Caricamento in corso...
Migrations and settlements (Global Challenges - Mobility)
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A.A. 2026/27
Course Language
Inglese
Degree programme(s)
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Architettura - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Meccanica (Mechanical Engineering) - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Design E Comunicazione - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Dell'Autoveicolo (Automotive Engineering) - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Informatica (Computer Engineering) - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Dell'Autoveicolo - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Electronic And Communications Engineering (Ingegneria Elettronica E Delle Comunicazioni) - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Dei Materiali - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Architettura (Architecture) - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Elettrica - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Aerospaziale - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Biomedica - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Chimica E Alimentare - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Civile - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Edile - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Energetica - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Meccanica - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Per L'Ambiente E Il Territorio - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Matematica Per L'Ingegneria - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Elettronica - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Informatica - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Fisica - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Del Cinema E Dei Mezzi Di Comunicazione - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Gestionale - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Ingegneria Gestionale - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Pianificazione Territoriale, Urbanistica E Paesaggistico-Ambientale - Torino
1st degree and Bachelor-level of the Bologna process in Civil And Environmental Engineering - Torino
Course structure
| Teaching | Hours |
|---|
Lecturers
| Teacher | Status | SSD | h.Les | h.Ex | h.Lab | h.Tut | Years teaching |
|---|
Co-lectures
Context
| SSD | CFU | Activities | Area context | *** N/A *** ICAR/12 ICAR/14 ING-INF/05 |
1,2 1,2 1,2 2,4 |
D - A scelta dello studente D - A scelta dello studente D - A scelta dello studente D - A scelta dello studente |
A scelta dello studente A scelta dello studente A scelta dello studente A scelta dello studente |
|---|
2024/25
It is estimated that around 25% of the world’s population lives in informal settlements today, 213 million people more than in 1990. In China, every year 16 million people move from the countryside to the cities. In Qatar, 99% of big developments’ workforce is made of seasonal or semi-seasonal migrants that live in extra-urban camps. In India, around 5 million people had to move in 2019 due to environmental disasters. Out of the 35 million refugees and displaced people in the world, around half live in refugee camps or analogous conditions - while the average permanence within camps is estimated between 10 and 17 years.
The course looks at settlements that exist in their current form as an effect of migrating phenomena that interest wide geographical areas and different temporal scales.
During the course, a real ongoing project within a refugee settlement will be used as study case; students will be guided through the construction of a digital tool that can support various categories of actors involved in the assessment of vulnerabilities within the project.
Students will be asked to contribute to an ongoing project and therefore work within a specific set of conditions: specific actors, specific constraints, specific instances. The final product will be the framework for a participatory process for the assessment of vulnerabilities that can work at different levels and with different categories of actors.
Technology always plays a key role in the great challenges that are currently facing humanity. Talking about digital, energy, mobility, climate, health or humanity in general, technology is mostly at the core. However, nowadays challenges cannot be reduced to a mere technical data, either analysing or designing possible solutions. To comprehend and face them successfully, all forms of knowledge are essential, from the techno-scientific field to the human, social and artistic ones. The “Big Challenges” courses are an opportunity to examine with interdisciplinary lens a number of relevant topics concerning humanity, focusing on technology and its key role on human living. In this framework, all the courses will address the UN Sustainable Development Goals, a global initiative aimed at renewing local and international policy.
DETAILED COURSE:
It is estimated that around 25% of the world’s population lives in informal settlements today, 213 million people more than in 1990. In China, every year 16 million people move from the countryside to the cities. In Qatar, 99% of big developments’ workforce is made of seasonal or semi-seasonal migrants that live in extra-urban camps. In India, around 5 million people had to move in 2019 due to environmental disasters. Out of the 35 million refugees and displaced people in the world, around half live in refugee camps or analogous conditions - while the average permanence within camps is estimated between 10 and 17 years. The course looks at settlements that exist in their current form as an effect of migrating phenomena that interest wide geographical areas and different temporal scales. During the course, a real ongoing project within a refugee settlement will be used as study case; students will be guided through the construction of a digital tool that can support various categories of actors involved in the assessment of vulnerabilities within the project. Students will be asked to work within a specific set of conditions: specific actors, specific constraints, specific instances. The final product will be the framework for a participatory process for the assessment of vulnerabilities that can work at different levels and with different categories of actors.
At the end of the course, students will have acquired tools of analysis - i.e. the ability to navigate the different basins of literature and positions pertaining to informal and migrant settlements, as well as available datasets and archives - as well as tools of synthesis - i.e. the ability to trace a course of action within conditions of scarcity. Students will be asked to produce a brief for a digital tool: the brief will combine analytic tools - the construction of one or more complex questions - and synthetic tools - the projection of one or more realistic answers that, while obviously not able to ‘solve’ the question, will point to a possible direction of development. At the end of the course, students will have come into contact with real actors within a real development, and will have gained a sense of the importance of employing design as tool for constructing interdisciplinary strategies that can have effects within specific settings.
