J-Reading / N.2 - 2018 by AIIG

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), Vol. 2, Year 7, December, 2018

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 This number is focussed on some of the contributions presented during the “Esri Italian Conference 2018” (Rome, 16-17 May 2018)

Gino De Vecchis

J-Reading towards new horizons Jack Dangermond, Cristiano Pesaresi

The power of GIS language Luisa Santini, Anna Maria Miracco, Alessandro Santucci

Urban Regenerations. Application of Multi Criteria Spatial Analysis for the redevelopment of the military barracks in the historic centre of Pisa Pierluigi Cara

The role of geographic data and Open geoData in the framework of Open Government in disaster management operations: 2016 Central Italy earthquake emergency Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

GIS procedure to evaluate the relationship between the period of construction and the outcomes of compliance with building safety standards. The case of the earthquake in L’Aquila (2009) Ilaria Zambon

Using GIS Technologies for designing agro-energy districts Rossella Nicoletti

GIS applied to the urban archaeology of Enna (Sicily). Towards an archaeological potential predictive model Valentino Vitale

The middle valley of the Sinni (Italy, southern Basilicata). Analysis of visibility between medieval fortified sites (11th-14th century A.D.) Stefano Mugnoli, Fabio Lipizzi, Antonella Esposto

New ISTAT “microzones” layer: a new way to read land cover statistics

THE LANGUAGE OF IMAGES (Edited by Elisa Bignante and Marco Maggioli) Giancarlo Macchi Jánica, Melissa Tomassini, Anna Guarducci

107

Video as a support to education in geography MAPPING SOCIETIES (Edited by Edoardo Boria and Tania Rossetto) Laura Lo Presti

Extroverting Cartography. “Seensing” maps and data through art

119

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES AND (PRACTICAL) CONSIDERATIONS Antoine le Blanc, Massimiliano Tabusi, Alexis Alamel

137

The European Geonight: how to reconcile academic and popular geography TEACHINGS FROM THE PAST (Edited by Dino Gavinelli and Davide Papotti) John P. Cole

Geography of World Affairs with comments by Giovanna Giulia Zavettieri

Re-reading Geography of World Affairs by John P. Cole

147

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 5-6 DOI: 10.4458/1682-01

J-Reading towards new horizons Gino De Vecchisa a

Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy Email: gino.devecchis@uniroma1.it

It is now six years since the first issue of JReading was published in December 2012: a relatively short span of time, but such as to make an initial, even though very rapid, assessment possible which I consider all the more opportune at the moment in which I have decided to leave its direction, concurrently with my retirement as president of the Italian Association of Geography Teachers (Associazione Italiana Insegnanti di Geografia), which I had the honour to be for sixteen years and which fully endorsed the realisation of this editorial endeavour. I can safely say that the hopes expressed at the moment of the foundation of J-Reading have reached fruition, starting from the fundamental goal assigned to the Journal: that of contributing, within a framework of essential international openness in a globalised world, to the construction of a connection between didactics and research, which is absolutely strategic for the development of the subject, so as to eliminate – or at least to reduce as far as possible – the disconnection existing between the academic world and that of the school. The collaboration between university researchers and school teachers should be strengthened more and more. I also consider that in these years the Journal has successfully pursued the development of the interdisciplinary role of geography, supporting, in the education to a civil and political Copyright© Nuova Cultura

awareness, the value and social usefulness of the discipline, which – like a history of the present – challenges today’s situations, framing them in a future vision, in a smaller and smaller globe where different cultures influence each other reciprocally. It is in this spirit that J-Reading welcomed a new fundamental element: The International Charter on Geographical Education, approved by the general Assembly of the International Geographical Union, held on the occasion of its Congress in Beijing in 2016. The globality of the research-didactics process can be found in an important chapter, all dedicated to Research in Geographical Education. Lastly, it seems to me that the Journal has managed to recognise the diversity of orientations and approaches of contemporary geography, including statistical data processing, the application of new data collection and calculation techniques in computerised cartography and Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The support given by the Esri (Environmental Systems Research Institute) and ESA (European Space Agency) demonstrates the particular attention that J-Reading gives to technological progress and to the possibilities that this can produce in scientific and didactic fields and in education, as illustrated in this issue of the Journal which is dedicated to GIS applications in various areas of study. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Gino De Vecchis

The inclusion of J-Reading in the list of class “A” scientific journals by the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University System and Academic Research (Agenzia Italiana di Valutazione del Sistema Universitario e della Ricerca; ANVUR) is a cause for particular satisfaction. However, a further source of satisfaction derives from the general appreciation which J-Reading enjoys in the scientific community, as witnessed by the increasingly number of requests by colleagues who intend to publish articles and contributions. It is in fact important to maximise the exchange between researchers in the various scientific contexts and university lecturers and the different schools operating all over the world. Lastly, I would like to thank all those who with their invaluable commitment have honoured this far from simple endeavour which has been and continues to be a real scientific and cultural challenge. I have focussed on the complimentary results achieved by the Journal since the merit of these is not so much due to my work as that of the Associate Editors (from Joseph Stoltman to Sirpa Tani and Cristiano Giorda), the Scientific Committee and the Referees and the Editorial Committee. I would like to express my sincerest thanks to this expert team of friends and colleagues.

Particularly, this number of J-Reading is focussed on some of the contributions presented during the “Esri Italian Conference 2018” (Rome, 16-17 May 2018) as a testimony to the importance of the relationship that we have struck up with companies and institutions. In fact, the “Esri Italian Conference 2018” – dedicated to The Science of Where: paradigm of Italy 5.0 – provided interesting input in an interdisciplinary key and in terms of GIS innovation. To the new Editor in Chief and all those contributing in some way to J-Reading I trust that you will continue to valorise the image and presence of geography in the scientific and socio-cultural panorama in a future of ever increasing and well deserved successes.

Cristiano Pesaresi (the other Associate Editor) deserves a special thank you, as in these six years he has not only been constantly committed to J-Reading with great dedication, but has also given his precious contribution to it with ideas, innovative proposals and contacts at national and international level. I therefore think that upon my retirement from this happy experience, it is only natural that he will take over the Journal at the highest level. And I am furthermore very happy that the beginning of his direction coincides with an issue focused on GIS, which Cristiano Pesaresi had started to work on so keenly well before knowing that he was to become Editor in Chief, also because he is an important figure in the field of GIS.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 7-12 DOI: 10.4458/1682-02

The power of GIS language Jack Dangermonda, Cristiano Pesaresib a b

President of Esri, Redlands, California, USA Dipartimento di Lettere e Culture Moderne, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

1. Maps as a kind of language I have been working now for 50 years – since the foundation of Environmental Systems Research Institute (Esri), in 1969 – on building software tools that help different kinds of users do their work better. Some of this is daily management, some of it is work flows but the power of GIS is the central power, the heart of GIS is really remarkable. It’s almost magical to me. So, I’m sort of rediscovering myself and emphasising to all of GIS users all over the world to make better maps. Maps are about telling a story. Many of the maps that users make are maps that don’t tell a story. There are lines and dots and a text and graphic display but they are not leveraging the power of this communication language. So I think of maps as a kind of language and we have photographs and paintings – these are graphic expressions of reality but a map is much more powerful and we need to treat it as the power that it has. They say a photo is worth a thousand words. Well, I think a map is worth a million words because it connects with us as spatial creatures. You can relate to this beautiful graphics and this expression somehow channels into our brain the

spatial relationships and we can clearly understand them. One of my good friends, Richard Saul Wurman, was the man who started TED and one of the things he said is “Understanding precedes action”, so this language of mapping precedes action in many ways and we need as authors of the map to think of ourselves as telling stories as a foundation for human action. That means thinking a lot about the story people want to tell graphically, making it beautiful of course, but also impactful storytelling is behind this language that we have. After all, a long time ago, it was underlined that: “The final stage in any GIS project is the presentation of the results. Geographical data can be presented in many forms, including maps, graphs, statistical summaries and reports, tables and lists. All of these methods of output should ideally be provided by a GIS. Though presentation is a vital part of any substantive application and one which can require access to a wide range of commands” (Maguire and Dangermond, 1991, p. 330). Nowadays, the possibilities to present and spread the results of their works are manifold and variegated and the web constitutes an incredible source for sharing and attracting the Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Jack Dangermond, Cristiano Pesaresi

attention of a huge audience. At the same time, people wish to relate their experiences, their stories and there is the need to put in network data, maps, web applications useful to feed further data, maps and web applications in a virtuous circle.

that support many operations and run anywhere. Today, billions of GIS web maps are used to communicate a story. This is creating a new visual language. The result is the reach of GIS is expanding far beyond the domain of GIS professionals.

Getting all the way back to Columbus’s time, maps were used but their story was predicting what’s going to happen, when you get there. Where will we come to? Today, given the dynamic nature of GIS space mapping, there’s so much to be done.

As I recently underlined in a discussion, we live and work in an extraordinary world where we can study and create contexts and where we have the possibility to choose our actions and advance our proposals. We can marvellously switch to creative experiences and thanks to GIS and geography we can see things differently, suggest important solutions and act profitably (O’Keeffe, 2017, p. 5), thinking of our past, present and future.

As affirmed in 1991, the development of GIS is related to different elements and particularly (Dangermond, 1991, p. 55) hardware, to provide the fundamental enabling capabilities required; construction of a sound theoretical basis for geographical relationships and a model of how geographical reality could be abstracted for data processing; engineered software products which would encapsulate the scientific notions of spatial analysis and geographical data processing; creation of demand for spatial information in order to address complex problems about geography; creation of an industry which could manufacture and distribute GIS technology; and creation of a research environment with all its competitive mechanisms, for ensuring advances in methods and techniques. Each of these elements required appropriate institutional settings and the development of people who would create and drive these institutions.

With the modern tools and functionalities, digital maps can be used to (https:// www.esri.com/en-us/esri-map-book/foreword) tell many stories and show how creative cartography and spatial analytics are being used to create understanding and communicate this understanding effectively. […]. GIS is becoming a common and popular platform for most organizations. It provides not only visual insights and understanding but also whole new ways for collaboration. A new pattern of GIS known as Web GIS is emerging. This new paradigm leverages web services and can be used to easily make maps from distributed geographic information of nearly any format. Web GIS is enabling geographic information to be easily shared and directly used in apps

2. GIS for creating and spreading knowledge for social utility The explosive growth of the GeoWeb and geographic information contributed by users through various application programming interfaces has made GIS powerful media for the general public to communicate, but perhaps more importantly, GIS have also become media for constructive dialogs and interactions about social issues. This is something we did not recognize 10 years ago, but it is obvious to us now. This new role of GIS as social media can be understood from two perspectives. First, various users and contributors of online mapping sites have formed their own virtual community for exchanging information. […]. Second, […] A growing number of these actions have resulted in meetings in person and activities in real places. […]. In summary, GIS as media constitute a fundamental paradigm shift in GIS, from the old model of an intelligent assistant serving the needs of a single user seated at a desk, to a new mode in which GIS act as media for communicating and sharing knowledge about the planet’s surface with and among the masses. During that process, GIS not only bring people together in cyberspace but also attract people to meet in person for the common good of their community. The paradigm change also implies a simultaneous shift of technical focus, from local performance to network bandwidth, and increases interest in issues of semantic interoperability in place of

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Jack Dangermond, Cristiano Pesaresi

earlier concerns with syntactic interoperability: in other words, sharing requires a common understanding of meaning, as well as a set of common standards of format (Sui and Goodchild, 2011, pp. 1738-1739).

In the last years, GIS have seen an amazing increase in their communicative power and their potential capability to create knowledge, involving a notable amount of users. The possibilities have become so many that it is often difficult to extricate them and discern what is reliable from what only provides dicey suggestions, which are geographically unreliable or even twisted. Similar considerations can also be referred to the reflections on Big Data, which open up further multiple perspectives and another debate issue, owing to their potentialities to support useful research and activities in many fields but also for their contemporary dispersion (Pesaresi, 2017, p. 51). GIS and Big Data could feed a formula to make an in-depth analysis of many aspects and phenomena, in a spatial, multitemporal and predictive perspective, producing scenarios and simulations, models and animations with an interdisciplinary approach. Big Data – if harmonically structured and easy to find and download – could constitute the founding basis whereby to organise and create multiple and connected layers; while GIS could be the excellent instrument to realize varied digital representations, meticulous geo-statistical analysis, the “packaging” and sharing of captivating output products, such as dedicated web applications too. All this can provide a notable contribution to the progress of the state of the art in different sectors of the application, planning, landscape feature reconstruction and enhancement proposals, with the goal of social utility. However, it can do this only in the presence of researchers, analysts and professional figures who possess a wide and consolidated baggage of theoretical knowledge, methodological competences and geotechnological abilities, enhanced by geographical contents founded on the study of manuals, further deepening this knowledge through scientific journals and experiences on the field. In this case the convergence between GIS and Big Data – in a system which compulsively rotates around web opportunities and social Copyright© Nuova Cultura

media – can provide notable added value and remarkable results for the common interest. Thus, relevant progress could be recorded by knowing how to choose the right sources, profitably and relationally organising the amount of data selected, and producing digital maps, models and web applications, leaning primarily in a geographical way of thinking and operating towards a GIS environment able to speak a persuasive and communicative language. It can for example occur with (Tsou, 2015, pp. S70-S71): (1) Social life data [which] include popular social media services […], online forums, online video games, and web blogs. Many social life data include some social network information, which can be analyzed by using social network analysis methods and tools […]. (2) Health data [which] include electronic medical records (EMR) from hospitals and health centers, cancer registry data from state and local communities, official disease outbreak tracking and epidemiology data, personal health data from mobile devices, relevant social media data, crowds sourcing data for monitoring disease outbreaks and drug side effects […]. (3) Business and commercial data [which] include business transaction records […], online business reviews […], customer relationship management, supermarket membership records, shopping mall transaction records per store, credit card fraud examination, enterprise management data, and marketing analysis data. (4) Transportation and traffic data [which] include GPS tracks (from taxi, buses, Uber, bike sharing programs, and mobile phones), traffic censor data […], social media data […], and mobile phone data (from data transmission records and cellular network data). (5) Scientific research data [which] include earthquakes sensors, weather sensors, satellite images, crowd sourcing data for biodiversity research, volunteered geographic information, and census data. Some Big Data sources might be linked to multiple categories and used for multiple purposes. […]. ‘Data fusion’ and ‘linked data’ are the two key concepts in mapping Big Data, which can facilitate big ideas, big impacts, and big changes toward the future development of cartographic research.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Jack Dangermond, Cristiano Pesaresi

High competences in the use of GIS and the selection and organizing process of Big Data – together with a geographical way of reasoning and setting up work and with basic programming abilities – can also open up a series of important job opportunities. It is about job opportunities where rigour in the preparation of the work and analysis, enthusiasm and motivation, creativity and innovation are in synergy to pursue ambitious results. GIS and geography have become two connected ingredients for understanding and communicating knowledge according to a powerful language for sharing ideas, information and insights, also because people and above all the young “are visual learners and seem to be instinctively attracted to maps” since they “instantly perceive patterns, relationships and situations”. In functions of the geographical approach and in the perspective of social utility, GIS has become a tool for integration and interpreting data and urgent problems, availing of an incredible potential to reach a huge number of people thus creating a network among users and organizations all over the world. In this way it is possible to emphasize and illuminate aspects and relations, conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis, animate situations and changes, support the coordination of operations and activities. Moreover, GIS make it possible to produce specific apps, which work and can be quickly consulted everywhere through mobile phones, tablets, various appliances, web browsers, to tackle and solve critical questions, facilitate transports and communication, report the detection of faults and difficulties, and practically GIS go where people go (often without them being aware of it). GIS generate 3D models creating great fascinating opportunities for visualization, planning and analysis, where navigation and exploration functionalities are combined with the calculation and data management and extrapolation ones. And then GIS support storytelling with maps, making available numerous templates for creating and sharing maps online, in which to weave documents (cartographies, photos, paintings, texts…) of various types for creating and spreading knowledge (Wurman and Dangermond, 2017, pp. 74; 84-107).

