ to ‘Familiar.’ Italian Textile and Clothing Firms and the Shifting Perception of Eastern Europe”, Journal of Cultural Geography, 26, 3, 2009, pp. 327-348. 38. Sellar C., “Europeanizing Timisoara: neoliberal reforms, continuity with the past, and unexpected side effects”, GeoJournal, 78, 1, 2013, pp. 1-19. 39. Sellar C., “Italian banks and business services as knowledge pipelines for SMEs: Examples from Central and Eastern

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Europe”, European Urban and Regional Studies, 22, 1, 2015, pp. 41-60. Sellar C., Emilova M., Petkova-Tancheva C. and McNeil K., “Cluster Policies in Bulgaria: European integration, post socialist dynamics, and local level initiatives”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 35, 2, 2011, pp. 358-378. Sellar C. and Pastor R., “Mutating Neoliberalism: The Promotion of Italian Investors in Slovakia before and after the Global Financial Crisis”, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39, 2, 2015, pp. 342-360. Si Y., “The Development of Outward FDI Regulation and the Internationalization of Chinese Firms”, Journal of Contemporary China, 23, 8, 2014, pp. 804-821. Si Y., Liefner I. and Wang T., “Foreign Direct Investment with Chinese Characteristics: A Middle Path between Ownership-LocationInternalization Model and Linkage-LeverageLearning Model”, Chinese Geographical Science, 23, 5, 2013, pp. 594-606.

44. Springer S., “Neoliberalism in Denial”, Dialogues in Human Geography, 4, 2, 2014, pp. 154-160. 45. Tewdwr-Jones M. and Phelps N., “Levelling the Uneven Playing Field: Inward Investment, Interregional Rivalry and the Planning System”, Regional Studies, 34 5, 2000, pp. 429-440. 46. Today, “Nel 2013 Triplicati gli Italiani Residenti in Cina: Sono i Giovani a Partire [In 2013 Italian Residents in China Tripled: The Youth Is Leaving]”, Today.it, 3 November 2013 http://www.today.it/cronaca/italiani-emigrati-in-cina.html. 47. Whalley J. and Xin X., “China’s FDI and Non-FDI Economies and the Sustainability of Future High Chinese Growth”, China Economic Review, 21, 1, 2010, pp. 123-135. 48. Zhu S. and Pickles J., “Bring In, Go Up, Go West, Go Out: Upgrading, Regionalisation and Delocalisation in China’s Apparel Production Networks”, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 44, 1, 2014, pp. 36-63.

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Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 5, Dec., 2016, pp. 51-62 DOI: 10.4458/7800-04

Rethinking Geo-Ontologies from a Philosophical Point of View Timothy Tambassia a

ICUB, University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania Email: timothy.tambassi@gmail.com

Received: October 2015 – January 2016

Abstract This article is intended as a philosophical introduction to geo-ontologies, in response to their increasing diffusion within the contemporary debate, where philosophy plays a fundamental, though still unexplored, role. The first part is concerned with the analysis of geo-ontologies, underlining their general and specific aims, and distinguishing three different disciplinary contexts which make up the geo-informatics domain: informatics, philosophy and geography. Secondly, I analyze the importance of common sense conceptualizations and their ontological structures, the connection between ontology of geography and theory of spatial representation, in terms of geographical entities, borders, theoretical tools (such as mereology, topology and theory of spatial location) and the distinction between classical and non-classical geographies. Finally, the main contemporary geo-ontologies are classified, through the analysis of their main contents and distinctive features, in geomatics/topological/geometrical, physical/natural and human ontologies. Keywords: Geo-Ontologies, Ontology of Geography, Informatics, Spatial Representations, Common Sense Conceptualizations

1. Introduction This article is intended as a philosophical introduction to geo-ontologies, in response to their increasing diffusion within the contemporary debate, where philosophy plays a fundamental, though still unexplored, role. The first part is concerned with the analysis of geo-ontologies, underlining their general and specific aims, and distinguishing three different disciplinary contexts which make up the geo-informatics domain: informatics, philosophy and geography (§§ 1-5, 8).

Secondly, I analyze the importance of common sense conceptualizations and their ontological structures (§§ 6-7), the connection between ontology of geography and theory of spatial representation, in terms of geographical entities, borders, theoretical tools (such as mereology, topology and theory of spatial location) and the distinction between classical and non-classical geographies (§§ 9-13). Finally, the main contemporary geo-ontologies are classified, through the analysis of their main contents and distinctive features, in geomatics/topological/geoItalian Association of Geography Teachers

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metrical, physical/natural and human ontologies (§ 14-18). As to proper content of the paper, I would like to underline my intellectual debt to Tambassi, Magro (2015) for §§ 1, 14-18, Smith, Mark (2001) for §§ 2-3, 5, 7, Geus, Thiering (2014) for § 6, Casati, Smith, Varzi (1998) for §§ 9-10, 12-13, Casati, Varzi (1999) for § 11.

2. Geo-ontologies Over the last few years, the innovations in on-line cartographic visualization have created a revolution and many new applications have broken down traditional divisions between browsing and searching, thematic layers, web content, spatial processing and geographic datasets. Placed at the intersection between geographic computing and web-based information technology, these rapid developments cannot be precisely labelled by any single body of academic literature. A variety of terms is in use for one or another aspect of this domain: from web mapping to neogeography, social cartography, geoweb, webGIS or volunteered geographic information1. In this context, geographical and geospatial ontologies2 are receiving a considerable attention in information technology area3, due to four different factors: -

the growing diffusion of Geographic Information Systems (GIS);

their use in different applications;

the impulse of Semantic Web4 in this research area5;

Cfr. Afferni and Tambassi, 2016. About this fastmoving field, see Turner, 2006; Goodchild, 2007; Boll, 2008; Hudson-Smith, 2008. 2 Cfr. Mark, 1993; Frank, 1997; Smith and Mark, 1998; Bittner and Winter, 1999; Rodríguez et al., 1999; Bishr and Kuhn, 2000; Câmara et al., 2000; Frank, 2001; Kuhn, 2001; Rodrìguez and Egenhofer, 2004; Visser, 2004; Kavouras et al., 2005; Janowicz, 2006; Euzenat and Shvaiko, 2007; Buccella, Perez and Cechich, 2008. 3 Cfr. Abdelmoty, Smart and Jones, 2005; Ressler, Deam and Kolas, 2010; Battle and Kolas, 2012; Perry and Herring, 2012; Kyzirakos, Vlachopoulos, Savva, Manegold and Koubarakis, 2014. 4 Cfr. Berners-Lee, Hendler and Lassila, 2001. 5 Cfr. Khun, 2005. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

the demand systematization, cataloguing and mapping of geographic information.

The most general (and generally shared) aims of these ontologies are essentially three: accessibility (both for the scientific community and for general public), informativeness and completeness. Instead, the most specific goals reflect the point(s) of view of the community sharing the (specific) ontology and the particular aims for which ontologies are created. Geoontologies rarely propose conceptualizations aimed at describing the overall geographical domain, but only some specific geographical aspects. Moreover, in the same ontology, there might be elements belonging to different geographical branches, incomplete inventories, vague distinctions and conceptualizations created by non-professional geographers in which common sense plays a central role, making a rigid and unambiguous classification of these ontologies complicated. But what does ontology mean in this domain? What are its main objectives? What are the philosophical problems arising from geoontologies? What are the philosophical tools used for supporting them? How can we classify the contemporary geo-ontologies?

3. Informatics In the computer and information science domain, the aim of ontology is to describe the results of eliciting ontologies from information systems, database specifications, and so on, in order to represent the information they receive and make explicit the conceptualizations. So, in information science context, ontology coincides with knowledge-representation and must be distinguished from the philosophical domain, in which the discipline is concerned with what exists, not only in terms of representation. We engage with the world from day to day in a variety of different ways. Each of these ways of engaging with the world, we shall now say, involves a certain conceptualization. What this means is that it involves a system of concepts and categories which divide up the corresponding universe of discourse into objects, processes and relations in different sorts of ways. These conceptualizations are often tacit, that Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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is, they are often invisible components of our cognitive apparatus, which are not specified or thematized in any systematic way. But tools can be developed to render them explicit (to specify and to clarify the concepts involved and to establish their logical structure) (Smith and Mark, 2001, p. 593).

In this way, ontology might be understood as “a neutral and computationally tractable description or theory of a given domain which can be accepted and reused by all information gatherers in that domain” (Smith and Mark, 2001, p. 594). It starts with conceptualizations and goes to a description of corresponding domains of objects (or closed world data models), putting various information together (reuniting different scientific domains), resolving terminological and conceptual incompatibilities, specifying the (most general) concepts used and rules of inference within different domains, and constituting an essential tool in data integration and semantic interoperability between software applications. Furthermore, ontology might also be identified as “a dictionary of terms formulated in a canonical syntax and with commonly accepted definitions designed to yield a lexical or taxonomical framework for knowledge-representation which can be shared by different information systems communities”. More formally, an ontology is a theory “within which not only definitions but also a supporting framework of axioms is included (perhaps the axioms themselves provide implicit definitions of the terms involved)” (Smith, 2004, p. 158).

4. Philosophy From a philosophical point of view, the term “ontology” has a generally shared meaning, at least in the analytic area, denoting a philosophical discipline concerned with the question of what entities exist, a task that is often identified with that of drafting a complete and detailed inventory of the universe. In this way, ontology is described as the science of being, that is the discipline that, using logical and empirical methods, focuses on the totality of (kinds of) entities “which make up the world on different levels of focus and granularity, and whose different parts and aspects are studied by the different folk and scientific disciplines” Copyright© Nuova Cultura

(Smith, 2004, p. 158). In the analytic area, it is also common to think of ontology as a proper part of metaphysics (that part that has to do with what there is), and to consider ontology in some way prior over metaphysics. Ontology aims at establishing what there is, whereas metaphysics is the study of what it is, seeking to explain the ultimate nature of the items included in the inventory (and their necessary characteristics), and the reasons why there is what there is. More precisely, one must first of all figure out what (kinds of) things exist (or might exist); “then one can attend to the further question of what they are, specify their nature, speculate on those features that make each thing the thing it is” (Varzi, 2006, p. 408)6.

5. Ontology and scientific disciplines Thus, ontology presents itself as an investigation of the ontological commitments or presuppositions embodied in different scientific theories and common-sense domain, and as an analysis of the categorial and hierarchical structure of reality. The latter aspect specifically regards the basic constituents of reality (entities such as objects, properties, relations, events, processes, etc.), and the structural relationships among them. Consequently, the connection between ontology and (the results of different) scientific and social disciplines has been increased towards two directions. On the one side, this improvement has allowed to make explicit the assumptions and the ontological commitments of these non-philosophical disciplines. On the other side, it has lead to a proliferation of regional ontologies7, aimed at providing an inventory of what there is within the domain of each specific discipline. The nonreductionist hypothesis embraced by these ontologies is that the (fundamental) entities 6

Obviously, the close interdependence between these two disciplines makes a partition of the respective goals very difficult: it is not clear how to establish what there is without say what it is (cfr. Ferraris, 2008, pp. 16-7; Bianchi and Bottani, 2003). Nowadays, there is much debate on the disciplinary distinction between ontology and metaphysics, however there is no high agreement about how to draw such a distinction (cfr. Berto, 2010). 7 Cfr. Ferraris, 2008. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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postulated by different disciplines are irreducible to the entities postulated by other disciplines, providing a specific (or sectorial) inventory of what exists, deserving a specific and separate study, and increasing our explanatory resources8.

6. Geography Among regional ontologies, the ontology of geography owes its development primarily (but not exclusively) to the pioneeristic works of Roberto Casati, David Mark, Barry Smith and Achille Varzi. According to Smith and Mark, the aim of this ontology is to analyze the mesoscopic world of geographical partitions in order to:

establish whether and what kinds of geographical entities exist;

determinate how they can be defined and classified in an ontological system which gather them together;

argue whether and how the geographic descriptions of reality emerging from common sense can be combined with descriptions derived from different scientific disciplines.

Mesoscopic geography deals mostly with qualitative phenomena, with phenomena which can be expressed in the qualitative terms of natural language; the corresponding scientific disciplines, in contrast, deal with the same domain but consider features which are quantitative and measurable. GIS thus requires methods that will allow the transformation of quantitative geospatial data into the sorts of qualitative representations of geospatial phenomena that are tractable to non-expert users—and for this [...] we need a sound theory of the ontology of geospatial common sense. […] One of the most important characteristics of the geographical domain is the way in which geographical objects are not merely located in space, but are typically parts of the Earth’s surface, and inherit mereological properties from that surface (Smith and Mark, 2001, p. 596).

For an analysis of the proliferation of ontological researches in analytic area, see Martin and Heil, 1999. For a classification of the contemporary (philosophical) ontologies, see D’Agostini, 2002; Runggaldier and Kanzian, 1998; Varzi, 2005.

7. Common sense geography In this sense, the study of the ways nonexperts have conceptualized given domains of reality might help to maximize the usability of corresponding information systems, rendering the results of work in geospatial ontology compatible with the results of ontological investigations of neighboring domains (hanging them together) and yielding robust and tractable standardizations of geographical terms and concepts (Smith and Mark, 2001, p. 595). As a result, common sense geography (CSG) became a topic of discussion in the final decades of the last century when software developers tried to design virtual spaces which were designed according to objective parameters which differ from human sensation and experience. But, what do we intend when we speak of CSG? In Common Sense Geography and Mental Modelling: Setting the Stage Klaus Geus and Martin Thiering sketch some of its features, which might be resumed as follow. CSG: -

denotes the ways non-experts conceptualize geography in terms of beliefs, theories and knowledge;

concerns the belief about general regularities in the mesoscopic domain and the consensus of an epistemic collective or community (so, it is to be understood as “shared” knowledge and beliefs);

refers to a “naïve” perception and description of space and the use of “intuitive” arguments in geographical contexts;

is transparent to reality and accessible also for non-expert users;

consists of naïve physics, folk psychology and it is strictly related to (physical-geographic) mesoscopic phenomena that is quite independent from our knowledge and culture, and immediately accessible to human beings in everyday perception and actions;

has been and for the most part still is dismissed at best as a sort of pre- or subscientific “knowledge”;

denotes a “lower” geography, to be distinguished from “professional” or “higher” geography, that is, the phenomenon of the spread and application of geographical Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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knowledge outside of expert circles and disciplinary contexts.

8. Ontological structure CSG is generally organized in terms of categorical systems of objects falling under categories, typically determined by prototypical instances. Usually, these systems are organized hierarchically in the form of a tree (they have only one all-embracing category), “with more general categories at the top and successively more specific categories appearing as we move down each of the various branches” (Smith and Mark, 2001, p. 601). Deviations from the tree structure are occasionally proposed, for example systems which do not have one all-embracing category but a collection of trees (a forest). The primary axis of a folk ontology is its system of objects. This holds, too, in the realm of geospatial folk categories. The attributes (properties, aspects, features) and relations within the relevant domain form a secondary axis of the ontology, as also do events, processes, actions, states, forces and the like. The system of objects remains primary, however, because attributes are always attributes of objects, relations always relations between objects, events always events involving objects, and so forth, in ways which imply a dependence of entities in these latter categories upon their hosts or bearers in the primary category of objects (Smith and Mark, 2001, p. 601).

Finally, the basic categories are identified on empirical and cognitive grounds, play a special role in common-sense reasoning, and represent a theoretical compromise between two different aims: cognitive economy and informativeness – regarding the latter point, the notions of explanation and causality play a fundamental role.

9. Ontology of geography Schematically, ontology of geography might be defined as that part of the philosophical ontology which studies, in particular: -

geographic entities (entities such as mountains, oceans, countries, etc.);

their borders (natural and/or artificial, regardless of the fact that these boundaries might be part of the entities they define);

their spatial representation (in maps, software, etc.);

their mereological and topological relations;

their location.

10. Geographic entities Therefore, the starting point is to define what geographical entities are, exhibiting their conditions of existence, individuation and persistence, and their criterions of (synchronic and diachronic) identity. Then, it is essential to determine what (geographic) entities have to be included as fundamental, and establish whether we should include only geographical-physical entities (mountains, rivers, deserts, etc.) in our ontology or whether we should also add artifacts produced by human geography (entities like socioeconomic units, nations, cities and so on). In this regard, Casati, Smith and Varzi distinguish three main different positions on the existence of geographic objects: -

strong methodological individualism – there are “only people and the tables and chairs they interact with on the mesoscopic level, and no units on the geographic scale at all”;

geographic realism – “geographic entities exist over and above the individuals that they appear to be related to and have the same ontological standing as these”;

weak methodological individualism – if geographic units exist, “then they depend upon or are supervenient upon individuals. One form of this position would accept both individuals and the behavioural settings in which individuals act. Larger-scale socioeconomic units would then be accounted for in terms of various kinds of connections between behavioural settings” (Casati, Smith and Varzi, 1998, p. 79).

11. Borders A criterion for the individuation of an (autonomous) geographical entity is the posItalian Association of Geography Teachers

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session of boundaries, which “give rise to a number of ontological conundrums and may themselves be difficult to individuate” (Casati, Smith and Varzi, 1998, p. 78). It is possible to distinguish two main different types of borders or boundaries: -

bona fide boundaries, sometimes fuzzy or indeterminate and corresponding to qualitative physical differentiations or spatial discontinuities in the underlying territory (coastlines, rivers);

fiat boundaries, corresponding to humandemarcation-induced borders.

Correspondingly, we distinguish between fiat and bona fide objects depending on whether their boundaries are of the fiat or bona fide sort. [...] Most examples of fiat objects in the geographic world are correlated with two-dimensional regions on the surface of the globe. Examples of three-dimensional fiat objects are provided by the subterranean volumes of land to which mineral rights have been assigned, and also by the sectors and corridors in space established for the purposes of air traffic control. These may be quite complicated three-dimensional worms; they may intersect each other and they may have holes. On the other hand, insofar as an object whose boundary is not entirely of the bona fide variety counts as a fiat object, many ordinary geographic entities, such as mountains, will also qualify as three-dimensional fiat objects. This is because the line which separates mountain and valley is a fiat line only (in fact a collection of fiat lines). (Casati, Smith and Varzi, 1998, p. 79)

12. Spatial representation Geographical ontology also includes the examination of the theoretical tools that are required for the purpose of developing a formal theory of spatial representation (comprehending the modality through which a cognitive system represents the spatial world and its structure), with special reference to spatial phenomena on the geographic scale (in which ontological and empirical considerations are strictly connected). A good theory of spatial representation must be combined with (if not grounded on) an account of the sorts of entity that may enter into the scope of the

theory, an account of the sorts of entity that can be located or take place in space—in short, an account of what may be collected under the rubric of spatial entities (as opposed to purely spatial items—as we shall say—such as points, lines, or regions). What is their distinguishing character? What special features make them spatial entities? How are they related to one another, and exactly what is their relation to space? On the methodological side, the issue is the definition of the basic conceptual tools required by a theory of spatial representation, understood as a theory of the representation of these entities. There may be some ambiguity here, due to a certain ambiguity of the term ‘representation’. We may think of (1) a theory of the way a cognitive system represents its spatial environment (this representation serving the twofold purpose of organizing perceptual inputs and synthesizing behavioral outputs), or (2) a theory of the spatial structure of the environment [...]. The two notions are clearly distinct. Presumably, one can go a long way in the development of a cognitive theory of type 1 without developing a formal theory of type 2, and vice versa. However, both notions share a common concern; both types of theory require an account of the geometric representation of our spatial competence before we can even start looking at the mechanisms underlying our actual performances (Casati and Varzi, 1999, pp. 1-2).

13. Mereology, topology, spatial location In order to enhance such theory, geoontological analysis has developed three main theoretical tools strictly interconnected and mutually interactive: mereology, topology and theory of spatial location. Mereology9, in general, might be understood as a theory constructed around the relation of “is a part of”. It also includes some temporal parameters, in order to specify the criteria of identity for the geographical entities and their constitutive parts. Topology10 (and its own different branches) provides a systematic description of the basic spatial relations among different geographical entities (for example, connection, overlapping, containment, distance, separation, discontinuity and so on). Accordingly, it examines notions like boundary and border, their spatial and temporal relations, and their relationships with 9

See also Simons, 1987; Smith and Mark, 1998; Casati and Varzi, 1999; Mark, Smith and Tversky, 1999. 10 See also Smith, 1994, 1995, 1996. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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the entities they connect and circumscribe (in this sense, topology is also strictly related to geometry and morphology)11. Finally, theory of spatial location investigates the relation between geographical entities (i.e. objects, events, relations, and so on) and the regions of space they occupy or in which they are located. This relation is not one of identity – a geographical entity is not identical with the spatial region it occupies, besides two or more different geographical entities can share the same location at the same time – and does not imply that any single geographical entity is located somewhere, or that any spatial region is a region at which something is located. Moreover, this also means choosing between absolutist and relational theories of space. The former maintains that the space exists as an independently subsistent individual (a sort of container) over and above its inhabitants (objects, events and spatial relations between objects and events, or without all these entities12). On the contrary, the latter considers that spatial entities are cognitively and metaphysically prior to space: “there is no way to identify a region of space except by reference to what is or could be located or take place at that region” (Casati and Varzi, 1999, p. 1).

14. Classical and non-classical geographies Another key point for a complete theory of spatial representation is to specify the difference between classical and non-classical geography. According to Casati, Smith and Varzi, this distinction presents some specific difficulties stemming from the fact that there is no single universally recognized formulation that precisely indicates what classical geography is. To obviate such difficulties, the three authors characterize a geography on a region R as a way of assigning (via the location relation) geographic objects of given types to parts or sub-regions of R. Then, they 11

For an analysis of the connection between mereology and topology, see Smith, 1995. For an analysis of the relation between the notions of topology and border, see Smith and Varzi, 1997; Casati, Smith and Varzi, 1998. 12 Moreover, we can also conceive objects and events in terms of predicates assigned to corresponding spatial regions. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

propose to put forward “some principles for a minimal characterization of geographic representation, and which are such that the violation of one or other of them produces intuitively incomplete representations” (Casati, Smith and Varzi, 1998, p. 84). In other words, it means to define a list of axioms in order to characterize classical geography and, therefore, to outline nonclassical geographies excluding one or more of those axioms and/or adding others. On these presuppositions, the three authors uphold that “the term ‘classical geography’ does not carry any normative claim. It simply describes a rather robust way of tiling regions in the presence of certain general constraints” (Casati, Smith and Varzi, 1998, p. 84). These constraints specify that every single geographic entity (nations, lakes, rivers, islands, etc. but also mereological combinations of these entities) is located at some unique spatial region and every spatial region has a unique geographic entity located at it. Consequently, a geography can be considered as “non-classical” if it excludes one or more of the previous axioms or adds axioms to those of classical geography. For example, to deny that every geographical entity is located at some unique region allows to include also non-spatial geographical entities, entities with multiple location or duplicates of the same geographical entity. Again, to discard that every spatial region has a unique geographic entity located at it allows to consider maps with regions that are assigned no entity, or two or more competing units. Finally, we can also obtain a non-classical geography, adding other axioms. For example, an axiom to the effect that all geographic units are connected. We might finally consider how the properties of geographic boundaries relate to the axioms of classical geography. We shall say that a boundary is geometrically two-sided if it divides two adjacent units. In a classical geography, the geometric two-sidedness of any boundary is secured by the completeness of the tiling. This is no longer the case if non-classical geographies are considered. For instance, in a gappy geography the boundaries of objects at the edges of non-assigned zones will be one-sided only. And so, in a glutty geography, will be the boundaries of objects at the edges of zones assigned to more than one object (Casati, Smith and Varzi, 1998, p. 85). Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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15. A possible classification In order to provide a classification of contemporary geo-ontologies, we might distinguish between three different kinds of ontologies, depending on their main contents: -

geomatics/topological/geometrical ontologies (GTGO);

physical/natural ontologies (PNO);

human (HO) ontologies.

The aim of this classification is to guide the reader through the main geo-ontologies of the contemporary debate, analyzing their fundamental, common and distinctive features, and showing the overlaps between different geographical domains. Obviously, the list is not complete and includes the most discussed, reused13 and quoted geo-ontologies, together with some non strictly geographical ontologies in which some geographical aspects are described. 13

“Paraphrasing the general understanding of reuse in adjacent engineering disciplines ontology reuse can be defined as the process in which existing ontological knowledge is used as input to generate new ontologies. The ability of efficiently and effectively performing reuse is commonly acknowledged to play a crucial role in the large scale dissemination of ontologies and ontology-driven technologies, being thus a pre-requisite for the ongoing realization of the Semantic Web. Firstly, being reusable is an intrinsic property of ontologies, originally defined as means for ‘knowledge sharing and reuse’. Sharing and reusing existing ontologies increase the quality of the applications using them, as these applications become interoperable and are provided with a deeper, machine-processable and commonly agreed understanding of the underlying domain of interest. Secondly, analogously to other engineering disciplines, reusing existing ontologies, if performed in an efficient way, reduces the costs related to ontology development, because it avoids the re-implementation of ontological components, which are already available on the Web and can be directly – or after 41 some additional customization – integrated into a target ontology. Furthermore, it contributes to an enhancement of the quality of the ontological content, which is by reuse continuously revised by various parties”, and to an mutual understanding between different communities, and integration and aggregation of data and information (Pâslaru-Bontaş, 2007, pp. 41-42). Copyright© Nuova Cultura

16. Geomatics, topological and geometrical ontologies GTGO are related to the computational processing of geographical data in GIS, GPS and maps, and are generally aimed at analyzing (spatially) Earth’s surface, locating (coordinates) and representing different geographic entities on maps, specifying the topological relations between these entities (disjunction, intersection, overlapping, inclusion, etc.) and the geometric aspects of geographical investigation (elements like points, areas, solids, taxonomies, concepts, implicit and explicit geometries and so on). A common feature of these ontologies is the high frequency of their (total or partial) reuse in other ontologies. This usage is not surprising: the possibility of locating points, lines and surfaces on a map is, in general, a recurring feature of geoinformatics ontologies and a widespread need in many of their applications. Some examples of GTGO are: OGC GeoSPARQL, Spatial Schema – ISO 19107, Spatial referencing by coordinates – ISO 19111, Schema for coverage geometry and functions – ISO 19123, Geography Markup Language (GML) – ISO 19136, WGS84 Geo positioning, Geometry (Ordnance Survey), Spatial Relations (Ordnance Survey), NeoGeo Geometry Ontology, NeoGeo Spatial Ontology and Geometria (Spanish GeoData).

