Students will acquire multiple and specialized concerning: - The concept of sustainability, in its various meanings and disciplinary evolution; - The territorial analysis and representation techniques; - The understanding of the system of signs, meanings and uses that characterize the landscape; - Knowledge of the social and environmental needs; - The morphological structure of places, characters and spatial organization of settlements; - The social and cultural characteristics of local communities, their relationships with natural and built environment; - The design process at different scales, from the functional and formal point of view and in its relations with the socio-economic and environmental development. This knowledge is acquired through a system of mono-disciplinary lectures, a joint project on urban case study, seminarial discussions. Students to pass the exam must acquire ability: - To analyze the quality of the environment and open urbanized spaces, in order to choose strategies and operational tools appropriate to improve citizens' participation; - To collect, to organize and to interpret data for the territorial and social knowledge and to be able to operate with other professionals; - To understand and be able to use the planning parameters required for an urban transformation; - To predict social and environmental impacts and to evaluate the proposed transformations; - To effectively represent the project.

The skills and knowledge that the student must have acquired in previous courses will concern: technical elements of urban design, architectural history concepts in order to recognize styles and construction periods, the capacity to assess costs and real estate prices and to understand economic-financial choices, social and economic geography to understand the different settlement areas, system of local distribution of powers, urban sociology and techniques of participation.

The park as a common good: the natural protected area of Po - Alessandria-Vercellese territories. The Design Studio moves reflections on the role of natural protected areas to promote the quality of the landscape and biodiversity and for the construction of sustainable development policies. The study area is the Po Vercellese-Alessandrino Park, where students are required to develop a strategy for spatial planning and design, within the framework defined by the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism. The European charter for sustainable tourism can support a territorial project, developing the ecological environmental system, the diverse historical-architectural values, and the cultural and landscape heritage. The design activity focuses on the Po Park - Alessandria-Vercellese territories; considering also the framework of the large and local area strategies (regional and metropolitan territorial and landscape plans, natural protected area planning, PRG of the Municipalities of the Park Community). Groups of students of 3/4 members will have to provide contributions for develop policies, actions and interventions aimed at innovating perception - by tourists, users, etc. - the role of the park in the context territory and to promote socio-economic development. In particular, starting from the physical and social characteristics of the park, attention will be paid to: - the construction of strategies between the system of degraded historical and cultural assets (the historic farmhouses) and the excellence of the territories; - the enjoyment activities of the park and the activities aimed at green economy in the external territories, as well as between the policies for ecological reticularity and those for use (networks and paths); - the redesign of park access. For the innovation of the image and the role of the park as a "local business", it will be necessary to reflect on the presence of different and non-integrated activities: the system of agricultural activities, the services for use and the various production activities (from small businesses to industrial areas, etc.). The goal is to imagine adaptive system projects, from the vast scale to the urban scale, with attention to the redesign of accessibility to the park and the diversification of the accommodation offer in the area, to build new economies. The exercise will be accompanied by theoretical lessons in urban planning and social research methodology (engagement) on: analysis of the territory, territorial and landscape planning, strategies and regulatory indications for the large and local area project, the protected area plan and the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism, and suggestions for the local and vast scale projects (methodological indications and best practices).

The teaching methods include single and multi-disciplinary lectures, with the participation of external invited speakers (technical, public administrators, experts in specific fields, etc.). Visits and guided tours that will help to interpret the project context mainly in the classroom (and, if applicable, in computer labs). We will also verify periodically the design progresses. The design studio includes 3 exercises developed by groups of 4-member students.

Bibliographical references will be specified during the course by the lecturers and in relation to the specific design needs of the Atelier. In any case, the base material will be available to students for lessons and exercises, through the teaching portal. References: - R. Ingaramo and A. Voghera (eds), Topics and methods for urban and landscape design. From the river to the project, Springer, 2016 - P. Gabellini, Tecniche urbanistiche, Carocci, Roma, 2001. (capp. 4, 5, 6, 8, 9) - R. Ingaramo and A. Voghera, Planning and architecture. Searching for an approach, Alinea International, Firenze, 2012. - D. Ciaffi, S. Crivello, A. Mela A., Le città contemporanee. Prospettive sociologiche, Carocci, Roma, 2020.

Exam: Group graphic design project; Group project;

Discussion of the design experimentation by groups.

Exam: Group graphic design project; Group project;

Discussion of the design experimentation by groups.