In 1854, John Snow (1813-1858), studying the cases of cholera in Soho (London) with the support of detailed maps, highlighted the crucial influence of polluted water coming from a water pump for the transmission of the infection among the inhabitants. Practically, he identified and geolocalized the risk factor on the basis of the spatial distribution of the infection. It is an extraordinary example which shows how the “prodromes of a GIS application” in the hands of a prominent scientist provided an exceptional benefit for social utility and public health. The use of multiple GIS tools and functionalities, as the support of forward-looking brains, guided by theoretical-methodological contents in an interdisciplinary key, have an enormous intrinsic power which must explode in all its potential with tangible results in different fields of application. Big Data, geostatistical, spatial and multitemporal analysis, 3D Models and geographical rendering, 4D scenarios, reliefs obtained by drones and field surveys imported onto a GIS platform, Story Maps and web applications often represent the glue whereby to move and undertake together complex paths with profitable repercussions, which sometimes go beyond the expected results in the planning proposal phase. The possibilities of diffusion and transmission of information are nowadays extremely wide in the perspective of the raising of awareness and transformation of the means of common daily use into something that can become a considerable added value for people and the environment. For centuries, maps have stirred imaginations and inspired explorations of the unknown. Maps are a rich source of information, showing spatial relationships between climate, vegetation, population, landforms, river systems, land use, soils, natural hazards, and much more. Maps help us investigate the ‘whys of where’ the essence of scientific and geographic inquiry. […]. They explain far more than simply ‘what is where’. They are keys to uncovering the reasons for the location, interaction, and changes occurring over, on, and under our planet’s surface, and in addition, in social, cultural, and political networks that often cannot be seen or touched (Kerski, 2013, pp. 11-12).

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Jack Dangermond, Cristiano Pesaresi

GIS have a peculiar powerful language but this must be framed and contextualized in the geographical approach and education. GIS and geography have to concur towards a widespread sense of awareness, rigor of thought, ability to analytically study phenomena and problems and relationships, the desire to understand and create knowledge, enthusiasm to be an active part in the interpretative and decision-making processes. “GIS has reached a new phase in its technological development, and we are now able to move on from the purely technical point of view (of being limited by what GIS software can do) and continue to develop the critical spatial thinking aspect of geography within the framework that GIS provides us with” (Bearman et al., 2016, p. 405). The implementation of geographical and GIS education can have a crucial role in training accurate and meticulous spatial thinkers (Bednarz and van der Schee, 2006); the combination of fieldwork with GIS may provide profitable results for learning geography in a modern successful way (Favier and van der Schee, 2009); the study of geographical contents and didactical methods maximizes the inciseveness of GIS language. By harmonically integrating GIS into educational aims and learning approaches, it is possible to promote and conduct stimulating and fulfilling experiences that show the power of geography’s spatial and temporal perspectives. Moreover, it is possible to open various opportunities for geographers and expert users to consider innovative and rigorous ways in which maps can be used (Sinton, 2009, p. S7). At the same time: “Geography is one of the most interesting, vibrant, and dynamic fields of study […]. It’s also one of the most vital” (Artz, 2013, p. 5) and it can give a soul, emotional contents and operative guidelines to the analysis carried out with GIS and geotechnologies. After all: “GIS can tell us a lot about the world that is valuable and useful. But only a user who is always thinking critically can filter what is valuable and useful from what may be dangerous and misleading. Always question!” (Goodchild, 2017, p. XI).

We have great things to do. We must not be in a hurry; we must assume our responsibilities; we must also follow hard routes with enthusiasm, and we must do it in the awareness that we can do something important and that we are willing to do it for a better and better present and future. Moreover, we have to do it with a thundering geographical and GIS language, able to shake, involve and associate people: a language that is scientifically exciting.

Acknowledgements J. Dangermond wrote paragraph 1 starting from the consideration exposed in an interview released to Claudio Carboni (https://www.youtube.com/watch? reload=9&v=XaXH1LvVCiI&feature=youtu.be&t=2 52). C. Pesaresi wrote paragraph 2.

References 1. Artz M., “The New Geographers”, in Esri (Ed.), Essays in Geography and GIS, Redlands, 2013, pp. 5-6. 2. Bearman N., Jones N., André I., Cachinho H.A. and DeMers M., “The future role of GIS education in creating critical spatial thinkers”, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 40, 3, 2016, pp. 394-408. 3. Bednarz S.W. and van der Schee J., “Europe and the United States: the implementation of geographic information systems in secondary education in two contexts”, Journal Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 15, 2, 2006, pp. 191-205. 4. Dangermond J., “The Commercial Setting of GIS”, in Maguire D.J., Goodchild M.F. and Rhind D.W. (Eds.), Geographical Information Systems, vol. 1 (Principles), Harlow, Longman Scientific and Technical, Longman Group UK, 1991, pp. 55-65. 5. Favier T. and van der Schee J., “Learning geography by combining fieldwork with GIS”, International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 18, 4, 2009, pp. 261-274.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Jack Dangermond, Cristiano Pesaresi

6. Goodchild M.F., “Preface”, in Pesaresi C., Applicazioni GIS. Principi metodologici e linee di ricerca. Esercitazioni ed esemplificazioni guida, Novara, UTET – De Agostini, 2017. 7. Kerski J.J., “Understanding Our Changing World through WebMapping Based Investigations”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 2, 2013, pp. 11-26. 8. Maguire D.J. and Dangermond J., “The Functionality of GIS”, in Maguire D.J., Goodchild M.F. and Rhind D.W. (Eds.), Geographical Information Systems, vol. 1 (Principles), Harlow, Longman Scientific and Technical, Longman Group UK, 1991, pp. 319-335. 9. O’Keeffe L., “Extraordinary World. A discussion with Esri Founder and CEO Jack Dangermond on the value of the big picture”, Flora, 1, 1, 2017, pp. 4-7.

10. Pesaresi C., Applicazioni GIS. Principi metodologici e linee di ricerca. Esercitazioni ed esemplificazioni guida, Novara, UTET – De Agostini, 2017. 11. Sinton D.S., “Roles for GIS within Higher Education”, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 33, S1, 2009, pp. S7-S16. 12. Sui D. and Goodchild M., “The convergence of GIS and social media: challenges for GIScience”, International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 25, 11, 2011, pp. 1737-1748. 13. Tsou M.-H., “Research challenges and opportunities in mapping social media and Big Data”, Cartography and Geographic Information Science, 42, S1, 2015, pp. S70-S74. 14. Wurman R.S. and Dangermond J., Understanding The Science of Where. Map, 2017.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 13-26 DOI: 10.4458/1682-03

Urban Regenerations. Application of Multi Criteria Spatial Analysis for the redevelopment of the military barracks in the historic centre of Pisa Luisa Santini, Anna Maria Miracco, Alessandro Santuccia Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Energia, dei Sistemi, del Territorio e delle Costruzioni (DESTEC), University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy Email: luisa.santini@ing.unipi.it a

Received: April 2018 – Accepted: October 2018

Abstract This study deals with the redevelopment of three abandoned army barracks located in the historic center of Pisa: a military complex, a former military district – both dating to the early 20th century – and a former monastery, which became a military property in the mid-800s. They are composed of several buildings of considerable historical-architectural importance and wide green spaces now completely inaccessible. With the aim of defining a new method of analysis and decision support which can be used for modern urban planning policies, applied to various planning problems even on different levels and compatible with the real needs of citizens and administrators, we used a GIS based Multi-Criteria-Decision-Making (MCDM) approach. Specifically, we implemented it to identify new hypothetical uses for the three abandoned military areas, considering the peculiarities of the buildings included and the urban transformations connected to them. The integrated use of the Geographic Information System with MCDM makes it possible to define different qualitative and quantitative spatial criteria and indicators, and to make the contributions explicit of the different choice options towards different criteria that define the problem. A fundamental aspect was the determination and quantification of impacts that various uses could have on the entire urban fabric: for this purpose, we used the ELECTRE 3 method – integrated and developed in a GIS environment and implemented by using a proprietary programming language. The model allowed us to obtain a classification of the three barracks for each of the six new hypothetical uses defined by involving the stakeholders. The intersection between the results obtained from the application of ELECTRE 3 and the stakeholders’ preferences, makes it possible to locate the three most suitable new functions in the army barracks. Keywords: ELECTRE 3, GIS, Multi Criteria Spatial Analysis/Evaluation, Urban Regeneration

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Luisa Santini, Anna Maria Miracco, Alessandro Santucci

1. Introduction This study deals with one of the most common themes in the main Italian city centers: the redevelopment of abandoned buildings owned by the State and the Ministry of Defense. The main causes of the abandonment of these properties are to be found not only in the radical transformation of Italian defense strategies, but also in the deep economic and political crisis that has gripped the whole of Europe for over a decade. The combination of these events led to policies for the rationalization of activities and for subsequent operations aimed at reducing public debt; this includes not only actions aimed at the intelligent management of the entire capital, but also a growing sale of properties that have considerable dimensions and historical and architectural value (Storelli and Turri, 2014). The huge state capital poses a very significant issue in contemporary debate, particularly in the field of urban planning: the rethinking of methods of analysis and study for an effective reintegration of these areas into the urban fabric. With all its management problems, the phenomenon has also affected the small historic center of Pisa, which has many military areas within it composed of several buildings also of great importance and large green spaces which are currently inaccessible. The study has therefore been developed in two main parts: the first step concerned the classification and study of the phenomenon at national level and the analysis of the problem in Pisa, with particular attention to three large areas within the historical center; the second step concerned the experimentation of a new evaluation method the Multicriteria Spatial Analysis integrated with the GIS (Ferretti, 2012). The theme of the Urban Regeneration of these “urban voids” has to pursue not only sustainable strategic objectives for the buildings themselves but also innovative solutions to relevant problems of the historic center. In fact, the lack of specialized facilities here for students, particular groups of citizens and migrants is evident, but also the lack of public green spaces and the need to counter land consumption.

multiple aspects, to reach a consensus on one or more alternatives useful for the realization of more democratic and transparent regeneration plans.

2. The case study Pisa – better known as the city of the Leaning Tower – was founded in Roman Times and its oldest traces are to the north of the Arno river, the safest position for the ancient hydrological conformation of the purely marshy area (Tolaini, 1992). In the early Roman Period the first military architectures appeared, with the construction of defensive walls which were then rebuilt in the medieval period and still existing today. The historical walls constitute a physical limit of separation between the ancient city and the clearly visible twentieth-century expansion and it helps us to define the study area. Thanks to its strategic position (proximity to the sea and to two navigable rivers), the city becomes a commercial, political and military power rich in numerous civil and military buildings (Bracaloni and Dringoli, 2007). To date, eleven military areas are present in the historic center. The conditions of these areas oscillate between full activity and complete abandonment. In particular, there are three completely abandoned military areas inside the historical walls and which are analyzed in the following paragraph (Figure 1). They count not only many buildings, but also and above all 15,000 square meters of inaccessible green areas. In the early 1960s, the first proposals of the General Urban Development Plan of the city had already addressed the transfer of military functions from the center to the suburbs. The real opportunity for transformation came only in 2001 with the birth of the “Military Barracks Project” (Fontanelli and Nigris, 2004), which was however declared unfeasible owing to the huge construction costs and the countless diatribes about the true or alleged suitability of new uses in the abandoned areas.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Luisa Santini, Anna Maria Miracco, Alessandro Santucci

various project. Starting from the analysis of the performance of each alternative with respect to the criteria identified, we were able get a classification of the various scenarios consistent with the results of the study and suitable for solving the problem. 2.1 Problem analysis

Figure 1. Pisa today: the center, the track of the historical walls and the military areas. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Although there have been many regeneration proposals over time, some also defined by citizens through participatory planning paths, since then the barracks have been completely abandoned. Therefore, in order to tackle the problem, we used a decision aid approach based on the application of a Method of Multi Criteria Spatial Analysis, which allowed the breaking down and analyzing of the highly complex reality of the urban scale in all its parts. In particular a high level of complexity is related to such problems such as the adaptive reuse of existing buildings and the choice of the new function in abandoned areas, (Noorzalifah and Alauddin, 2016), or the lack of facilities and their allocation in residential districts (Vilutienė and Zavadskas, 2003). With the aim to reach the consensus over a reuse scenario for each alternative, we divided the research into three distinct phases. A first phase, concerning the analysis of the status of the areas and the regulatory framework, made it possible to understand who the main stakeholders were and to define new hypothetical compatible uses. The second phase consisted in the application of the Multi Criteria Spatial Analysis and, finally, the third phase is the delicate one of the application of the ELECTRE Method (Roy, 1968) and consists in defining a software that applies computational steps leading to the construction of rankings for the

The study areas, hereafter renamed “ALTERNATIVE” (Figure 2), are specifically: ALTERNATIVE 1: “Vito Artale” barrack, a complex of post-unitary buildings that still includes an entire block of the historic district of Cathedral Square; ALTERNATIVE 2: The former “Monastery of San Vito”, formerly the headquarters of the Finance Police, definitively abandoned in 2007 and located on Lungarno; ALTERNATIVE 3: The former Military District “Curtatone and Montanara”, abandoned since 1994 and equipped with one of the largest green lungs in the entire historic center.

Figure 2. The three alternatives. From top to bottom: the “Vito Artale” barrack, the former “Monastery of San Vito”, the military district “Curtatone and Montanara”. Source: Google Earth. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Luisa Santini, Anna Maria Miracco, Alessandro Santucci

Over the years, great interest has been shown in the areas mentioned. The most concrete redevelopment and re-use proposals were put forward mainly by a group of 5 stakeholders: the Municipal Administration, the University of Pisa, a limited company controlled in part by the Ministry of Economy and in part by private subjects like banks (Real Estate Fund for Housing), citizens and many local associations. To identify a series of hypotheses of new uses (Goal Functions) to be located in the barracks themselves, each stakeholder was interviewed directly and with various methods of investigation. For citizens and local associations we made a specific questionnaire involving about 400 people, while for the other stakeholders, interviews were made with the competent offices. The uses resulting from these interviews and compatible with the intended use and regulations established by the urban planning instruments of the historic center, can be summarized in: Museum Centre, Service Centre for the district, Private Housing, Student Residence, Tourist Structure and Music Centre / Conservatory. For each of these new uses and for each barracks we made meta-projects and, in this phase, we evaluated the possibility of inserting the main functional units of the goal functions thus avoiding a profound transformation of the buildings and the areas. Six meta-projects for each of the barracks were therefore elaborated. For each one we took into consideration the historical and architectural features as well as, where present, the archaeological, hydrogeological and landscape constraints. With the aim of creating a more detailed and comprehensive framework, in addition to the characteristics of the buildings, we proceeded with the construction of maps containing much information about the entire historic center; to do this, we inserted into the study the â&#x20AC;&#x153;spatialâ&#x20AC;? component through the use of the Geographical Information System (GIS). The use of this tool allows the immediate visualization of many characteristics of the territory, such as the distribution of services, the connections and constraints. Through its main operations of geo-processing, it allows us to obtain very useful territorial information that cannot be obtained effectively by very old maps

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which could be missing a lot of updated information such as land use, properties, green areas, the infrastructure network, etc. In so doing, we managed to evaluate the complex system of relationships that the activities establish between themselves and the territorial morphological system. The operational tool used is a desktop GIS dedicated to digital cartographic representation and allows the processing and manipulation of geo-referenced geometric data placed in relational databases. The data processed by the study of the problem and the use of the GIS software allowed us to obtain a lot of information on the current state of the historic city and gave a solid framework on which to be able to make an even more careful analysis oriented towards the resolution of the problem and the design of more awareness oriented recovery plans. 2.2 Application of Multi Criteria Spatial Analysis To deal with the problems related to territorial governance and planning, we decided to intersect the elaborations of a Multi Criteria Decision Method (MCDM) with a Geographical Information System (GIS). MCDM offers a methodology to support the decision makers in defining policies dealing with very high complex urban or territorial systems (Gerdes and Spero, 2013). MCDM consists of a set of techniques that aim to comparatively assess alternative projects or heterogeneous measures (Bevilacqua et al., 2017). The current objective of this research is to develop tools to allow public participation with a view to guaranteeing access and equity (Casini et al., 2016). This is how the Spatial Multi Criteria Analysis was born and it is one of the most interesting developments in analysis and evaluation in the field of territorial transformation. To apply the Spatial Multi Criteria Analysis, it is necessary to break down the object of the analysis into simple factors (the criteria), which describe it exhaustively, and that can be analyzed separately (Cappellano et al., 2005). The criteria can be qualitative,

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quantitative and/or spatial (Malczewki, 2006) and they are therefore the measurable aspect of the judgment to which the alternatives are subjected. They can be subdivided into further sub-criteria that better represent certain aspects. For each of the goal functions of the study we have defined a set of four criteria in which a finite number of sub-criteria converge; specifically, we considered 18 sub-criteria (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Structure of the Spatial Multicriteria Analysis: GOAL FUNCTION - CRITERIA SUBCRITERIA and ALTERNATIVE. Source: Authorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; elaboration.