17. Physical and natural ontologies PNO are focused on those Earth aspects that are related to physical and natural phenomena (i.e. lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, pedosphere, biosphere, geomorphology, climatology and so forth), are numerically inferior to the GTGO and strictly connected with the HO. Specifically, among PNO, GEOSP – Geospecies represents the partitions of Earth’s surface in different ecozones in order to describe geographical distribution of living species, define their habitats and gather information about them. NDH Ontology (USGS) and Hydro Ontology (Spanish GeoData) are aimed at mapping the hydrological systems, respectively, of United States and Spain, connecting them with some morphological elements. Sweet (Semantic Web for Earth and Environmental Terminology) Ontologies describe some aspects of Earth’s geospheres, cryosphere, heliosphere, atmosphere,

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hydrosphere, land surface, ecological and physical phenomena, as well as their representations and transformations over time.

18. Human ontologies HO deal with dynamics (for example, historical and temporal modifications) and artifacts produced by political, administrative, social, urban, economical, population, cultural (heritage), archaeological, historical, tourism, transportation geography, and so forth. The ontologies related to human geography constitute a numerically significant subgroup of the overall analyzed ontologies. This prominence is probably due to two different factors: the heterogeneity of the areas of research involved and the fact that, being closely related to human activity, they are mainly influenced by its organizing action. Their specificity, however, does not coincide with their reuse, that is generally lower than other ontologies. Some examples of HO are: FAO Geopolitical Ontology, INSEE, Landinndelingen i Norge, The administrative geography and civil voting area ontology (Ordnance Survey), Geopolitica (Spanish Geodata), Vocabulario de Localizaciones, Postcode (Ordnance Survey), ISA Programme Location Core Vocabulary, Transportes (Spanish GeoData) and NUTS (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics).

19. Other ontologies Erlangen CRM/OWL, Proton, LinkedGeoData, The Place Ontology, US Topographic and GeoNames need a separate discussion. Some of them are parts of larger projects, where geography is only one of the different aspects analyzed. Almost all of these ontologies range transversely across the three geographical domains just identified (GTGO, PNO and HO), and propose geographical conceptualizations attempting to bring these domains together (without claiming to be complete). Regarding the geographic domain, they endorse physical, natural and human features, to the detriment of geometric and spatial aspects. In this sense, the multiplicity of geographical domains which have been analyzed and their own different aims make the inclusion of these ontologies in the suggested classification difficult. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

20. Conclusion The purpose of these pages was to sketch a philosophical introduction to geo-ontologies, circumscribing their domain, outlining the main ontological issues and tools, and suggesting a classification of the contemporary geoontologies focused on the geographical contents involved. Obviously, it is possible to propose other classifications, for example by highlighting the different ontological structures and systematizations of the entities involved, or by specifying the geography (classical or nonclassical) or the conceptualizations (common sense or non-common sense) which lie behind these ontologies. Hopefully, the progressive synergy between geography and information technology will provide the guidelines for a more precise classification, in which the development of geo-ontologies will follow different sub-disciplines within the same geography. Acknowledgements This paper was supported by a fellowship at the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest (ICUB). Thanks are due to Raffaella Afferni, Maurizio Lana, Giulia Lasagni, Diego Magro, Cristina Meini and Cristina Travanini for providing comments and feedback, and for their invaluable support.

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Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 5, Dec., 2016, pp. 63-77 DOI: 10.4458/7800-05

Preparing and debriefing geography fieldwork: a scenario for open classroom dialogue around a core curriculum Katie Oosta, Bregje de Vriesb, Joop van der Scheec a

Faculty of Education, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands Faculty of Education, HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, The Netherlands c Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Email: katie.oost@han.nl b

Received: December 2015 – Accepted: February 2016

Abstract Over the last decades empirical findings have shown the positive impact of fieldwork on students’ geography learning. This study focuses on the design and evaluation of a scenario for fieldwork that supports geography teachers to structurally integrate it into their lessons. The scenario helps teachers to build up an open classroom dialogue during the preparation and debriefing of a fieldwork home assignment, by using a mind map as the central platform. First evaluations are promising, indicating the relevance, practicality and validity of the scenario. Keywords: Classroom Dialogue, Core Curriculum, Debriefing, Fieldwork in Geography, Mind Map, Preparation

1. Introduction Over the years, empirical findings support the positive impact of fieldwork on geography learning (e.g. Ballantyne and Packer, 2002; Boyle et al., 2007; Cook, 2008; Fisher and Norman, 2000; Fuller, 2006; Kwan and So, 2008; Mackenzie and White, 1982; Scott, Fuller and Gaskin, 2006). Researchers have claimed that well performed geography fieldwork fosters cognitive learning, attitudinal, interpersonal and social outcomes, that mutually reinforce each other (Foskett, 1999; Nundy, 1999, 2001). Kinder (2013) however, brings in a critical note, by stating that the evidence supporting the supposed benefits of fieldwork, especially the Copyright© Nuova Cultura

actual cognitive gains, is not very elaborate and tends to emphasize affective benefits. In general, geography fieldwork can be defined as a learning activity consisting of three phases – preparation, work outside the classroom and debriefing – in which students actively enquire into geographical phenomena in the real world (e.g. Caton, 2006a; Caton, 2006b; Foskett, 1997; Hill and Woodland, 2002; Job, Day and Smyth, 1999; Schmidinger, Molin and Brandt, 2014; Scott et al., 2006). The central aim of engaging students in fieldwork is to help them connect geographical theory to real world practices, whereby real world practice is feeding classroom theory and vice versa. For example, Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

most students have seen the effects of an earthquake in a documentary or on the news. In combination with the actual observation of a fault-line in the field, students get the opportunity to give personal meaning to the geographical concepts “fault” and “earthquake”. Because of its benefits, it is argued that fieldwork needs to be structurally integrated in the geography curriculum. The integration of fieldwork can be viewed on three levels or scales. On a large scale it could become a mandatory part of national programs, syllabi or school curricula. On a middle scale it should to be done with a certain frequency during the school year to overcome the exceptional outing that does not structurally add to the learning process. And on a small scale it should be carefully embedded in the lesson plan, so that the fieldwork subject and activity is logically related to the geography subject at hand, and preparation, work outside the classroom and debriefing are closely connected (Foskett, 1997; Job et al., 1999; Kent, Gilbertson and Hunt, 1997; McLoughlin, 2004). Since teachers play a pivotal role in the structural integration of fieldwork, at least on a middle and small scale, it seems necessary that they have the knowledge and tools to design and implement fieldwork structurally into their geography lessons. Research in the Netherlands and other countries, however, shows that the structural integration of fieldwork barely comes about. Although geography teachers find fieldwork important, they do not perform it frequently and often as a rather isolated activity. According to many teachers one of the main reasons for this is a lack of time, but they also mention a lack of confidence and expertise (e.g. Munday, 2008; Oost, De Vries and van der Schee, 2011; Rickinson et al., 2004; Santi and Purboningrum, 2004; Zhang, 1999). The aim of this study is to design and evaluate a scenario that helps teachers in secondary education to structurally integrate fieldwork into their geography lessons. With a scenario a script with which teachers can design and implement fieldwork is meant. It provides a lesson structure to which teachers can add their own content. The main question is: Does the scenario help geography teachers to structurally integrate fieldwork into their lessons? In the next section, the theoretical background of such a scenario is explored. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

2. Theoretical background Constructivist theory assumes that knowledge is constructed by students as they attempt to make sense of new information and experiences. Students actively make meaning of the world surrounding them, integrating new information into what they already know. In this process of making meaning their prior knowledge influences the way they view new information and their subsequent construction of mental models (Kneppers, Van Boxtel and Van Hout-Wolters, 2009). Prior knowledge can be defined as all that students know or believe, “whether positive or negative, accurate or inaccurate, real or imagined, verifiable or non-verifiable” (Alexander, 2006, p. 72). This means that prior knowledge has to do with domain content (theory), as well as with experiences, interests and valuations concerning this domain content (practice). For example, a student may know the definition of precipitation as a concept (theory), but he also may have the experience of riding his bike in the rain (practice). In constructivist learning environments, students need freedom to further explore and question their prior knowledge, by processing new information and creating new meaning. At the same time, students are novices in the domain, and therefore need structure and support to distinguish central and accurate domain knowledge from peripheral and inaccurate information (Alexander, 2003). One way to provide students with both structure and freedom is working with a core curriculum (Applebee, 1994). According to Applebee (1994) a core curriculum provides core concepts for classroom dialogue within a tradition of a discipline such as geography, languages or science. Core concepts in geography are for example plate tectonics, climate, globalization and urbanization. In the context of fieldwork, “core curriculum” can be translated into one or several central concepts, related subconcepts, examples and so on. This core curriculum could be expressed in for instance a mind map (Figure 1). The use of a core curriculum offers teachers and students a central platform to share and discuss geographical concepts.

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Figure 1. An example of a core curriculum for the core concept “weather”.

In a classroom dialogue (or discourse), the purposeful use of language is essential for the building of new knowledge together (Wells, 2000). According to Burbules (1993, p. 8), dialogue is: “an activity directed toward discovery and new understanding, which stands to improve the knowledge, insight, or sensitivity of its participants”. It can occur between two participants, but also in a small group or in a whole class. A good classroom dialogue fosters insight in the process of knowledge construction (Burbules, 1993; Collins and Stevens, 1982, 1983; Palincsar, 1986; Palincsar and Brown, 1984). In fieldwork, classroom dialogue could lead to improved knowledge about geographical phenomena as well as insight in how theory and practice can be related. Ideally, students give meaning to geographical facts, concepts and examples (theory) by linking these to experiences and valuations during fieldwork (practice). Therefore, linking theory and practice also needs to be the focus in the classroom dialogue. For example, during fieldwork students may observe clouds changing from day to day and they may note the day to day weather reports. These observations (practice) can be the starting point of a dialogue between teacher and students on the relationships between cloud types, weather characteristics and a frontal depression system (theory). An often observed classroom dialogue sequence is the IRF-sequence, in which the I stands for Initiation, the R for Response and the F for Feedback (e.g. Sinclair and Coulthard, 1975). Walsh (2006) characterizes classroom discourse with a predomination of the IRFpattern as a dialogue mode in which the teacher provides input about a topic and asks questions, elicits responses in relation to the material and

checks, clarifies and evaluates answers. In this sequence, the students hardly interact with each other or ask questions. The teacher determines what is to be accepted as sound knowledge (Sinclair and Coulthard, 1975). Some researchers found that IRFs can serve useful and interesting purposes and achieve good levels of pupil involvement and learning (e.g. Alexander, 2000; Rojas-Drummond and Mercer, 2003; Wells, 1999). Other researchers, however, state that IRFs do not lead to students constructing and sharing their ideas in interaction (Mercer and Dawes, 2008). They have searched for a more constructivist way of dialogic learning, which offers students the opportunity to interact and share understandings. Wegerif and Dawes (2004) placed a Dialogue phase within the IRFsequence, making it an IDRF-sequence. They originally applied the idea of IDRF to the situation of primary school children working together in groups at computers. In their research the D refers to small group discussions during a collaborate computer task. In the context of this study, IDRF is transferred to a secondary school classroom situation, in which the D stands for open dialogue between the teacher and students and students mutually. Walsh (2006) characterizes this classroom discourse as a dialogue mode in which the teacher enables learners to express themselves clearly, establishes a context for learners to express themselves and promotes dialogue and discussion. The teacher preferably uses open, referential questions (starting with “why”, “how”, “where”), that elicit longer and more detailed answers (Walsh, 2006). Especially this mode of dialogue, in which the teacher facilitates student contributions in extended learner turns, helping them to say what they mean, can support the linking of theory and practice during fieldwork. The aim of this study is to design a scenario that helps teachers to structurally integrate fieldwork in their geography lessons so that students construct new meanings by linking theories to practices. From the literature discussed above, two design principles for this scenario emerge. The first design principle is working with a core curriculum, offering teachers and students the opportunity to share and discuss geographical concepts. The second design principle is open Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

dialogue, in which teachers let students talk with each other on the practical and theoretical understandings related to the topic at hand. These principles are worked out into the scenario characteristics.

3. Characteristics of the scenario The first design principle is working with a core curriculum. To be able to give structure to the learning process, it is important for the teacher to have an overview of the fieldwork subject, its core concept and related theory. With this overview the teacher can create opportunities for students to share their understandings and experiences, help them link these to theory and get insight in possible misconceptions. By defining the core curriculum, the teacher prepares himself theoretically. The format in which the teacher defines the core curriculum should suit two purposes. First, it needs to give him an overview on the central concept and related concepts. Second, it needs to enable him to carry forward an open dialogue with students around those concepts and the students’ prior knowledge. A mind map, a visual schematic overview of interrelated geographical concepts, examples, experience and valuations, satisfies both purposes. That is why the design principle working with a core curriculum leads to the use of a mind map as a characteristic of the scenario. Mind maps, advanced organizers and concept maps are often used as tools to achieve comparable goals, such as helping students learn or negotiate meanings (Akinsanya and Williams, 2004; Ausubel, 1978; Buzan, 2011; Koopman, 2010; Mavers, Somekh and Restorick, 2002; Novak 2002; Novak and Gowan, 1984). Stokhof and Vries (2009) show that mind maps can serve four different purposes, namely getting an overview of a core curriculum, activate prior knowledge, support the process of knowledge construction and assessment. Mind maps are used worldwide and have been adopted in many educational fields such as biology, science and geography (e.g. Chang, 2007; Chatterjea, 2008; Kinchin, 2000; Mavers et al., 2002). The second design principle is open dialogue. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

The mind map the teacher makes to define the core curriculum can be seen as an “expert” mind map. This theoretical structure helps the teacher to facilitate the open dialogue. In this open dialogue it is important to look at the intertwined role of theory and practice and the way it evolves: practice needs to enlighten and feed the discussion on theory and vice versa – they reinforce and inspire each other. Although learning is an individual process, it can also be viewed as a joint activity and students as a community that works towards shared goals (Wells, 2000). In this sense, there is a need for collaboration. In a school setting it seems important that students test their own understandings against those of peers and teachers (Driscoll, 2005). For example, by listening to the explanations of peers and explaining to others what one thinks, the student verbalizes and formulates the concepts and processes under discussion (Van der Linden et al., 2000). This process can be stimulated in small groups, but also in a wholeclass situation (e.g. Brown, 1994; Brown, Collins and Duguid, 1989; Renshaw and Brown, 1997; Van Boxtel, Van der Linden en Kanselaar, 2000a). Taking this into account, the design principle open dialogue leads to two characteristics of the scenario. First, to prepare students for participating in an open dialogue, and to stimulate the articulation and sharing of ideas and knowledge, it is important that there is an alternation between individual and group work and whole-class activities. Therefore, the scenario needs to contain not only stages with collaborate learning in a whole class setting, but also stages in which students work in small groups exchanging ideas (Kuhlthau, Maniotes and Caspari, 2007). Since a combination of individual preparation and a collaborative learning task seems to improve learning results and asking more questions (Van Boxtel, Van der Linden and Kanselaar, 2000b), there also needs to be room for individual, independent work, during which each students is challenged and activated. This independent work prepares them for participation in small group and whole-class open dialogue.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

Second, the teacher needs conversational rules to facilitate open whole-class dialogue (Barnes, 2008; Burbules, 1993; Mercer, Wegerif and Dawes, 1999; Mercer et al., 2004). Thus, the scenario gives teachers explicit clues how to make a dialogue open. Those clues are: preferably use open-ended questioning, give students time to think of and formulate answers, encourage students to be active, and let students react on each others’ answers. To help teachers think about what an open-ended dialogue and openended questioning means, examples of possible sentence starters could be given, such as “what do you imagine by”, “what do you wonder about”, “try to explain what”, “what is the connection between” and “do you have the same idea as”. These sentence starters could both focus on theory as well as practice. Summarized, the scenario could benefit from three characteristics derived from the design principles: (1) use of a mind map to focus the domain and content of the field work and provide a shared platform for knowledge construction; (2) alternating moments for individual, small-group and whole class activities to build stepping stones for an open dialogue and promote the explication and exchange of ideas and insights; and (3) the use of clues and sentence starters to help the dialogue to become and remain open. The scenario is a script with which teachers design and implement their own fieldwork. This means it is content free, so that teachers can adapt it to their own curricula and lesson plans. It structures the fieldwork in three phases: a preparation lesson, geographical enquiry outside the classroom and a debriefing lesson. In the preparation lesson, prior knowledge, experiences, examples and valuations concerning the fieldwork subject are activated and made explicit, using a mind map as a tool. Also, the students and the teacher engage in an open dialogue on the relation between the prior understandings of the students and the fieldwork subject. The geographical enquiry outside the classroom is an individual homework assignment, which is driven by a central question on the fieldwork subject that

is provocative and that taps into the curiosity of the students. In this way, every student individually encounters geographical phenomena in the real world, acquires personal experiences and sees real examples of concepts that can be discussed in the classroom. In the debriefing lesson students collaboratively discuss what they discovered, experienced and learned in the field individually. The field findings feed and direct the discussion during debriefing. Especially in the debriefing the teacher can find out whether or not and how the students are searching for meaning and can discuss misconceptions and omissions (Foskett, 1997). The main research question of this study is: Does the scenario help geography teachers to structurally integrate fieldwork in their lessons? The following sub-questions will be answered: (1) do teachers find the scenario relevant?; (2) do teachers find it practical and do they perform it as intended?; and, (3) is the scenario valid – does it help teachers to initiate and carry on an open dialogue in which prior knowledge, examples and experiences (practice) feed and enlighten the understanding of geographical concepts and facts (theory) and vice versa?

4. Method This study is performed in the tradition of Educational Design Research (EDR) and involves prototyping in two iterative design and evaluation cycles. The scenario aims at supporting teachers to design and perform fieldwork on a subject of their own choice. In the first iterative cycle, teachers have chosen the subject themselves and designed the fieldwork materials. The first prototype was used to make the tentative design characteristics more concrete. The testing of this prototype can be considered a “work through” (compare with “walk through”, Nieveen, 1999, p. 129), and an evaluation of the relevance and practicality. Subsequently, the second prototype is tested on its relevance, practicality and, most importantly, its validity. In this second iterative cycle the fieldworks’ core concept is chosen by the researcher. The researcher also defined the core curriculum and prefabricated the expert mind Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

map and the homework assignment. This was done to simplify the comparing of different cases and to get distinct results related to the validity of the scenario. In Table 1 an outline of the scenario of the second cycle is given. The fieldwork it aims for is small scale, and consists of one preparation lesson, an outdoor homework assignment and one debriefing lesson. During the preparation and debriefing, different activities are performed. In the preparation lesson, prior knowledge on the fieldwork subject is activated by an individual brainstorm and whole-class dialogue around a mind map. The aim of the work outside is to invite students to individually enquire their own neighborhood. During a period of five days the students take pictures of clouds, while at the same time measuring wind direction, precipitation and temperature. In debriefing, the exploration of the outdoor experiences in small groups consists of an assignment that leads to a dialogue between students on their findings and experiences to prepare them for a classroom mind mapping phase. The whole-class mind map made in the preparation lesson is used as a starting point for the dialogue in the debriefing lesson. 4.1 Participants Teachers are selected from the database of the HAN University of Applied Sciences on their willingness to learn about new ways to implement fieldwork and their enthusiasm for fieldwork. In cycle one five teachers participated, and in cycle two seven. Three of them participated in both evaluation cycles. The teachers work at five schools for prevocational secondary education situated in the Nijmegen Area. The study is performed at prevocational schools because in general those students profit from concrete examples and experiences to give meaning to geographical concepts. They are also more prone to be active, to do things. Two teachers participated with two classes in cycle one, one teacher participated with two classes in cycle two, the rest participated with one class. This means that cycle one consisted of seven cases and cycle two of eight cases. The average class size was 25 and the students were in the age of twelve to fifteen. CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

Scenario Phases Phase 0 Teacher mind map

Activities in class and outside

Preparation teacher Teacher orientates and prepares himself theoretically Teacher uses clues and sentence starters for making the dialogue more open

Introduction Individual brainstorm Whole-class dialogue around mind map Discuss fieldwork assignment Students perform Phase 2 homework Work outside assignment Introduction Teacher uses Phase 3 Assignment clues and Debriefing exploration of the sentence outdoor starters for experiences making the (small groups) dialogue more Whole-class open dialogue around mind map Table 1. Outline of the scenario of the second cycle. Fieldwork central concept: the weather. Central enquiry question: What do clouds tell us about the weather? Phase 1 Preparation

4.2 Procedure First, the teachers were introduced to the scenario individually or in a group meeting. The scenario was presented and explained by the researcher, and questions and comments of the teachers were discussed to reach a shared understanding. Then the teachers used the scenario to design and prepare their fieldwork. Next, they performed the fieldwork with their class(es): after the preparation lesson, the students got one week to do the homework assignment, and then the debriefing lesson followed. After the performance the teachers shared their experiences of working with the scenario in a group meeting. 4.3 Data collection and analysis During data collection, the focus was on the preparation and debriefing lessons and on the teacher perspective. A variation of data were Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

collected to measure the relevance, practicality and validity of the scenario: pre- and postperformance interviews with teachers, videos of the teacher group meetings, field notes during and videos of preparation and debriefing lessons and teacher and student materials (mind maps, fieldwork assignment and student products). The pre- and post-performance interviews delivered information on the relevance and practicality of the scenario and an indication for its validity. The pre-performance interview was semi-structured and contained twelve questions with a focus on the experience of the teachers with (enquiry) fieldwork, the significance it has for them, and what they expect to learn from working with the scenario. The postperformance interview also was semi-structured, contained six questions that focused on the experiences working with the scenario, using the mind map, the clues for open dialogue and sentence starters, and if they will use it again. Field notes were taken during open classroom observation. These data delivered a general description of the lessons and gave an indication for the relevance and practicality of the scenario and a first impression of the openness of the classroom dialogue. The timeframe of every lesson activity was noted. Per activity incidents were noted, as well as a general impression of the occurring dialogue considering the atmosphere, how much time students get to answer questions, the kind of questions the teacher asks, if during the dialogue students’ prior knowledge is activated and explicated, if the teacher writes down items in the mind map on the white/smart board and refers to it or points at it, if field experiences are exchanged, and the way students contribute to the dialogue. The teacher and student materials and the analysis of the transcription of the teacher group meetings gave information on the relevance and practicality of the scenario. The whole-class mind maps made in preparation and debriefing were analyzed, giving clues on the placement of items of theory and practice and links between them.

dialogue. These data gave information on the practicality and the validity of the scenario. The videos were analyzed in the following way. They were transcribed and the parts with classroom dialogue around the mind map, in which open dialogue is expected, were singled out. These were segmented and transcribed on the basis of content: each segment contains only one central item of content, for example a concept or an experience. A segment ends and a new segment starts at the moment this item of content is no longer central in the dialogue. The resulting number of segments vary in preparation from 9 to 25 per case (total of all cases 118) and in debriefing from 5 to 19 per case (total of all cases 67). For these segments the following indicators were described, namely the use of sentence starters by teachers, the type of questions asked, the way teacher and students contribute to the dialogue (“who does the talking”), how much time does the teacher give students to think of and formulate an answer, does the teacher encourage all students to be active, and does the teacher let students react on each others’ answers. Also, the way concepts and facts (theory) and experiences, valuations and examples (practice) are apparent in the segments is described, as well as the relations between those items and their subsequent roles in the occurring dialogue.