Knowledge of UN SDGs. Understanding of the processes constituting the given global challenges (environmental costs, circular health, ecosystem services and biodiversity, technological solutions). Acquisition of the basic elements of the scientific method (falsifiability, repeatability, models, science dissemination). General knowledge of major technical elements related to the specific challenge.
DETAILED COURSE:
At the end of the course, students will have acquired tools of analysis - i.e. the ability to navigate the different basins of literature and positions pertaining to informal and migrant settlements, as well as available datasets and archives - as well as tools of synthesis - i.e. the ability to trace a course of action within conditions of scarcity. Students will be asked to produce a brief for a digital tool: the brief will combine analytic tools - the construction of one or more complex questions - and synthetic tools - the projection of one or more realistic answers that, while obviously not able to ‘solve’ the question, will point to a possible direction of development. At the end of the course, students will have come into contact with real actors within a real development, and will have gained a sense of the importance of employing design as tool for constructing interdisciplinary strategies that can have effects within specific settings.
This is intended to be a multidisciplinary course, therefore students are not required to have specific programming or design skills. Necessary tools to develop the workshop activity will be given throughout.
This is intended to be a multidisciplinary course, therefore students are not required to have specific programming or design skills. Necessary tools to develop the workshop activity will be given throughout.
The course will see moments of hands-on approach alternate with moments of literature analysis and data elaboration. Specifically, the main topics that the course will focus on are the following:
a) Permanence and temporariness: the course will look at the main theoretical positions that attempt to construct paradigms of analysis of complex settings at the different scales of action and reaction, as well as at the main international policies that regulate the physical configuration of migrant settlements;
b) Use of digital technologies for the assessment of vulnerabilities and humanitarian action;
c) Analysis techniques for Information systems:
- Stakeholders identification
- Use cases definition
- Interaction prototyping.
A first introduction to all the “Big Challenges” courses (11,5 hours) will consist of:
- the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- four samples of global challenges needing an integrated approach: 1) Climate Change and the definition of Anthropocene; 2) One Health (i.e.: pandemics and ecology); 3) Biodiversity crisis (Sixth Extinction model); 4) Beyond Problem Solving: global crisis and the evolution of technologies.
The specific challenge will then be detailed analysing the technical elements of greatest social relevance (3 hours); the following 24 hours of lectures will be structured as follows.
The course will see moments of hands-on approach alternate with moments of literature analysis and data elaboration. Specifically, the main topics that the course will focus on are the following:
a) Frames of analysis: the course will attempt to construct paradigms of analysis of complex settings at the different scales of action and reaction, through data collection and the main international policies that regulate the physical configuration of migrant settlements;
b) Use of digital technologies for the assessment of vulnerabilities and humanitarian action;
c) Analysis techniques for Information systems: - Stakeholders identification - Use cases definition - Interaction prototyping.
The course was developed and will unfold in close collaboration with Emergency Architecture and Human Rights, a non-for-profit organisation based in Denmark that works on issues of architecture and human rights, and has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Politecnico di Torino.
The case study on which students will work will be framed within EAHR’s project “A Classroom for All:” this project, which will be ongoing at the time of the course, will offer the possibility of understanding the contingencies of a real development, and will work as a given for the development of the digital tool.
The course was developed and will unfold in close collaboration with humanitarian organisations that are active in the field of migrations and the effects it has on human settlements. . The organisations will closely collaborate on the course, provide a case study, and will offer students the possibility of understanding the contingencies of a real project, which will work as a setting for the development of the digital tool.
The course will be structured as a laboratory, with a continuous intertwinement of lectures and workshops throughout. The course will be articulated into 4+1 main parts, as follows:
Part 0 (week 1-2). Introduction to the main subject (in common with the other courses)
Part 1 (week 3-4-5): Analysis. Students will develop tools to research and analyse complex settings, and will produce a comprehensive dossier of the chosen site. Group work.
Part 2 (week 6-7-8): User profiles. Students will define the characteristics of a wide user-base specific to the complex setting, thus tracing the contours of a number of possible briefs. Individual work.
Part 3 (week 9-10-11): Mockup. Students will develop a series of possible mockups of the tool, compare them and analyse different results. Group work.
Part 4 (week 12-13-14): Synthesis. Students will work towards the refinement of relevant data and the delivery of a final product to EAHR. Group work.
A first introduction to all the “Big Challenges” courses (11,5 hours) will consist of:
- the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- four samples of global challenges needing an integrated approach: 1) Climate Change and the definition of Anthropocene; 2) One Health (i.e.: pandemics and ecology); 3) Biodiversity crisis (Sixth Extinction model); 4) Beyond Problem Solving: global crisis and the evolution of technologies.