2.2.1 Criterion A: functional feasibility This criterion aims to evaluate the compatibility of alternatives with the selected goal functions. This was possible only after a thorough study of the design characteristics of the various hypotheses. The same criterion has been divided for each goal function into five sub-criteria (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5) that identify in an overall way the possibility of being able to distribute the functions of each goal in the three alternatives. The most important characteristics are, therefore, the heights of the rooms, the accessibility, the availability of usable square footage, the presence of services and premises for the equipment and the possibility of breaking down the architectural barriers. Naturally, the sub criteria of this family vary according to the function that we must evaluate; in the quantification of the sub-criteria, the regulatory provisions concerning the intended use and the

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possibility of recovery of historical areas are binding. 2.2.2

Criterion B: urban sustainability

The theme of sustainability of the interventions is the basis of the three other families of criteria. To ensure sustainable development, we must consider three inseparable dimensions: the economic dimension, the environmental dimension and the social dimension. Territorial planning has implications in all three dimensions, and therefore each choice must meet certain requirements for each of them. The sub-criteria defined therefore concern the coherence with the urban planning forecasts (B1) and with the functions present in the area of influence (B3), relations with other services (B2), accessibility and mobility (B4) and finally, the level of livability of the neighborhood (B5). 2.2.3

Criterion C: economic sustainability

With the same aim of sustainability, through the identification of four other sub-criteria, we also assessed the economic dimension. In this case, the definition of the criteria aims at evaluating, in the first instance and for each location, the pros and cons of choosing one Goal Function over another. We have identified four sub-criteria that consider not only the quality of the intervention in relation to its uniqueness (C1), but also the costs for the development of feasibility studies (C2), for interventions on an urban scale (C3) and the preventive restoration of places (C4). 2.2.4

Environmental sustainability

The last sub-criteria family refers to environmental sustainability, a very important aspect for the strategic policies of the Tuscany Region. The data reported by ISPRA (in the last 50 years Italy has consumed about seven square meters per second of land) highlight the situation of our country, where in very short time the consumption of soil will lead to the complete saturation of urban areas (ISPRA, 2017). One of

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the actions that must absolutely be undertaken is that of the reuse and reconversion of abandoned buildings and areas, paying close attention to their eco-sustainable performance (Legambiente, 2016). In this sense, the sub-criteria identified refer to the environmental impact (D1) and the maximization of the green areas in the historical centers (D4), the energy efficiency (D2) and to the preservation of the historical vocation (D3). 2.3

Assigning weights to criteria and subcriteria and choosing of the indicators

To assign an order of relative importance to the set of criteria and sub-criteria, it was necessary to assign them a “RELATIVE WEIGHT”, i.e. a numeric dimensionless value, which sets the priority assigned to the various aspects of the problem; for this reason, it never has an absolute value, but only a relative one. There are many weight assignment techniques, but the one used in this work was the Pairs Comparison Method, also called the SAATY’s Method of Eigenvalues (Saaty, 1988). This method involves comparing of the criteria and sub-criteria in pairs, related by their performance. This comparison is associated with a number chosen on a linear scale, called Saaty’s Scale (Table 1).

DOMINANCE INTENSITY 1 3 5 7 9 2,4,6,8 reciprocals (1/2, 1/3, …)

DEFINITION indifference moderate preference strong preference very strong preference extreme preference intermediate preference judgments to measure the degree of dominance of Aj to Ai

The result is a positive, diagonal and symmetrical matrix from which, through the calculation of the Maximum Eigenvalue, the Consistency Index and the verification of the Consistency Ratio, we obtain the WEIGHTS to assign to the criteria and sub-criteria (Saaty, 1980). The matrix of the comparison in pairs of the four main criteria is shown in Table 2. From this comparison we obtained the weights that is the importance that each family of sub-criteria (A, B, C and D) takes within the Multi Criteria Evaluation (Table 3).

CRITERIA WEIGHTS Criteria

WEIGHT

0.237

0.400

1/3

1/2

0.152

1/3

0.211

TOTAL

1.000

Table 2. Comparison in pairs of the four Criteria. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

The same method is used to obtain the relative weights of each sub-criteria family in relation to each analyzed goal function so as to obtain the importance of each sub-criterion of evaluation on the project in question. The matrices analyzed were therefore of this type: Once we define the weights, there is the most delicate phase of the whole analysis, i.e. the choice of Indicators. The Indicator is the numerical element that allows the defining in synthetic, measurable and objectively verifiable terms of the criteria and, in this specific case, the sub-criteria.

Table 1. Saaty’s linear scale. Source: Saaty, 1980.

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SUB-CRITERIA WEIGHTS A

RELATIVE WEIGHT 0.363

1/3

1/2

0.130

1/2

0.160

1/2

0.235

1/ 3

1/2

0,112

1/3

1/2

RELATIVE WEIGHT 0.102

0.261

1/3

1/2

0.111

1/2

0.284

0.241

1/2

RELATIVE WEIGHT 0.241

1/2

0.208

0.374

1/3

0.177

RELATIVE WEIGHT 0.370

1/3

1/2

0.138

1/3

0.123

0.370

in a specific area. In this case the objects analyzed are the barracks and the area corresponds to the neighborhood in which they are located. In this research, we have identified a set of 18 sub-criteria referring to each of the three study alternatives with both qualitative and quantitative indicators. The Tables 4, 5, 6 and 7 summarize the method of processing the subcriteria and the Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7 are examples about the method used to calculate some sub-criteria indicators.

criteria

sub criteria

indicator

A1 A2 A3 A4 A5

qualitative indicator Available areas for the localization of the new uses decided in relation to 18 meta projects

U.M.

processing method

Survey of the status of the areas and processing using the AutoCAD technical drawing program.

Table 4. Choice of indicators of the sub-criteria of Criterion A, related processing method and units of measure. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Table 3. Comparison in pairs of the sub-criteria with respect to the Goal Function “Museum”. The same evaluation was made for the five other Goal Functions for a total of 24 pair comparisons. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Given the nature of the sub-criteria and the heterogeneity of the elements to be quantified, each indicator can be qualitative or quantitative and be represented with different units of measurement. It is fundamental to highlight that criteria (and sub-criteria) and indicators are not the same thing. In fact, the indicators have a different importance and units of measurement in relation to each criterion and sub-criterion. For example, if you take the “closeness to health facilities” as an assessment criterion, the indicator will be the distance (linear meters) between the objects analyzed and the health facilities located Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Figure 4. Study for the construction of quantitative indicators of sub-criterion A (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5) for the Goal Function “Student Residence”: each color corresponds to a sub-criterion to which the quantity in square meters of the identified area is assigned as an indicator. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

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B3 B

qualitative indicator Verification of the compatibility of the intervention with the current regulatory framework quantitative indicator Calculation of the average distance between the studied alternatives, the services and activities related to the Goal Function quantitative indicator calculation of the percentage presence of residential house numbers within a 500 m influence radius from each studied alternative quantitative indicator Calculation of the average distance from the study alternatives to the main nodes of mobility and urban accessibility quantitative indicator Calculation of the percentage presence of abandoned buildings within a 500 m influence radius for each studied alternative

Valuation scale 0-1

Traditional analysis of the current regulatory framework

DIJKSTRA ALGORITHM for minimum paths and average distances; data processing through functions implemented within sw GIS

data processing through functions implemented within sw GIS

DIJKSTRA ALGORITHM for minimum paths and average distances; data processing through functions implemented within sw GIS

Figure 5. Example of the construction of the indicator of sub-criterion B2 for the Goal Function “Museum”: calculation of the average distance from alternatives to necessary services (method: Dijkstra’s Algorithm). Source: Authors’ elaboration.

number

data processing through functions implemented within sw GIS

Valuation scale 0-1

Technical evaluation

quantitative indicator Calculation of the cost of site preparation of each alternative for the Goal Functions

€

Measurement of the areas to be demolished or reconstructed using the AutoCAD technical drawing program

qualitative indicator Evaluation of the necessity of preventive actions for the safety of the study areas

Valuation scale 0-1

Technical evaluation

data processing through functions implemented within sw GIS

Table 5. Choice of indicators of the sub-criteria of Criterion B, related processing method and units of measure. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

quantitative indicator Counting of similar and / or equal functions qualitative indicator Evaluation of the need for further study on study alternatives

Table 6. Choice of indicators of the sub-criteria of Criterion C, related processing method and units of measure. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

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Figure 6. Example of the construction of the indicator of sub-criterion C1 for the Goal Function “Tourist Structure” i.e. the presence of similar activities within a radius of influence of 500 meters from each barracks. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

qualitative indicator Evaluation of the acoustic impact of the Goal Function on each of the study alternatives quantitative indicator Calculation of roof surfaces suitable for hosting integrated photovoltaic systems qualitative indicator Evaluation of the coherence of the Goal Function with the historical and architectural vocation of the study alternatives quantitative indicator Summation of public green areas and those with free access within 500 m of each alternative

Valuation scale 0-1

data processing through functions implemented within sw GIS

Measurement of the areas using the MAutoCAD technical drawing program

Valuation scale 0-1

Technical evaluation

data processing through functions implemented within sw GIS

Table 7. Choice of indicators of the sub-criteria of Criterion D, related processing method and units of measure. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

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Figure 7. Example of the construction of the indicator of sub-criterion D4 for the Goal Function “Services Center” i.e. the presence of public green areas in the historic center. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

3. ELECTRE 3: the software and the ranking of alternatives Once we had defined the Weights and Indicators of the criteria and sub-criteria, we proceeded to the application of the ELECTRE Method, developed by Bernard Roy in the mideighties (Roy, 1985). The acronym comes from the French term “ELimination Et Choix TRaduisant the REalité” (Elimination and choice translating to reality) and is a Multi Criteria evaluation method making it possible to draw up a ranking of the alternatives with respect to the evaluation criteria outlined (weights and indicators) and to the study goals (for a review of on ELECTRE group methods see also Roy, 1996). The combination of GIS and Electre offers the possibility of using the information provided by the GIS mapping to the categories of evaluation according to multiple, conflicting and incommensurate evaluation criteria (Sánchez-Lozano et al., 2014). As mentioned, the three decision alternatives can be represented in the physical space of the study area territory. In this case, through the construction of a dedicated application (Figure 8) within the software and written directly in the computer language (Avenue), it was possible to

implement all the phases of the ELECTRE 3 procedure directly in the GIS environment.

Figure 8. Software structure and description of the computational step. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

The ranking process of spatial decision alternatives is divided into five steps. In the first two phases all the basic information (performance matrix, preference table) is loaded. In the third phase the matrices of concordance and discordance are computed and in the fourth step the construction of the credibility matrix takes place. Finally, in the fifth and last phase the distillation process is implemented; it involves the construction of the two ascending and

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descending orders from which the final order derives (Figure 9). Then, after quantifying the values of the indicators for each sub-criterion and establishing the weight vector to be attributed to the different criteria and subcriteria, we proceeded with the construction of the Thresholds of Preference, Indifference and Veto. They provide the instrument described below with all the information necessary for the classification of alternatives with respect to the functions (Lapucci et al., 2009). For one alternative to surmount another, it is necessary for the reasons in its favor to be sufficiently strong compared to the contrary ones: this makes it possible to calculate the Index of Credibility and the related table. In fact, to extract alternatives from the matrix, there are two distillation algorithms: one from the top, from the best to the worst, and one from the bottom, that extracts them from the worst to the best.

Thus, two pre-rankings are obtained; only from the intersection of these will it be possible to reach the final ranking (Enea, 2017). At the end of the two processes, the two scores are added up and the alternatives are sorted by decreasing value: the one with the highest score is the best. We have implemented the procedure described and the relative computational steps for each of the six evaluated Goal Functions.

4. Analysis results and the final choice Once the results are obtained we can analyze the output data according to the priorities of the intended uses desired by the stakeholders. If we limited ourselves only to the three winning objective functions (chosen according to the interests of the stakeholders), the analysis carried out would risk being a merely political justification. Therefore, we tried to conduct a broader and more shared analysis by addressing the problem on two precise fronts: we made a clear separation between the technical and political evaluation of the problem. Finally, to achieve the most satisfactory choice in terms of transparency and compromise, we crossed the data coming from the priority of the stakeholder function and the final orders produced by the subclass of alternatives on each objective function. The three best goal functions according to the intersection of the evaluations and best suited to the three military areas according to the study conducted are: the Student Residence for the “Vito Artale” barracks; the Museum for the former San Vito Monastery; the Service Center for the former Military District (Figure 10).

Figure 9. ELECTRE’s ranking: software results. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

The Student Residence in the “Vito Artale” barracks has 200 rooms that can be reused immediately. By creating “a campus as big as the city”, it fits very well into the territorial organization of the University of Pisa, which spreads throughout the historic center. The Museum in the former San Vito Monastery is physically part of the municipal administration project of the Museum Park

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located in the Galilean Citadel rich in many other cultural and landscape activities. The Service Center in the former Military District fits very well into a morphologically very old and purely residential district in which there is a great lack of tertiary services. The task of this methodology is to ensure that the final choice reaches the right compromise between the three goal functions declared most strategic by stakeholders and the three barracks declared most suitable by the Spatial Multi Criteria Analysis. The goal of these tools is not to determine a choice by systematically applying the software, but to give a support to the decision through the application of methods of territorial investigation useful to better understand and visualize the relationship that different future scenarios can have on the urban fabric. The use of GIS also makes it possible to obtain a continuous update of the characteristics of the territory thus facilitating the study of its transformations. As in this case, the software provided the ranking of the adequacy of the three alternatives to new uses, but the final choice was determined by the first users of the projects: citizens and stakeholders, whose interests entered in the process through the results of the questionnaires. The opportunity of these tools lies in the real collaboration of the politicians and administrators with the community. The participation of the actors from the initial phases of the planning process allows the reduction of conflicts; more and more often the strong opposition of the citizens (Conti, 2011) prevents, by delaying or increasing costs, the implementation of policies related to territorial transformations (Santini, 2011). In a bottom-up logic, by becoming part of the process right from the initial cognitive phases, the local community can on the one hand collaborate to better determine the urban policies, and on the other can accept the decision without strong opposition.

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Figure 10. The intersection between the technical evaluation and the stakeholdersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; preferences. Source: Authorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; elaboration.