5. Results First, general experiences of the teachers with the scenario will be discussed to gain first insight in the relevance, practicality and validity of the scenario. Next the results focus on the design principles and characteristics of the scenario and describe the relevance, practicality and validity of the mind map as the representation of a core curriculum, and the relevance, practicality and validity of alternation and dialogue support for open dialogue. Finally the central aim of fieldwork is evaluated by describing the ways in which theory and practice get linked within the classroom dialogue.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

5.1 Experiences with the scenario in general The teachers showed excitement about fieldwork in general and were motivated to learn about it. They experienced working with the scenario as positive and found it challenging for themselves and activating for the students. Furthermore, it gave them confidence to perform fieldwork, as statements of two teachers show: “Because I did this [work with scenario, ed.], I have more confidence to do other things with the students. […]..because when there had not been the push [of the research, ed.], I never would have done a small scale fieldwork”. “The scenario gave me new input to do fieldwork more easily with classes”. The teachers liked the set up of the fieldwork, with one preparation lesson, the work outside as a homework assignment and one debriefing lesson. For them, it was an eye opener that fieldwork could be done on this small a scale. They found it easy to integrate it into their lessons. The teachers reported the materials to be clear, concrete and easy to use, but also experienced students had to concentrate in a whole-class situation for too long. As a solution for this they would like to insert more group work and/or individual assignments. Overall, the teachers said they would like to use the scenario again. The first prototype gave rise to overcrowded lessons and to teachers indicating feeling time pressure. It was observed that this went to the expense of the phase with the whole-class mind mapping and dialogue. An important reason for this was the time and effort it took to make an individual student mind map in preparation and debriefing. That is why in the second prototype the individual mind mapping was reduced to a five minute brainstorm in preparation. This resulted in a scenario that did not lead to timepressure and could be well implemented within the given time.

5.2 Role of the mind map From the interviews and group meetings afterwards, it became clear that the teachers valued making the expert mind map. It helped them to think sharply about the content and the goals of the fieldwork, and to make clear choices. It also helped them to capture the central concept and related concepts in a core curriculum (Figure 2). The analysis of the expert mind maps of the first cycle show that the teachers succeeded in defining a core curriculum for their fieldwork subject: the core concept was big enough to sustain a dialogue in two lessons, the number of other concepts was not too big or too small, and the concepts were all related. Concerning the whole-class mind map, the teachers recognized its function as a platform for the dialogue. They experienced the whole-class mind mapping with the students as activating and they were surprised to see how much the students brought forward. It helped the students to think about the core concept and to bring forward their (prior) knowledge. They saw enthusiastic students, actively participating in the discussion and contributing to the wholeclass mind map: “I think you should give students the opportunity to contribute. Because these lessons depend on the students, for them to find out how things work. And at the end of the second lesson I told them, you actually did it all by yourself, didn’t you. I could see in their faces that they were proud, thinking, yes, we did it ourselves. And those students are very active and fanatic making the assignments and contributing”. “….this really is activating. Why? Because all students are working and engaged. Every student makes a mind map and is thinking about what he or she has learned...[…]…everybody is involved, the whole class. No one can hide. That is really activating. The thinking process of students really gets trained”.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

Figure 2. Expert mind map of a teacher collected in the first iterative cycle.

All the teachers liked working with the mind map, although they did not have the same amount of experience with it. The teachers with little or no experience reported more uncertainty and difficulties in working with the mind map. For example, some of them found it difficult to place the contributions of the students in the whole class mind map on the white/smart board, in a way that does justice to those contributions, but also in a way that clarifies theory. A reason for this can be the pressure those teachers felt to make the whole-class mind map look like the expert mind map as much as possible. This was more the case with the prefabricated expert mind map in the second cycle, indicating that teachers probably feel more freedom to use the expert mind map flexibly when making it themselves. On the other hand, most teachers stated that they felt the expert mind map helped them making the whole-class mind map together with the students, because it functioned as a compass giving direction to the dialogue. During preparation and debriefing it was observed that all teachers referred to the mind map, talked about it, pointed to it and constructed it together with the students. In preparation, CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

the brainstorm on prior knowledge led to a â&#x20AC;&#x153;summing upâ&#x20AC;? of items that were put in the whole-class mind map. In debriefing the relations between the items in the mind map were more central in the dialogue. It was observed that in general teachers wrote down more facts, examples and concepts, than experiences and valuations. Consequently, in the whole-class mind maps a relative focus on theory was visible. However, there are differences between cases. It was observed that the teachers who were inclined to explicitly ask for experiences and valuations, also seemed more inclined to write down (some of) those items in the mind map, especially in preparation. From the above it becomes clear that the mind map in general did help teachers to get an overview over the core curriculum and that it functioned as a platform for the dialogue on the core curriculum. 5.3 Alternation of individual, group and whole class activities The teachers felt the scenario helped them to let students give shape to the dialogue. During preparation and debriefing teachers felt students Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

were motivated and active. It was observed that students during the individual brainstorm phase in preparation actively wrote down concepts, examples, ideas and experiences. Teachers reported seeing students exchange outdoor experiences and discussing their findings actively in debriefing. During the exchange of fieldwork experiences in groups in debriefing students were observed actively discussing their field findings and conclusions. This way, the alternation between individual and group work helped them to prepare themselves for the whole class mind mapping phases and participation in the dialogue. The following statement underlines the general impact: “What I noticed was that students are more aware of the subject [Fair Trade, ed.]. Accidentally, the newspapers paid a lot of attention to Fair Trade at the time, on chocolate. Well, the students noticed it and talked about it in class, even when the fieldwork was over”. 5.4 Clues and sentence starters in the dialogue After working with the first prototype, teachers indicated they did not fully grasp the idea of an open dialogue. This is supported by observations of the dialogue in the classroom. Although teachers did ask open questions, they did not give students much time to formulate an answer and almost never let students react on each others’ answers. In the second prototype clues were given on how to keep the dialogue around the whole-class mind map more open, for example sentence starters. After working with the second prototype teachers indicated they were aware of making the dialogue more open-ended and tried to actively use the sentence starters. They stated that it helped them to prepare themselves for the dialogue. The following statements are from two teachers: “Well, I read the scenario carefully before I started and thought about the kind of open questions one can ask. And I remembered some of the examples in the scenario, with the idea well, yes, those sentences I can use to make questions for the students. And, well, I think I did use them and I also took into account the idea of letting them think about each others’ answers”. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

“I did ask students more frequently to complement each others’ stories…[…]…I also thought more about giving students time to answer, because usually I explain things and say ‘that is correct’ or ‘that is not correct’, while they can think about that for themselves. But before [using the scenario, ed.] I did not give them enough time to do it”. The analysis of the dialogue segments shows that in preparation (being a brainstorm on the fieldwork subject) the most frequently used sentence starters are of the following nature: “Do you have any additions to the mind map?” and “Where shall we put this in the mind map?” Furthermore, teachers ask students follow-up questions (open and closed questions), like: “How is this connected to…?”, “How does this work?” and “Why is this the case?”. One teacher asked students what they have experienced concerning the fieldwork subject, whether they remember something about it, what they think about it and what they like about it. In debriefing (being the phase in which connections are made between theory and practice and misconceptions are challenged) frequently used sentence starters are of the following nature: “What items need to stay in the mind map?”, “What is the connection with….?”, “What did you find out?” and “What else can you say about….?”. Teachers asked students follow-up questions, like: “What can you tell about…?”, “Why is this important?” and “What has this got to do with….?”. Three teachers asked question about the field findings of students, like: “What were your temperatures like, when there were clouds?”, “How did you observe this?” and “How was that on other days?”. Other clues for the dialogue to be more open concerned the encouragement of students to all be active, giving students enough time to answer and letting students react on each others’ answers. In preparation and debriefing teachers are observed trying to involve all students in the dialogue by taking turns or raising hands. Teachers seem to find it difficult to wait and give time to students to think about and answer a question. In 21 of the 118 dialogue segments in preparation and in 6 of the 67 segments in debriefing the teachers give students only once Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

more than 5 seconds thinking and answering time. Teachers do ask students to react on each others’ answers, mainly through questions like “Does anyone have an idea?”, “Can someone else help…..explain?”, “Who wants to react to this answer?”, “Does anyone have an addition to this?” and “Do you agree with this answer?”. Teachers sparingly also let students react on each other without intervening. From the analysis of the dialogue segments it becomes clear that in preparation as well as in debriefing the teacher does the talking. In preparation the teacher uses on average 3,5 times as many words per segment than the students (variation per segment: 2,5 to 4,7 times as many). Teachers who give students relatively more space in the dialogue, score lower on this point. In debriefing the teacher uses on average 5,1 times as many words per segment than the students (variation per segment: 2,9 to 17,8 times as many). In debriefing all teachers tend to end up in the “expert” role, explaining things about weather and clouds. That is probably why they do most of the talking in de debriefing. In the post-performance interviews teachers describe that they are worried that students do not learn enough if the teacher does not explain things to them. In preparation the students get more time to talk because of the brainstorm nature and teachers ask more questions that lead to students explaining what they mean by their contribution to the mind map. 5.5 Theory and practice in the dialogue In preparation, after initiating and presenting the central enquiry question “What do clouds have to do with the weather?”, the teachers gave students five minutes to write down as many items as they could think of regarding this subject, individually. Next, the whole-class mind map was made in a brainstorm session, in which the prior knowledge of the students was activated. Students mainly mentioned concepts like precipitation, snow, lightning, wind direction, water vapor, shadow, rainbow, water cycle, high and low pressure and sea. Less often, students mentioned things like: “The clouds tell you what the weather will be like” or “I flew through the clouds in an airplane”. Two teachers explicitly asked for personal experiences with Copyright© Nuova Cultura

clouds. Students then mentioned experiences like “I can see figures in the clouds” and “When there is a fog it feels like I’m Superman, you’re walking on clouds”. The whole-class brainstorm helped many students to think of more examples, concepts and facts than they had first noted down in the individual brainstorm. By asking follow-up questions, teachers stimulated students to link their concepts to other concepts and facts. During this process, misconceptions in the students’ prior knowledge could come to light, for example: “temperature vaporizes water and than a cloud appears”, “when it is very hot, clouds do not appear”, “when a cloud gets to heavy, rain will fall out of it” and “when the wind blows harder, it might become colder”. All teachers, in one way or another, showed the students that they could do research themselves to investigate these suppositions through the homework assignment. However, the suppositions were not noted in the mind map, and the teacher did not follow them up in the debriefing. In debriefing, first the students discuss their field findings (homework assignment) in small groups, by means of an assignment. This assignment helped the students to formulate conclusions on the connection between their cloud pictures and their weather measurements. Next, two teachers first discussed this assignment and then started the whole-class mind mapping, the other five teachers immediately started the whole-class mind mapping. In general, the teachers first try to let students formulate what they have learned and what should be altered in the mind map from the preparation. In this respect, the mind map functions as a platform for the dialogue and it helps them to make connections between examples, field findings and concepts. One teacher explicitly asked for the field findings and what these mean in the light of the enquiry question. In the occurring dialogue, the wrestling for understanding becomes visible: T: […] did anyone notice that the wind on a certain day did not come from the west, but from another direction? S1: no… T: no? S2: Yes, I have got one from the south, one time from the southeast and one time from the west. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

T: okay, when it came from the southeast, for example, or from the south, was there any precipitation? S2: Uhm…..no. T: So there was no precipitation. And what is the explanation for there being no precipitation? S2: Uhm……because there is not a lot of water, yes, uhm…..there is no sea. And if there is no sea, then there cannot be a lot of precipitation. T: That is right, indeed, yes. That is because there is only little water. […] Besides wind from the west, there is…..Anthony? S3: well, for example when the wind came from the southwest, there came 7 mm precipitation. T: So, when it came from the southwest, there was more precipitation. […] when the clouds come from the east, there is less precipitation….[…] Andrea? S4: Well, in my case there fell a lot of snow when it was southeast. T: You noticed that when the wind came from the southeast, there fell a lot of snow? This example also shows how difficult it can be for teachers to help students think about their measurements and how they can lead to generalizations (or not). This is probably the reason for the observation that although the teachers in the beginning try to initiate a dialogue in which the students do the talking and explaining, eventually they all take on their expert role, explaining the theory behind the enquiry. In the post-performance interviews teachers said they were afraid the students would not learn enough if they did not explain the theory. However, the moment the teachers did give students space to talk about their field findings and what they mean, the whole class became active and wanted to participate in the dialogue.

wing sub-questions are answered. First, do teachers find the scenario relevant? Second, do teachers find it practical and do they perform it as intended? And, third, is the scenario valid – does it help teachers initiate and carry on an open dialogue in which prior knowledge, examples and experiences feed and enlighten the understanding of geographical concepts and facts and vice versa? Teachers are enthusiastic about the scenario, like to use it and feel that their students are motivated by it. They all say they will use it again. The scenario is performed as intended and within the given time limits. In this sense, it is considered relevant as well as practical. The results concerning the validity of the scenario are more difficult to interpret. The (expert) mind map helps teachers define the core curriculum of the fieldwork. The mind map successfully functions as a platform for the wholeclass dialogue. Teacher and students activate their prior knowledge and link new information. The teachers were content with the way individual, group and whole-class activities alternated. They recognized the importance of individual and group work to prepare students for the whole-class dialogue and used sentence starters and open questions. However, teachers mainly focus on concepts, examples and facts (theory), and much less on experiences and valuations (practice). The other clues to make the dialogue more open, being the encouragement of students to all be active, giving students more time to think and answer questions and let students react on each others’ answers, were only used sparingly. Especially in the debriefing, the teachers took on their role of experts and did most of the talking themselves. Teachers need to learn how to work with the scenario, especially with the mind map and the open dialogue, to create and sustain an open classroom dialogue. The scenario seems helpful for teachers to integrate fieldwork in their geography lessons, and activate students to think as a geographer. Further research could focus on the structural use of the scenario by teachers so that they get more familiar with starting open classroom discussions around the core concepts of geography.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Katie Oost, Bregje de Vries, Joop van der Schee

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graphy curriculum – International perspectives and research issues”, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 8, 2, 1999, pp. 159-63. 25. Fuller I.C., “What is the value of fieldwork? Answers from New Zealand using two contrasting undergraduate physical geography field trips”, New Zealand Geographer, 62, 2006, pp. 215-220. 26. Hill J. and Woodland W., “An evaluation of foreign fieldwork in promoting deep learning: A preliminary investigation”, Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education, 27, 6, 2002, pp. 539-555. 27. Job D., Day C. and Smyth T., Beyond the Bikesheds – Fresh approaches to fieldwork in the school locality, Sheffield, The Geography Association, 1999. 28. Kent M., Gilbertson D.D. and Hunt C.O., “Fieldwork in geography teaching: A critical review of the literature and approaches”, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 21, 3, 1997, pp. 313-332. 29. Kinchin I.M., “Concept-mapping activities to help students understand photosynthesis – and teachers understand students”, School Science Review, 82, 299, 2000, pp. 11-14. 30. Kinder A., “What is the contribution of fieldwork to school geography?”, in Lambert D. and Jones M. (Eds.), Debates in Geography Education, Abington, Oxon, Routledge, 2013, pp. 180-192. 31. Kneppers L., Van Boxtel C. and Van HoutWolters B., “De weg naar transfer: een concept- en context benadering voor het vak economie in het voortgezet onderwijs”, Pedagogische Studiën, 86, 2009, pp. 41-61. 32. Koopman M., “Students’ goal orientations, information processing strategies and knowledge development in competence-based pre-vocational secondary education” Ph.D. Thesis, Fontys Hogescholen, Eindhoven, 2010. 33. Kuhlthau C.C., Maniotes L.K. and Caspari A.K., Guided Inquiry, Learning in the 21st Century, Westport, Connecticut, London, Libraries Unlimited, 2007. 34. Kwan T. and So M., “Environmental learning using a problem-based approach in the field: A case study of a Hong Kong school”, Copyright© Nuova Cultura

International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 17, 2, 2008, pp. 93-113. 35. Mackenzie A.A. and White R.T., “Fieldwork in geography and long term memory structure”, American Educational Research Journal, 19, 4, 1982, pp. 623-632. 36. Mavers D, Somekh B. and Restorick J., “Interpreting the externalized images of pupils’ conceptions of ICT: methods for the analysis of concept maps”, Computers & Education, 38, 2002, pp. 187-207. 37. McLoughlin A.S., “Engineering active and effective field trips”, The Clearing House, 77, 4, 2004, pp. 160-163. 38. Mercer N. and Dawes L., “The Value of Exploratory Talk”, in Mercer N. and Hodgkinson S. (Eds.), Exploring Talk in School, London, Sage Publications Ltd, 2008, pp. 55-72. 39. Mercer N., Dawes L., Wegerif R. and Sams C., “Reasoning as a scientist: ways of helping children to use language to learn science”, British Educational Research Journal, 30, 3, 2004, pp. 359-377. 40. Mercer N., Wegerif R. and Dawes L., “Children's Talk and the Development of Reasoning in the Classroom”, British Educational Research Journal, 25, 1, 1999, pp. 95-111. 41. Munday P., “Teacher perspectives of the role and value of excursions in years 7–10 geography education in Victoria, Australia”, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 17, 2, 2008, pp. 146-169. 42. Nieveen N., “Prototyping to reach product quality”, in Van den Akker J., Branch R., Gustafson K., Nieveen N. and Plomp T. (Eds.), Design Approaches and Tools in Education and Training, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999, pp. 125-136. 43. Novak J.D., “Meaningful learning: The essential factor for conceptual change in limited or inappropriate propositional hierarchies leading to empowerment of learners”, Science Education, 86, 4, 2002, pp. 548-571. 44. Novak J.D. and Gowin D.B., Learning how to learn, New York, Cambridge University Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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geography and environmental science fieldwork”, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 30, 1, 2006, pp. 161-171. 55. Sinclair J.McH. and Coulthard R.M., Towards an Analysis of Discourse. The English used by teachers and pupils, London, Oxford University Press, 1975. 56. Stokhof H. and De Vries B., Naar meer gestructureerde vrijheid. Leerstofborging in vraaggestuurd leren, Nijmegen, HAN, 2009. 57. Van Boxtel C., Van der Linden J.L. and Kanselaar G., “Deep Processing in a Collaborative Learning Environment”, in Cowie H. and Van der Aalsvoort G. (Eds.), Social Interaction in Learning and Instruction. The meaning of Discourse for the Construction of Knowledge, Oxford, Elsevier Science Ltd, 2000a, pp. 161-178. 58. Van Boxtel C., Van der Linden J.L. and Kanselaar G., “Collaborative learning tasks and the elaboration of conceptual knowledge”, Learning and Instruction, 10, 4, 2000b, pp. 311-330. 59. Van der Linden J., Erkens G., Schmidt H. and Renshaw P., “Collaborative Learning”, in Simons R.J., Van der Linden J. and Duffy T. (Eds.), New Learning, New York, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000, pp. 37-54. 60. Walsh S., Investigating classroom discourse, New York, Routledge, 2006. 61. Wegerif R. and Dawes L., Thinking and learning with ICT, London, Routledge Falmer, 2004. 62. Wells G., Dialogic Inquiry: Toward A Sociocultural Practice and Theory of Education, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999. 63. Wells G., “Dialogic Inquiry in Education: Building on the Legacy of Vygotsky”, in Lee C.D. and Smagorinsky P. (Eds.), Vygotskian Perspectives on Literacy Research. Constructing Meaning through Collaborative Inquiry, New York, Cambridge University, 2000, pp. 51-85. 64. Zhang H., “Contemporary Chinese concepts of fieldwork in geographical education”, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 8, 2, 1999, pp. 175-189.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Journal of R Research and Didactics D in Geeography (J-RE EADING), 2, 55, Dec., 2016, pp. 79-84 DOI: 10.44558/7800-06

Technoloogy clustters: A ccross-naational aanalysis of geoggraphica al differrences Graziella Ferraraa, Francisco F E Ebeling Barrrosb a

Suor Orsolla Benincasa of o Naples, Italyy Carl von O Ossietzky Univversität Oldenbburg, Germanyy Email: graziiella.ferrarara@ @libero.it b

Received: Jannuary 2016 – Acccepted: October 2016

Ab bstract The study eexplores a toppic almost negglected by geoographers, prooviding a concceptual frameework to analy yze factors affeecting technological inertia or change off regions. Patth dependencee is a conceptt able to explain how the paast shapes the future also iin innovation studies. Desppite the key concept c that in i a sequencee of events, the latter decisionn to adopt a teechnology deppends on pastt decisions, th he literature hiighlights the two t f future reseearch. main modells of path dependence. The study offers ssome interestiing elements for Keywords: Cross-National Analysis, E Economic Geoography, Techhnology

1. Introoduction Neo-insttitutionalist theorists t and geographers embraced ppath dependennce perspectivve in order to explain how w institutions affect the devvelopment off some regioons (De Veccchis and Salvvatori, 2015; North, 19900). Path depenndence is a cooncept able to explain how w the past shapes s the fuuture also inn innovation studies. According to thiis view, in a sequence oof events the latter decisioon to adopt a technology depends on thhe past decisioons of actors. Embracing neo-institutioonalism’s perrspective thatt path dependdence affects trajectories oof innovationn diffusion, w we raise the question q of w which factors can explainn the technoloogical changee or inertia off some regionns of the worlld (Salvatori, 22005).

The literature hig ghlights two main m models of path deppendence. Th he first moddel stresses that t innovation diffusion and a its subseqquent persisten nce leads to technologicaal inertia. Thee second model shows thhat the combination of seveeral events leaads to changges (Prezioso, 1993). In botth cases policcymakers can assum me a centraal position in influenccing the social s diffuusion of one o technoloogy rather than t anotherr. Specificallly, policy-m makers can support thee diffusion of innovatiions through h general, suupply-side and a demandd-side policies (Vecchio, 2012; Suriñaach et al., 20009). Com mbining path-d dependence models m of tecchnology diffusion an nd governmeent policies we

Italian Association A of Geography G Teach hers

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offer a general framework to explain the success and failure of new technology diffusion. Then, we present a typology of regions in which we relate the deterministic path dependence model and the development approach with success and failure in the diffusion of new technologies (Baumann, 2003; Collinson, 1994). Thus, we use our framework to discuss Venezuela, Germany, England and Silicon Valley as cases of success or failure. The study explores a topic almost neglected by the geographers, providing a conceptual framework to analyze factors affecting the technological inertia or change of some regions in the world. In so doing it also offers some interesting elements for future research. In section I we present two path-dependence models. In section II we discuss some cases of success and failure. Finally, in section III we present the conclusions.

2. Theoretical framework The deterministic path dependence model shows that when a technology becomes dominant, the likelihood that the actors will divert from that path progressively declines. Once a critical mass of individuals has adopted the technology, a positive feedback process will stabilize what Ebbinghaus (2005) calls the “trodden trail”, as ever more people orient their decisions based on the perception that a sufficient number of other people have already done so. Several conditions are crucial for the deterministic path dependence model as this model assumes an equal starting point with the same probability of adopting all technologies. Among multiple options, the technology that will be most adopted depends on chance during the early stages of diffusion (Ebbinghaus, 2005). Social mechanisms of self-reinforcing are responsible for one alternative to take a lead over others. Thus the diffusion of a technology occurs through network effects (Hall and Khan, 2003). The once established institutions become locked-in through path dependent selfreinforcement. As a consequence of this social process, the adoption of a technology will become stabilized. As more and more people adopt a technology, the return to its use will

increase and social processes will continue to reinforce its inertial diffusion even though an alternative technological route might be possibly more efficient (Cotesta, 1999; Galieni 2000). For the continuity of our argument, it is important to state, however, that path dependence explains the institutional characteristics of a certain country (Coccia, 2004; Faccioli, 2004). Boyer (2005), for instance, argues that countries combine the diverse coordinating mechanisms that exist in different proportions: as well as states and markets, also communities, networks, associations, and private organizations. These different proportions at which coordinating mechanisms are combined by each country to a certain extent explain what each country specializes in producing. In contrast to the deterministic path dependence theorem that assumes that chance events will have long-term consequences on technology inertia, the developmental approach – or what one may alternatively call “nondeterministic path-dependence” (Ebbinghaus, 2005) – focuses on the possibility of social actors bringing about change. While in the deterministic path dependence model change happens due to exogenous shocks, in the developmental approach a new technology may emerge as dominant in a critical juncture at which collective strategic actors make new choices. In a similar way, Crouch (2009) reconstructs the path dependence theory in order to propose what he calls “recombinant governance”. According to this concept, strategic actors may use their influence in order to steer institutional change into new directions, hence creating new path dependencies. Hence, in the developmental approach technology may become dominant because of conscious choices by collective actors (Landuzzi et al., 1995; Lizza, 1991). The selection of a pathway is, thus, the result of a collective choice in a window of possible alternative opportunities. Earlier decisions, once institutionalized, structure the alternatives of later ones creating a new path (Rokkan, 1999). At this point collective actors decide which of the available alternative technologies they want to adopt. Thus, the subsequent process of diffusion depends on a self-reinforcing process. In this case, the selfreinforcing processes of diffusion of previous technology come to an end and innovations are established in its stead (De Rubertis and Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Graziella Ferrara, Francisco Ebeling Barros

Lazzeroni, 2005). Thus, positive feedback allows for the societal acceptance of a new technology affecting regional development.

