Economics for Environment, culture and tourism

ROBERTA GEMMITI
MARCO BROGNA

The course aims to provide students with the theoretical frameworks and interpretative models of economic development and contemporary capitalism.
Students will explore the role of tourism and culture as key sectors of the globalized economy, analyzing the social, environmental, and territorial impacts generated by their development. Particular attention will be devoted to phenomena such as overtourism, gentrification, the financialization of urban space, and cultural desertification, as well as to the models and tools designed to counter these trends. Students will acquire an understanding of the various meanings of the concept of development and of its theoretical and political frameworks, with special emphasis on the sustainable development paradigm. They will trace the evolution of scientific thought and policy models that have shifted the focus of interventions from top-down to bottom-up approaches, highlighting the importance of the local dimension of development. Finally, the course will introduce a critical perspective on justice as a key interpretative lens for analyzing and assessing sustainable and participatory development choices.

The exam is jointly taught by two professors and is therefore divided into two coordinated parts.
Overall, students are expected to acquire an understanding of current economic processes, with particular attention to cognitive-cultural capitalism and the related territorial dynamics on a global scale.

It is important that the professional figures we aim to train understand the spatial and economic logics of today’s capitalism—especially in relation to the tourism sector and platform capitalism—and the possible distortions these systems may produce.

Based on this broad understanding of economic processes, students are also expected to be able to interpret different notions of growth and development, in order to imagine sustainable local development paths centered on tourism and cultural enhancement.

No specific competences are requested

Knowledge
Students will understand the global economic and spatial processes, with particular attention to tourism dynamics and their effects on the development paths of places, regions, and cities.

Skills
Students will have the conceptual tools and practical insights needed to imagine socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable local development pathways — particularly within the fields of tourism, culture, and urban regions.

Students attending the course will complete a flipped classroom assessment based on the presentation and discussion of a topic agreed upon in advance. The mark obtained in this assessment will contribute to the final course grade.

Students participating in the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project will receive a separate assessment covering the five-week international collaborative learning module. Since this component is assessed independently, the topics covered during the COIL activities will not form part of the content assessed in the final examination.

The remaining course content for the final examination will be based on the lecture slides and teaching materials presented and discussed during the course.

1) BOOK:
Bignante, Celata, Vanolo, Geografie dello sviluppo. Una prospettiva critica e globale (SECONDA EDIZIONE, 2022), nelle seguenti parti:
Capitoli 1-2-3 (per intero)
Capitolo 5 (paragrafi 1,2,4,7)
Capitolo 7 (per intero)

2) PAPER:
Montse Crespi Vallbona & Sofia Galeas Ortiz (2023) Sustainable governance versus airbnbification. The case of Barcelona, Cogent Social Sciences, 9:1,
link (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23311886.2023.2229112#abstract) e accreditandosi con le credenziali della posta elettronica di Sapienza, potreste scaricare il pdf in inglese oppure tradurlo automaticamente online sul sito della rivista

3) PAPER
Richard Sharpley (2020), Tourism, sustainable development and the theoretical divide: 20 years on, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 28:11, 1932-1946, link (https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2020.1779732) e accreditandosi con le credenziali della posta elettronica di Sapienza, potreste scaricare il pdf in inglese oppure tradurlo automaticamente online sul sito della rivista

4) PAPER
Aalbers, M. B. (2019). Financial geography III: The financialization of the city. Progress in Human Geography, 44(3), 595-607. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132519853922

Teaching is delivered through face-to-face lectures and seminars that encourage the active participation of students. As part of the course, students are expected to present and discuss projects and research activities developed individually or in groups.

For five weeks, the course incorporates a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) module. During this period, classes continue to be held in person while simultaneously connecting online with students and faculty from the partner universities participating in the project. The COIL module promotes collaborative learning in an international setting and provides students with opportunities to strengthen their teamwork, intercultural communication, and English-language presentation skills.

Attendance is strongly recommended for students wishing to follow the programme intended for attending students. In particular, regular attendance during the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) module is essential, as the international collaborative activities constitute an integral part of the learning experience and of the coursework for attending students.

The exam is oral for both attending and non-attending students.
Attending students will take part in two flipped classroom sessions. Working in groups, they will be asked to give a lesson based on materials previously provided by the lecturer.
This part of the course will account for 20% of the final grade, while the final oral exam will account for 60%.

What is meant by local development, and how would it affect our approach to territorial promotion?

What is meant by the financialization of the city?

What is meant by the cognitive and cultural capitalism?