5. Conclusions One of the recurring problems in the choices of urban planning is the evaluation of alternative scenarios. To choose the best one or the one that is able to gather the greatest number of consents, we have to take into account the territorial effects of the different projects and the preferences of all the actors involved in the process. The method that we have implemented makes it possible to reduce the complexity of the problem, giving a simplified evaluation scheme. The use of the ELECTRE Method enables those involved to make a real selection of the possibilities and to better determine which are the most valid choice alternatives on purely normative and technical elements. A further advantage concerns the integrated use of Multi Criteria Analysis and GIS. This allows us to evaluate the problem in spatial and geographical terms. In fact, it allows us to measure and

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compare different criteria that distinguish present and future scenarios. The methodology that we described and which uses the implementation of these tools, makes it possible to reach a better compromise choice, as it enables citizens, administrators and politicians to obtain and know many more elements from the beginning of the process. The support of the technicians is fundamental in order to reach the final decision. In fact, this methodology creates the precondition to define the elements of the analysis (goal function, criteria) and to measure the indicators in a rigorous way. The work carried out is an experiment of new methods to develop in the planning of our cities, setting the right basis for an increasingly participatory, transparent and sustainable urban science. The results obtained from this research have also received positive feedback from the city administration which has meanwhile started a redevelopment program for the barracks with the Real Estate Fund for Housing. The real route that saw the sale of the “Artale” barracks and the former Military District has committed the buyer to building a student residence in the “Artale” barrack and a complex of social housing in the former District, although for the latter the difficulties linked to historical and architectural constraints are impressive. The former Monastery of San Vito remains outside this new Barracks Project. For this third barrack there have been no updates compared to its hypothetical redevelopment despite the opening of the Museum of Ancient Ships in the Medicean Arsenals that are in the same building complex.

References 1. Bevilacqua M.G., De Falco A., Giuliani F., Landi S., Pecori S. and Santini L., “Reusing grain silos from the 1930s in Italy. A multi-criteria decision analysis for the case of Arezzo”, Journal of Cultural Heritage, 2017, pp. 145-159. 2. Bracaloni F. and Dringoli M., Architetture militari a Pisa: demilitarizzazione e nuovi usi, Pisa, Pacini Editore, 2007. 3. Cappellano D., Skonieczny G. and Torrisi B., “L’analisi multicriterio per la valutazione di progetti pubblici: il software e un’analisi empirica”, Statistica applicata, 17, 3, 2005, pp. 451-467. 4. Casini C., Pecori S. and Santini L., Analisi di sensibilità del territorio alla realizzazione di infrastrutture di trasporto, Pisa, Pisa University Press, 2016. 5. Conti E., “Dal NIMBY al consenso: il caso concreto di una centrale termoelettrica”, in Santini L. (Ed.), Partecipazione nei processi decisionali e di governo del territorio, Pisa, Pisa Universiy Press, 2011, pp. 113-126. 6. Enea M., “Tecniche multicriterio di surclassamento”, Proceedings of XXII Summer School “F. Turco” (Palermo, 13-15 September 2017), Palermo, 2017. 7. Ferretti V., “L’integrazione tra Analisi Multicriteri e Sistemi Informativi Geografici a supporto delle procedure di valutazione”, 2012, http://www.eyesreg.it/ 2012/lintegrazione-tra-analisi-multicriterie-sistemi-informativi-geografici-asupporto-delle-procedure-di-valutazione/. 8. Fontanelli P. and Nigris E., La trasformazione delle caserme storiche di Pisa: valorizzazione urbana e percorsi di fattibilità, Rome, INU Edizioni, 2004. 9. Gerdes J.W. and Spero E., “A Compact Review of Multi-criteria Decision Analysis Uncertainty Techniques”, Army Research Laboratory, 2013, https://www.arl.army. mil/arlreports/2013/technical-report.cfm?id =6705. 10. ISPRA (Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale), “XIII Rapporto Qualità dell’ambiente Urbano”, 2017, http://www.isprambiente.gov.it. 11. Lapucci A., Santucci A. and Cofrancesco A., “L’aiuto alle decisioni multicriteri e le Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Luisa Santini, Anna Maria Miracco, Alessandro Santucci

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tecniche di analisi spaziale per la valutazione territoriale integrata: l’individuazione di un corridoio stradale di minimo impatto”, Proceedings of XXX Conferenza Italiana di Scienze Regionali (Bolzano, 26-28 September 2009), 2009. Legambiente, “Ecosistema urbano 2016: Rapporto sulla qualità ambientale dei comuni capoluogo di Provincia”, 2016, https://www.legambiente.it/contenuti/dossi er/ecosistema-urbano-2016. Malczewski J., “GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis: a survey of the literature”, International Journal of Geographical Information Science, 2006, pp. 703-726. Noorzalifah M.N. and Alauddin K., “The Criteria For Decision Making In Adaptive Reuse Towards Sustainable Development”, MATEC Web of Conferences, 66, 2016. Roy B., “Classement et choix en présence de points de vue multiples (la méthode ELECTRE)”, La Revue d’Informatique et de Recherche Opérationelle (RIRO), 8, 1968. Roy B., Méthodologie multicritère d’aide à la decision, Paris, Economica, 1985. Roy B., Multicriteria methodology for decision aiding, Dordrecht/Boston, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1996. Saaty T.L., The Analytic Hierarchy Process, New York, McGraw Hill, 1980.

19. Saaty T.L., Multicriteria decision making the analytic hierarchy process. Planning, priority setting, resource allocation, Pittsburg, RWS Publishing, 1988. 20. Sánchez-Lozano J.M., Henggeler Antunes C., García-Cascales M.S. and Dias L.C., “GIS-based photovoltaic solar farms site selection using ELECTRE-TRI: Evaluating the case for Torre Pacheco, Murcia, Southeast of Spain”, Renewable Energy, 66, 2014, pp. 478-494. 21. Santini L., “Partecipazione e governo del territorio”, in Santini L. (Ed.), Partecipazione nei processi decisionali e di governo del territorio, Pisa, Pisa Universiy Press, 2011, pp. 49-60. 22. Storelli F. and Turri F., Le caserme e la città: i beni immobili della Difesa tra abbandoni, dismissioni e riusi, Rome, Palombi Editore, 2014. 23. Tolaini E., Forma Pisarum: storia urbanistica della città di Pisa, problemi e ricerche, Pisa, Nistri Lischi, 1992. 24. Vilutienė T. and Zavadskas E.K., “The application of Multi-Criteria Analysis to decision support for the facility management of a residential district”, Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 2003, 9, 4, pp. 241-252.

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Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 27-39 DOI: 10.4458/1682-04

The role of geographic data and Open geoData in the framework of Open Government in disaster management operations: 2016 Central Italy earthquake emergency Pierluigi Caraa a

Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Civil Protection Department, Rome, Italy Email: pierluigi.cara@protezionecivile.it Received: June 2018 – Accepted: October 2018

Abstract This paper focuses on the application of the Open Government principles and particularly on the activity of data releasing by Public Administrations, also as open data. Open Data is a measure that allows Open Government to contribute significantly to the implementation of the Government’s transparency in its action. In addition to transparency, however, the degree of citizen participation in decision-making processes driven by data, as well as the capability of individual administrations to communicate with each other according to the data policies in place is given. For the scope of conducting an analysis of the effective implementation of Open Government, a specific model of interpretation is applied in the context of emergency management caused by a catastrophe at national level. By analysing the large amount of data generated and the sharing and communication dynamics of the same data among the numerous actors involved in the emergency and the citizens themselves, we can assess the crucial value of their use in the decision-making process. The state of emergency selected is the very recent one arising from the sequence of earthquakes that hit central Italy starting from the event of 24 August 2016, followed by the subsequent ones of 26 and 30 October 2016. Among the data examined, special attention is given to geographical data, for their relevant role in decision-making processes. The results achieved testify to the importance of adopting Open Government policies, nevertheless measuring the distance that still exists in the application of Open Government principles accounted for in this research (some aspects of transparency and collaboration), with regard to the bottom-up initiatives implemented by non- institutional bodies compared to the top-down ones operated by central and regional institutions. Keywords: Central Italy, Earthquake, Emergency Management, Open Data, Story Maps

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Pierluigi Cara

fast decision-making, often requiring entirely new and unusual (not ordinary) approaches and instruments.

1. Introduction The Open Government policy was launched during Obama’s Presidency in the White House with the issuing of the Memorandum of Transparency and Open Government (Obama, 2009). After almost ten years, despite the questions and doubts regarding the future of this policy, there are widespread forms of access and adoption of Open Government throughout the world, which confirm its importance 1. Notwithstanding what has been briefly described above, up to now the application of the Open Government principles (Figure 1) has never been analysed during a state of emergency at national level. The devastating and tragic earthquake that hit Central Italy in 2016 (Chiaraluce et al., 2017; Emergeo Working Group, 2017), is the event that provided the opportunity to conduct this research. The choice of this particular case study was motivated by the fact that data exchange, even in its freest and most current open form, represented by Open Data, appears to be one of the key elements in decision-making and operational processes in the context of emergency management. Among the numerous and diverse factors to deal with in an emergency context, which make the analysis conducted in this research particularly interesting, are the following: • the collaboration of almost all subjects (public and private) operating in civil society, at all levels of decision-making and their involvement in complex and cross-cutting procedures, often never experienced before and sometimes innovative; • the simultaneous coordination of a wide variety of issues: ranging from legal to scientific, from cultural and religious to information and communication, from health care to the supply of essential services and so forth; • the rapid occurrence of events and their extraordinary intensity and scale demanding 1

For example: for more information regarding this theme see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/ and http://open.gov.it/ for Italy.

Figure 1. Description diagram of Open Government principles. Source: DemocratieOuverte.org (Mabi,

2015).

In this complex changing scenario, data and data flows become crucial, a formidable tool for making the most appropriate decisions and sharing them. Finally, among all the data in an emergency, geographical data (Open and non) is extremely important, as is effectively summarised, in the article by Carlucci et al. (2016) or by the detailed and skilled mapping activities conducted by the Open Street Map community through its Tasking Manager2. In order to achieve the desired result, a comparative assessment of the various initiatives related to the data and implemented during the emergency phase was conducted by citizens and international organisations, research bodies and institutional actors at all government levels, through the adoption of a specific analysis model (De Blasio, 2016b; De Blasio and Sorice, 2016), adapted for the case under assessment. Through this methodology, the issue of open data is examined in the wider context of the application of those Open Government principles, which are more relevant to the production and exchange of open data. 2

http://osmit-tm.wmflabs.org/project/13.

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2. Analysis model adopted for the case study on the earthquake events that hit Central Italy in 2016 With particular regard to the diagram of Open Government variables and dimensions proposed by Sorice (2014) and further reiterated by De Blasio (2014, 2016a) (Table 1), as well as to the analysis model for democratic platforms developed by De Blasio (2016b; De Blasio and Sorice, 2016), for the purpose of this paper, a model of analysis of Open Data is introduced to be applied to a certain number of subjects who produced data in the framework of the study case examined3.

Table 1. Variables and specific dimensions of Open Government. Source: Sorice, 2014; De Blasio, 2014, 2016a.

The application of the model allows a comparative assessment of the data produced during the emergency phase in view of the application of some of the principles of Open Government. Compared to the above diagrams and models, this analysis is not complete since only transparency and part of the collaboration variable are vertically assessed. However it is useful to define an objective and sufficiently adequate picture of the application of Open Government policies to the data produced during an emergency. With regard to the Transparency variable, the indicators taken into account by De Blasio 3 Copernicus EMS, Open Street Map, TerremotoCentroItalia, Italian Regions (Lazio, Marche, Umbria and Abruzzo), Italian Revenue Agency (Cadastral Cartography), Italian National Institute of Statistics, National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology, Di.Coma.C. (Civil Protection National Service).

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(2016b; and De Blasio and Sorice, 2016), refer to the presence or absence of Open Data and its effectiveness as a tool to increase accountability. These two aspects are of fundamental importance to assess the presence of a policy of data opening and its effectiveness. Given the focus of this work on data, alongside the indicator of the presence or absence of Open Data, some of the specific features of Open Data have been added, as they are described both by OKI (Open Knowledge International, 2016) and from art.1 subparagraph 1, items l bis) and l ter) of the Digital Administration Code4. These are indicators relating to the data format, availability as a user license, quality intended as updating and documentation through metadata and accessibility intended as usability through information and communication technologies. This additional information allows for a more effective identification of the data characteristics so as to be able to attribute a first but significant level of quality of the data itself. As far as concerns the Collaboration variable, among the numerous indicators foreseen in the De Blasio study (2016b; and De Blasio and Sorice, 2016), we selected those relating to the horizontality or symmetry of powers and others related to the institutionalisation variable. The former were selected because they are related to the accountability mechanisms, which as already mentioned are closely connected to the issue of transparency and help to understand whether or not citizens are actually directly involved in an empowerment process and take on an equal role with respect to the administration in decisionmaking processes. The latter were selected to analyse the degree of collaboration among all the actors involved in the data publication process, at all levels of legitimacy, including also non-traditional or even innovative standardisation tools, and to verify the status and capabilities of the administration to dialogue and open up to the outside.

D.Lgs. 07/03/2005, No. 82, Codice dellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;amministrazione digitale. Published in the Official Gazzetta (G.U.) 16 May 2005, No. 112, S.O.

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Transparency Variable

Indicator

Analysis

Value

Open Dataset

Availability of the dataset according to classified and shared technical standards codified in international norms. Presence of open formats.

Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5) Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5) Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5) Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5) Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5) Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5) Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5) Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5)

Format

Open Data

Monitoring

License

Presence of a license allowing anyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s use of dataset for commercial use also.

Update

Guarantee of updating of dataset.

Metadata

Presence of a codified documentation of dataset according to international standards.

Open Data reuse

Presence of contents, applications, instruments o procedures reusing dataset.

Communication

Presence of instruments for sharing strategies to be implemented in the middlelong term period by the dataset owner. Presence of instruments /tools to report (including geographic) defaults, problems, suggestions/recommendations on operations needed by the dataset owner.

policy objectives

public policies

Reports

Collaborative Governance Variable Horizontality

Indicator

Analysis

Value

Legitimacy output

Obligation of the dataset owner to motivate his decisions regarding proposals/requests on the dataset proposed by the citizens through participation and/or deliberative processes Possibility on behalf of the citizens to assess or monitor the implementation of co-decided policies regarding dataset. Presence of a law/regulation related to making dataset available

Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5)

balance of powers

Accountability Presence of legal/ Institutionalization

institutional device Mutuality of legal/ institutional device

Possibility for citizens to draft in collaboration with the dataset owner the law/regulations for opening the dataset.

Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5) Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5) Presence(1), absence (0), hybrid situation (0,5)

Table 2. Scheme of dimensions, variables and indicators used in the analysis per each data producer and the value assigned to each indicator. Source: De Blasio, 2016b and De Blasio and Sorice, 2016.

As already stated, all indicators have been declined with respect to the specific issue of production and opening of datasets during the

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management of an emergency, which in fact constitutes the subject of this research. Finally, the analysis was applied to a variety of subjects

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that are not all referable to public administrations, also to compare all the dynamics within the different components of society and the relationships of each with the citizens. In Table 2 the meaning assigned to each indicator for analysis is summarised in the Analysis column.

3. Emergency management operations following the 2016 earthquake events that struck Central Italy On 24 August 2016, an earthquake of Richter scale magnitude 6.0 struck Central Italy with its epicentre in the Municipality of Accumoli in the Province of Rieti of the Lazio region at 3.32 am. A second earthquake of magnitude 5.4 occurred at 4.33 am in the same area (Figure 2). The effects were devastating.