3. A geographical analysis In this section we present a typology of countries/regions in which we relate the deterministic path dependence model and the development approach with success and failure in new technological diffusion, as it appears in the literature. The example that relates deterministic pathdependence with failure in technological diffusion is that of Venezuela. Oil resources mould the structure of organized interests and the state itself. When a petro-state is awash with oil revenues while at the same time not organizationally mature, there is fertile terrain for the action of “rent seekers”. The most probable outcome is then the so-called “resource curse”, when a country is not able to transform its mineral wealth into generalized well-being. As a matter of fact, it is known that until President Hugo Chavez’s presidency, who took office in 1998, Venezuelan oil revenues were largely wasted. Chavez started using those revenues in order to improve social indicators, such as health and education, having achieved great success. Venezuela is very rapidly constructing cultural capital that may lead to change in the future (cultural measure, on the demand side). Nevertheless, Venezuela still suffers from economic malaise, as it still has not managed to significantly diversify its economic activities away from the oil industry. An interpretation for that can be found in Medeiros (2012). He argues that states which were able to construct a reasonably solid industrial base at an early stage have greater chances of escaping the “resource curse”. Unlike Russia, Venezuela never managed to do that in the history of its petroleum industry. When oil prices fall abruptly, as is happening at the time of the writing of this article, the public budget gets severely constrained, which decreases the possibility even more of pursuing the alluded policies that could support technology innovation (Amato, 1995). We now relate deterministic path dependence Copyright© Nuova Cultura

with a case of success, citing the case of Germany. In order to explain the German case, we refer to Linda Weiss and the Varieties of Capitalism literature. Since the 19th century, argues Weiss (1998), the German state has possessed transformative and distributive capacities which have permitted it to build a very solid industrial base and a very consistent welfare state. By then, the country’s objectives were to catch up with its competitors – notably England – and to build a war economy. Hence, since early on Germany has taken a number of measures to steer its industry, which became internationally known for its quality and robustness, An example is Germany’s success in bringing about the so-called “Energiewende”, where alternative energy sources are being fed into the grid at a very rapid pace. Perhaps the success of the Energiewende can be explained by a combination of measures, such as: tax incentives and financial support (economic and legal measures, at the general level), of a network of top-notch research institutions, such as the Max-Planck Institutes (structural measure, at the supply side), and of a very well trained workforce (cultural measure, on the demand side). Nevertheless, more recently, Varieties of Capitalism, which compares Liberal Market Economies – where the US is the paradigmatic case – with Coordinated Market Economies – where the paradigmatic case is Germany – states that while the former excels in radical innovations, the latter is better in incremental innovation. That is, companies such as Daimler Benz and Siemens, although internationally recognized for the quality of their products, would not have the ability to bring radically different goods and services to the market. In short, it is claimed that the Germany industry is locked in a certain pattern of technological diffusion, in which innovations do not diverge significantly from the current pattern. A radical change in this pattern is very unlikely to happen because Germany’s physical expenditures and social investments – which include R&D – have been dramatically slashed (Streeck and Mertens, 2013). We now relate the development approach with failure, citing the interlinked cases of England and Scotland. It is an example of a change of path dependence which did not lead to Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Graziella Ferrara, Francisco Ebeling Barros

a new pattern of technological diffusion. The United Kingdom was the first country to fully industrialize and London’s city was always a very important financial hub. In its surroundings, Great Britain sustained a complex hybrid between a Keynesianism and a laissezfaire approach. The former was concerned with the production of goods in the productive industries, as well as public services that served individuals with the capacity of pursuing activities beyond the financial sphere. By the 1970s, when the parameters of the Keynesian system were proving increasingly difficult to sustain, the City was also at one of its weakest moments. In the 1980s, a series of major innovations in the financial realm propelled the City to a new global importance, especially with the liberalization of capital movements (Crouch, 2009). Hence, the Keynesian model was completely abandoned, being replaced with neoliberal structures. This process led to a new path dependence. In the realm of the production of oil in the North Sea, which took place notably in Scotland, in the late 1970s and 1980s decision-makers used oil revenues to bolster (monetarist) macro-economic policies – in order to boost the city of London as a financial hub – and to provide a “friendly and accommodating” environment for foreign companies with the appropriate expertise to develop North Sea resources as fast as possible, rather than pursuing an interventionist industrial strategy. What concerns an innovation policy that might have led to a new pattern of technological diffusion, Mazzucatto (2013) explains that in the last three decades Britain got it all wrong, with negative implications for growth in the long run. She explains that taxpayer support is misdirected and that opportunities are being missed. In her view an innovation policy needs to focus on creating the conditions that allow innovation to flourish, both by demand and supply side policies, as well as through direct commissioning and procuring innovative solutions. Besides being a powerful hub in which innovators from all the world may connect and have access to finance, in which knowledge creation has found almost a “natural habitat”, little has been done in the last decades by the government to support technology innovation. In short, British policy makers rely too much on laissez faire policies that may pay off well in Copyright© Nuova Cultura

certain contexts but may relegate entire regions of the Kingdom to relative economic backwardness. To conclude, we now relate the development approach with extreme success, citing the example of Silicon Valley. Mazzucatto (2013) argues that since the 1970s Silicon Valley has become the American “computer innovation hub” due to a number of public-private partnerships and due to the government’s leading role in funding and research (both basic and applied), that was harnessed by innovative entrepreneurs and private industry in the socalled “Silicon Gold Rush”. What may be called the “American developmental state”, and whose existence not many recognize, has always offered a fully-fledged toolkit of measures to support technology diffusion, in all the realms presented in the previous section. But perhaps the most important measure taken by the “American developmental state” to support its industrial development, given the risks involved, was economic and financial, as government authorities directly commissioned and procured innovative solutions, especially for war purposes. What distinguished the experience in Silicon Valley from everything else that was observed in the world is that a downturn like the burst of the “dot-com” bubble in the early 2000s, could easily be reversed. In that sense, Mazzucatto (2013) shows that the creation of the IPhone was only possible because Apple managed to astutely assemble a number of technologies that the “computer innovation hub” and the American developmental state had created. In short, Silicon Valley is an example of an innovation hub in which the assembling and creation of further technologies practically knows no limits, and in which state intervention in some cases no longer proves necessary. For our purposes, it is the most clear-cut example of a combination of the developmental approach with possibilities of successful technological diffusion.

4. Conclusions Embracing the neo-institutionalism perspective that path dependence affects trajectories of Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Graziella Ferrara, Francisco Ebeling Barros

innovation diffusion, the objective of this paper was to investigate factors that by affecting this process lead to technological change or inertia. For this aim, in section 1 we presented two models of path-dependence diffusion of an innovation. The first model stresses that innovation diffusion and its subsequent persistence leads to technological inertia. The second view highlights that the combination of several events leads to technology changes. In section 2, we presented a typology of regions in which we relate the deterministic path dependence model and the development approach with success and failure in the diffusion of new technologies. Thus, we use our framework to discuss Venezuela, Germany, England and Silicon Valley as cases of success or failure. Before reaching the end of this paper, some final remarks are worth making, that may even extend this debate to further works. Although we have shown some cases that currently fit the models we presented very well, it must be acknowledged that, strictly speaking, the term “path dependence” is a synonym of “history matters”. Although it is a powerful term to explain why the institutions of some countries appear in a certain way or why certain countries produce what they produce, it must be discounted that history has a dynamic of its own that does not always fit into models or preconceptions. This is what Streeck and Thelen (2009) had in mind when they argued that institutional change is a never ending, many times subtle, never fixed, dynamic process. In turn, Pierson (2004) had argued that an important characteristic of path dependence is that relative timing matters, that is, a newcomer’s probability of being the chosen path is bigger than a latecomer’s. However, in the same book he had also argued that in the very long run institutions may change a lot. In short, obsolescence is too easily a characteristic of institutions, in such a way that the cases we presented in this article may have a very different performance in the future. To cut a long story short, there is an almost endless debate whether what matters most are institutions or capital accumulation. In that vein, Glyn (2007) writes that: capital accumulation is the fundamental driving Copyright© Nuova Cultura

force of the economy. Increases in investment are usually the most dynamic element in aggregate demand expansions, particularly in a world scale, where one country’s exports are another’s imports. (…). Investment has a symbiotic relation with new technology, being made more profitable by it and at the same time being the route through which it enters the production system (Glyn, 2007).

In this sense, nothing guarantees that a massive increase of aggregate demand in Venezuela – the case which we presented as “locked-in” in a technological trajectory, say, through investments made by the newly found BRICS investment bank, may change the entire picture. Through Chávez’s intervention, the country now possesses a stock of well-educated population. To conclude, when discussing the routes technological diffusion may take one should be very careful with the issue of resource endowment, that is, with the so-called “comparative advantages”. Although they may rightly explain some strategies that countries pursue – as competition on a world scale is fierce – it is important to remember that, what matters is the dynamic comparative advantage, or comparative advantage in the long run, which can be shaped. A piece of advice for developing countries is that policies to support technology diffusion – economic and legal, structural and cultural – be it on a general, supply or demand side, should never be given up. Internal or external restrictions to pursue those policies, even though representing enormous challenges, have a chance of being overcome through political agency, as shown by Evans (2006, 2008).

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Graziella Ferrara, Francisco Ebeling Barros

alla salute”, Prospettive sociali e sanitarie, 3, 2004, pp. 11-13. Collinson S., Le migrazioni internazionali in Europa, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994. Cotesta V., Sociologia dei conflitti etnici, Laterza, Bari, 1999. Crouch C., Capitalist diversity and change: Recombinant governance and institutional entrepreneurs, New York, Oxford, 2009. De Rubertis S. and Lazzeroni M., “Geografia della conoscenza e dell’innovazione tecnologica”, Rivista Geografica Italiana, CXII, 1, 2005, pp. 161-163. De Vecchis G. and Salvatori F., Geografia di un nuovo umanesimo, Vatican City, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2015. Ebbinghaus B., “Can Path Dependence Explain Institutional Change? Two Approaches Applied to Welfare State Reform”, MPIfG Discussion Paper 05/2, 2005. Evans P., Extending the institutional turn, World Institute for Development Economics Research, Research Paper 113, 2006. Evans P., In Search of the 21st Century Developmental State, The Centre for Global Political Economy, University of Sussex, UK, Working Paper 4, 2008. Faccioli M., “Territori locali e cultura globale”, Proceedings of Congress “Risorse culturali e sviluppo locale”, Rome, Memorie della Società Geografica Italiana, 2004, pp. 27-46. Galieni S., “Tra conflitto e accoglienza”, Rivista del volontariato, 5, 2000, pp. 42-52. Glyn A., Capitalism Unleashed, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2007. Hall B. and Khan B., “Adoption of New Technology”, in J. Derek (Ed.), New Economy Handbook, Amsterdam, Elsevier Science, 2003. Landuzzi C., Tarozzi A. and Treossi A., Tra luoghi e generazioni. Migrazioni africane in Italia e in Francia, Turin, L’Harmattan Italia, 1995. Lizza G., Integrazione e regionalizzazione nella C.E.E., Milan, FrancoAngeli, 1991. Mazzucato M., The entrepreneurial state, London, Anthem Press, 2013.

20. Medeiros C.A., “Natural Resources Nationalism and Development Strategies”, Proceedings of 2012 ESHET International Conference (St. Petersburg, 17-19 May 2012), 2012. 21. North D.C., Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990. 22. Pierson P., Placing politics in time, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 2004. 23. Prezioso M., “Ipotesi geografiche della relazione impresa/innovazione nel governo dell’ambiente”, in VV.AA., Servizi per l’innovazione e la qualità di impresa. Analisi metodologica e geoeconomica, Rome, CNR, 1993. 24. Rokkan S., “State Formation, NationBuilding and Mass Politics in Europe”, in Flora P., Kuhnle S. and Urwin D. (Eds.), The Theory of Stein Rokkan, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1999. 25. Salvatori F., Globalizzazione e modelli culturali. Contesti socio-economici per promuovere la cittadinanza democratica, Educare alla Pace, Ed. Simone, 2005. 26. Streeck W. and Mertens D., “Public Finance and the Decline of State Capacity in Democratic Capitalism”, in Schäfer A. and Streeck W. (Eds.), Politics in the Age of Austerity, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2012. 27. Streeck W. and Thelen K., “Institutional change in advanced political economies”, in Hancké B. (Ed.), Debating Varieties of Capitalism, New York, Oxford University Press, 2009. 28. Suriñach J., Autant-Bernard C., Manca F., Massard N. and Moreno R., The Diffusion/Adoption of Innovation in the Internal Market, European Commission Economic Papers 384 September 2009. 29. Vecchio B., “Geografia accademica e associazionismo geografico fra Otto e Novecento”, in Bandini G.F. (Ed.), Manuali, sussidi e didattica della geografia. Una prospettiva storica, Florence, Firenze University Press, 2012. 30. Weiss L., The myth of the powerless state, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1998.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

THE LANGUAGE OF IMAGES Edited by Elisa Bignante and Marco Maggioli

Journal of R Research and Didactics D in Geeography (J-RE EADING), 2, 55, Dec., 2016, pp. 87-94 DOI: 10.44558/7800-07

Youth ggeographies of everyyday life. Methodollogical notes from a project of o photoographic sstorytellin ng in Fez Matteo Pu uttillia, Raff ffaele Catted drab, M’Haammed Idriissi Janatic, Rosi Giuad a

Dipartimennto di Storia, Archeologia, A G Geografia, Artee e Spettacolo, University of Florence, Florrence, Italy Dipartimennto di Storia, beni b culturali e territorio, University of Caggliari, Cagliari, Italy c Départemeent de Géograpphie, Mohamm med V Universiity in Rabat, R Rabat, Morocco o d Photographher, Cagliari, Italy I Email: matteeo.puttilli@unnifi.it b

Received: Noovember 2016 – Accepted: Noveember 2016

Ab bstract The paper ppresents somee methodologgical notes on a fieldwork in Fez, Moro occo. The reseearch involved da group of puupils from twoo schools bellonging to diffferent districtts and culmin nated in the reealization of two t workshops of “photograaphic storytellling”. The aim m was to verrify if and ho ow the everydday lives of the b affected by the urbann projects undderway in the neighbourhooods. The imag ges “pupil-inhabbitants” had been and tales byy the young sttudents bring tto light hidden and invisiblle geographies which go beeyond the sim mple documentattion of the usses, representtations or emootions that linnk young peo ople and spacce, and reveaal a much moree significant upshot on the politicall nature of socio-spatial organizationn and of urb ban transformattions. hies Keywords:: Everyday Sppace, Fez, Phootographic Stoorytelling, Youuth Geograph

1. Introduction: the politics oof youth geoographies This w work presentts some meethodological notes on a field reseearch projectt performedd during sprring 2015 in i Fez, Moorocco. The survey, carrried out byy a mixed teeam of fourr geographerrs and a phootographer1, is part of a 1

The team iinvolved in thee field researchh consisted off M’Hammedd Idrissi-Janatti and Lamiiae Lachakarr (Université de Rabat Mohammed M V), Raffaele University of Cagliari), C Mattteo Puttilli (att Cattedra (U Copyright© N Nuova Cultura

broader research path h and reflectiion on topicss of urban geeography and d social margginality, in lig ght of the tension between spatiaal justice and a the time University of Cagliari, noow University of grapher Rosi Giua (Cagliaari). Florencee), and photog The fieldd investigation n was carried out in the perriod from 266 March to 8 April 2015. A previo ous preparatoory mission was w carried outt by Carlo Perrelli (Universsity of Cagliarri), and a retuurn mission, with w p e exhibition in one o the preseentation of a photographic of the tw wo schools taaking part in the project, was w carried oout at the end of o September 2016. 2 Italian Association A of Geography G Teach hers

Matteo Puttilli, Raffaele Cattedra, M’Hammed Idrissi Janati, Rosi Giua

injustice in various Mediter-ranean contexts (Cagliari, Tunis, Marseilles and, of course, Fez). One of the main pillars of the research was to investigate the representations and narratives of the inhabitants of neighbourhoods commonly considered as “marginal” and, at the same time, to promote an action/reaction process among researchers (each time with the participation of professional photographers) and inhabitants, with the goal of producing new forms of space narrative, in particular concerning the use of visual and multimedia tools in geographical research and fieldwork2. In the specific case of Fez (1,150,000 inhabitants in 2014), the research was performed by involving a group of pupils from two collèges (middle schools) in the city and culminated in the realization of two visual self-narrative workshops at these institutes3. The schools involved in the project belong to very different urban contexts. The first (Collège Allal Ben Abdallah) is situated in the area of Oued Zhoun, in the north-eastern corner of the Medina of Fez, one of the most important and largest old pedestrianized city centres in the world, honoured by UNESCO as Heritage of Humanity in 1981. In the immediate vicinity of the school are the Chouara tanneries – among the city’s main tourist attractions – and Place Lalla Yaddouna, a crossroads traditionally featuring the presence of cottage industries linked to brass and copper working. The second (Collège M. Belarbi El Alaoui) is located at the gates of the outlying neighbourhood of Ain Nokbi, a semirural and marginal context with a productionartisan tradition, featuring a severely degraded 2

The research activity in Fez falls under the projects: “Giustizia spaziale e sistemi territoriali mediterranei. Politiche urbane, pratiche sociali, mobilità”, funded by Autonomous Region of Sardinia Law no. 7 and coordinated by Maurizio Memoli, and “Marges et villes entre exclusion et integration. Cas Méditerranéennes”, funded by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France, coordinated by Nora Semmoud, (UMR CITERES-EMAM CNRS and Université de Tours). In the same vein, a previous multimedia research experience can be noted on public spaces in Tunis after the 2011 revolution (webdoc.unica.it, 2013), which saw the participation of the Italian team involved in this project. 3 The research involved a total of 24 students, aged between 12 and 15. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

infrastructural fabric and precarious forms of inhabitation, amongst which a shantytown. The two neighbourhoods are linked together by the “Artisanat et Medina de Fez” project, funded under an agreement between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States of America (Millennium Challenge Compact). The goal of the project, currently underway, is to regenerate the urban space and revive the area of Place Lalla Yaddouna, also through the forced displacement of some of the artisan activities (in particular the most polluting ones, such as the metal industries) towards a specially designated area created in Ain Nokbi. Evidently, one of the main social impacts of the project, which involves over one thousand artisans – employees, apprentices and masters – is the farreaching change (which has not been without its conflicts and tensions) imposed on the families in the two neighbourhoods affected by the relocation of the cottage industries. In this dual context, the goal of the research was to investigate how a group of young inhabitants perceived the urban transformations underway in the areas around them and how these may have influenced their everyday lives, habits, representations and emotions. The logic at the basis of the research links expressly to the debate on the so-called “geographies of children and youth”, which were at length underrepresented in geographical and social research (James, 1990; Philo and Smith, 2003) but, in the last fifteen years, have recorded growing interest (Aitken et al., 2007; Evans, 2008), also in Italy (Giorda, 2014; Malatesta, 2015)4. The renewed interest in these geographies stems from progressive recognition of the fact that children and young people perceive and practise space in a totally different way to adults 4

This revival of interest is also indicated by the emergence of books and journals expressly dedicated to the topic. In particular, the Children’s Geographies journal dedicated to research on the relationship between space and childhood/adolescence. As far as aspects connected to geographical education in schools are concerned, the Primary Geography journal expressly focuses on geography teaching in nursery schools, while the Teaching Geography and Journal of Geography in Higher Education journals, as well as JReading – Journal of Education and Didactics in Geography, cover a wider age range. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Matteo Puttilli, Raffaele Cattedra, M’Hammed Idrissi Janati, Rosi Giua

(Matthews and Limb, 1999; Holloway and Valentine, 2000). Hence, they deserve to form an autonomous field of research (Barker and Weller, 2003), within which they must be considered to all effects active and participative subjects in the processes producing spatial and territorial knowledge. Such an approach not only aims to listen to and document the uses, representations or emotions that link young people and space, but it also has a much more significant direct upshot on the political nature of the socio-spatial organization (Kallio and Hakli, 2011). All geography of children and youth is indeed “political geography” in the sense that it can produce knowledge on how the world and space influence subjects (Holt, 2013). Furthermore, at the same time, it enables action to be performed on the situation in order to transform it, through the expression of an original and informed point of view, and a “voice” with regard to the policies and processes concerning a particular region (Skelton, 2010; Burke et al., 2016).

2. Between image and storytelling: a hybrid methodology Against these premises, one of the research requirements was to identify a work method able to “capacitate”, involve and put the students in the position to express themselves suitably and produce knowledge on the space and its transformations. To this end, a research approach was used inspired on one hand by visual research techniques and on the other hand by self-narrative and autobiographical storytelling. In particular, the methodology was set out around the concept of “photographic storytelling”, namely proposing an individual narrative – first of all as a text and then “translated” into images – on the spaces of their everyday lives. This had the dual goal of verifying if and how the lives of the “pupilinhabitants” taking part had been affected by the transformations underway in the neighbourhoods around the two schools, but above all the differences, similarities, and the ways of living and practising the space of the pupils in the two different urban contexts subject to the study.

The research consisted of a long preliminary phase mainly carried out on site by the researchers resident in Fez. This phase involved getting in contact with the heads of the two schools, who were illustrated the project5, and the selection – by the respective teachers – of the pupils taking part, belonging to different classes in the two institutes. A further preliminary activity, performed first of all at a distance, was to devise what activities would be performed in the classes and in particular to prepare a specific training programme on the meaning of the photographic image – and in particular narrative through the photographic image – and a work protocol for the young people taking part in the workshops. A particularly important aspect of this phase was the discussions within the teams on how to adapt the contents of the project to the specific circumstances of the young local students while avoiding – for example – using images as examples that were unsuitable for the local cultural and social context, characterized by Islam (the dominant religion in Morocco) and often precarious family conditions6. Once on site, the workshops in the two selected institutes commenced. Each workshop involved team activities, carried out in the classroom and dedicated to training and group work, and individual activities, carried out both in class and – above all – outside school. For each institute, the class activity was organized into four meetings lasting around two hours.

It is important to point out that in Morocco this type of initiative is subject to official authorizations from the local and ministerial authorities, a procedure which takes time. Hence, the colleagues’ preparatory work and the help from the head teachers of the two schools were fundamental in carrying through the project. 6 The Moroccan colleagues’ contribution was also fundamental in terms of language and communication. While all the pupils taking part spoke almost exclusively Arabic (with a handful it was possible to understand each other partially in French), only one of the Italian members of the research team was able to understand and speak Arabic. This linguistic imbalance required great efforts in understanding, but also an equally as intense willingness to listen and get to know each other, as well as throwing up situations of pleasant misunderstanding, laughter and fun. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Matteeo Puttilli, Rafffaele Cattedraa, M’Hammed Idrissi Janati, Rosi Giua

The fiirst meetingg involved a general presentation of the project and the illlustration off curricular llinks betweenn the workshhop activities and the geoography studdy programmee (Figure 1). Particular emphasis waas given to how images can help too get to know w both familiaar and distantt places. Latter, all the puupils were assked to thinkk of and shaare, first in writing w and thhen orally, a story from m their everyyday lives (F Figure 2). In other wordds, they had to come up with a shortt

a personaal narrative of themed storyline and situationns, moments and evennts considerred importannt in their day-to-dday lives, with specific stress on describing the spaces where thesee moments taake place, as well as the journeys, meetin ngs, activitiees and peop ple that are part of th heir everydaay lives.

Figure 1. Soome moments from the workkshops. Photo by thee Authors, 20115.

Figure 2. Some momen nts from the wo orkshops. 2 Photo by the Authors, 2015.

The seccond meetingg focused on the conceptt of “photoggraphic storyytelling” annd aimed at educating students aboout the interrpretation off images andd photographss. In the first part, various examples – as simplle as possibble – were presented oon how to trranspose a peersonal story into imagees and how to t describe a place or a space throuugh photograaphy, while aalso pointing out the sym mbolic and evvocative dimeension of the shot. In the second parrt, the pupilss went on to individuallyy draw up theeir own tales.. The thiird meeting performed a technical function. E Each studennt was giveen a digital camera andd they were shown somee basic skills in using itt correctly7. After that, the various individual stories were shared with tthe class and the researchhers and thenn simplified more so that they could be effectively translated into images (Figure 3).

This made some topics emergge: the questiion of the transformations underwaay in the tw wo differennt neighbourh hoods; their ciircumstancess of hardshipp and preccariousness, pollution and a environm mental degraadation; the conditions and a processees of the artisan a workk (from meetal processiing to the tanneries, from slipp per manufaccture to potteery); but alsoo the beauty of the archhitectural herritage, and the t savoir-faaire involvedd in the man nual skills required r by the t cottage industries.