The specific challenge will then be detailed analysing the technical elements of greatest social relevance (3 hours); the following 24 hours of lectures will be structured as follows.
DETAILED COURSE:
The course adopts a laboratory approach, with a continuous intertwinement of lectures and workshops throughout.
The course will be articulated into 4+1 main parts, as follows:
Part 0 (week 1-2). Introduction to the main subject (in common with the other courses)
Part 1 (week 3-7): Analysis. Students will develop tools to research and analyse complex settings, and will produce a comprehensive dossier of the chosen site. Group work.
Part 2 (week 8-10): User profiles. Students will define the characteristics of a wide user-base specific to the complex setting, thus tracing the contours of a number of possible briefs. Individual work.
Part 3 (week 11-12): Mockup. Students will develop a series of possible mockups of the tool, compare them and analyse different results. Group work.
Part 4 (week 13-14): Synthesis. Students will work towards the refinement of relevant data and the delivery of a final product .Group work.
Brenner, Neil; Schmid Chris. “Towards a new epistemology of the urban.” City 19 (2015): 151–182.
Cockburn, A. "Writing Effective Use Cases". Addison-Wesley, 2000.
Krug, S. “Revisited: a common sense approach to Web usability” (Third ed.), New Riders, 2013.
Norman, D. "La Caffettiera del Masochista - Psicopatologia degli Oggetti Quotidiani", Giunti
Robinson, Jennifer. “Cities in a World of Cities: the Comparative Gesture.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 35.1 (2011): 1-23.
Roy, Ananya. “21st Century Metropolis: New Geographies of Theory.” Regional Studies 43:6 (2009): 819–830.
Saunders, Doug (2012). "Arrival City: How the Largest Migration in History Is Reshaping Our World", Vintage Books.
Books:
- Jared Diamond, 1997, Armi, acciaio e malattie, Einaudi, Torino, 1998 (+ nuove edizioni)
- Simon L. Lewis, Mark A. Maslin, 2018, Il pianeta umano, Einaudi, Torino, 2019.
Articles (available on Politecnico Library System website, https://www.biblio.polito.it/):
- David Morens, Anthony Fauci, 2020, “Emerging Pandemic Diseases: How We Got to COVID-19”, in Cell, 182: 1077-1092.
- Emily Elhacham, Liad Ben-Uri, Jonathan Grozovski, Yinon M. Bar-On & Ron Milo, 2020, “Global human-made mass exceeds all living biomass”, in Nature, 588: 442-444.
DETAILED COURSE:
Brenner, Neil; Schmid Chris. “Towards a new epistemology of the urban.” City 19 (2015): 151–182.
Cockburn, A. "Writing Effective Use Cases". Addison-Wesley, 2000.
Krug, S. “Revisited: a common sense approach to Web usability” (Third ed.), New Riders, 2013.
Norman, D. "La Caffettiera del Masochista - Psicopatologia degli Oggetti Quotidiani", Giunti
Robinson, Jennifer. “Cities in a World of Cities: the Comparative Gesture.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 35.1 (2011): 1-23.
Roy, Ananya. “21st Century Metropolis: New Geographies of Theory.” Regional Studies 43:6 (2009): 819–830.
Saunders, Doug (2012). "Arrival City: How the Largest Migration in History Is Reshaping Our World", Vintage Books.
Slides; Strumenti di collaborazione tra studenti;
Lecture slides; Student collaboration tools;
Modalità di esame: Prova orale obbligatoria; Elaborato progettuale individuale; Elaborato progettuale in gruppo;
Exam: Compulsory oral exam; Individual project; Group project;
...
Students will be evaluated through five main deliverables: a research dossier (group work); personas (individual work); use cases (group work); a mockup of the digital tool (group work); and an operable rielaboration of the material produced throughout the course to be presented to the actors involved in the process (group work).
In addition, since the course is carried on in laboratory mode, periodical presentations and review will provide additional basis for evaluation (both individual and group-wise), therefore continued presence in the class is required.
Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.
Exam: Compulsory oral exam; Individual project; Group project;
Students will be evaluated during the course through five main deliverables, equally weighted, namely: a research dossier (group work); personas (individual work); use cases (group work); a mockup of the digital tool (group work); and an operable rielaboration of the material produced throughout the course to be presented to the actors involved in the process (group work). In addition, the final overall presentation of the work carried out will be assessed during the oral examination.
Since the course is carried on in laboratory mode, periodical presentations and review will provide additional basis for evaluation (both individual and group-wise), therefore continued presence in the class is required.
In addition to the message sent by the online system, students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD) are invited to directly inform the professor in charge of the course about the special arrangements for the exam that have been agreed with the Special Needs Unit. The professor has to be informed at least one week before the beginning of the examination session in order to provide students with the most suitable arrangements for each specific type of exam.