Following all the search and rescue operations the total number of victims reported was 299 with numerous injured5. Many roads were interrupted or heavily damaged, also due to concurrent landslides. There were also numerous heavily damaged towns, including Amatrice, Accumoli, Arquata del Tronto and Pescara del Tronto (Galli et al., 2016). The cultural heritage of the area concerned was also severely damaged, both in terms of the artistic and architectural heritage, and in the building fabric of the historical centres of the various areas affected. The Governmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s response to the tragic events was immediate, and on 25 August 2016 the declaration of the state of emergency lasting 180 days was officially issued across the territory of the four Regions of Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Umbria. The epicentre of the seismic event was dramatically positioned in terms of local government management along the borders of the above-mentioned four regions. On 26 October 2016 two more quakes occurred; the first one at 19.10 with a magnitude of 5.4 and the second one at 21.18 with a magnitude of 5.9. A few days later on 30 October 2016 a devastating earthquake of magnitude 6.5 hit at 7.40 am, destroying the building stock of the affected area. Fortunately, it caused no deaths, since the population involved had already been cautioned to leave their homes, but the number of people left without a home, as well as damage, grew exponentially. The events increased the damage to the cultural heritage of the area affected. As shown in Figure 3, the area hit by the seismic events spread from the initial 62 municipalities to an additional 69 municipalities, thus involving more distinctly the Marche and Umbria regions (Galli et al., 2017).

20 Kilometers

Figure 2. Area hit by the two seismic events of 24 August 2016, shows distribution of intensity according to MCS scale (5 to 11). Source: elaboration on Galli et al., 2017. 5

http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/jcms/it/terremo to_centro_italia_2016.wp.

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earthquake, together with the components and operational structures of the National Civil Protection Service6. The activities carried out in this first phase are those related to Search and Rescue operations, assistance and shelter of the population affected by the earthquake, the safety of the areas concerned and the urgent interventions aimed at avoiding dangerous situations or greater damage.

20 Kilometers

Figure 3. Area hit by the three seismic events that occurred on 26 October 2016 and 30 October 2016, registering the intensity according to the MCS scale (5 to 11). Source: elaboration on Galli et al., 2017.

The first official declaration of the state of emergency was issued by the Council of Ministers on 25 August 2016 and then further extended twice: the first time on 27 October 2016 and the second time on 31 October 2016.

3.1 Coordination model adopted in the course of the state of emergency According to the powers conferred upon the Head of the Civil Protection Department (DPC) by the resolution of the Council of Ministers on 25 August 2016, the DPC Chief issued the first ordinance on 26 August 2016. The ordinance identifies the subjects who ensure the execution of response operations under the coordination of the Head of the Civil Protection Department: the Presidents of the Regions, the Prefects and the Mayors of the Municipalities involved in the

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With regard to the coordination of all relief operations, the Head of the Civil Protection Department establishes the Command and Control Department (now Di.Coma.C.), a local, on-site, coordination structure divided into separate support functions. With subsequent Decree by the Head of the Civil Protection Department of 28 August 2016, the Di.Coma.C. was established in Rieti, in the region of Lazio and all the representatives of the components and operational structures of the National Civil Protection Service permanently ensured the presence of their own representatives in the personal structure of the Department itself and its Centres of Competence. The organizational model also provided for the establishment of coordination centres at the provincial or intermunicipal level, as well as operational centres established by the mayors at municipal level. The organisation of this complex network system requires a careful and accurate coordination that is guaranteed by the Head of the Di.Coma.C. by availing himself of a specific Coordination Unit within it, with the aim, among others, of managing relations with all the components and operational structures of the National Civil Protection Service and ensuring the flow of information. For this purpose and with the implementation of the provisions of the Civil Protection Department (Dipartimento della Protezione Civile; DPC, 2014a, 2014b), with a Decree by the Coordinator of Di.Coma.C. of 12 September 2016, at the Coordination Unit, a specific component was also established for the management and implementation of the territorial/local information system to support the Di.Coma.C. 6

Art. 13 of Lgs. Decree No. 2 of 2 January 2018, Civil Protection Code. Published in G.U. No.17 of 22 January 2018.

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4. Production and exchange of data reported during the 2016 earthquake emergency that hit Central Italy The initiatives concerning data (generic, geo and Open) during the emergency relief operations implemented in the aftermath of the 2016 Central Italy earthquake were numerous and differentiated, both in terms of new production and sharing and exchange. This paper focuses on eight initiatives, selected as being particularly significant. The relevance of these initiatives comes from the role of the subjects that launched it and for their intrinsic value in the operating context. The paper evaluates the institutional initiative implemented by the central Government, carried out by the National Service of Civil Protection at first and by the Cadastral Cartography Service of Italian Revenue Agency. Local government activities by Regional Cartography Services are also taken into account. Furthermore, active citizenship initiatives like Open Street Map 7 and the TerremotoCentroItalia8 project have been selected. The research and monitoring initiatives put in place by research institutions such as ISTAT (2016) and INGV9, including European services such as Copernicus EMS10, are then considered. Each of the above-mentioned initiatives provided data production, publication and exchange, many times in terms of geographic data, which is not always available as Open data but are kept in confined narrow contexts, thus only available to just a few “insiders” and in other cases freely available to all on the Web. This informative ecosystem has never been so accurately described in its complexity: it could become an extremely valuable asset for all categories of users in the reconstruction that will begin throughout the devastated territories and a model for the next emergency that nature has taught us to expect.

http://download.geofabrik.de/europe/italy.html. 8 https://terremotocentroitalia.info/. 9 http://cnt.rm.ingv.it. 10 EMSR177: Earthquake in Central Italy http://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/list-ofcomponents/EMSR177 e EMSR190: Earthquake in Central Italy http://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/list-of-components/EMSR190.

5. Summary of results Table 3 shows the comparison of results yielded by the completed form proposed in the analysis paragraph. With regard to the Transparency, Open Data and “Monitoring of public policies” variables, the Italian National Statistics Institute (ISTAT), TerremotoCentroItalia and the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV – National Earthquake Centre), were the most strongly oriented toward the opening and public sharing of data. On the contrary, Di.Coma.C seems to be less inclined to public sharing of data. Even Copernicus (EMS Mapping) paradoxically looks less oriented to an opening and public sharing of data, than would be expected of its institutional mission. With regard to the Horizontality, “Symmetry of powers” and “Institutionalization of the collaborative Governance Dimension” variables, Open Street Map played the most readily active interaction with user-citizens, while as previously mentioned Di.Coma.C., by its very nature, achieved a much poorer interaction with citizens. ISTAT also shared a similar position, as it is a highly specialised and self-referential institution and rather distant from citizens. Overall the Open Street Map experience seems to be the more open and collaborative one whilst the Di.Coma.C. is less open and more institutionally self-referential. Summing up our considerations, the results shown on Table 3 seem to underline the distance or gap between the bottom-up non-institutional initiatives implemented by citizens and the topdown ones operated by the central and regional institutions. This consideration regards the methods of application of Open Government principles, regarding the Open Data variable of Transparency and the participation and collaboration levels of citizens in the training process and use of data. By contrast, the same results produced by the case study under analysis show relevant examples of data opening (including geographic data), by scientific institutions such as ISTAT and INGV (although limited to seismic monitoring activities), besides bottom-up projects like TerremotoCentroItalia, with similar expected results. It should also be mentioned

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that INGV is part of the National Service of Civil Protection and carries out monitoring activities according to a specific agreement with the Civil Protection Department, as it is in fact a DPC Competence Center11. In the case of Di.Coma.C. however, the survey has not been able to highlight the complexity inherent in the definition of data “quality” in terms of the degree of uncertainty such definition entails. Quality generally refers to a set of standard features, such as documentation, update level, accuracy, and certification. The latest Guidelines on Open Data (Agenzia per l’Italia Digitale, 2017) have strongly emphasised this aspect. In the survey carried out, only the presence of metadata, i.e. the documentation of the dataset and dataset update standard, was considered as a quality indicator. Nevertheless, the quality factor is also closely linked to the data publisher’s degree of responsibility, which often turns out to be a decisive element in the publication of a dataset. From this point of view, the data publishers examined are not all similar. Di.Coma.C. is a particularly complex system aimed at ensuring effective coordination and accurate communication of information pertaining to an ongoing crisis or emergency. The system is liable to face many difficulties in publishing datasets that can ensure the above-described level of quality within the degrees of responsibility attributed to the same body; this is a problem that often slows down the dataset publishing process. If, however, the assessment of the exchange of information at inter-institutional level and not between institutions and citizens is limited, the outcome framework would change drastically. The activities carried out by the Support Functions operating within the Di.Coma.C. are indeed fully grounded in the principles of exchange and data sharing within a clearly defined institutional framework that upholds the principle of subsidiarity12 as its founding constitutional value. Nevertheless, the fact that institutions communicate between each other in 11 http://istituto.ingv.it/l-ingv/progetti/allegati-convenzioni-dpc/allegati-convenzione-quadro-20122021/accordo-quadro-2012-2021-allegato%20A.pdf. 12 Legislative Decree No. 1 of January 2, 2018: Code of Civil Protection, art. 3, paragraphs 1 and 3.

an effective and cooperative manner could not be taken for granted.

6. Earthquake Story Maps published by DPC In addition to the results of the analysis shown above, it is important to highlight an initiative undertaken by the Civil Protection Department in August 2017, to commemorate the first anniversary after the first earthquake that struck on 24 August 2016. A series of interactive maps13 concerning emergency management issues are published on the institutional website of the Department, announcing periodic updates for two of them. The topics to be updated concern the state of progress of the projects related to the road system and infrastructure recovery operations and construction sites set up for the realisation of Emergency Housing Solutions. The understanding of phenomena through the use of maps on the Web is a now widely established practice (Kerski, 2013). Furthermore, the use of Geographic Information Systems and online platforms as an important tool in the subsequent phases of the occurrence of disastrous events is widespread (Baiocchi and Pesaresi, 2015; Potts et al., 2015). Interactive maps created by the Civil Protection Department are created using the ArcGIS online platform (Figure 4)14 and also provide the releasing of high quality Open Data of the data shown in them, by the addition of the related metadata in standard format of the National Repository of Territorial15 Data.

http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/jcms/it/mappe _interattive.wp and for the road network map see also http://www.anas-sisma2016.it/index.php?/content/ index/arg/menu_mappa. 14 https://www.arcgis.com/home/index.html. For a description of the platform see Marta and Osso, 2015, p. 63. 15 http://geodati.gov.it/geoportale/.

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Table 3. Summary of results given by the compilation of forms reporting analysis of data produced in the course of the seismic emergency that hit Central Italy. Source: Author’s elaboration.

Figure 4. Story Map on image comparison of Amatrice’s historical centres before and after the three phases of the seismic sequence. Source: images from Copernicus Emergency Management Service (24 August 2016) and Servizio Centrale TASTopografia Applicata al Soccorso of National Fire Corps (26-30 October 2016 and 18 January 2017). Story map from http://opendatadpc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=d2c4cd9a006142a1b552deefc355c124.

Map planning and design involves many different aspects: the strictly technological element includes communication and graphics and above all the commitment to the decisionmaking process expressed by the executive roles of the organisation and the consequent shaping

of an adequate organisational model, as well as that of the data model construction. These last are the two “critical” factors. Without the strong and determined support from the organization’s decision-making summit and the linking of working groups in the operational processes of

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the organization itself, the initiative would not be able to guarantee its duration in time. The public as well as all subjects involved at different institutional levels responded very well to this initiative undertaken by the Department of Civil Protection. This helped facilitate the sharing of information and also promote the population’s active participation in the ongoing emergency management process. In particular, the actual update announced for some maps proved to be quite effective and popular, as confirmed by the consistent attention recorded during the various releases. Thus, the accountability principle implemented by a public authority towards citizens was tested in a particularly complex context (i.e. during a state of emergency), where the effective implementation of public interventions takes on a crucial role for the safety and livelihood of citizens, especially those directly affected by disaster (Figures 5 and 6). A further outcome of the publication of these interactive maps went on to establish a fruitful collaboration with a few active citizenship

associations that led to the publication of a special web page indicating useful and practical ways to increase the availability and reuse of data published by the Department of Civil Protection for the benefit of citizens and interested communities. The publication of the story maps on the earthquake aims at strengthening one of the main features envisaged by Open Government programmes, that is, collaborative governance (Bingham, 2010). This is a new way of exercising public authority by public bodies and institutions, which, by applying this paradigm, aim at involving the community, businesses, companies, organizations and single citizens in the decision-making process. It is evident that the perspective of a real collaboration between the public authority and citizens, like the one theorised by Benington and Moore (2011) is still far remote, despite this first experiment during the management of such a major national crisis.

Figure 5. Story Map showing the progressive state of works of the Emergency Housing Solutions “Soluzioni Abitative in Emergenza” (SAE). This map has been updated on a weekly basis since its publication. Source: http://opendatadpc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=d5cdb0dba50342aba4aeae1644db1f11.

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Figure 6. Story Map showing the progressive state of works on the Road Network damaged by the earthquake This map has been updated on a monthly basis since its publication. Source: http://opendatadpc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=f16d75957adc4485a3b1a11f58767fb5 .

7. Conclusions While conducting response operations after a major earthquake calamity, the main objective is to prioritise search, rescue and assistance operations thus stressing citizens’ demands as the “needy subjects”, as opposed to citizens in an ordinary situation that implies a proactive and capable citizenship in terms of participation, collaboration and co-decision. Surely, in the next phase of “reconstruction”, after overcoming the state of emergency, everyone will be called in a joint effort to work in the recovery phase and the gap created by the catastrophe will probably be reduced and perhaps even filled. The dynamic activity conducted within the Di.Coma.C. on the data, suggests however that all the conditions exist for a review of the experience carried out at the end of the emergency phase in order to further stimulate data opening initiatives. This will contribute to turning around the actual focus on the application of transparency related only to the legality of the use of public resources for

reconstruction16 or in the implementation of the obligations of publicity, transparency and dissemination of information17. Referring back to Carlucci et al. (2016), geographical data (and not only) can play an important role both in the immediacy of the event, in support of those relief operators called to intervene, throughout all emergency response operations leading up to the recovery of ordinary activities. It is easier and more effective to make decisions using geographical data and this becomes even truer if these are easily accessible, with non-restrictive conditions of use, if they are well documented and high in quality, in open formats and accessible from the greatest number of platforms possible. Data needs to become more readily accessible, starting from the 16

For more information regarding this subject see Chapter IV “Provisions on the matter of legality and transparency” of Act No. 229/2016 of conversion of Legislative Decree 17/10/2016 “Urgent measures in favor of populations affected by the seismic events of 2016”. 17 For more information regarding this theme see Legislative Decree No. 33/2013, as amended by Legislative Decree No. 97/2016.

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dialogue between different administrations, until their complete publication. The path to the application of Open Government paradigms must be built through the dialogue and collaboration between administrations and citizens, but also by imposing a deep organisational rethinking. The full adoption of the new Guidelines by all public administrations (Agenzia per l’Italia Digitale, 2017) could represent a decisive stepping stone to the beginning of this process.

Acknowledgements

This contribution derives from the Thesis of II Level Master on “Open Government e Comunicazione Istituzionale” organized in AA 2015/2016 by LUISS School of Government in collaboration with the Centre for Media and Democratic Innovations and presented on 5 March 2017. For details of the analysis see Cara, 2017.

The results of the analyses carried out by the Author are his sole responsibility and do not bind the Civil Protection Department in any way.

The Author thanks Antonella Giulia Pizzaleo, Responsible Agenda Digitale per la Regione Lazio, for revisions, editing and suggestions for the Thesis.