It was clariified to the parrticipants that the work goal was not to obtain ‘beauutiful’ imagess in aesthetic terms or ‘ccorrect’ imagees in technicaal terms, butt photographss able to docum ment and abovve all express and report on their lives and the everyday living i spaces they deemed most important. Copyright© N Nuova Cultura

Figure 3.. Technical traaining on the usse of digital cameras. Photo by the Authors, 2015. Italian Association A of Geography G Teach hers

Matteo Puttilli, Raffaele Cattedra, M’Hammed Idrissi Janati, Rosi Giua

At the end of the meeting, every student was given the task – over the next two days – of reproducing their autobiographical account through a series of around fifty photos. Once the cameras were returned, the images of the individual “reportages” were handed in and then selected by the research team as the first phase of collecting the work done8. So, for every single workshop, the team photographer put together a first presentation, which included an individual selection, to produce a “photo story” of each pupil’s reportage with the sequence of images. These tales were then put into a second general visual report for each work team, comprising a further selection of images. The intention of this was to foster the collective sense of the work, and express a meaningful pathway accounting for the multiple practices, places and episodes linked to the living spaces captured in the photographs. The presentations were given back to the students during a fourth and final meeting, during which the students offered very positive feedback. Subsequently, after lengthy re-elaboration work in summer 2016, a further visual product was made which promoted the idea of a collective story, proposing a (comparative) sequence of photo stories from the pupils of the two schools, organized according to the main topics that emerged (mentioned above). Then a video was put together from the sounds and voices recorded in some videos by the pupils and the sound recordings that had been made by the researchers during the workshops9.

belong to minorities or marginalized communities – to express themselves using their own language and experiences (Piper and Frankham, 2007; Griebling et al., 2013; Harris et al., 2015). As a pedagogical tool in geography, photography can stimulate self-reflection on one’s living spaces and the sense of places (Wee et al., 2013), at the same time favouring active involvement, observation and creativity applied to geographical space. Stimulating pupils to look and analyse the image, as well as their imagination and spatial creativity skills is, moreover, a clear goal of geographical education. In the case of Fez, the photo story tool enabled the pupils in the schools involved to display and reveal – from different angles to what other investigative tools could have offered – their everyday geographies, bringing to light different layers of meaning and awareness about their subjective relationship with the space. Using the words shared by Chaimae (aged 14), taking photographs let them “see things with different eyes”, with a fresh, engaging and emotional gaze. In the Ain Nokbi school, which – as already said – is situated in a seriously degraded urban and built-up context, the gaze mainly looked at the intimate and family sphere of domestic spaces and their parents’ workplaces. The stories told dwell – in an extremely detailed manner – on the various phases in the making and hand-decorating of the pottery, brass and copper (Figure 4a).

3. Storylines of everyday spaces In the literature, by now it is accepted that usage of the language of images, storytelling, narrative and methodologies based on discussion and participation provides new spaces of involvement and expression and enables young people – especially those who are usually underrepresented, stigmatized, censured or who 8

Overall, 1,478 photographs were taken and collected (an average of 60 per person), plus 28 videos. Needing to cut down on length, a selection was made of the 12-15 photos that best fitted the bottom line of the story. 9 The full video is available at the following link: http://marges.hypotheses.org/videos. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Matteeo Puttilli, Rafffaele Cattedraa, M’Hammed Idrissi Janati, Rosi Giua

Figure 4a, 4bb, 4c. Examplees of photograaphs taken by tthe pupils in A Ain Nokbi. Pho oto by the the students, s 2015..

The shoots of the gestures g and decorations manage to grasp and exxpress a gracee and artistic beauty (Figure 4b) whhich is in cllear contrastt with the unhealthyy and unnsafe workk environmennts where thhe jobs are ddone (Figure 4c). On the ccontrary, the outside enviironment andd public spaaces, perceivved of as unsafe and degraded, never appeaar, except inn tales thatt denounce tthe constant presence of waste in the streets and homes of thee neighbourhoood. In the school at Oued O Zhoun,, the stories tended to bbe more diverrsified and thee topics and

mplex. Theree are still the t settings more com hey images linked to the parents’ skillls, though th o spaces in i the Chouaara are mainly of the open ot of the pupills’ fathers wo ork tanneriees, where a lo (Figure 5a). Here, more m conventiional images of the placce (taken “fro om above” liike the ones by the tourrists who cram m onto the balconies b abo ove the tannnery) alternatee with shots taken t “from the t interior”” and “from below”, in hidden spacces concealeed from the visitors’ v sightt.

Figure 5a, 5bb, 5c. Examplees of photograaphs taken by tthe pupils in O Oued Zhoun. Photo by thee students, 20115.

They giive a fresh annd unusual im mage of one of the moost visited attractions oof the city, confirmingg the idea that t visual ttools enable researcherss to get different d acccess to the relationshipp between thhe subjects annd the places under inveestigation (M Miles and Kaaplan, 2005). Then, com mpared to thhe images taaken at Ain Nokbi, the students of thhe

Oued Z Zhoun neigh hbourhood showed s greaater awareneess of the pro ocesses and transformatio ons affectingg the Mediina: some stories s centrred around the buildin ng sites inn Place Laalla Yaddouuna (Figure 5b b), or filmed foreign touriists going allong the streeets of the olld town (Figu ure 5c).

Italian Association A of Geography G Teach hers

Matteeo Puttilli, Rafffaele Cattedraa, M’Hammed Idrissi Janati, Rosi Giua

Figure 5d, 5e, 5f. Examplees of photograpphs taken by thhe pupils in Ain Nokbi. Photo by thee students, 20115.

In thesee cases, the photographss were used consciouslyy as a means to express thheir points off view, worrries and the historic cityy’s contrasts: for examplle, Niad (ageed 13) photoographed the building siites and workkers at workk, sceptically wondering “why is thhis work beeing done?”; Zineb (aged 13) aand Mohamm med (aged 144) compared images of houses and dangerous annd degraded buildings w with the Ryyad and the monuments restored foor the tourissts (Figure 55d and 5e); Soukaina ((aged 13) capptured the ennvironmental decay caused by the abandonmennt of urban waste in thee streets (Figgure 5f).

4. Con nclusions Even thhough brief, the notes aabove enable some concclusions to be b drawn thaat we deem relevant in the field of international i rreflection on youth geoggraphies and on o visual metthodologies. The prooject showed how, once iinvolved, the young studdents actuallyy replaced thee researchers, carrying out the reseaarch themselvves. All the research teeam did was create the coonditions, by indicating some possibble pathwayys and lines along whiich to reflecct on and explore the everyday sspaces, so thhat the particcipants could work indeppendently. Thhe rest of thhe work was done by the young pupils, w who showed remarkablee creative andd critical cappacities – as well as aestthetic skills in a large partt of the cases – in exprressing theirr relationshiip with the everyday sppaces. What emerged was a gaze that seems surpprisingly awaare of the coonditions andd contradictioons present inn their local aarea (such as the degraddation of some s living and workk environmennts or the imbalance bbetween the residents’ lliving spaces and those sett aside – and

reservedd – for the tourists), t butt which is also a able to grasp its wo orth, identity and the beau uty preserveed in the pracctices, the knoow-how and the t jobs of the people who w live and work there, as well as in the privaate spaces thhat can only be known aand recognizeed “from the inside”. As ssuch, the imaages and talees reveal hidd den and invvisible “everryday” geoggraphies whiich would hhave been com mplex – if not impossiblee – to inveestigate using more connventional and a “cold” ssocial investigation technniques. Instead, the poeetic, artistic code of sttorytelling and a images created a co ommon languuage, a meetiing point foor the young people and the t researcheers, enablingg mutual understandiing and not n necessarrily verbal ex xchanges. wledgements Acknow The papeer stems from m a joint workk by the Autho ors. Matteo P Puttilli wrote paragraphs 1 and 4; Raffaaele Cattedra wrote parag graph 2; M’H Hammed Idriissi wrote paragrap ph 3; Rosi Giiua selected and a Janati w edited phhotographs and d images.

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Matteo Puttilli, Raffaele Cattedra, M’Hammed Idrissi Janati, Rosi Giua

civic engagement: reframing educational opportunity zones and the use of public spaces”, Urban Education, 51, 2, 2016, pp. 143-169. Evans B., “Geographies of youth/young people”, Geography Compass, 2, 5, 2008, pp. 1659-1680. Giorda C., Il mio spazio nel mondo. Geografia per la scuola dell’infanzia e primaria, Rome, Carocci, 2014. Griebling S., Vaughn L.M., Howell B., Ramstetter C. and Dole D., “From passive to active voice: using photography as a catalyst for social action”, International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 3, 2, 2013, pp. 16-28. Harris C., Jackson L., Mayblin L., Piekut A. and Valentine G., “Big Brother welcomes you: exploring innovative methods for research with children and young people outside of the home and school environ-ments”, Qualitative Research, 15, 5, 2015, pp. 583-599. Holloway S.L. and Valentine G., “Children’s geographies and the new social study of childhood”, in Holloway S. L. and Valentine G. (Eds.), Children’s Geographies, London: Routledge, 2000, pp. 1-26. Holt L., “Exploring the emergence of the subject in power: infant geographies”, Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 31, 2013, pp. 645-663. James S., “Is There a ‘Place’ for Children in Geography?”, Area, 22, 3, 1990, pp. 278283. Kallio K.P. and Häkli J., “Tracing children’s politics”, Political Geography, 30, 2011, pp. 99-109. Malatesta S., Geografia dei bambini. Luoghi, pratiche e rappresentazioni, Milan, Guerini e Associati, 2015. Matthews H. and Limb M., “Defining an agenda for the geography of children: review and prospect”, Progress in Human Geography, 23, 1, 1999, pp. 61-90. Miles S. and Kaplan I., “Using images to promote reflection: an action research study in Zambia and Tanzania”, Journal of

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Italian Association of Geography Teachers

MAPPING SOCIETIES Edited by Edoardo Boria

Research and Didactics D in Geeography (J-RE EADING), 2, 55, Dec., 2016, pp. 97-110 Journal of R DOI: 10.44558/7800-08

Teaaching geoography w with literarry mappin ng: A dida actic experiment Sara Luch hettaa a

Dipartimennto di Scienze Storiche, Geografiche e delll’Antichità, Unniversity of Padua, Padua, Itaaly Email: sara.lluchetta@phd.unipd.it Received: Occtober 2016 – Acccepted: Novem mber 2016

Ab bstract The relationnship betweenn maps and liiterature has llong been debbated from both narrative and a geographiical perspectives. At the coree of this contrribution are sso-called readder generated mappings, maapping practicces performed after the reading of a litterary text. T The aim of thhis article is to suggest possible p didacctic g thhrough geo-viisualisations bbased on the reading of literary l texts. In directions ffor teaching geography particular, tthis research draws d from thhe results of a literary mappping workshop attended byy students duriing an introducttory human geeography couurse at the Uniiversity of Paddova (Italy). Focusing F on onne of the literary mappings pperformed by the students,, namely the mapping of a short story written by thhe Italian wriiter Mario Rigooni Stern, a deeductive process is used too understand tthe possible future f potentiaalities of literary mapping inn didactics. Annalysing the sstudents’ literrary maps, this article aimss to direct atteention to literary mapping prractices as connstellations off learning mom ments to explooit. The readin ng of the text,, the envisioniing and creationn of the map are a here exploored as the steeps of a compplex practice capable c of visuually developiing geographicaal knowledge.. Keywords:: Literary Mapping, M Litterary Cartoggraphy, Postt-Representatiional Cartography, Literary Geography,, Reader-Geneerated Mappinngs, Visual Narratology

Intrroduction

In 20033 (a), narratiive theorist Marie-Laure Ryan publiished an interresting essay presenting a teaching experiment that invesstigated the formation of mental models m of spaace based onn the readingg of literary texts. t Ryan’ss aim was to explore hoow readers seized narrative space, focusing oon how theey understoood and reconstructedd it through mental aand graphic models. Too achieve thhis goal, shee asked herr students too map a noovel they haad read few

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months earlier, and then, she analysed the maps from a narratological and cognitive perspective. Although if Ryan is a narrative theorist who approaches the literary text as an independent world open to exploration, this geographic research draws from her suggestion to connect literature to mental – and then graphic – maps in a learning environment. The aim of this article is to suggest possible didactic directions for teaching geography through geo-visualisations based on the reading of literary texts. So-called reader-generated mappings (Cooper and Priestnall, 2011) are mapping practices performed after reading a literary text: cognitive models of textual comprehension but, above all, geovisual speculations based on narrative spaces, geovisual appreciations of literature (Rossetto, 2016). This research suggests the potentialities of graphically structuring narrative settings, reflecting on the role of space in narration, and focusing on the possible relationships between narrative space and real world. The relationship between maps and literature has long been debated (Rossetto, 2014) from both narrative (Moretti, 1997; Ljungberg, 2003; Tally, 2011; Guglielmi and Iacoli, 2012) and geographical perspectives (Caquard, 2011; Papotti, 2012; Caquard and Cartwright, 2014; Varotto and Luchetta, 2014; Rossetto and Peterle, forthcoming). In addition to theorising the role of maps in revealing the internal logic of narratives (Moretti, 1997), this article points to how literary mapping practices can be used to teach geography. In the learning environment, a map not only is a final product which prompts thinking spatially (Moretti, 1997) but, moreover, should be seen as a complex set of processes, of interrelated learning moments which can be taken advantage of. To theorise literary mapping in didactics, this research draws from the results of a literary mapping workshop in late spring 2016 attended by ninety students in the beginning of their university studies during the first year of the literature course of study at the University of Padova (Italy). The workshop, which was part of an introductory human geography course1, was 1

The introductory human geography course was taught by Professor Mauro Varotto.

intended to show how to engage geography through literature. Due to the students’ literary disciplinary background, the course’s primary aim was to build bridges between different disciplinary approaches, enga-ging with geography as creative, interdisciplinary knowledge. The workshop consisted of six hours of lectures, two hours of classwork and participation and homework to be completed upon students’ schedule. The lectures started with an interpretive reading of a useful paper by geographer Davide Papotti (2012), then introduced the theory of the potentialities of the dialogue between geography and literature and finally presented developments in the literary mapping approach before and after the spread of digital mapping services and systems (so-called digital shift). In the last two hours, examples of literary mappings examples were shown, with a specific focus on digital, online literary mapping practices. After the lectures, the ninety students were requested to divide themselves into groups of four to five. The majority of the nineteen resulting groups were mixed sex groups, and five groups were composed of only women (sixty-nine of the ninety students were women). The groups were provided with a short story and asked to read and map it. Following an initial session when the separate groups worked in the classroom, students were instructed to work with their groups and to deliver the cartographic output one month later, along with a brief paper explaining the mapping practices they performed. All the assigned short stories came from contemporary Italian literature and shared the same spatial setting: the Alps. This article focuses on the mapping of one of the assigned short stories: “Osteria di confine” (“Border inn”) by Italian writer Mario Rigoni Stern (1998). The narratological features of this short story can illustrate the potentials of the literary mapping approach. To theorise the potentialities of literary mapping, this research draws from the workshop outputs and the representational practices (Hanna and Del Casino, 2006) resulting from the reading and mapping of the texts. A deductive process is used to understand from the literary maps the possible future directions of literary mapping in didactics. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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As a contemporary mappinng practice, literary m mapping perfformed colllectively by groups of sstudents has aspects in coommon withh parti-cipatoory mapping (see Cramptoon, 2009). Inn both pracctices, particcipants are invited to collaboratee to achievve various goals: to understandd spatial relations, r cconstruct a collective ssense of placce, diversify the forms off spatial knoowledge (Elw wood, 2006) aand even retell literarry narrations. Participannts actively engage wiith maps as producers, constructing meanings. Literary mappping nonethheless differs pparticipatory mapping; from literary cartographeers” raw matterial is not information, but narrattion: indepenndent textuaal accounts. Thus, as a complex traansductional ((Kitchin andd Dodge, 20007) process, literary mappping can be analysed w with an interppretive gaze informed by its peculiarrities and poteentialities.

M Maps as maappings: a p processual approach in didacticss

The recent shift in conceiving c off cartographyy as a proceessual ratherr than a reppresentational science proovides a usefful theoreticaal frameworkk for educcational appproaches. A postrepresentatiional approaach is emplooyed in this research ass the potentiaalities of mappping literaryy texts emergge from connceiving of a map as ann ongoing sett of processees. Building oon the recentt shift from representatiion to practtice in map studies, maaps are here conceived aas mappings (Kitchin annd Dodge, 20007) always inn the state off becoming. The epistemologicall shift inn conceiving of maps as a objects noot static butt ontogeneticc in nature gives g rise to the need to conceive of mapping prractices as a constellation of meaninggful momentts and processses that can be explorred. Viewinng maps as lacking ontologicall security annd continually emerging through prractices can help theorissing literary mapping ass a set of learrning momentts to exploit. Literaryy mapping praactices start beefore the map is a materiaal map. Concceiving of liteerary maps as mappings thhat emerge thhrough differeent processes brings attenntion to the rooots of the prractice. First, mapping a literary texxt means reaading it withh interest foocused on its i spatial ffeatures andd elements. T This unique generative g reaading process arises in the here-annd-now of a particularr Copyright© Nuova Culturra

engagem ment with the text (Hones, 2011). Readiing a short story with a “mappingg stance” is to perform the map befo ore it is a mapp. Indeed, lik ke a map, thee act of readin ng is selectivee and relation nal, centred on unveiling the relationsships among the various eelements of th he story. The reading proccess is the first f meaning gful learningg moment and entails com mplex relation nal thinkingg aimed at understandinng the textu ual space ass the product of many inteerrelated forcces. To take advantage of this learninng moment, itt is necessarry to bring sttudents to a stance attentiive to the importance of narrativve features in buildingg the space of o the story. Indeed, literaary mappingg should nott be conceiveed as the meere selectionn of mappab ble features, such as plaace names, which would d be reductivve and not taake into acccount the geography of the teext (Brosseaau, 1994), th he uniquenesss of the literaary composiition and its narrative n pecuuliarities. Afterr the reading comes the seecond important learningg moment: thee cartographicc envisioning,, or the proccess through which w studennts start thinkiing about thhe map as a material devvice intended to convey information. The key concept c in this t momentt is processuaal intertextuality (Cooper and a Priestnall, 2011) as students muust search forr a hort feasible way to visuaalise and re-nnarrate the sh ween different story, building bridges betw ns and languagges. During this t cartograaphic solution momentt, students aree also invitedd to think abo out possiblee connectionss between thhe textual spaace and the real world (C Cavanaugh annd Burg, 201 11), envisionning the literaary map as a means to thiink about hhow to re-naarrate the texxt and makee it readablee from a geovisual perspecttive. The tthird learning g moment duuring the literaary mappingg practice is the creativee process. Affter envisionning the connection betw ween narrativ vity and visuuality, studen nts are calledd to perform the t map as a set of matterial signs. Creating C a map m requiress visually developingg geograph hic knowleddge (Know wles, 20000), creativeely engaginng with thee spatial reelations amo ong elementts. Through th he creative prrocess, students generatee and re-narraate the short story, s endowiing it with a new geovisual dimensioon, a new visu ual narra-tology (Ryan, 2003b). Thee boundaries of moments con ntinually blurr, producing g a these m literary mapping praactice that is more than the t sum of iits different processes. p Italian Association of Geoography Teacheers

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“Osteria di confine”: a spatiotemporal story

Before turning to the core of the literary mapping practice, it is worth spending some words upon the literary work used in this didactic experience, Rigoni Stern’s short story. This article takes the mapping of “Osteria di confine” as a possible encounter of literature and geography and as an example from which to theorise geography teaching and literary mapping. The story presents narrative features that can prompt discussion on the role of narrative representation in making space readable and in teaching spatial thinking. Additionally, it is mappable: it has numerous topographical elements that refer to real space and can be translated onto a map. “Osteria di confine” belongs to the collection Sentieri sotto la neve (Trails under the snow, 1998). This 11-page story is among the many short stories that Rigoni Stern dedicated to his homeland, the Asiago Plateau. He devoted most of his work to narratively reconstructing, preserving and communicating the identity of this land and planned to write a sort of saga where these places and their inhabitants could coexist in time on the page (Rigoni Stern, 1997). The protagonist of the short story studied here is an ancient inn, Osteria del Termine, in the northwestern plateau. The aim of the story is to reconstruct the identity of this place through narrating the times that have passed over it, starting with the construction of the inn in the 17th century and proceeding through the main events that have occurred over the years into the present. As a protagonist endowed with personality, the inn changes over time on the page according to the spatial-political changes in its surrounding. On the page, it starts as a shelter for travellers and then becomes a military facility during the First World War and finally a tourist destination in the present. Among the narrative features that have to be taken into account in a geographical approach, the first important narrative peculiarity is the use of time. In this story, time is spatialised: the narrative passage of time results in changes to the inn and its surrounding, and the author composes the story as a montage of times that illustrates the changing identity of the place. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

This presentation of time can be the starting point for the development of spatial awareness. Narratively reading a space as the product of the continuing interrelations of different times requires thinking about spatial-temporal relationships, resulting in geographical complexity. In this short story, different times not only overlap as static layers building to the present time (using an archaeo-logical figure) but continue to affect each other with a kind of geomorphological processuality. Demonstrating this feature, the end of the short story is highly meaningful. After the first narrative section devoted to historically and realistically narrating the place, the story takes a fantastic turn. Using the future tense, the narrator imagines and tells about a possible encounter of the spirits of people from different times as they stand together at the inn’s fireplace and talk. These spirits include historical characters from the old Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire but also ordinary people from the Plateau, such as the shepherd Carlo. Bringing together characters representing different times, societies and cultures involved with the inn spurs thinking of space as the product of synchronic and diachronic relations: a space that results from coexistence (Massey, 2005). Concerning stylistic features, the author uses all the verbal tenses in the short story: past, present and future. The inn is always in the state of becoming (Massey, 2005), constantly produced by spatio-temporal interrelations. The narrative peculiarities of this short story connect the emerging reflection on space–time relations to recent debates in history. Indeed, long after Braudel’s lesson, historians recently restarted speculating about the possibilities of thinking about history and its places as a whole (Schlögel, 2009). How space can contribute to the becoming of history, and how can time be read in space? (Schlögel, 2009). From a different perspective (and with different goals), literary narration can spark fresh discussion on the role of time in relation to space. One more narrative feature relates to Rigoni Stern’s conception of the nature of place. For the author, places are (and have to be narrated as) the complex, ongoing products of the interrelation between macro-level historical events and micro-level personal events, such as Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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everyday liife and moveements. This view applies especially w well to the Asiago A Plateaau, where the secular annthropisation of the inhabitants has always enncountered the effect of macro historical eevents. The author’s a pagee presents an assemblagee of heterogeeneous elemeents broughtt together annd called to make m complexxity readable and understtandable.

Literary maps m and m mappings

Mappinng a literary teext requires ssearching forr new languuages and prrocesses to visually renarrate a sstory. The prractice can bbe performedd with differrent aims: thhe map can be called to become an orientinng tool ffor textual comprehennsion (see Moretti’s M apprroach, 1997) or the briddge that integgrates fictionaal space and real spacee, launchinng reflectionns on the immaterial and materiaal nature of places. The literary caartography workshop w disscussed here was aimed at promptingg students too think aboutt the relatioonship betweeen literary studies andd geography and betweenn the literary text and the world, building interppretive bridgges throughh spatial reppresentations. To materrialise these reflections,, the studennts were requested to geovisualisse what thhey thoughtt could be profitably vvisualised. Thhen, they weere instructedd to explain their mappinng process, w writing aboutt the hows and whys of the praactices they performed. They deelivered thee resulting explanatoryy papers withh the literary m maps. In this ssection of this paper, the lliterary maps resulting frrom the workkshop are anaalysed. Here, they are coonceived as representation r nal practices (Hanna annd Del Casino, 2006) that embedd cultural, soocial and inddividual studdents’ inputs and as the mobile resuults of a set of processes undertakenn. With com mbinations of differentt approachess ranging frrom textual analysis to ethnographhic practice (Boria and Rossetto, forthcomingg), the literrary maps aare analysedd taking into account threee elements annd moments. First is thee moment off participant observation during the workshop, which w corresppond to whatt I describedd in the introdduction as thee moment off the envisiooning of the literary map. During the participant observation,, I could captture some off the groupss’ peculiaritiees. First, alll the groups already knnew of the writer w but nnot the shortt Copyright© Nuova Culturra

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story. A Almost all thee groups specculated that the t inn wass on the Asiaago Plateau, but one gro oup could noot figure outt where to loocate the inn as the shorrt story prov vides many coordinates c but b does nnot explicitlly state thhe location. I encouraaged these stu udents to careefully search for the inn on the Plaateau, providding them with w some heelp and more coordinates. From the staart, the grouups paid atten ntion to the use u of time as a a fundameental narrativ ve category. Moreover, th hey all show wed willingneess to engage creatively with w the mappping practicce, applying different skills, interprettative and creeative. The second element anaalysed is the nce. Particulaar attention is cartograaphic eviden given too the literary y map as a speaking item capable of com mmunicating beyond its represenntational surfface. Finallyy, as the th hird element,, the explanaatory papers are taken in nto account as valuable sources s for unnderstanding the t nature of the different mapping steeps. ng the liteerary mappiing Befoore discussin practice, some geneeral remarks are necessaary. First, inn mapping Rigoni R Sternn’s short sto ory, each grroup focused d on the mentioned spattiotemporaal peculiaritiies. Time emerged e as a foundatiional categorry to grasp reeaders’ attentiion and spaatial interest. All the literrary maps weere designedd to highligh ht the role of time in relatiion to spatiial identity, and each group tried to visualisee time and embed e it in the t map, which was onee of the mostt challengingg process of the t practice. The commo on trends am mong the grou ups reveal the importaance of narrrative featu ures beyond the mere search for topographical elementts; indeed, Rigoni R Stern’’s story guid des readers’ gaze to thee same goal: to conceive of me relationshiips. the inn as the result of space–tim From a geographic perspective, p each literary text has its own peculiaarities capabble of inspiriing differennt reflectionss and conveeying differeent spatial kknowledge. As a further rem mark upon the nature of the t analysedd literary maaps, it can bee noted that all the grouups produced d creative paper maps and a felt the need to visu ualise the naarration throu ugh the performance of manual and creatiive practices. This shaared practicee should bee a starting point for further refleections on the t dialecticc between digital and papper maps in the t Italian Association of Geoography Teacheers

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digital agee. As well, each groupp gave theirr literary maap a title, a very interestting practice that indiicates the importancee of the geovisualissation of the short s story ass a sort of renarrating ppractice. Thiss re-narrationn is moulded on the orriginal but is endowedd with new narrative annd cognitive potentials. Tavoli con vista sulla storria (Tables overlookingg history) is the first literrary map andd presents a graphic diaalogue betweeen standardd cartographiic languagee and non--cartographic artistic langguage (Figuree 1a and 1b). A conveentional map is inserted att the top of a creative draawing repressenting the innterior of the inn. Despitte the small dimensions d oof the map, itt has a key pposition. As explained inn the group’s paper, the map is on thhe vanishing point of the drawing. T This is a metaaphorical grapphic strategy capable of directing attention aand creating graphic hierarchies am mong the eleements. The students reffer to the whole representtation as “the map’, linkiing this conceept to a dialogue between a standardd cartographhic output aand a more creative, ssubjective reepresentationn. From the beginning of the readinng of the shoort story, the authors off this literarry map focuused on the narrative diialectic betweeen inside annd outside. Consequuently, they envisioned thhe map as a tool capabble of com mmunicating the close relationshipp between thhe identity off the inn as a place and tthe geopoliticcal changes ooutside it. As stated in thhe paper, thee inn is “thee mirror andd symbol of tthe changes of o what is outtside”. Thus, this step off the practice had great pootential in the students’ rreflections annd invited thhem to thinkk about the place as thhe movable product off ongoing rellations.

Figure 1aa and 1b. The literary map annd its legend.

Tryinng to think ab bout how to geovisualise g the t dialecticc between inside and outtside helped the t studentss think aboutt what this dialectic d meaans. When ppaying attentio on to the tem mporal catego ory, the authhors decided d to focus on o one of the t narratedd times: the First World War. Time is represennted by the small s map, drawn d from tw wo overlappping layers that represeent the Plateeau before aand during the war. At thee intersection n of these tw wo layers, it is possible to t visualise the t border cchanges and the t military and a political resignificaation of placces. The passsage of timee is embeddeed in the grraphic relatioon between the t colouredd base map and the traansparent pap per layer.

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Concernning the proccesses after thhe reading off the literaryy text and thee envisioningg of the map, the authorrs’ explanatory paper includes an important sstatement. Inndeed, in thee paper, they talk abouut the proccesses leadiing to the envisioningg and creationn of the map, referring to the textual accounts thaat affected thheir practice. First is an atlas edited by the Italiaan publishing house Zaniichelli, whichh served as tthe students’ first orientting tool, helping them m understandd where the inn and thhe Asiago Pllateau were. Then, the students consulted c annother atlas published bby De Agosstini, which hhelped them m understandd the distribuution of foreests, pastures and mounntains. Afterwards, thhe students consulted aan historical map represennting the socalled Plateeaus battles to t draw the w war layer thatt forms thee final mapp. Finally, they drew inspiration from a bookk that I mentiioned during the workshhop lectures, Plotted. A liiterary atlas, by Andrew w DeGraff. This book hhelped them m conceive oof the map as a mixed map where artistic andd cartographhic languagee interrelate. The envisiooning of the literary l map w was a highly important moment due d to the processual intertextuallity perform med by thhe students. Accessing many differeent cartographic accounts helped theem not only think aboutt the textual spatiality inn relation to the t spatiality of the worldd but also beecome familiaar with differrent mapping strategies aand languagess. Luogo di confine tra incontroo e conflitto (Borderlannd between enncounter andd conflict) is the title off the second literary mappping project. From the beginning, students’ atttention was focused onn the inn as a place in the state off becoming, a movablee place wheere relations t building its identity. Inn change andd contribute to this literaryy map (Figurre 2a and 2bb), time is att the centre oof the represeentational praactice and off the whole set of processes p unndertaken to achieve it.

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Figure 2aa and 2b. The layered paperr literary map and a a zoom oof its legend. For F a translation of the legeend, from topp to bottom: gendarmerie; g b barracks; visito ors; front (neew border); Firrst World War battle.

Anallysing the caartographic evvidence reveeals two diffferent grap phic strategiees pursued to represennt narrativity and time. The first graph hic strategyy is layering, and it is pursued to t communnicate time; the second strategy is the particulaar use of scalle, and it deaals with the plot p of the sstory. In thiss pencil-and-ppaper map, the t narratedd place is mapped m as paart of a larg ger section that stands as a the spatiall context add ded by the aauthors of thiis literary maap. The inn and a its surrooundings, as the t protagoniists of the sto ory, are fram med and layerred and havee a larger scaale. Concernning the scale, the studennts used it ass a graphic,, metaphoricaal strategy too bring readeers’ attentionn to the sp patial protaggonist. In this t literary map, the scale s is a visual v narratiive feature aimed at making thee inn and its surrounddings emergee from their spatial conteext. Geovisuualising spacce using different d scaales makes nnarrative eviidence eitherr emerge or be overshaddowed; scalee can be ussed as a visu ual Italian Association of Geoography Teacheers

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metaphoriccal tool related too narrative focalisationn and narrativve density. Riigoni Stern’s short story is narrativelyy multi-scalarr in nature: itt integrates the inn withhin a wider spatial and historical ccontext and thhen centres oon the inn as the core oof the story and narratess it throughh people’s m mobility and lives. Even iff we have no in-depth psychologiccal analysiss of the characters, the story rannges from a ssupranational spatial scaale to a larrger human scale. The students w worked on multiple m narraative scales, becoming ffamiliar withh scale from m metaphorical and material perspectivves (for the uuse of multiscalar apprroaches in digital d literaryy maps, see Reuschel ett al., 2014). Layerinng is used to conceive c of thhe passing off time as graaphically trannslatable. Inddeed, time is conceived here as the overlapping of differentt frames representing thee changes in the mapped space. In a common geeological mettaphor, space is seen as the overlapping of ttimes, as a palimpsest.. However, tiime is spatiallised here onn normal papper frames thhat do not reelate to each other: they merely overllap without connecting.

Una, nessuna, centomila c osterie (One, no one, onee hundred th housand innss) is the title of the thirdd literary maapping basedd on the title of Luigi Pirandello’s famous fa novell (One, no one, one huundred thoussand). This literary eccho reveals two importaant aspects of this literaary mappingg project. The first is the emphasis giv ven to the im mportance off the mappinng practice ass a generatiive narrativee act, a re--narration. The T second is the conn nection of thhe concepts of multiplicity and decomposittion to the t understaanding of the inn as the prrotagonist of the t short stoory. Indeeed, the first manifestation m n of this literaary map and mapp ping practtice is the t conceptuualisation of time t as multiiplication. In the t map (F Figure 3a), the inn apppears in maany differentt shapes. First, reflection on o this literaary mapping g is necessarry. Indeed, this literaryy map has no cartograaphic traits; nothing n seem ms to be mapp ped on it. N Nevertheless, the students call it a “maap” and provvide it with a legend, too (Figure ( 3b).

Figure 3a. In this liteerary “map” tim me is representted through mu ultiplication

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and readders) to the conceptualisattion of spacee as the product of con ntinual intercchanges amo ong multiplee forces and d times. Thee literary map, above aall during its creation, oriients its autho ors to concceive of the role of the short story in making the construcction of placees readable and a understaandable.

Figure 3b. The legend is the only element that resembles a map. From top to bottom: sanitary guard; refreshment and shelter; French Revoolution epoch; national borrder; First Worrld War; Rigonni Stern’s inn; war simboloogy; border.

m unddertaken, the In all of thhe literary mappings students’ iddeas of a mapp are extremeely mobilised (see also tthe first literrary mapping analysed). The literaryy map in thiis case is noot a tool thatt orients in sspace but a tool t that orieents (authors

Conccerning the graphic g outpuut, the differeent shapes tthrough which the inn apppears embed the t passage of time in their chhanges on the t M tim me is visualissed cartograaphic plan. Moreover, in the chhanging of th he street as a spatial elemeent that “beeat the most meaningful periods of the t history of the buiilding’ (as written w in the t studentss’ paper). In this t case, the map represents coexisteence: all the possible annd the narratted inns coeexist on the “map”, “ contiinually relate to each othher and, from m the reader’ss point of vieew, seem to be part of th he same crysttallised time. In the papeer, the authorrs make a useeful comparisson betweenn the map and the shoort story: bo oth overcom me time and are able to show s otherw wise impossibble coexisteences. The different in nns coexist on the plaan, along wiith the textu ual accountss that make them narraatively readab ble and undderstandable (Figure ( 4).

Fiigure 4. The litterary words reelate to the maaterial inn on th he plan

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Anime di passaggioo (Passing ssouls) is the fourth literrary mappinng and prom mpts a very interesting reflection onn the contem mporaneity off cartographiic devices. Inndeed, this litterary map is the producct of a dialoggue between manual andd digital cartoography (Figgure 5a, 5b annd 5c).

Figure 5a, 55b and 5c. Creating dialoguees between the digital and thhe manual. For a translation of the legend: border beforre 1866; borderr after 1866; Viicenza, Padua; Venice; W Wien; Salzburgg; Germany; Switzerland; border inn.

The digital enters thee mapping ass a tool of the Nevertheless, the digitall map, here practice. N drawn from m Google Maps M on tw wo differentt scales, enters the projeect as a stattic map and completelyy loses the essential featurres of digital mism. This mapping: interactivity and dynam digital mapp was chosen for its accesssibility. Easy to find andd collect, it was transfoormed into a static papeer map. Afteer printing thhe map, the students m manually laayered it w with details intended too visualise thhe narrative ddetails of the story. Copyright© Nuova Culturra

The students focu used on the borders b and the t routes (bboth represen nted with colloured ribbon ns). The inn is inserted in nto one of thee two plans as a a three-dim mensional ob bject breakinng the scale of the mapp. Explaining g this choice, the students state thhat the inn is the prottagonist, hass a peculiarr narrative role in reelation to its surrounddings and, fu urthermore, is i not preciseely located, so inserting g it outside the scale was w intendedd to preservee its narrativvely unspecifi fied locationn. In additio on to formiing the spattial backgroound of the story, s the carrtographic lay yer from thhe digital environment e has narratiive features. Indeed, the t studentss selected the t or’s satellite Google Maap to indicatte the autho accuracyy in describin ng the physical elements of the landdscape. Thuss, this literaary map is the t product of an inteeresting exchhange betweeen standardd cartograph hic elementss and a mo ore subjectivve idea of o maps. The students conceptuualised the literary l map not only ass a represenntation of the t story bu ut also as an expressiion of their reading. r Theyy state that th hey used ““free cartog graphy in order to add a personallity to the project p and to t the person nal interprettation of the story”. s In thhis literary map, time is em mbedded in the t represenntation of th he changes in i the bordeers, althoughh representiing people’s routes and a borders with the same graphic strategy mak kes the mapp a bit meessy and diffficult to read. Throughh the process of envisioninng and creatin ng, the studdents could reflect r on thhe potentialitties and periils of digital mapping m servvices in relatiion to differrent expressive needs. Thhis literary map m was onee of the few (from the whhole worksho op) that toook advantage of the digittal environmeent not onlyy as an accesssible orientinng tool but also a as a poossible mean ns to condennse the literaary interprettation and vissual re-narrattion. Osterria al Termin ne: un labile confine spazziotemporaale (Osteria al Terminee: a transieent spatio-teemporal border) is the title t of the last l literary mapping pro oject, which focuses abo ove t all on tiime and succcessfully reprresents it as the generatiive category of the spacce of the sto ory. Once again, timee is concceived of as represenntable and reaadable througgh the techniq que of layerring. This litterary map is i composed of differennt layers that overlap to build b a compllex geovisuaalisation of place p (Figure 6a and 6b). Italian Association of Geoography Teacheers

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Co onclusions

The aim of this section of the article is to provide some con nclusive rem marks with a deductivve and an ind ductive approoach. In the fiirst part, thhe possible learning processes with hin literary mapping aree recapitulated; then, som me suggestiions for th he future of a literaary cartograaphic approacch in learningg environments are discllosed.

Figure 6a aand 6b. The laayered literaryy map and its legend. Thee layers overllap and contiinue to relate during the map reading.. For a transslation of the legend: riverrs; forests; borrder; inn; fort.

Moreovver, the layerrs not only overlap butt also keep interrelating due d to their ttransparency. Beyond m materiality, the layers have a metaphoriccal value thatt affects the constructionn and possiblle reception of o the map. T The temporal layers (eacch layer corrresponds witth a specific time) contiinually interrrelate and maake the map more than tthe sum of itss parts. At the time of delivery, d theese students combined their literaryy map and explanatory paper with a video docuumenting how w to perform m the receptiion of the liiterary map. Indeed, the map looks like a book that has to bbe read from m the last pagge, browsingg its “cartograaphic pages” in reverse order. The students hadd to actively show the map to be performabble as they conceived of it not as a static object but as a matter to viitalise with use. u

Withhout analysing g the narrativve peculiarity y of Rigoni S Stern’s short story, some general g remarrks on the pprocesses und dertaken by the t students can c provide a starting point for litterary mappiing didactic theorization.. As introducced early in this t paper, aan ontogenetic approachh to “maps as always m mappings” seems to be thee most profitab ble way to approach thee relationshipp between maaps and liteerature. Literary mappinngs, with th heir complexx interrelation n of momentss, processes and a elementss, are uniquee generative practices. p Eveery mappingg is withoutt peer and offers learniing possibiliities. Reading g, envisioninng and creatiing are thhe macro-m moments thhrough which geographical thinking g can be convveyed. Emerrging from the readingg of the teext, narrativee peculiaritties meet individual (or collectivve) readings capable of re-shapiing narrationn. Readers’ stances emphhasise differeent parts off the story, embodying reeadings that are a already maps, the reesults of infoormed selectio on. The texxt happens (Hones, 20008) in maany differennt ways and as the produuct of differeent The students are a invited to read the textt as gazes. T the em mbodiment of a spatial category th hat becomess narratiively reaadable and a understaandable. The text anim mates differeent reflectioons concernin ng the narratioon of space and a invites tthe students to t conceive of o space not as a a static baackground orr as an inert container c butt as an activve force affecting the othher elements of the storyy (e.g. time, characters, plot). p This sttep puts thee students intto first contaact with Doreeen Massey’’s (2005) pro opositions conncerning spaace; indeed, the studentss are invited to think abo out space aas the produ uct of interreelations, as the t sphere of the possibility of thhe existence of multiplicity and as always undder constructiion (Masseyy, 2005). The m moment of th he envisioninng of the literaary

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map, monitored during the workshop through participant observation and the students’ explanatory papers, provides other learning possibilities. Intertextuality and intersubjectivity are the key learning concepts. In groups, the students started to think about the relationship between the text and real space and about the visually (un)representable nature of the textual elements. To build bridges between the text and real space, the students turned to different cartographic tools – historical maps, topographical military maps, digital mapping services and artistic maps – and performed processual intertextuality (Cooper and Priestnall, 2011). Every cartographic language was a cultural system that guided the students in approaching the complexity of geovisualisation and helped familiarise them with the cartographic critical engagement with reality. Drawing from different textual and visual accounts, the students built their reasoning aimed at geovisualising narrativity. At the moment of the envisioning, the students were called to think about space in relation to other categories, such as time. As we see in the case of Rigoni Stern’s short story, time and its spatial representation are at the core of reasoning upon the complexity of space. Concerning the creative practices leading to the cartographic output, the results of the literary mapping suggest a strong need to imagine and perform creative alternative cartographic practices capable of expressing narration. Standard maps and contemporary mapping systems (above all digital ones, including GIS Spatial Analyst) do not erase the need to visualise subjective and narrative spatial relationships. It seems that there is a need to broaden the range of geographical methods for visualising different kinds of experiential spatialities (Knowles, 2016), including literary spatiality. The students’ literary mapping practices show that the need to search for alternative modes of visualisation is even increasing today. Furthermore, the role of creativity within learning process is highly important: to draw is to discover; to draw is to come to know (Hawkins, 2015). The analysed literary mapping practices had very important creative vocations. The students were free to choose the way to geovisualise literature and selected mostly creative practices. Moreover, they often related creative expressive practices Copyright© Nuova Cultura

with standard cartographic languages. The act of materially relating languages provides another learning moment that can guide students beyond dichotomous thinking that casts places as either static and fixed or as open, progressive and associated with flows, networks and relations (Hawkins, 2014). Concerning the suggestions for the future of literary cartography in teaching geography, the search for alternative and dialogical modes to geovisualise literature should be at the core of the educational reasoning. In an age when digital mapping practices are becoming pervasive in everyday life, the re-appropriation of more expressive mapping tools seems desirable (Machado de Oliveira, 2012). In the digital age, the creative imagination is crucial (Sui, 2004) and can draw attention to the complexity of space. Another direction to follow to encourage geographical thinking through literature is to invite students to consider literary stylistic and narrative peculiarities. An attentive gaze to the value of literary composition is the first step in the development of complex thinking about real spatial categories. Moreover, this approach can enhance literary analysis, drawing attention to space as a generative category capable of connecting the text to the world and creating new research interests in literary studies, too. A final remark upon a shortcoming of the analysed literary mapping workshop is due here. At the end of the work and the analysis of the results, one important element seemed missing: discussion with the students. Indeed, after delivering the cartographic outputs, the students had completed their work. They were not called to discuss their results. In future proposals of literary cartography and in accordance with the idea of the mapping practice as a set of learning moments, a discussion of the results related to receptive practices could provide a useful moment. Students could listen to readers’ opinions and discuss the reception of an open product capable of creating dialogues. Acknowledgements The Author is very grateful to Professor Mauro Varotto (University of Padova) for the opportunity to expand the literary cartographic research through the literary mapping workshop. Many thanks go to Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Saara Luchetta

Professor Taania Rossetto (University oof Padova) forr her suggestiions and time.. Finally, the Author wants to thank thee students whoo attended the workshop forr their encouuraging dediccation and ennthusiasm in mapping liteerature.

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Referencees 1. Boria E E. and Rosseetto T., “Thee practice off mapmaaking: Bridgging the gaap between criticall/textual and ethnographiical researchh methodds”, Cartograaphica, forthccoming. 2. Brosseaau M., “Thhe city in teextual form. York”, Manhaattan Trannsfer’s New Ecumenne, 2, 1, 19955, pp. 89-1144. 3. Cavanaaugh T.W. annd Burg J., Boookmapping. Lit Trip ips and Beyoond, Washinngton, ISTE, 2011. 4. Cooperr, D. and Prieestnall G., “Thhe processuall intertexxtuality of liteerary cartograpphies: criticall and ddigital practicces”, The C Cartographicc Journal, 48, 4, 2011,, pp. 250-262.. 5. Cramptton J., “Carrtography: pperformative, particippatory, political”, Progresss in Human Geograaphy, 33, 6, 2009, 2 pp. 8400-848. 6. DeGrafff A., Plottedd. A Literaryy Atlas, Sann Francissco, Zest Boooks, 2015. 7. Elwoodd S., “Criticaal issues in pparticipatory GIS: ddeconstructioons, reconstruuctions, andd new reesearch direections”, Traansaction in GIS, 100, 5, 2006, ppp. 693-708. 8. Gugliellmi M. and Iacoli I G. (Edds), Piani sull mondo: le mappe nell’immagin n nazione letteraria, M Macerata, Quuodlibet, 20122. 9. Hanna S. and Del Casino V., ““Beyond the ‘binariees’: A methhodological interventionn for intterrogating maps m as reprresentational practi-cces”, ACM ME: An IInternationall Journaal for Criticcal Geograpphies, 4, 1, 2006, ppp. 34-56. 10. Hawkinns H., “Montage/Colllage: Artmakingg, place-makking”, You Are Here: journall of Creativee Geographiees, 17, 2014, pp. 53--60. 11. Hawkinns H., “Creattive geographhic methods: knowinng, represennting, intervvening. Onn composing place and page”, Culturall Geograaphies, 22, 2,, 2015, pp. 2447-268. 12. Hones S., “Text as it happeens: Literary Geograaphy”, Geoggraphy Comp mpass, 5, 2, 2008, ppp. 1301-1317. 13. Hones S., “Literary geography. T The novel as Copyright© Nuova Culturra

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D a sppatial event”, in Daniels, S., Delyser, D., Entrrikin J.N., Richardsonn D. (Eds.), Envvisioning lan ndscapes, making m worllds. Geoography and the humanitties, Abingdo on, Rouutledge, 2011, pp. 247-2555. http://www.nano ocrit.com/issuues/issue-1-naavigaation-all/literaary-cartograpphy-narrative-spattially-symbolic-act. Kitcchin R. and d Dodge M., M “Rethinkiing mapps”, Progresss in Human Geography, G 31, 3 3, 2007, pp. 1-14 4. Knoowles A., “A case for teachiing geoggraphic visualization without w GIS S”, Carrtographic Peerspectives, 36, 2000. Knoowles A.K., Westerveld W L and Strom L., L. “Indductive visualization: A huumanistic altternativve to GIS”, GeoHmanitiies, 1, 2, 2015, pp. 2233-265. Ljunngberg C., “C Constructing new ‘realitiees’: the performativ ve function of maps in conttemporary fiiction”, in B. B Mader (Ed d.), Representing rea alities: essayys on Americcan literrature, art an nd culture, Tüübingen, Gun nter Narrr Verlag, 200 03, pp. 159-1776. Macchado de Oliv veira W., “Mapas em deriv va: imagginação e caartografia esccolar”, Geogrrafarees, 12, 2012, pp. p 1-49. Masssey D., Fo or Space, London, L SAG GE Publications, 200 05. Morretti F., Atla ante del rom manzo europeo. 1800 – 1900, Turrin, Einaudi, 1997. Papotti D., “Il liibro e la mapppa. Prospettiive di inncontro fra cartografia c e letteratura”, in Gugglielmi M. an nd Iacoli G. (Eds.), Piani sul monndo: le mapp pe nell’immagginazione lettterariia, Macerata, Quodlibet, 2012, pp. 71-8 88. Reuuschel A.K., Piatti B. and Hurni L., “Daata-driven exp pansion of dense d regionss – A cartographicc approachh in literaary geoggraphy”, Thee Cartographhic Journal, 51, 5 2, ppp. 123-140. Rigooni Stern M., M Le stagionni di Giacom mo, Turiin, Einaudi, 1997. 1 Rigooni Stern M., M Sentieri sotto la neeve, Turiin, Einaudi, 1998. 1 Rossetto T., “Th heorizing maaps with liteeraturee”, Progress in i Human Geeography, 38,, 4, 20144, pp. 513-53 30. Rossetto T., “Geeovisuality. Literary L implicationns”, in Coop per D., Donnaldson C. and a Murrrieta-Flores P. (Eds.), Literary mappiing in tthe digital age, a Abingddon, Routledge, Italian Association of Geoography Teacheers

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2016, pp. 258-275. 28. Rossetto T. and Peterle G., “Letteratura e teoria cartografica a confronto: per una ‘cartocritica’”, in Fiorentino F. and Paolucci G. (Eds.), Letteratura e cartografia, Milan, Mimesis, forthcoming. 29. Ryan M.L., “Cognitive maps and the construction of narrative space”, in Herman D. (Ed.), Narrative Theory and the Cognitive Sciences, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2003a, pp. 214-242. 30. Ryan M.L., “Narrative cartography: Toward a visual narratology”, in Kindt T. and Müller H.H. (Eds), What is narratology? Questions and answers regarding the status of a theory, Berlin, Walter De Gruyter and Co., 2003b, pp. 333-364. 31. Schlögel K., Im Raume lesen wir die Zeit. Über Zivilisationgeschichte und Geopolitik, München, Carl Hanser Verlag, 2003 (Italian Edition Leggere il tempo nello spazio. Saggi di storia e geopolitica, Milan, Mondadori, 2009). 32. Sui D.Z., “GIS, cartography, and the ‘‘third culture”: Geographic imaginations in the computer age”, The Professional Geographer, 56, 1, 2004, pp. 62-72. 33. Tally R., “On literary cartography: narrative as a spatially symbolic act.”, NANO – New American Notes On Line 1, 2011. 34. Varotto M. and Luchetta S., “Cartografie letterarie: i nomi di luogo nella narrativa di Mario Rigoni Stern”, Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana, XIII, 7, 2014, pp. 145-163.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES AND (PRACTICAL) CONSIDERATIONS

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 5, Dec., 2016, pp. 113-116 DOI: 10.4458/7800-09

“Defend this little planet called Earth. Human rights and environmental safeguard”, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. Rome, 6th June 2016 Monica De Filpoa a

Dipartimento di Scienze documentarie, linguistico-filologiche e geografiche, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy Email: monica.sdt@gmail.com Received: October 2016 – Accepted: November 2016

Abstract This contribution offers a summary of the Nobel Peace Prize Adolfo Pérez Esquivel’s speech. During his Lectio Magistralis the main geographical topics of human rights and environmental safeguard were discussed. Both are aspects that require a deep reflection in order to try and reach a solution and in this sense a crucial role is assumed by geographical education as was affirmed during the 2013 Rome Declaration on Geographical Education in Europe and in 2016 in the New International Charter on Geography Education promoted by important geographical associations like IGU, EUGEO, EUROGEO and AIIG. Keywords: Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Environmental Safeguard, Geography Education, Human Rights, International Charter on Geography Education, Rome Declaration on Geographical Education in Europe