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13. Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (DPC), “Direttiva inerente il “Programma nazionale di soccorso per il rischio sismico”, 2014a, http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/resources/c ms/documents/Programma_nazionale_soccors o_rischio_sismico.pdf. 14. Dipartimento della Protezione Civile (DPC), “Manuale per la compilazione della scheda di 1° livello di rilevamento danno, pronto intervento e agibilità per edifici ordinari nell’emergenza post-sismica (AeDES)”, 2014b, http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it /resources/cms/documents/2_LRManualeA edes_31_ottobre_GU_.pdf. 15. Emergeo Working Group, “Photographic collection of the coseismic geological effects originated by the 24 August 2016, Amatrice (Central Italy) seismic sequence”, 2017, http://www.ingv.it/editoria/miscellanea/2017/miscellanea34/. 16. Galli P., Castenetto S. and Peronace E., “Rapporto sugli effetti macrosismici del terremoto del 30 ottobre 2016 (Monti Sibillini) in scala MCS. Con aggiornamenti successivi agli eventi del 18 Gennaio 2017”, Report of 30 April 2017, 2017, http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/resourc es/cms/documents/Rapporto_effetti_macro sismici_terremoto_30_Ottobre_2016_18_g enn__.pdf. 17. Galli P., Peronace E., Bramerini F., Castenetto S., Naso G., Cassone F. and Pallone F., “The MCS intensity distribution of the devastating 24 August 2016 earthquake in central Italy (MW 6.2)”, Annals of Geophysics, 59, 2016, pp. 1-13. 18. ISTAT, “Caratteristiche dei territori colpiti dal sisma del 24 agosto 2016”, 2016, http://www.istat.it/it/files/2016/09/Focussisma-15sett2016.pdf?title=Territori+colpiti +dal+sisma+del+24+agosto+2016+-+15%2 Fset%2F2016+-+Testo+integrale+e+nota+ metodologica.pdf. 19. Kerski J.J., “Understanding our changing world through Web-Mapping based investigation”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 2, 2013, pp. 11-26. 20. Lupia F., Minghini M., Napolitano M., Palmas

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A. and Sarretta A., “VGI ed emergenze”, Geomedia, 20, 5, 2016, pp. 26-30. Mabi C., “La démocratie ouverte, ou ‘Open Government’”, 2015, http://www. participation-et-democratie.fr/fr/content/lademocratie-ouverte-ou-open-government. Maggio F., “Il sistema cartografico del Catasto. Stato dell’arte e prospettive, 2016, http://www.rndt.gov.it/RNDT/home/images /ITgeoConf/01_06_ITgeoConf_Maggio.pdf. Marta M. and Osso P., “Story Maps at school: teaching and learning stories with maps”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 4, 2015, pp. 61-68. Ministero dei Beni e delle Attività Culturali e del Turismo, “Aggiornamento della direttiva 12 dicembre 2013, relativa alle ‘Procedure per la gestione delle attività di messa in sicurezza e salvaguardia del patrimonio culturale in caso di emergenze derivanti da calamità naturali’”, Direttiva 23 April 2015, http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac /multimedia/MiBAC/documents/14379862881 70_DIRETTIVA_23Aprile2015.pdf. Nocente V., “La nuova frontiera del soccorso”, Rivista ufficiale Il vigile del fuoco, IV, 1, 2018, pp. 6-9. Obama B., “Transparency and Open Government”, Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, 21 January 2009, https://obamawhitehouse. archives.gov/the-press-office/transparencyand-open-government. Open Knowledge International, The Open Data Handbook, 2016, http://opendatahandbook.org/guide/it/. Potts W., Baranyi J. and Golding N., “ArcGIS for emergency management”, Proceedings of 2015 User Conference Technical Workshops (San Diego, 20-24 July 2015), http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc15/techworkshops/tw_ 540-359.pdf. Sorice M., I media e la democrazia, Rome, Carocci, 2014. Tempestini M., Essere Opensource. GitBook, 2016, https://iltempe.gitbooks.io/essere-open source/content.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 41-58 DOI: 10.4458/1682-05

Dipartimento di Lettere e Culture Moderne, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy Email: cristiano.pesaresi@uniroma1.it Received: November 2018 – Accepted: December 2018

Abstract The earthquake (Ml=5.8; Mw=6.3) that shook L’Aquila (Abruzzo region, Italy) on 6 April 2009 and caused huge widespread damage in the other 56 municipalities of the seismic crater has also provided important input to reflect proactively on the need to avoid the repetition of similar tragedies, learning from the calamities that have occurred. In fact, L’Aquila and the other municipalities hit by the earthquake represent an open-air analysis laboratory to reveal and directly see the weak points of the different buildings on the field which did not adequately resist the shocks. In order to provide important data for social utility, in this paper we illustrate the steps which constitute a GIS procedure that we have thought in order to evaluate the relationship between the period of construction and the outcomes of compliance with building safety standards. Through sequential activities which have enabled us to also produce three-dimensional scenarios – of immediate communicative impact and able to show details for interdisciplinary analysis and strategical planning – we have portrayed the urban evolution of L’Aquila per period of construction and mapped the level of damage to the buildings. The relational analysis and quantitative data have permitted us to show that in the case of L’Aquila the major percentages of “unusable buildings”, and also these together with “condemned buildings due to external risks” concern the structures erected until 1955 and then in the 19561975 period, followed by the ones constructed in the periods of 1976-1988 and 1989-1994. Similar results, in conjunction with other specific information, can offer the possibility to define and apply the consolidation measures necessary to tackle future earthquakes in an appropriate way, without a passive sense of resignation and with a deeper awareness of seismic risk. Keywords: Culture of Seismic Risk, Damages, Earthquake, GIS Procedure, L’Aquila, Period of Construction, Social Utility, Three-Dimensional Models, Unusable Buildings

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

1. The distressing scenario after the L’Aquila earthquake The earthquake (Ml=5.8; Mw=6.3) recorded at L’Aquila – the capital of the Abruzzo region, Italy – on 6 April 2009 caused very serious and widespread damage to its buildings and important historical-cultural heritage and shattered the socio-economic equilibrium of a city left petrified. In terms of destruction, the situation was even worse in some nearby villages characterized by the very poor quality of materials and which were practically deprived of connecting elements which facilitated their collapse, as if they were made of paper. The seismic crater involved L’Aquila and 56 other municipalities which constitute an open-air analysis laboratory to understand and highlight a series of problems and weak points in the solidity of the constructions which underwent excessive damage with respect to the dimension of the earthquake. The bleak scenario (Figures 1 and 2) observed during a field survey in L’Aquila (and its hamlets), ten months after the earthquake (February 2010), was that of a devastated municipality, with a continuum of unusable buildings: a distorted and torn context, as if struck by an evil spell or by a far greater energy calamity, capable of removing the population and suddenly erasing the traces of recent everyday life. Among widespread damage, cracked walls, the overturning of parts of walls, the “bursting” of lower floors due to excessive loads, loss of floors due to the crushing and moving of pillars, in a chaos of debris and stones, one of the main characterizing elements was the shoring actions for the safety and preservation of the buildings, in a surreal atmosphere in which it is really difficult to start suitable restoration work1. The situation to be seen almost three years after the earthquake (March 2012), by means of a purposely conducted overflight (Figure 3), was that of a city still essentially emptied of life and waiting for organic restoration measures. An anomalous and widespread sense of inactivity persisted: the churches showed no sign of structural restoration; some buildings showed signs of

temporary patching and covering of the roofs, the symptoms of a momentary dereliction status; other buildings continued to be subject to wear and tear and showed gaping walls; the propping up works and the construction sites were manifold, with a very large number of stationary cranes2. Generally, it is the sad background which tends to last for years after a similar seismic event. Therefore, this was not an isolated and unusual case but is the common state that is to be found in the Italian contexts after an earthquake with a similar magnitude. The seriousness of these reflections increases considering the following. - “Having a potential for shallow M 7 earthquakes, the Abruzzi Apennines comprise one of the most threatening seismogenic areas of the entire Europe” (Burrato et al., 2012, p. 169). - “The seismic strain deficit in this area was only partially alleviated by the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake sequence and continues to represent a seismic hazard in the region” (Walters et al., 2009, p. 5). - The 2009 L’Aquila earthquake “was only a moderate seismic event” if contextualized at world scale but it provoked “disproportionate suffering” (Alexander, 2010, p. 327) which could assume impressive dimensions in case of major events. - During the centuries, L’Aquila has been characterized by a wearing cycle of fragile becoming since many times it has been subjected to phases of destruction and inappropriate reconstruction, because it appears as the city of earthquakes, with an urban framework intertwined with the succession of disasters (Fiorani, 2011). - Due to the 2009 event “1500 people were injured, 202 of them seriously, 308 lost their lives, 67,500 became homeless, 100,000 buildings were damaged. […]. The cost of the damage was estimated to be 16 billion Euros” according to some sources (Contreras et al., 2014, pp. 125-127) and about 25 billion Euros according to others (Monaco et al., 2012).

Regarding the main results and observations during this field survey and an experience conducted in contact with a sample of the population involved see: Pesaresi and Nebbia, 2010. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

For further information and details see: Pesaresi et al., 2013. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

- Many damaged and propped up constructions in the center of L’Aquila have been forgotten for several years, that it is to say remained in the same precarious condition because no owner or authority had taken specific decisions on their retrieval, fostering uncertainty and delaying the general recovery of the municipality (Contreras et al., 2018, p. 460). - Serious damage has been recorded by the churches and cultural heritage and it has caused a huge loss with excruciating suffering in the historical memory, at an artistic, identity and economic level, so that many studies have focussed the attention on the collapse mechanisms (Endo et al., 2015; Lagomarsino, 2012) and seismic behavior (Boscato et al., 2014; Brandonisio et al., 2013) of the churches hit by the earthquake. - Large quantities and accumulations of rubble have been produced, which is difficult, expensive and heavy to remove and dispose of, physically and morally, to be able then to start the phases of recovery and reconstruction of buildings and the restarting of social and economic activities. - L’Aquila has been wrapped in an expensive and thick network of trellises, scaffolding, different kinds of structural supports that made it “plaster”, while several new towns have been built in the periphery (Simonicca, 2012, p. 31). - For some years, important streets and squares have remained deserted, in a distressing wait, characterized only by the presence of cranes and building site noise and no longer by the voices of the people who poured into them3. - The post-earthquake has been marked by fear, anxiety, anguish, degradation, anger and notable setbacks have also been recorded in lifestyles, and for some years after the event “critical elements, such as the high prevalence of smoking and consumption of alco-

holic beverages […], especially among young people, and very frequent physical inactivity, particularly among the elderly” have been observed (Minardi et al., 2016, p. 34). - Relevant “rates of post-traumatic spectrum symptoms in adolescents who survived the L’Aquila earthquake” have been recorded, since having known “the loss of a close friend or a relative in the framework of the earthquake seems to be related to higher PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder] rates and more severe symptomatology” (Dell’Osso et al., 2011, p. 59). All this leads one to reflect on the need for different strategies and programs. A first one could be to seriously consider the advisability of introducing compulsory insurance starting from the houses that are included in areas with a certain exposure or in any case at a short distance from these, as they could be seriously affected by events that occurred elsewhere. The insurance could be devised according to different parameters, like for example the hazard of the area and the vulnerability of the buildings4, also considering a possible State contribution below specific levels of income. A second need is the building of new houses according to the appropriate and recent construction rules, providing for controls that avoid speculative activities. New houses must not increase the number of vulnerable structures but guarantee adequate responses to seismic events. A third need is to reinforce the existing constructions according to special measures regarding the entire building and the individual internal structures, by means of tax concessions and deductions. It is no longer conceivable to proceed autonomously with isolated initiatives, but it is essential to move in accordance with an organic and consistent reinforcement of the whole structure.

The forced and indefinite removal from the places of one’s daily life weakens the social system and tends to break down habits and certainties. The loss of the customary meeting places causes serious repercussions at the level of relationships and children, young people and the elderly must find new places, forms and opportunities for socializing and getting their strength back (Castellani et al., 2016, p. 88). Copyright© Nuova Cultura

A useful support can be represented by the maps of seismic microzonation, starting from the subdivision in stable zones, stable zones susceptible to local amplification (due to local lithostratigraphic and morphological structure), and zones susceptible to instability. This classification is the basis for further indepth study. See: Castenetto, 2012. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

A fourth programme could be to adopt antiseismic norms and rules to structurally reinforce the historical-cultural heritage because every time:

the losses are very expensive; the repercussions are notable even in terms of tourism; and the restoration works are extremely complex.

Figure 1. Huge damage to buildings and church roofs and the top of the walls (photos above) in L’Aquila; damage above all to the medium-low floors and failure of the external lining (photos in the center) in L’Aquila (and overturning of parts of walls in the photo on the left – at bottom); notable phenomena of collapse at Onna (photos below), a hamlet of L’Aquila. Photos: C. Pesaresi (February 2010).

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

Figure 2. Complex expensive propping works of single structures (photos on the left) and among facing buildings (photos on the right) in Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Aquila. Photos: C. Pesaresi (February 2010).

CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

Figure 3. Various examples of collapse of the church roofs (which continue to show evident openings), temporary patching and covering of the roofs, thick wrapping works and presence of cranes in Lâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Aquila. Photos: Geographical Unit (Department of Documentary, Linguistic-Philological and Geographical Sciences) of the Sapienza University of Rome (in collaboration with GREAL, European University of Rome) (March 2012).

CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

2. Providing data for social utility with a GIS procedure Given the extent of the elements involved, from a methodological and applicative point of view, we have thought about contributing to the obtaining of important data on which to reflect for social utility. Thus, we have tried to verify the presence of a possible direct relationship between the period of construction and the outcomes of compliance with building safety standards. In fact, to know whether or not in the case of L’Aquila some periods of construction have turned out to be particularly fragile – and subsequently to evaluate whether or not a similar weak point could be recorded also in other Italian contexts – can be a crucial aspect. For the purpose of promoting and supporting a structural reinforcement of the buildings, it can be very useful to understand whether or not there are some periods that – by reason of the materials used, techniques, normative framework, localized choices etc. – have experienced the development of more vulnerable structures. To pursue this aim of evaluating the possible direct relationship between the period of construction and the outcomes of compliance with building safety standards in the case of L’Aquila, we have defined a GIS procedure characterized by different steps. It has enabled us to progressively recognize any detailed elements for a relational territorial screening. In this way, it is possible to blend geographical theory and disciplinary contents into GIS and GIS into geographical theory and disciplinary contents, testing applied solutions and digital models functional to analysis and planning 5. After all “mixed-methods research with GIS” are recording fast and convulsive development since “technological innovations are easing access to data and access to visualization and analytical tools” (Preston and Wilson, 2014, p. 510) and these innovations, together with geographical approach, must contribute to create information, knowledge and critical sense. The integration of quantitative and qualitative data and methods and a focus on the details with different tools and functionalities can open “innovative and exciting ways of understanding and visualizing the multifaceted relationships between spatial phenomena” and diachronic dynamics (Yeager and Steiger, 2013, p. 1). 5

We achieved this with a three-dimensional setting and perspective able to represent together physical and anthropic components, returning an overall scenario which also supports reflections on morphological influences and construction features (Figure 4). The first step was characterized by the comparison, interpretation and digitalization with editing activities of numerous cartographic sources and orthophotos of different periods, in order to define and digitally represent the phases of construction and the process of urban development during the time in the study area of L’Aquila. The second step was distinguished by the use of calculation and extrusion functionalities and the creation of three-dimensional models in ArcGIS Pro environment, providing a reliable visualization of what is present on the territory with reference to the various buildings subdivided by period of construction and rendered with their height. During this step, the support of geobrowsers was important to conduct virtual flights and indirect inspections to obtain and rebuild some aspects which were difficult to have or construe. In the third step, after a specific activity of data cleaning and data connection, the outcomes of compliance with building safety standards were mapped and interpreted and the digital representation makes it possible to observe, as a whole and in detail, the spatial distribution of the “unusable buildings” [owing to structural risk] (outcome E) and “condemned buildings due to external risks” (outcome F). In the fourth step, we intersected and represented in ArcGIS Pro environment, and therefore in a three-dimensional scenario, the “unusable buildings” and the “condemned buildings due to external risks” by construction age classes, in order to relate the period of construction and the outcomes of compliance with building safety standards. We also repeated the process only considering the “unusable buildings” (excluding the “condemned buildings due to external risks”) in order to effectively relate the period of construction with the damage directly affecting the buildings.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

Figure 4. Three-dimensional representation of the morphological aspects and construction period of buildings in the study area of L’Aquila. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

The digital elaborations and the data obtained by these phases have made it possible to conduct a relational quantitative analysis in the fifth step and to recognize the existence of some periods of major structural weakness, to which particular attention should be paid for preventive damage planning and the reinforcement operations of the vulnerable structures.