The Lectio Magistralis took place in Rome at the Sapienza University with Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980 for his nonviolent fight in defense of oppressed people by the Argentinian dictatorship, his dedication to the poor and for his efforts in the defense of human rights and social injustices by denouncing the atrocities committed by the military regime. The ceremony was attended by professors and members of the Sapienza University such as the Rector Eugenio Gaudio, the Dean of the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy Stefano Asperti, the Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Dean of the Department of Document studies, Linguistics, Philology and Geography Giovanni Solimine, and Professor Livio De Santoli, Delegate of the Mayor of Rome for Energy. The guest speaker was introduced by a brief debate on the contemporary geographical challenges regarding social justice and environmental safeguard; the most evident global changes are related to climate warming, environmental migrations, world hunger and to the legal protection of marginalized individuals. All the aspects discussed were linked to a main universal issue: the globalization phenomenon. In Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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this sense Adolfo Pérez Esquivel has dedicated his life to supporting human rights of that part of population that was underprivileged or a minority. Adolfo Pérez Esquivel gave his Lectio Magistralis on the causes and effects that are destroying the Planet, illustrating that the ideal response to this dilemma lies in the balance between human and natural needs. He illustrated different topics strictly related to geographical knowledge, all of them ascribable to the concept of territorial identity. In particular environmental rights, meaning the protection of and the access to natural resources, and the field in which, as a President of the International Academy of Environmental Sciences of Venice (IAES), Esquivel supports the establishment of an International Criminal Court for crimes against the environment. In this context the migrations related to natural disasters or climate changes are the consequences of an unequal distribution of resources and technologies used to prevent and support ecological development, influencing and changing the relationship between territory and human beings. People’s mobility represents an important aspect of contemporary eras, and even though migrants are increasing constantly many countries maintain a closure policy and are reinforcing their boundaries. This concept clashes with the philosophical thought of land communion proposed in Immanuel Kant’s Perpetual Peace by: ‘a right to associate, which all men have. They have it by virtue of their common possession of the surface of the earth, where, as a globe, they cannot infinitely disperse and hence must finally tolerate the presence of each other. Originally, no one had more right than another to a particular part of the earth’. In his text he promoted exactly what eminent personalities nowadays, such as Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Pope Francis, keep declaring about the need to host and share, following the catholic concepts of peace and fraternity. Nationalism is gradually prevailing over solidarity and migration policies, and in this sense is promoting the financial value of land in spite of the memory of place. Considering a nation as a matter of territorial borders is a viewpoint generated by a consumerist society; instead of being aware of the importance of people’s attachment to the place or enhancing the concept of territorial identity, it is Copyright© Nuova Cultura

reducing and damaging the actual place value. This panorama is generated by our specific historical period which is structured on a globally based system. The most relevant aspect of globalization is the reduction of time and distance variables, even though this brings different undeniable advantages, especially in terms of communication and transportation, but at the same time it is causing a degeneration of the perception of cultural identity. The risks of globalization are strictly connected to human relationships and local identities, as a matter of fact it is supported by a superficial communication system based on a global scale and by single thought. In this sense Adolfo Pérez Esquivel reported a human living crisis, where there is no balance and a policy of consumption is put into effect without taking care of personal relationships either with regard to people or to places. It is fundamental to assume a standpoint against a system based exclusively on the financial market and to re-think a democracy where the population is the main player and not just a mere spectator. A democracy which develops critical thinking, which feeds indignation and opposition before injustices. Re-thinking a new society, a utopia that refuses the modern form of domination and brings about people’s awareness, and referring to Thomas More’s Utopia human life should be dominated and regulated by knowledge and culture. Owing to his activity with and his dedication to oppressed humanity, Esquivel was very close to the reflections expressed in the Encyclical Letter, Laudato sì, by Pope Francis. This document represents an ultimate analysis of ecological and social issues, especially because it encourages the interaction between scientific and technological progress as well as the social and moral one. Respect for human beings and the natural environment requires a reversal in the trend of production and consumption models. The solution lies in human behavior, which can be led to a more sustainable approach towards the environment through education. Because of this, the transmission of ecological knowledge and skills must be supported by scientists, institutions and organizations in order to solve the environmental issues. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Monica De Filpo

So, geography education responds to the need to increase the awareness of the population not only with regard to the natural problems afflicting the Planet Earth but also to the human ones. Even though its crucial role lies in education, the position of the subject of geography in European schools is problematic, reflecting the lack of attention and responsibility for the territory in modern societies. In order to improve geographyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s position in schools a group of geographical associations (EUGEO, EUROGEO, AIIG, IGU) promoted a document in 2013 called the Rome Declaration on Geographical Education in Europe to support geography in schools. The Rome Declaration sets down a number of minimum requirements for geography teaching, addressing European governments and educational institutions in recognizing the value of geography, it also provides standards and guidelines to guarantee a sound geography didactics. This discipline can stimulate active citizenship and the ability to understand the complexity of the contemporary world which is undergoing significant imbalances, and it is

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fundamental to understand the major issues in the territory we live in. In 2016 this initiative was followed by the New International Charter on Geography Education promoted by EUGEO and the IGU Commission on Geographical Education. This document updates the 1992 first edition of the Charter, focuses on the aims and objectives for geographical education and gives some reflections on the discipline, while linking and arranging meetings between institutions and organizations in Europe. These occasions are vital to improve the quality and the position of geographical education and to raise the awareness of its crucial role in society. In order to face the increasing changes involving our Planet it is necessary to adopt a geographical point of view which is founded on its ability to interconnect environmental and social fields of studies, and which gives the opportunity to connect different disciplines thanks to its marked interdisciplinary nature.

Figure 1. The brochure of the event. CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

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References 5. 1. De Vecchis G., “La didattica della geografia in Italia”, Semestrale di Studi e Ricerche di Geografia, 2, 2012, pp. 1-20. 2. De Vecchis G., Donert K., Kolossov V., Ottens H. and van der Schee J., “Rome Declaration on Geographical Education in Europe”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 2, 2013, p. 101. 3. Festa A.D., “La svolta spaziale nel pensiero giuridico. Un introduzione”, Semestrale di Studi e Ricerche di Geografia, 2, 2015, pp. 81-99. 4. Kant I., Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Essay, London, George Allen and Unwin,

1917 (first published 1795). More T., Utopia, London, Penguin Calssics, 2003 (first published 1516). Raffestin C., “Apologo sulla geografia politica”, Semestrale di Studi e Ricerche di Geografia, 1, 2016, pp. 19-21. Tabusi M., “EUGEO Commitment to Geographical Education: from the ‘Rome Declaration’ to the ‘New International Cahrter on Geographical Education’”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 4, 2015, pp.115-119. van der Schee J., “Looking for an international strategy for geography education”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (JREADING), 1, 3, 2014, pp. 9-13.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

REFERRED PAPERS FOR REMOTE SENSING Edited by Alberto Baroni and Maurizio Fea

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 5, Dec., 2016, pp. 119-150 DOI: 10.4458/7800-10

Remote sensing and interdisciplinary approach for studying Dubai’s urban context and development Maurizio Feaa, Gino De Vecchisb, Cristiano Pesaresib a

Italian Association of Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Rome, Italy Dipartimento di Scienze documentarie, linguistico-filologiche e geografiche, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy Email: maufea@gmail.com b

Received: October 2016 – Accepted: November 2016

Abstract Outlining the different phases and features of the urban and socio-economic development of Dubai, this work is aimed at highlighting the potential of remote sensing and the interdisciplinary approach for the study of cities characterised by overwhelming growth processes. In this way Dubai represents an ideal laboratory since the processes that have been triggered in the last decades have radically modified the previous balances and layouts. Thus the image of a mirage city has been gradually diffused, a city where ambitious objectives can be achieved, targets reached that are difficult to pursue elsewhere, frenetic development processes realised, in a nevertheless increasingly delicate territorial-environmental fabric onto which such phenomena are grafted. The analysis of various remote sensed images, gathered over different periods of times, highlights a number of important aspects from the geological point of view, of the physical geography, the urban development and the direct growth in all directions, with a series of artificial islands and much publicised anthropic works. Keywords: Dubai, Economic Development, Remote Sensing, Service Economy, Urban Growth and Transformations

1. “Geographical sensations” in a diachronic perspective… The Emirate of Dubai constitutes one of the most important and didactically significant examples of how a space – which had been relatively static for thousands of years, following archaic schemes of reference typical of traditional societies – can be radically transformed in such a short time. In fact, a complete metamorphosis has taken place in Dubai, a true spatial revolution, Copyright© Nuova Cultura

which has brought about completely new territorial configurations, involving the population, which moreover has risen out of all proportion owing to very high immigration flows. Spaces of stability, mobility and marginality have interacted and interact (Frémont, 2007, pp. 93-96; De Vecchis, 2014), organised in highly complex combinations and giving rise to a myriad of contrasts and to a city which the tourist guides – see for example Lonely Planet – define as

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glamorous, exhilarating, trendy, overexposed, consumerist beyond all imagination (Walker et al., 2007). A lot should be said, in environmental and social terms, about the many and serious problems linked to sustainability of such an overpowering and aggressive spatial organisation. A series of reflections are thus proposed – in order to simply grasp some of the “geographical sensations” in a diachronic perspective. These begin in fact with two interpretations that are very different one from the other, limited to a sequence of quotations that make up interesting sources to document the change and which to some extent connect Dubai’s past and present: those of the great 19th century French geographer Elisée Reclus and Walter Siti, writer, literary critic and contemporary Italian journalist. The former was the author of an original work supported by lyricism and intuitions of rare insight (Frémont, 2007, p. 267), with its exceptional illustrations: a monumental encyclopaedic work in nineteen volumes (1876-1894) Nouvelle Géographie Universelle. La Terre et Les Hommes, Hachette Paris. In the ninth volume, L’Asie Antérieure (1884) is dealt with; in chapter VI which is dedicated to Arabia are some references to The Trucial Coast and to the life of its inhabitants, their sea-based livelihoods in particular (fishing, pearl fishing, coastal trade) and to a lesser extent to nomadic sheep-rearing.

2. …from Elisée Reclus to Walter Siti Reclus speaks about the wealth of fish in the area, noting that it is not in the least diminished by the various fishing activities: The Persian Gulf, the sea of Oman are among the richest seas in animal life. Thousands of Arab boats, sailing in the midst of lively shoals of fish, have little or no effect on these multitudes, very soon replenished once again; big nets are cast for up to two hundred paces deep, and are hauled back, always full, by thirty or forty men. The sun-dried fish are used together with date paste to feed all the Arabs along the shoreline (Reclus, 1884, p. 860).

He also highlights the wretched conditions of many people subjected to forms of slavery and forced to live an extremely harsh life, going into the gathering of pearls in great detail, as one of the economic resources that was essential for those poor lands at that time. In the description of the various phases of this very risky activity, he expresses a heartfelt tension: In the Arabian seas the concretions of the pearl oysters are not as white as those of Ceylon and Japan, but they are bigger and more regular in shape…By virtue of customs, the origin of law, the pearls belong to all the inhabitants of the shoreline; only they can go and gather the oysters on the sea bed and any foreign fisherman would be ignominiously driven away; nevertheless, almost all the pearl fishing profits belong to the Hindu or Arab money-lenders in advance, who with usurious loans have made the team of divers into a crew of slaves. The earnings are shared out: so much to the owner of the boat, so much to the divers and the servants; but before being handed out all these parts have already been forfeited by the lender; the fishermen’s daily meal is very scanty indeed. The way of using the oyster beds is still rudimental; the divers are weighed down by a stone attached to their feet, nostrils closed with a horn plug, ears plugged with wax earplugs, and descend to the sea bottom to 10, 20 or even 30 metres, then after 50 or 60 seconds searching for oysters, they surface with their booty; exposed to shark attacks they make this dangerous journey eight or ten times a day (Reclus, 1884, p. 861).

The decline of the pearl trade, which began around 1930 and continued after that also because of the progressive success of Japanese cultivated pearls, did not certainly contribute to improving the poor level of life of most of the population, which withdrew for a long time into the arid coastal areas of The Trucial Coast until after the middle of the last century. The account to be found in the essay on the Middle East by Stephen H. Longrigg is significant: The social organization is tribal. The occupations are date-tending, pearl diving, camel breeding, fishing, rarely and scantily crop-raising, and, far more important, working in one or other of the great oil-fields of the Gulf (Longrigg, 1963, p. 167). Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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However, the spirit for trade and entrepreneurship for exchanges and trading was never lacking in Dubai, and with regard to this Reclus writes: Dubai, whose port, similar to a lake, is connected to the sea by a canal opening into a white beach, where the waves push grains of amber, is more or less at the western limit of the area of the pearl bearing oysters (Reclus, 1884, p. 897).

The following year sheikh Maktoum bin Hasher strongly encouraged the already consolidated marine tradition, declaring the city a free port thus making it a strategic hub able to attract not only Arab traders but also Persians and Indians. At the end of the 19th century the revenue deriving from oil extraction was still a thing of the future, so much so that at the beginning of the 1960s the black gold had still not been used in the area of Dubai, even though the contagious rush for this energy resource could not be avoided, already sought after following the agreements drawn up in 1937: Exploration began immediately, but was discontinued throughout the war. Since 1948 intensive geological and geophysical work has been followed by drilling at a number of points in Abu Dhabi, and at one in Dubai; these tests have given negative, but not wholly uninteresting results (Bullard, 1958, p. 141)1.

With regard to the expectations and problems that the oil resource entails, Walter Siti dwells on this on various occasions in his Il canto del Diavolo, a book that is about a journey to the Arab Emirates and Dubai in particular, a city visited at the precise moment in which the 1

In a widespread Italian geographical encyclopaedia published at the beginning of the 1960s, the role of oil on the demographic layout of the area is highlighted: “The assumed lack of oil fields pushed the population, won over by the mirage of easy money, to emigrate to Qatar, the islands of Bahrein and Kuwait. It is estimated that during these years about half the inhabitants were forced to leave their deprived neighbourhoods” (Istituto Geografico De Agostini, 1961, p. 529).

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international economic-financial crisis began to question its salient aspects. The spatial-temporal categories are developed in such an abnormal way as to turn the normal chronological processes upside-down; Siti summarises these passages very expressively and effectively: Oil was discovered in Dubai in 1966. In forty years it has gone from the Middle Ages to the post-modern, with a speed of transformation that must have seemed miraculous, or the stuff of witchcraft; from the huts made of palm leaves to skyscrapers of concrete-framed glass panels, from the seven day camel ride across the dunes to an hour and a half along the motorway by Ferrari; here the mobile phone arrived before drinkable water, the plane before the railway (even today there is not one single kilometre of railway line), the computer before the use of forks (Siti, 2009, p. 68).

But oil is not a renewable resource, for which reason it is necessary to diversify the economic offer, something that is all the more vital since unlike Abu Dhabi, the oil reserves in Dubai are limited in number: This perhaps justifies Dubai’s typical hysteria, the fear of being fragged mid-leap; now or never. The economy has already taken countermeasures: the income from oil is equivalent to just 6-7% of the GDP. The most substantial assets of the national budget are the financial exchanges, construction work and tourism (Siti, 2009, p. 69).

The tourist organisation, supported moreover by the efficient network of the air company Emirates with its headquarters in Dubai, marks a complete turning upside down of the classical models. Gleaming hotels, huge shopping malls (Photos 1 and 2), restaurants, bars and discos are the main attractions of a luxury oriented tourism.

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Photos 1 and 2. Above, the Souk Madinat Jumeirah shopping mall. Below, a view of the inside. It is the mysterious appeal of a city whose major attraction is a hotel (the Sail) [Burj Al Arab], that is, a place from which one should depart to visit the attractions; here, more than attracting it, tourism is put on the stage; what is shown is tourism itself (Siti, 2009, p. 71).

Tours are organised, with rather expensive tickets, according to a completely new formula of intra-hotel tourism. One of the most popular tours to be found in the Burj Al Arab (Photo 3) is the Skyview Bar on the 27th floor. In the websites advertising it, one can read:

Photo 3. The famous hotel “the Sail” (Burj Al Arab).

Another luxury hotel offering various extra packages for tourists is Atlantis (Photo 4), with the hotel’s website saying (https://www.atlantis thepalm.com/ things-to-do#): There are lots of exciting activities that make Atlantis beach resort the epicentre of adventure and the greatest holiday experience ever.

The Skyview Bar offers world-class cocktails, live music, and a decor that goads close conversation. Oh yeah, and astonishing 200meter-high views over the Gulf!

Photo 4. The luxury hotel Atlantis.

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The shopping malls offer widespread top level attractions which have an irresistible appeal for a huge number of tourists: The malls are the true monuments of Dubai, the equivalent of what the churches and museums are in old Europe, with the difference being that in the shopping centres the objects on show are on sale. Coaches depart from the big hotels to go and visit the most famous ones… The malls are the highpoints of the urban fabric: their job is to exhibit showy attractions, figurative signatures that make the journey worth its while. The relationship has been overturned: while in the big 18th and 19th century stores the shimmer of the container was a pretext to sell the goods, now the goods are a pretext to entice the tourists towards the cathedrals of the new standardised beauty which throbs with superficiality (Siti, 2009, pp. 18-19).

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number of immigrant workers contribute to this economic growth, and who are destined to carrying out the most humble and exhausting work without enjoying the just rights.

3. An urban context symbol of astoundingly rapid development… At world level Dubai represents one of the most significant examples of rapid and turbulent urban development (Photos 5 and 6)2. Concealed in a context made up of many contrasts and heterogeneous conditions, in physical-geological and socio-economic terms, Dubai is an example of “organised development”, which is founded on specific economic-commercial activities and characterised by a number of different aspects.

In Dubai it comes as no surprise and it is no accident that in 1996 in this city, the Dubai Shopping Festival was set up and promoted by the government, organized in order to foster trade and commerce. As can be seen on the official website of the festival (http://www.dubaishoppingfestival2013.com/) this world famous festival is known as a shopper’s paradise where you can view the best retail products… Dubai Shopping festival is something that has made Dubai proud… Innovative programs are organized every year, which makes the Shopping festival unique and remarkable. This festival is another technique of promoting tourism in Dubai. No doubt it has been a matter of pride for Dubai. Their authorities ensure to organize remarkable events to attract many tourists. This festival also improves the economic condition of the country… Through this festival the authorities exhibited the culture and styles of Dubai. Such was the success of this festival that the authorities to an oath to organize this festival every year. This festival has attracted many visitors across the world and is best known for their hospitality.

Lastly, it remains to be seen whether or not this rapid anthropic upheaval of the landscape, completely other-directed, is a sign of actual progress and a valid model of human and social development, also considering that a vast Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Photos 5 and 6. Above, the great number of skyscrapers, symbols of Dubai’s tumultuous building growth. Below, other areas subject to construction processes. 2

For example: “Dubai’s six-year economic boom between 2003 and 2008 was extraordinary in its scale and rapidity” (Bloch, 2010, p. 943). Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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The economic development recorded over the last fifteen years has been accompanied by a considerable growth in population, which has radically modified the demographic-settlement layout of the city. According to the data of the Calendario Atlante De Agostini (2004, 2016), the population of Dubai has risen from 913,000 inhabitants (with a population density of 234 ab./km2) according to the 2001 estimate to 1,722,000 inhabitants (with a population density of 442 ab./km2) on the basis of the 2009 estimate (the last year recorded in the Calendario)3. Particularly, “Dubai seems typical as an entrepôt in that it has attempted to jump directly from a pearling/trading society to a service society” (Hvidt, 2009, p. 400). Its transformations have been clear, marked, very rapid and have completely redesigned the features of a fast evolving reality and economy. Four main phases have distinguished Dubai’s urban development since the beginning of the 20th century, with the introduction of specific elements (Pacione, 2005, pp. 259-260): 1900–1955: A period of slow growth and limited physical expansion due to constrained economic growth and marginal increase in population. At the beginning of the period Dubai’s population of 10,000 was concentrated in three residential quarters of • Deira, consisting of 1600 houses and 350 suq shops, with Arabs, Persians and Baluchis making up the majority of the inhabitants. • Al Shindagha, a former residence of the ruling family, where there was 250 houses but no suqs and only Arab residents. • Dubai, the smallest of the settlement areas with 200 houses and 50 suq shops, and dominated by Persian and Indian merchants. By 1955, the urban area remained a modest 3.2 km2.

According to the Dubai Statistics Center (DSC), which “carries out daily and monthly estimates of the number of population permanently residing in Dubai within the geographic borders of the emirate, whether they are Emiratis or Non-Emiratis”, the population seems now more than 2,655,000 (https://www.dsc.gov.ae/en-us). Copyright© Nuova Cultura

For the most part this was a period of transition, from an archaic society to some form of structure and connection among the various parts, with faint-hearted signs of growth in a context of “initiation”. 1956–1970: A period of compact growth based on a 1960 master plan, (prepared by a British architect), that called for provision of a road system, zoning of the town into areas for different land uses, and creation of a new town centre. These modest goals were in keeping with the emirate’s pre-oil resources. The master plan strategy was indicative also of strong central control over urban development.

This was still a phase of limited development but the features of organised development begin to appear, which follows the guidelines, indications and precise rules of a specific master plan. 1971–1980: A period of planned suburban growth. In 1971, as a result of urban expansion and the availability of development capital a new and more ambitious master plan was conceived. The plan made provision for ring roads around the city and a radial street network to the suburbs. Other major transport developments included the Shindagha Tunnel beneath the creek to connect Bur Dubai and Deira, and construction of two bridges, (Maktoum and Garhoud), thus linking city districts on both sides of the creek. […].The building of Port Rashid was also planned, and a large area, (now named Jumeirah), extending towards Jebel Ali was designated for residential use

and new services for health, education and leisure were built. At social and strategic planning level, the changes begin to be considerable and the effects on the territory tangible. The preludes of rapid growth and the striving to obtain affirmation on the international stage can be seen (and which would shortly after this come to the fore) with something capable of attracting the immediate attention of the outside world and of focusing roles of primacy on itself on a global scale. 1980–Present: A period of rapid urban expansion, in terms of both the scale and diversity of development projects and physical Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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spread of the city, that in 2004 covered an area of 605 km2 […] and the strategic plan envisages extending the built up area by a further 501 km2 by 2015. […].In the early 1990s, the government commissioned the Dubai Urban Area Strategic Plan 1993–2012 to guide the economic and physical development of the city into the twenty-first century. Key challenges to be addressed were— To accommodate urban expansion by allocating additional land in a phased planned process to meet current and future needs for residential, industrial and commercial uses. To extend the existing transport network and infrastructure facilities. To promote continued economic growth. To support and attract private investment by ensuring a sufficient land supply, adequate infrastructure, simplified administrative and planning procedures, and by conducting publicly funded feasibility studies for major development proposals to minimise the risk to private capital. To encourage co-operation between private sector companies and government agencies in undertaking development ‘mega-projects’. To encourage expatriates to reinvest capital and profits in local enterprises. To develop an inter-departmental planning framework capable of reviewing, monitoring and implementing the Structure Plan. To devise a regulatory environment capable of operating within a strong market economy and incorporating the needs and interests of a large number of agencies and organisations.

A series of aspects become vital for the development of Dubai in order to: promote its accessibility; strengthen its economiccommercial role; make it the headquarters for unique top level services and structures; increase its international visibility; arouse the desire to visit it and speak about it, since able to achieve a status at a perceptive level and in the collective imagination; stimulate the desire to invest capital there, to purchase real estate, become part of a system that seems projected towards a future made up of innovative experiments and solutions of great scenic impact. It is in this perspective of peculiar elements characterising Dubai’s development that nine key parameters are highlighted (Hvidt, 2009, p. 401): Copyright© Nuova Cultura

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Government-led development (ruler-led) Fast decision making and “fast track” development Flexible labor force Bypass of industrialization—creation of a service economy Internationalization of service provision Creation of investment opportunities Supply-generated demand (“first mover”) Market positioning via branding Development in cooperation with international partners.

From the geographical point of view, such aspects draw huge attention and at least points 4 (Bypass of industrialization—creation of a service economy), 6 (Creation of investment opportunities) and 8 (Market positioning via branding) require further specific information. In terms of Bypass of industrialization— creation of a service economy: Three examples of the effort to establish a service-knowledge economy are the establishment of Dubai Media City, a free zone for news agencies and publications; Dubai Internet City, a free zone for information technology; and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). The last is a government-initiated endeavor in the field of financial services, and it includes both a financial and a mercantile exchange. The DIFC is competing with Singapore and Qatar to become the financial center for the entire region between Western Europe and East Asia—and thus an exchange with the same status as New York, London, and Hong Kong (Hvidt, 2009, p. 404).

These are areas of considerable dimensions created to carry out functions of high and top class levels, so as to compete with elements of gigantism on a global scale. With regard to the secondary sector, it must be stressed that the industries are for the most part commercial, since the passage to real productive firms has undergone a sort of leap in the usual passages; nevertheless, in a context of vast new spaces, logistic support, strategic activities and growth in specific infrastructures, the launch of the secondary sector is becoming increasingly important too, for example, with the “Dubai Industrial Park”, whereby the aim is to bridge previous gaps in Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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order to find suitable space on the international stage with cutting edge activities and technology (http://www.dubaiindustrialpark.ae/). For what it concerns the Creation of investment opportunities: Since the mid-1980s, leadership in Dubai has focused upon attracting foreign investment. Vision 2010 explicitly states that increasing amounts of FDI [Foreign Direct Investment] are a prerequisite for further development. […]. A second major type of investment opportunity was created within the real-estate sector. This was truly innovative because there had been a customary and complete restriction on nonnationals owning property in Dubai, as elsewhere in the UAE. However, in March 2002, Dubai introduced freehold ownership, granting foreigners full ownership of apartments and houses. The residences on Palm Island were among the first sold under this arrangement. Later, the government allocated sections of the city to such housing. At Dubai Marina, for instance, around 200 residential building blocks, hotels, and so forth are currently being erected (Hvidt, 2009, p. 406).