3. The five steps of the research conducted in GIS environment The reconstruction of the evolution of urban planning, the representation of the different damage levels and the analysis of a possible existence of a relationship between the period of construction and the outcomes of compliance with building safety standards can be summarized in 5 steps.

Heterogeneous sets of data have been handled, elaborated and represented through the ArcGIS platform (in particular with the applications of ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro). Historical and planning cartography sources 6, orthophotos and Civil Protection field data flowed into a single geodatabase and were processed with different GIS tools. The 2D and 3D elaborations describe the phenomena and their distribution with diachronic screening effectively and immediately. Moreover, quantitative analyses enrich the study and allow us to bring out specific observations.

For in-depth studies of historical cartography connected to digital and informatic techniques, see: Dai Prà, 2010; Favretto, 2012; Rumsey and Williams, 2002. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

3.1 First step The first step consisted in the reconstruction of the building process in a large area in the municipality of L’Aquila – about 27 kmq and 27 km of perimeter – in a diachronic way with the integration of several sources. In particular, official cartography of the Istituto Geografico Militare of 1955 and the Piano Regolatore Generale of 1975 were studied and georeferenced, then orthophotos from the ’80s to the first decade of 2000 – available as open source data on the Geoportale Nazionale site7 – were interpreted8. Thanks to the high detail of the cartographic scale and the optimal photographic resolution it was possible to distinguish single buildings of the study area and to understand in which period of construction they were built. Subsequently, intensive digitalization activity allowed us to edit as many polygons (around 6,000) as there are the constructions in the area considered, so that each polygon flowed into a specific period of construction classes. Two GIS elaborations (with double level of aggregation) – that cover the period from “until 1955” to “after 2012”9 – show the phenomenon. The first elaboration divides the period into 8 classes ensuring detailed examinations. It is possible to analyze different trends of urban evolution, in an attempt to have an in-depth understanding of the changes between different construction periods. The major availability of orthophotos of the ’90s and 2000s allow us to represent different screening of urban evolution in important periods characterized by a notable housing increase. The second elaboration, with 6 classes, gives a more immediate interpretation of the phenomenon. It is often very useful to first of all try to understand the macro differences and then analyze them in detail. Starting from a general view to arrive at meticulous analyses is, after all, a good geographical gateway. 7

http://www.pcn.minambiente.it/mattm/visualizzatori/. Regarding the importance of orthophotos and remote sensing approach to analyze urban development see for example: Fea et al., 2016. 9 The reconstruction of the building process has been conducted until 2015.

3.2 Second step A key variable to calculate how many unusable cubic meters there are for each period of construction and to create three-dimensional elaborations was the height of the buildings. The Carta Tecnica Regionale Nazionale (CTRN) of 2005 – available as open source data on the Geoportal of the Abruzzo Region site10 – served this purpose. In fact, the table of contents of the shapefile of CTRN data has specific fields from which the height can be calculated. Considering that one polygon could have more than one height of eaves and/or more than one height of base, the average of the height of eaves and height of base for each one of the CTRN polygons were calculated. In this way, we have obtained a unique value of height for every single construction. This value was joined to the table of contents of the shapefile of the polygons previously edited for the reconstruction of building process. Then, a field named “Volume” was created and through the Calculate geometry tool we obtained the cubic meters for each polygon and each period of construction until 2005 (because the last available CTRN is dated 2005). The CTRN data did not provide the height of all constructions present in the area. In this case, the Google Street View Imagery11 gave us precious information owing to the high level of detail whereby we obtained the number of floors of every single building. So doing, we allocated a conventional value of 3 meters per floor in order to obtain an indicative value of height. The work done in ArcMap was integrated on the ArcGIS Pro environment, that ensures many opportunities for geographical studies. First of all, with ArcGIS Pro it is possible create threedimensional scenarios able to bring out the landscape morphology and to better understand the real geographical context of the study area. Moreover, it produces a more realistic output that, instead of two-dimensional images, can have a greater impact especially in environmental risks studies. The extrusion allowed us to bet-

http://geoportale.regione.abruzzo.it/Cartanet. To estimate building heights from Google Street View Imagery see: Diaz and Arguello, 2016. 11

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

ter represent the building texture, the more densely constructed areas and to observe the difference of height for period of construction. The reconstruction of the building process (Figure 5 – A and B) supports the distribution analysis of the buildings, divided into 8 different classes regarding the period of construction. Observing the elaboration, it can immediately be understood that everything built “until 1955” is the old city center, while the buildings of “1956-

1975” are around old city center, and in particular in the northern area of the municipality. In the south-west there are many industrial structures built in the “1956-1975” period. These first two periods record the highest cubic meter values. In the rest of the city there are no areas characterized by an agglomerate of buildings of a unique period of construction. In fact, the polygons are scattered over the territory unevenly.

Figure 5. Here, a detail of the three-dimensional representation of the buildings period of construction in the study area of L’Aquila (A). [continued on the next page]

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

[continued from the previous page] Here, a further detail of the three-dimensional representation of the buildings period of construction in the study area of L’Aquila according to another perspective (B). Source: Authors’ elaboration.

3.3 Third step The outcomes of compliance with building safety standards are field data of the Direzione Comando e Controllo (Di.Coma.C.) of the Civil Protection, useful to give information about the levels of damage of buildings caused by the earthquake. They have a very strict rules to establish which houses must be secured. This data – which was kindly provided in .shp format by the Civil Protection – was imported into ArcMap and processed with data cleaning functions and data connection. Firstly, the polygons that represent civil buildings, religious buildings, towers and bell towers, buildings which are being built and agroforestry buildings were selected with the select by attribute tool on the field “DESC” present in the table of contents of the shapefile data. Then, a new selection was made on the previous one to divide and categorize – with appropriate colors – Copyright© Nuova Cultura

the polygons on the basis of their outcomes of compliance with building safety standards. In so doing, we can see the construction distribution for outcomes of compliance with building safety standards, pointing out the areas with more damaged buildings (Figure 6). In the legend there are 6 outcomes of compliance with building safety standards and 2 other classes: “without outcome” and “multiple outcomes”. The first one shows the buildings without outcomes of compliance with safety standards because it their damage level has not been verified. It should also be noted that polygons edited by the Civil Protection can sometimes represent a cluster of surrounding buildings. In this case, each building can have a different damage level, so a polygon can include different outcomes of compliance with building safety standards. For this reason, the “multiple outcomes” class was created.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

The elaboration shows that the concentration of “unusable buildings” [owing to structural risk] (E) and “condemned buildings due to external risks” (F) is to be found especially in the old city center and in the northern area.

In the old city center there are also many “multiple outcomes”, while in the rest of the study area there is a mix with safe buildings (A) or buildings with partial or temporary damage (B, C and D).

Figure 6. The outcomes of compliance with building safety standards in the study area of L’Aquila (in the circle a zoom extracted from the map). Source: Authors’ elaboration.

3.4 Fourth step To verify the presence of a possible direct relationship between the period of construction and the damage level, in this step we tried to connect these variables in order to carry out a joint study. Firstly, we selected the polygons that represent “unusable buildings” (E) and “condemned buildings due to external risks” (F); subsequently, with the Select by location tool, we intersected the previous selection with the polygons edited for the reconstruction of building process. With this function we obtained the “unusable buildings” and the “condemned buildings due to external risks” divided into period of construction classes in order to identify more vulnerable periods. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

The 3D elaboration (Figure 7) shows that the seismic waves especially leave “unusable buildings” and “condemned buildings due to external risks” for the construction periods “until 1955” and then “1956-1975”. Therefore, the old city center and the area around it had many seriously damaged buildings because of structural weakness and poor quality construction materials. The same process was repeated only for “unusable buildings” (E), and therefore excluding structures with outcome F because they are subject to damage recorded by other buildings (Figure 9). In this case too, the most vulnerable periods are “until 1955” and then “1956-1975”.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

Figure 7. Outcomes E and F for period of construction in the study area of L’Aquila. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

1956-1975

until 1955

1976-1988

all other outcomes

outcomes E and F

outcomes E and F 33%

41%

59%

outcomes E and F

23%

67%

1989-1994

77%

2001-2006

1995-2000

all other outcomes

all other outcomes 14%

outcomes E and F

22%

all other outcomes

78%

outcomes E and F

86%

outcomes E and F

91%

all periods all other outcomes

outcomes E and F 31%

69%

Figure 8. Quantitative data (%) regarding outcomes E and F with respect to all other outcomes for period of construction in the study area of L’Aquila. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Cristiano Pesaresi, Diego Gallinelli

3.5 Fifth step

4. For a deeper culture of seismic risk

One of the great benefits of GIS systems consists in complementing quantitative analysis to qualitative elaborations, to give more detailed information and useful screening of diachronic trends of phenomena. For this reason, by calculating how many cubic meters are unusable and condemned due to external risks out of the total number of cubic meters built for each period of construction has enabled us to achieve the aim of identifying a possible direct relationship between the period of construction and the damage level. Particularly, we have operated in two different ways producing two connected series of pie charts: considering outcomes E and F (Figure 8); and considering only outcome E (Figure 10).

Raising the awareness of the population and the institutions towards the need to operate in an organic, programmatic and concrete way is essential, in order to intervene preventively, to avoid future seismic events from assuming the dimensions of new inexorable tragedies. It is fundamental to develop and spread a deeprooted culture of territory and risk, beginning the work of dissemination which must be functional to avert the perpetuation of such dramas. To implement and materialize appropriate interventions, widespread educational action is necessary that, starting from the ruinous experience of the past, can be translated in full awareness and in a new way to face a seismic event.

In both cases it results that the cubic meters of “unusable buildings”, and these together with “condemned buildings due to external risks” diminished over the years.

“Seismic adjustment is […] an outcome of group norms that are transmitted by the media and other actors in people’s social environments. Seismic adjustment is also linked to the extent to which relevant experts are trusted and how responsibility for earthquakes is constructed. Finally, people’s sense of their individual and collective control over adjustments and their sense of efficacy and fate in relation to the impact of the earthquake shape whether seismic adjustments are adopted or not. All of these factors are sensitive to local cultural and political contexts. These should be considered in disaster risk reduction planning and implementation as a means to increase the uptake of seismic hazards adjustments. Educational material that provides information on seismic adjustments must be designed in a way that reduces both fatalistic and overly optimistic attitudes to earthquake losses” (Solberg et al., 2010, p. 1674).

In one case, the highest value of cubic meters of outcomes E and F regards the period “until 1955” and it is equal to 41%. The value becomes 33% in the following twenty years, “19561975”, and it decreases during “1976-1988” (23%) and “1989-1994” (22%). In the successive two periods, “1995-2000” and “20012006”, the values decrease respectively to 14% and 9%. Considering all periods (“until 19552006”), the cubic meters regarding “unusable buildings” and “condemned buildings due to external risks” are 31% of the total of cubic meters built. In the other case, the percentage values are very similar to the ones of the previous analyses (since the influence of the amount of “condemned buildings due to external risks” appears very low). In fact, the highest value of cubic meters of the outcome E regards the period “until 1955” and it is equal to 41%. The value is 31% in the “1956-1975” period, and it decreases during “1976-1988” (21%) and “1989-1994” (20%). In the successive two periods, “19952000” and “2001-2006”, the values continue to be respectively 14% and 9%. If we consider the whole period “until 1955-2006”, the cubic meters concerning “unusable buildings” are 30%.

The earthquake and the measures necessary to face it in an appropriate way can neither be treated passively and with resignation nor with never implemented hypothetical ideas. Moreover, after an earthquake, the management and organization aimed at a progressive and virtuous process of harmonious rebirth is tortuous, confused, intricate and often characterized by the lack of any profitable dialogue and cohesion among the operating parts (Reggiani, 2012, p. 155).

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In addition, these actions must be started and carried out in a gloomy atmosphere of sadness, amplified by the awareness that a great amount of damage and many victims could have been avoided. Therefore: “Conceptualising earthquake preparedness as a social cognitive process can contribute to understanding hazard preparation decisions. The analysis confirmed that preparation should be conceptualised as three separate, but linked, phases: motivation to prepare, formation of intentions, and the conversion of intentions into actions” (Paton et al., 2005, p. 28). Knowing that in the case of L’Aquila the “unusable buildings” and the “condemned buildings due to external risks” have concerned above all the structures built until 1955 and then in the 1956-1975 period, followed by structures constructed in the periods of 1976-1988 and 19891994 (Figures 7 and 8), gives very important information to both institutions and people for risk mitigation, enabling them to take control of their future without attitudes of inert acceptance. The data referred only to the “unusable buildings” (without the “condemned buildings due to exter-

nal risks”) are even more suitable to evaluate the possible relationship between the period of construction and the damage directly recorded by the buildings. In this case too, referring to L’Aquila, the analysis confirms that “unusable buildings” have concerned mainly the buildings constructed until 1955 and then in the 19561975 period, followed by those built in the periods of 1976-1988 and 1989-1994 (Figures 9 and 10). The “translation” of data into threedimensional scenarios provides operational digital models of considerable communicative impact, endearing aesthetic result and tangible useful planning. The replicability of a 3D GIS mapping of buildings per period of construction on a vast radius could offer a precious reference to interpret in advance and to reduce – in synergy with connected data regarding for example construction materials and seismic microzonation – the nefarious effects of similar seismic events. It remains to be decided once and for all to use the tools, the techniques, the (geo)technologies and the interdisciplinary knowledge to face calamitous events and embrace a new culture of risk.

Figure 9. The outcome E for period of construction in the study area of L’Aquila. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

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until 1955

1956-1975

1976-1988

all other outcomes

outcome E

31%

all other outcomes 21%

outcome E

41% 59%

69%

1989-1994

2001-2006

1995-2000 all other outcomes

20%

79%

outcome E

all other outcomes

14%

all other outcomes

outcome E

80%

86%

91%

all periods all other outcomes outcome E

30%

70%

Figure 10. Quantitative data (%) regarding outcome E with respect to all other outcomes for period of construction in the study area of L’Aquila. Source: Authors’ elaboration.

Acknowledgements C. Pesaresi wrote paragraphs 1, 2 and 4. D. Gallinelli wrote paragraph 3 (with all its sub-paragraphs).