The creation of new forms of investment, the attraction of foreign capital and the realisation of a real estate sector made up of impressive structures that “materialise” the dreams of people with huge capital at their disposal are operations that are being aimed to achieve chain benefits, in socio-economic terms and image spin-offs. With regard to its Market positioning via branding: Dubai has branded itself as ‘quality and innovation’. One part of this approach has been the erection of iconic buildings today known worldwide. Among these are the sail-shaped hotel, Burj al-Arab; the Palm Islands; the triangular Emirates Towers; and not least, Burj Dubai, the tallest building in the world (Hvidt, 2009, p. 407). In this way an attempt has been made to create a sort of brand linked to two words with huge media impact. Quality and innovation seem to be the leitmotifs aimed at leading the economic-design market and life in Dubai, Copyright© Nuova Cultura

characterised by distinctive elements as the symbol of a shared desire to emerge. Furthermore, among the different aspects, luxury is also a cult to be followed, to flaunt, both along the coast, where the highest levels of architectural imagination and expressive prominence are to be found, and towards the interior, with luxury hotels and structures connected to the “Desert Conservation Zone” (Ryan and Stewart, 2009), leading one to reflect on the social implications, unsustainable challenges and ecological pressure created by this type of tourism (Stephenson and Ali-Knight, 2010) and in general by urban growth (Bolleter, 2009, 2015), which has entailed also an indiscriminate use of resources and the violation of laws and labour regulations (Ramos, 2016, pp. 11-14)4. Moreover, in terms of perception and identity, there has generally been the spread of an image based on iconographic grandeur, monumental innovation and super-modernism. In doing so, the enquiry indicates that one fundamental sociological concern for destination Dubai is its perceived lack of cultural consistency, particularly in terms of the absorption of the old into the new (Stephenson, 2014, p. 723).

The rapid transformation process seems to wipe out the traces of the past and the possible elements of identity (as well as the physical-morphological features), that are substituted by a new temporary “identity” made up of the search for the modern and technologically advanced that inexorably overpowers whatever comes in its path. All these aspects in a melange of coordinated initiatives aimed at the pursuit of one single concrete objective – that is the demonstration of a driving role for the economy of the United Arab Emirates (and the Arab Peninsula) and of a point of world reference for the possibility to transform projects into reality in a short time – have become symbolic elements, easily recognisable also at territorial level owing to the unmistakeable changes and characterising elements that make it possible to interpret Dubai’s recent history. 4

As recently affirmed (in a contribution just available online): “Dubai needs immediate intervention to retrofit its current development strategies with a new emphasis on sustainability” (Alawadi, 2017, p. 353). Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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The rapid developments appearing in the city may have to do with the vision of the government. Its aim is to transform Dubai from a regional business, financial and leisure hub into a global center. In the process capital is being invested in the purchase of concrete, glass and steel. Dubai’s skyscrapers rise from the clusters, artificial islands rise from the sea and neighborhoods containing residences and offices rise from the sand (Fazal, 2008, p. 4).

search for extremely impressive elements, the desire to stand out, to arrive first, to act as an example that is unachievable for others, steaming ahead in intensifying the artificial nature of the components and expanding boundlessly.

And so, Dubai is “one of the fastest growing cities in the world” developed in “a hyperarid environment” where different areas, often desert, are progressively invaded and converted in an urban context (Nassar, Blackburn and Whyatt, 2014, p. 50).

- obtain specific information on the areas that have been progressively developed and the different directions of this expansion, also showing the contrasts between the stately buildings in the coastal zone and the characteristic forms of the desert (sand dunes etc.); - evaluate and measure the changes that have taken place, distinguishing the areas subject to the greatest modifications, also in terms of categories of land use, from those that have maintained a relatively “intact” layout with respect to the first year of observation; - have detailed and updated databases in order to define and visualise trade areas, with respect to elements of particular importance, or to calculate for example the areas of the polygons that represent the residential, commercial buildings etc.; - focus on the new elements of economicfinancial, tourist interest etc., which confirm and connote an urban reality in rapid expansion, bearing witness to its fervid activity; - identify some ancient forms of villages and other small aggregations of huts or houses in the desert zones, which are very distant with respect to the modern skyscrapers and commercial buildings.

As affirmed about ten years ago: With ambitions to become a hub of global commerce, a top tourist destination and a shopping Mecca—a New York/Las Vegas/Miami rolled into one—Dubai has been spending billions of dollars to build an astonishing modern city nearly from scratch in a mere 15 years (Bagaeen, 2007, p. 173).

In this way the aim has been to diffuse the image of Dubai – global city – as “metaphor”, as “hope”, as “mirage” (Kathiravelu, 2016, p. 28), in the “attempt to ascend in the ‘world urban hierarchy’ and establish itself as the image of the 21st century metropolis” (Acuto, 2010, p. 272).

4. …to be analysed by remote sensing In a similar context, remote sensing represents an instrument of fundamental importance to record, follow and analyse, in a temporal perspective, the recent and extensive changes that have taken place in the city and economic-social plan. At the same time, remote sensing and the combined use of differentiated images make it possible to look at the physical-geological environment in which these changes are being made, not only in the north-south direction, not only towards the interior, but also with offshoots into the sea, with the creation of an unmistakable artificial landscape, which in its spectacular scenic nature tends to conceal a series of dichotomies and fragility. The overwhelming imperatives seem to be those of the innovative Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Remote sensing, above all in the case of images relative to a time series recorded over a number of years, integrated in a GIS environment, makes it possible to:

There are therefore many application possibilities and aspects for didactics and research, with urban realities like that of Dubai becoming emblematic examples for the geographical study of ongoing changes, documented by the differentiated sequences of remote sensing images.

5. New islands in the Persian Gulf The Emirate of Dubai is situated along the south-eastern coast of the Persian Gulf, also known as the Pirate Coast. Along with six other emirates, among which Abu Dhabi, Dubai is part of the United Arab Emirates. Its geographical position, at Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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25° north and 55° east, just slightly further north of the Tropic of Cancer, conditions its climate and topography: the interior of the territory is made up of sand dunes and is an integral part of the Arabian Desert, while the coast and the lowland are often covered in salt owing to the considerable sea water evaporation. As already considered, over the last twenty years Dubai has undergone a massive almost science-fiction like development, helped both by the discovery of oil and by a policy for an impetus in favour of tourism, commerce and business. The city of Dubai hosts cutting edge constructions, among which stands out the highest skyscraper in the world, the Burj Khalifa (more than 820 m), while the shoreline has undergone obvious changes with the creation of artificial islands, among which the Palms and the “World” have become famous.

6. Innovation and collaboration strategy The city of Dubai will host EXPO 2020, which will have as its theme: “Connecting minds, creating the future”. In this context, the seven United Arab Emirates have an excellent tradition of cooperation and strategy, extremely effective for development and innovation, which has led them to being in the forefront of many sectors. For example, the city’s international airport is the hub of Emirates, the national airline of the Emirate of Dubai which, together with Etihad, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates with headquarters in Abi Dhabi, represents excellence in scheduled commercial flights in the world. Moreover, the development of new infrastructures along the coast has led the Emirate of Dubai to build artificial islands in the sea of the Arabian Gulf, that is to say the Palms and the “World”.

7. From the sea to rocky desert With regard to the geological aspects, in the Emirate’s territory along the coast, there are many marshy and salt crusted areas (sabkha), while in the interior Quartenary sand and gravel are mostly to be found, which give rise to sand dunes and aeolian dunes, reaching the mountain slopes towards the east, where instead clayey limestones and shales prevail. The images from space, which allow an overall visualisation to understand Copyright© Nuova Cultura

relations and balances (or imbalances) among the components, well illustrate the difficult composite geographical environment in which the Emirate is situated and the physical-geological and anthropic variability from the west (coast) eastwards (mountains). Figures 1 and 2 were created from data acquired on 28 October 2015 (by the Operational Land Imager instrument‒OLI of the Landsat-8 satellite) and were visualised in natural colours (RGB 432, Figure 1) and in false colours (RGB 542, Figure 2). Unless according to specific indication, these images are shown in orbital coordinates and therefore it is necessary to rotate them ideally by about 10° in a clockwise direction to obtain the geographical correspondence. The image in natural colours (Figure 1) highlights a number of geological aspects and the present situation of the constructions along the coast, which owing to their imposing size and singularity do not escape attention. The faint light shades can be seen in the sea due to the sunlight reflected from the sand along the coastline eroded by the sea and transported by the currents, while the deep water appears black as it absorbs all the sunlight. Going up along the coast from the bottom left northwards are the sabkha, where the dark greenish marshy water alternates with the white of the salt pans, and to the east of these is the city of Abu Dhabi, which can be distinguished by the grey shades of its buildings. Northwards is the private industrial port used by Emirates Aluminium, still in the territory of Abu Dhabi; then one enters into the Emirate of Dubai and reaches the Palm Jebel Ali, the biggest of the artificial islands and clearly visible in the image. From here one practically enters the city and soon the Palm Jumeirah can be seen and just a little to the north the group of artificial islets that makeup the “World”, the last construction in order of time; in fact , the third palm had not yet been started at the time of the passage of the satellite in October 2015. Moving eastwards, it can be seen that the dunes have been substituted by more consistent soil and the change in colour towards the mountain shows the presence of clayey limestones and shales, making it possible to glean important information about the geologicalpedological aspects too. The visualisation in natural colours makes the identification of the few and limited vegetated zones quite difficult. The image in false colours (RGB Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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542, Figure 2) instead shows the distribution of the vegetation with respect to the built up areas. In fact, the colour red (Red) represents the information gathered in the spectral band of the Near InfraRed (NIR, band No. 5 of the OLI instrument), in which the leaves have a high reflectiveness in the sunlight, for which reason woods and cultivated areas appear in shades of red. From the image it appears that the vegetated or cultivated areas are rather reduced, mainly owing to the climate at those latitudes and the extreme hydrogeological environment, despite which green zones appear also within the urban area and along the routes of communication, subject to intense and rapid phenomena of expansion along with the evolution of the commercial, residential and tourist zones.

8. The evolution at the end of the second millennium The images from the Landsat-5 satellite, coming from the archive of the United States Geological Survey (USGS), unequivocally show the big change that the coast of Dubai has undergone in the last decades. The multi-spectral image in Figure 3 was taken by the Thematic Mapper (TM) instrument of the Landsat-5 satellite on 8 May 1987 and is visualised in natural colours (RGB 321): it shows the configuration of the Emirate’s coast towards the end of the second millennium, with a “classical” type geographical situation, with the salt pans in the southern part, the port of Jebel Ali in the centre and the city of Dubai and Deira, separated by the River Dubai, above right, a stretch of sea that wedges its way inland for a few kilometres. In the visualisation in natural colours it can be seen that a strip almost white in shade extends along the coast, thus highly reflective in the sunlight: this is the salt plain that separates the coast from the desert dunes. With regard to this, it must be remembered that at the end of the summer the sea water in this part of the Persian Gulf reaches the highest temperatures recorded on Earth, well above 30° C. Lastly, the image shows the limited extension of the urban areas and the few communication routes by land into the interior. The port at the mouth of the River Dubai can be seen and, to the east of Deira, the runway of Dubai’s international airport. The same TM data, Copyright© Nuova Cultura

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but visualised in false colours (RGB 431, Figure 4), highlight the absence of vegetation in the area under observation very well, in which the shades of red are few and far between! The images gathered by the same satellite six years later on 9 June 1993 (Figures 5 and 6), show substantial changes, but there has not yet been a drastically significant evolution: the city is sprawling, the green areas are increasing, even though not excessively, but the image shows that, for example, Dubai’s international airport has still only one runway.

9. The development at the beginning of the third millennium The situation of the Emirate in the last decade appears very different. The multispectral image in Figure 7 was taken by the OLI instrument of the Landsat-8 satellite on 18 July 2013 and is visualised in almost natural colours (RGB 432): the urban areas are much more sprawling, the road network into the interior much more ramified, new agricultural holdings have appeared, but what is impressive above all is the appearance of extended peninsulas and artificial islands along the coast and the new Dubai World Central in the hinterland of the port of Jebel Ali, with the immense Al Maktoum International Airport, already operational even if its construction is ongoing. The construction of most of these huge works, studded by a series of elements with massive visual impact, began in 2002 and in some cases is still not complete as said above: for example, opposite the islands of Deira at the top the third “palm” or the Palm Deira is being constructed. The analysis of the same data, but visualised in false colours (RGB 542, Figure 8), confirms the increase of green areas, highlighted by the growth in areas that appear in shades of red. By enlarging the image it is interesting to see in more detail the zone of new cultivated fields circular in shape seen previously to the south in the nearby Emirate of Abu Dhabi: the different shades of red of the circles indicate different crops or at a different stage of growth, in some cases limited to half the circular area, while in the same zone appear fields without colour or grey in colour, thus without already developed plants or even bare. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Figure 1. Multispectral satellite image of Dubai Emirate, generated from data acquired by the OLI instrument of Landsat-8 spacecraft on 28 October 2015 and visualized in natural colours (RGB 432). Source: USGS/ESA.

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Figure 2. Image of Figure 1, visualized in false colours (RGB 542). Source: USGS/ESA.

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Figure 3. Multispectral satellite image of Dubai Emirate, generated from data acquired by the TM instrument of Landsat-5 spacecraft on 8 May 1987 and visualized in natural colours (RGB 321). Source: USGS/ESA.

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Figure 4. Image of Figure 3, visualized in false colours (RGB 431). Source: USGS/ESA.

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Figure 5. Multispectral satellite image of Dubai Emirate, generated from data acquired by the TM instrument of Landsat-5 spacecraft on 9 June 1993 and visualized in natural colours (RGB 321). Source: USGS/ESA.

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Figure 6. Image of Figure 5, visualized in false colours (RGB 431). Source: USGS/ESA.

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Figure 7. Multispectral satellite image of Dubai Emirate, generated from data acquired by the OLI instrument of Landsat-8 spacecraft on 18 July 2013 and visualized in natural colours (RGB 432). Source: USGS/ESA.

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Figure 8. Image of Figure 7, visualized in false colours (RGB 542). Source: USGS/ESA.

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By using the high resolution data of the VNIR-2 instrument of the ALOS satellite on 2 November 2010, it is possible to see in more detail (Figure 9) the vast extension of the urban area of Dubai and Deira, practically united by now, the Palm Jumeirah, the “World” archipelago, made up of dozens of small artificial islands symbolising the Earth, and the islands of Deira where the Palm Deira will be built, of which can be seen on the sea what seems to be the outermost stretch of the future breakwater bow. Enlarging the image, it can be seen that the Dubai international airport now has a second runway.

with Figures 11 and 12, or that is to say the situation in the same territory observed almost five months later by the same sensor and by the same satellite, in both cases with images acquired by the ALOS satellite in 2010. The difference is evident above all in the cultivations and the urban areas: bearing in mind that Dubai is at a latitude of about 25° north, in the images with false colours the different shade of red indicates that the vegetation was more luxuriant in May than in November.

The visualisation in false colours RGB 431 (Figure 10) makes it possible to better highlight the contrasts between the constructed or built up areas, such as the city, the infrastructures or the road network (in shades of blue), the green areas (in shades of red), above all in the city and the desert. It is moreover interesting to note that the slightly pinkish shade of the constructions along the coast and on the Palm seem to indicate the presence of trees and flower beds, while those of the inland areas maintain the blue shades, an indication of poor or even no vegetation.

The comparison of the data acquired by the Earth Observation satellites in 2010 (Figures 11 and 12) and 2015 (Figures 1 and 2) shows the huge development of constructions and infrastructures that has taken place in the last five years: the most interesting zones for growth have been the areas around the “Al Maktoum” international airport south-east of the Palm Jebel Ali, the Industrial Area of Jebel Ali and the Dubai Investments Park east of the Palm. It is useful to underline that the satellite images acquired by the sensors using optical spectral bands show above all the situations on a horizontal plane, for example the extension of a city, while to have information on the vertical coordinate, or height, it is necessary to use the data acquired by active sensors that operate in the spectral bands of the microwaves, or that is to say from the synthetic aperture radar (SAR), elaborated with specific methodologies, such as interferometry.

10. Points of consideration at the change of season In order to show how remote sensing can be of help in assessing the environmental changes in time and therefore also from one season to another, Figures 9 and 10 should be compared

11. A step ahead in the last five years

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Figure 9. Multispectral satellite image of Dubai Emirate, generated from data acquired by the AVNIR-2 of ALOS spacecraft on 2 November 2010 and visualized in natural colours (RGB 321). Source: JAXA/ESA.

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Figure 10. Image of Figure 9, visualized in false colours (RGB 431). Source: JAXA/ESA.

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Figure 11. Multispectral satellite image of Dubai Emirate, generated from data acquired by the AVNIR2 of ALOS spacecraft on 19 May 2010 and visualized in natural colours (RGB 321). Source: JAXA/ESA.

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Figure 12. Image of Figure 11, visualized in false colours (RGB 431). Source: JAXA/ESA.

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12. The development of Dubai seen by means of microwaves The observation of the territory in the microwave spectral band gives the chance to gather different but complementary information to that acquired by the use of optical remote sensing. Unlike the latter, which gives reflectiveness (in the reflected optic) or the surface temperature (in the thermal optic) of the objects under observation, a radar image gives information about the roughness and the degree of humidity of the surface being observed, and about the situations of multiple reflection by natural or artificial obstacles; moreover, the radar detection works also during the night and it is all weather, since the atmosphere and most of the hydrometeors are transparent to the radar pulses, so that the clouds are never visible in the radar images. The radar “illuminates” the objects with pulses sent with a regular sequence and the “signal” acquired by the radar is in reality the return echo picked up by the radar itself. The characteristics of the radar echo depend on the interaction between the pulse energy sent by the radar and the surface of the object illuminated by the same. Even today a satellite can transport only one radar instrument and this can work in one single spectral band: consequently, the radar data are visualised in black and white, as in the case of the optical panchromatic band. The shades of grey in every point (pixels) of the detected image are therefore associated with the intensity of the signal, or the return echo received from the radar: conventionally black indicates the absence of return echoes and white the maximum value of the signal. As a first approximation it can thus be said that the shades of grey of the pixels of an image detected in the spectral band of the microwaves are proportional to the “roughness” of the surface illuminated by the radar pulses. The best example is represented by the image of a liquid surface in relation to the intensity of the wind blowing on it: when there is no wind and the sea is calm, the flat surface acts as a mirror and reflects the radar pulses far away, so that no echo returns towards the radar; when instead the wind increases the surface starts to get rough and the capillary wavelets on it send a part of the energy of the pulses to the radar, generating the Copyright© Nuova Cultura

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return echoes to the radar. Consequently, black pixels indicate a clam sea surface without any wind or a slick of oil on the sea, while light pixels indicate intense surface wind and choppy sea. The roughness of the surface is always measured in relation to the wavelength, in the sense that the unevenness of the surface (capillary waves) must have dimensions of the order of the wavelength used by the radar to give a strong echo. Therefore, the smooth asphalt of a parking area gives no echo and the asphalt appears black, while the walls of a building always give a strong echo owing to the multiple wall-asphalt road refection. Stark land and desert areas are medium grey in shade. The image generated by the data gathered on 8 March 1993 by the SAR instrument of the ERS-1 satellite (Figure 13) shows the surface of the sea rippled by the wind, some boats on the sea (white dots at the top), a fair urban development with the runway of Dubai’s airport (black almost horizontal strip top right), the coast in its natural configuration, with the port of Dubai-Deira to the north and the private port of Emirates Aluminium to the south, and the desert with its continuous belts of dunes. The image constructed from the data acquired on 30 May 1996 by the SAR of ERS-2 (Figure 14) does not show any particular variations, except for a slight increase in the number of buildings: the coast is still intact and there are some oil slicks on the sea. The image of 29 January 2004 from the ASAR of the Envisat (Figure 15) shows the city on a very windy day, as the surface of the water of the Khor Dubai is rough too, and it shows the initial phase of the construction of the Palm Jebel Ali to the south, with the central part of the external breakwater pier already finished, the completion of the foundation of the Palm Jumeirah in the centre and the presence of the second runway of Dubai’s international airport. The image of 2 February 2006 from the ASAR of the Envisat (Figure 16) shows that the sea is calm, with some areas rippled by a light wind, and that the construction of the Palm Jebel Ali is well ahead, while the urban development is growing and confirms that the works have begun for the construction of the “World” (the series of islets top left) and the new Al Maktoum international airport with the appearance of the first runway (horizontal segment centre bottom); Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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there is a myriad of white dots on the sea, which are boats coming in and out of the industrial port in the south and part of the traffic for the port of Dubai-Deira to the north. The image of 7 May 2009 from the ASAR of the Envisat (Figure 17) shows a day with a land breeze, which only makes the sea near the shoreline a little bit rough, including the water inside the Palms and the “World”; the built up area has grown even more, above all in the industrial zones to the south and in the infrastructures of the new airport, and the “World” has practically been completed, while it shows that the works for the Palm Deira, foreseen in the far north of the Emirate, opposite the mouth of the River Dubai, have practically stopped at a huge island on the surface of the water opposite the coast. The image of 12 March 2011 from the ASAR of the Envisat (Figure 18) confirms the completion of the “World” and the breakwater barrier, and the extension and consolidation of the urbanised and industrialised areas, including two ports and communication routes on the mainland, while the construction of the Palm Deira project has turned into the consolidation of the Deira islands near the coast. Figure 19 shows the image of Dubai elaborated by data of the SAR of the Sentinel1A on 30 September 2015 and has been visualised so as to facilitate the contrast in the shades of grey between the buildings, the sea and the desert. The radar image analysis is based on both the dielectric constant (therefore also on the contents of the water) and on the roughness

of the surface of the objects under observation. Numerous white dots can be seen on the sea: they show the considerable traffic of ships and boats in general, which backscatter a strong echo because they are made of metal and owing to the multiple reflection of the sides and the water. It can furthermore be seen that the dark grey colour filaments indicate a slight choppiness of the sea’s surface, suggesting the presence of land breeze in a SSE-NNW direction. Along the coast and immediately inland are the light colours of infrastructures and buildings, which highlight the geometry of the constructions: it is interesting to see that the latter begin at the level of the Palm of Gebel Ali, just a few kilometres north of the frontier with the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. At the centre on the coast the circular dams and the buildings of Palm Jumeriah can be identified, while the Palm Gebel Ali to the south and the islands of the “World” further north are not marked with shades of white, probably because the buildings are lower and therefore less reflective to radar pulses or due to a slightly different position of the radar illumination at the spacecraft pass; the works continue to complete the Deira islands, while of the original project of the third palm, the Palm Deira, there is only a short stretch of breakwaters offshore. The desert zones in the bottom right are also worthy of mention: the shades of grey seem to make out the dune systems of those arid parts, while in the centre towards the right the big communication route leading to the south-east of the United Arab Emirates is quite visible.

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Figure 13. Radar image generated from data acquired in the microwave spectral band by the Synhetic Aperture Radar of ERS-1 spacecraft on 8 March 1993. Source: ESA.

Figure 14. Radar image generated from data acquired by the SAR instrument of ERS-2 spacecraft on 30 May 1996. Source: ESA. CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

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Figure 15. Radar image generated from data acquired by the ASAR instrument of Envisat spacecraft on 29 January 2004. Source: ESA.

Figure 16. Radar image generated from data acquired by the ASAR instrument of Envisat spacecraft on 2 February 2006. Source: ESA. CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

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Figure 17. Radar image generated from data acquired by the ASAR instrument of Envisat spacecraft on 7 May 2009. Source: ESA.

Figure 18. Radar image generated from data acquired by the ASAR instrument of Envisat spacecraft on 12 March 2011. Source: ESA. CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

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Figure 19. Radar image generated from data acquired by the SAR instrument of Sentinel-1A spacecraft on 30 September 2015. Source: Copernicus Sentinel Data/ESA.

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Acknowledgements In this paper, G. De Vecchis wrote paragraphs 1-2; C. Pesaresi wrote paragraphs 3-4; M. Fea wrote paragraphs 5-12. The photos were taken by G. De Vecchis on January 2009.

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25. Siti W., Il canto del Diavolo, Milan, Rizzoli, 2009. 26. Stephenson M.L., “Tourism, development and ‘destination Dubai’: cultural dilemmas and future challenges”, Current Issues in Tourism, 17, 8, 2014, pp. 723-738. 27. Stephenson M.L. and Ali-Knight J., “Dubai’s tourism industry and its societal impact: social implications and sustainable challenges”, Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 8, 4, 2010, pp. 278-292. 28. Walker J., Butler S., Carter T. and Dunston L., Oman, UAE & Arabian Peninsula, Victoria (Australia), Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd, 2007.

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