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4. Brandonisio G., Lucibello G., Mele E. and De Luca A., “Damage and performance evaluation of masonry churches in the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake”, Engineering Failure Analysis, 34, 2013, pp. 693-714. 5. Burrato P., Vannoli P., Fracassi U. and Valensise G., “Hints on the seismotectonics of the Abruzzi Region from studies of the 6 April 2009, Mw 6.3, L’Aquila earthquake”, in Pesaresi C. (Ed.), L’Aquila e il cratere sismico. Le cause e le conseguenze del terremoto (6 aprile 2009) in chiave applicativa e interdisciplinare, Semestrale di Studi e Ricerche di Geografia, 1, 2012, pp. 169-184. 6. Calderoni B., Ghersi A. and Lenza P., “Lo scenario di danneggiamento delle costruzioni dell’Aquila a seguito del terremoto del 2009”, in Pesaresi C. (Ed.), L’Aquila e il cratere sismico. Le cause e le conseguenze del terremoto (6 aprile 2009) in chiave applica-

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nical, Geological and Earthquake Engineering, 16), 2012, pp. 1-66. 25. Paton D., Smith L. and Johnston D., “When good intentions turn bad: promoting natural hazard preparedness”, The Australian Journal of Emergency Management, 20, 1, 2005, pp. 25-30. 26.Pesaresi C., Casagrande G. and Morri R., “Testing Geographical Methodology and Tools for the Study of Territories Damaged by Earthquakes. The Case of L’Aquila and Other Localities Three Years after the April 6th 2009 Event”, International Journal of Geosciences, 4, 2013, pp. 1-10. 27. Pesaresi C. and Gallinelli D., “GIS4RISKS: period of construction and outcomes of compliance with safety standards in L’Aquila (2009)”, XXXII Congresso Geografico Italiano “L’apporto della geografia tra rivoluzioni e riforme” (Rome, 7-10 June 2017), Programme and Abstracts, Associazione dei Geografi Italiani (AGeI), Bologna, 2017, pp. 217-218. 28.Pesaresi C. and Nebbia F., “L’Aquila e Onna, un anno dopo il terremoto del 6 aprile 2009”, geografia, 3-4, 2010, pp. 32-51. 29.Pesaresi C. and Pavia D., “Multiphase procedure for landscape reconstruction and their evolution analysis. GIS modelling for areas exposed to high volcanic risk”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (JREADING), 1, 7, 2018, pp. 17-41. 30.Preston B. and Wilson M.W., “Practicing GIS as Mixed Method: Affordances and Limitations in an Urban Gardening Study”, Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 104, 3, 2014, pp. 510-529. 31.Properzi P., “L’urbanistica e i terremoti nella costruzione della forma urbana”, in Ciranna S. and Vaquero Piñeiro M. (Eds.), L’Aquila oltre i terremoti. Costruzioni e ricostruzioni della città (Città & Storia, 1), 2011, pp. 189206. 32. Reggiani A.M., L’Aquila. Una storia interrotta. Fragilità delle architetture e rimozione del sisma (Il mestiere dell’antropologo), 2012. 33. Rosti A., Rota M. and Penna A., “Damage classification and derivation of damage probability matrices from L’Aquila (2009) postearthquake survey data”, Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering, 16, 2018, pp. 3687-3720. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

34.Rumsey D. and Williams M., “Historicals Maps in GIS”, in Knowels A.K. (Ed.), Past Time, Past Place: GIS for History, 2002, pp. 1-18. 35.Simonicca A., “Il terremoto aquilano del 6 aprile 2009, fra cultura del disastro e azione politica”, in Reggiani A.M., L’Aquila. Una storia interrotta. Fragilità delle architetture e rimozione del sisma (Il mestiere dell’antropologo), 2012, pp. 13-34. 36.Solberg C., Rossetto T. and Joffe H., “The social psychology of seismic hazard adjustment: re-evaluating the international literature”, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 10, 2010, pp. 1663-1677. 37.Stratta P. et al., “Mental health issues after the L’Aquila (Italy) earthquake”, Salud & Sociedad, 3, 1, 2012, pp. 20-30. 38. Walters R.J. et al., “The 2009 L’Aquila earthquake (central Italy): A source mechanism and implications for seismic hazard”, Geophysical Research Letters, 36, L17312, 2009, pp. 6. 39. Yeager C.D. and Steiger T., “Applied geography in a digital age: The case for mixed methods”, Applied Geography, 39, 2013, pp. 1-4.

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Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 59-70 DOI: 10.4458/1682-06

Using GIS Technologies for designing agro-energy districts Ilaria Zambona a

Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie e Forestali (DAFNE), Tuscia University, Viterbo, Italy Email: ilaria.zambon@unitus.it Received: April 2018 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Accepted: October 2018

Abstract The current energy guidelines requested by the European Community encourage the use of renewable resources as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels. By supporting sustainable development, energy needs can be met through the transformation of agro-forestry biomass into biofuels. Therefore, the requirement to establish sustainable production and consumption chains at local level emerges. Accurate planning becomes crucial to ensure the establishment of agro-energy districts. Such process requires a careful analysis of potential energy resources that can be obtained in each territorial area. It should be remembered that the primary sector in Europe (and more specifically in Italy) has suffered a severe decline in recent decades, e.g. loss of employment and increase of abandoned rural areas. By re-establishing rural landscape and promoting multifunctional agriculture, agro-energy districts arise as competitive and sustainable realities for agricultural contexts. The purpose of the present work is to highlight how GIS technologies are useful tools for identifying which rural areas, based on for example typical crops or contextual particularities, may become efficient agroenergy districts. Furthermore, by using GIS technologies the results highlighted a quantitative evaluation of biomass based on the agro-energy supply and demand of potential districts. Guaranteeing the correct knowledge and use of these tools, it is essential that economic, political and local actors are regarded as essential interacting components in innovative and efficient systems. In this sense, the present work also reflects on the educational impact of using GIS technologies as political decision-makers and planners must be able of enhancing local contexts with these tools with the aim of offering suitable opportunities and strategies for the sustainable development of agro-energy districts. Keywords: Agro-Energy Districts, GIS, Rural Contexts, Spatial Planning, Sustainable Development

1. Introduction The European Community has extensively encouraged the inclusion of significant shares of energy produced from renewable sources in national and regional energy balances (Pozzo, 2009). The current energy guidelines required

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encourage the use of renewable resources more than traditional fossil fuels (Best, 2003; Colantoni et al., 2016). By supporting sustainable development, energy needs can be met by transforming agroforestry biomass into biofuel. From the standpoint of eco-systemic and energy sustainability, the calculation of how much Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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biomass a territory can offer is relevant for elaborating future strategies and possibilities (Masera et al., 2006; Emer et al., 2011; Colantoni et al., 2016; Zambon et al., 2015, 2017a). In Italy, the awareness of the role of bioenergy was reached only at the end of the 1990s, after the Rio Conference on Climate Change in 1990 and the Kyoto Protocol in 1997. In the “National Renewable Energy Program for Biomass” (1998), the integrated approach to energy issues took on importance to (i) preserve the environment; (ii) improve the efficiency of energy sources; (iii) avoid waste; (iv) reduce the use of fossil fuels; and (v) rationalize the use of resources through the agreement between Public Administration and stakeholders in carrying out sectoral and territorial actions. Through the implementation tool “National Program for the Valorization of Agricultural and Forestry Biomasses” (1999), the actions focused on the sustainable development of agro-energy supply chains and the involvement of local administrations and agricultural and industrial entrepreneurs in pilot projects at regional or interregional scale. However, the process of transferring energy powers to the regions did not develop a National Plan that sets out guidelines, rules and objectives, resulting in several conflicts of competence, technicaladministrative and financial barriers. The work was carried out based on this background with the aim of defining and planning agro-energy districts. The main objective was to identify suitable areas for designing an agro-energy district and to count the existing biomass quantity. The estimation of the latent installed power derived from biomass (e.g. agricultural waste, forest wood and energy crops) made it possible to reflect on the degree of sustainability at local scale (Masera et al., 2006; Emer et al., 2011; Colantoni et al., 2016; Zambon et al., 2017a). The goal is to identify the contexts in which to set up an agro-energy district, or “networks of producers and transformers, also differentiated by type of energy produced, able to ensure energy quotas for a territory, through a system of distributed generation and such as to maximize the multifunctionality of agricultural enterprises in their various aspects” (Gaviglio et al., 2009, p. 171). Copyright© Nuova Cultura

The study area is the Italian context. Corresponding to other European countries, the Italian rural landscape, typical for its peculiar crops and agricultural practices, has undergone intense changes in recent decades in the use of land for urban or speculative uses, leading to a loss of rural employment and, at times, to a consequent reforestation due to the abandonment of agricultural land (Bonet, 2004; Godone, 2014; Sitzia, 2010; Sluiter and de Jong, 2007; Leal Filho et al., 2017). With the aim of consolidating realities definable as “agro-energy districts”, the present work is aimed at using GIS technologies to (i) identify the current state of a given area that presents the basic characteristics to undertake a circular economy (Zambon et al., 2017a). These areas may consist of different local realities, e.g. few municipalities which have a common cultivation within them. Consequently, during the analysis, it is necessary to verify whether the characteristics of the agricultural and productive system can be defined as a local or regional vocation (Gaviglio et al., 2009). From the production phase to the collection of crop products, very often the agricultural waste produced cannot be sustainably used. For this reason, their re-use for energy purposes corresponds to energy production at local and/or district level based on a kind of circular economy (Monarca et al., 2011; Delfanti et al., 2016). The current decline of the Italian agricultural sector caused the abandonment of several agricultural areas (Bonet, 2004; Godone, 2014; Sitzia, 2010; Sluiter and de Jong, 2007). Understanding and studying this phenomenon is essential before promoting a new local economy. GIS technologies therefore shed light on territorial difficulties and limitations. For instance, the problematic achievement of a certain economic activity may be linked to the complex locations, which compromise the safety of the operators working there. This aspect is often neglected and rarely integrated into the themes of agro-energy districts and circular economy (Zambon et al., 2017a). At this point, GIS technologies highlighted the contexts that can be included and become an agro-energy district, providing useful strategies and tools for planning and managing biomass at numerous territorial scales. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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2. Methodology In order to plan an agro-energy district, the existing crops that can be used as energy biomass first need to be identified (Colantoni et al., 2016). However, such quantification refers to a rough approximation (Masera et al., 2006; Emer et al., 2011). Avoiding many estimates, GIS technologies can be applied to measure how much biomass a territory can produce and offer (Emer et al., 2011; Sacchelli et al., 2013; Zambon et al., 2017a). However, the available databases show limitations. For instance, the Corine Land Cover is used for specific crops e.g. olive or vine, but not for orchards which include different rural crops. Furthermore, vegetation maps are also vital since they classify the biodiversity of flora in a given spatial context. Precision farming has recently made its contribution. However, the distribution of woody biomass is difficult to detect by distinguishing each type of crop (Franco, 1997). Considering this limit, the study area focused on 10 municipalities in the region of Sicily (Italy), since they are part of the national association of hazelnuts, which are a characteristic crop in Sicily because they are well adapted to the Nebrodi Mountains (Gianguzzi and Papini, 2016). Nevertheless, they are situated in remote areas with variable density, on steep slopes and on uneven terrain, hard to reach safely. In fact, many hazelnut orchards appear as forests. However, hazelnuts are one of the most cultivated crops in the Mediterranean context because they have a significant nutritional and economic value (FAO, 2010; Aydinoglu, 2010). Given their profitability, hazelnuts are usually grown on inadequate land without appropriate land use policies (Godone et al., 2014; Reis and Yomralioglu, 2006). For instance, Turkey imposed specific rules on hazelnut cultivation in certain areas (e.g. maximum altitude of 750 m) (www.turkstat.gov.tr). According to these government regulations, potential areas can be mapped with specific criteria using GIS technology (Sarıoğlu et al., 2013). Consequently, their identification can be useful for examining landscape changes, providing greater support to national and international institutions in the assessment of rural agriculture policies and their socio-economic and landscape consequences (Martinez-Casasnovas et al., 2010; Van Berkel Copyright© Nuova Cultura

and Verburg, 2011; Westhoek et al., 2006; Manos et al., 2014). The identification of hazelnuts was run through an advanced computer program, GIS technology (Geographical Information Systems), offering advantages in terms of data management and acquisition, analysis of maps and satellite images (Aydinoglu, 2010; Official Gazette, 2009). The GIS program is a suitable tool for the processing, analyzing and collecting of spatial information (Reis and Yomralioglu, 2006; Lioubimtseva and Defourny, 1999; Longley, 2001), revealing data for example on altitude, appearance, slope, soil proprieties, environmental circumstances and topographical variations (Aydinoglu, 2010; Sarıoğlu et al, 2013; Bolca et al., 2011). Therefore, GIS can fully monitor land-use changes, forest cover, soil degradation and other ecological issues (Mundia and Aniya, 2005; Yuan et al., 2005; Zambon et al., 2017b). GIS techniques were used to overlay different maps such as vegetation maps of Sicily; Corine Land Cover (CLC) and other geospatial statistics, e.g. Digital Terrain Model (DMT) and road networks. GIS tools and elaborations were used to recognize where hazelnuts are located and where mechanization processes are used, focusing on some morphological and spatial characteristics of the study case assumed. In addition to the Sicilian context, the entire province of Viterbo was also observed, which is also recognized for its strong vocation to growing hazelnuts (Boubaker et al., 2015; Cecchini et al., 2013; Piacentini et al., 2015). Thanks to the climatic conditions, hazelnuts thrive in the Mediterranean basin, particularly like the one with the geographical and geological aspects of the study area of Sicily and Viterbo (Marzocchi et al., 1993; De Vecchis, 2007; Cecchini et al., 2013; Fea et al., 2015; Zambon et al., 2017a). The Viterbo area is much larger because the entire province has a territorial structure that is like the Sicilian intermunicipal context considered, in which hazelnuts grow in an ideal manner. In fact, the two contexts analyzed have a similar territorial structure (among the hilly and mountainous landscape) that define the ideal climate for the growing of hazelnuts.

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3. Results 52% of the hazels present in Sicily are situated in the study area, which covers about 4970 hectares. Through GIS elaboration, the comparison between the two key maps (vegetation map of Sicily and CLC) highlighted the accuracy of the first map. In fact, 63% of the hazelnuts in the CLC are identified as “orchards” (code 222 in the CLC) and 22% of them as “deciduous forests” (in code ‘3’ for woodlands) (Figure 1a). However, many hazelnut orchards appear abandoned and concentrated as woodlands. The GIS analysis exposed some common features of hazelnut orchards (Figure 1b). Hazelnuts prefer high altitudes between 500 and 1000 meters above sea level. Furthermore, some maps were produced by means of specific GIS tools for the Digital Terrain Model, slope (classified in percentage terms), appearance and curvature. Unclear contexts (e.g. with higher degrees of slope or altitude) were evaluated in a parallel survey, even if the vegetation map of Sicily established hazel plants. The highest degree of correctness of the vegetation map of Sicily was confirmed. The results showed which areas have a steep slope (>30%) and high altitude (higher than 1000 meters). Such contexts should be avoided for mechanized harvesting as they present greater risks to workers when they collect the hazelnuts. With all the data processed, an integrated map was prepared pointing out three kinds of circumstances (Figure 1c): (i) optimal areas for hazelnut production and cultivation, with minimal risks for operators, minimum slopes, ideal altitudes and easy mobility for the machines that have to reach these areas; (ii) good and favorable places; and (iii) unsuitable contexts for hazelnut

production and cultivation due to increased risks for operators, high altitude (>1000 m) and slopes (>30%), discontinuous oad system with steep slopes. Acceptable areas for a potential agroenergy district are located mainly in the northern part of the study context, covering a surface area of about 4600 hectares of hazelnut orchards (Figure 1d). Integrating this data with those of INAIL on accidents at work from 2012 to 2017, the province of Messina, which is particularly suitable for hazelnut crops, showed a steep increase in accidents at work in September (ninth month) linked to agricultural practices to harvest hazelnuts (Figure 2). Regarding the context of Viterbo (Figure 3), however, there is no vegetation map even if the Corine Land Cover realistically expresses where the hazelnut orchards are concentrated, but also olive trees and vineyards (two typical and wellestablished crops in the province of Viterbo). Thanks to the gentler slopes and a less complex territorial morphology than that of Sicily, the Viterbo background meets every prerequisite in terms of safety at work, confirming the fact that the entire territorial context can be included in an agro-energy district. Covering an area of 33720 hectares, its southern area (more compact and therefore ideal for logistical reasons to establish an agro-energy district), can guarantee about 62 tons of biomass. These harvests are especially concentrated in the southern area of the province of Viterbo. Nevertheless, there is no real agro-energy district despite the numerous studies carried out.

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(a) CLC for each land-use Class

(b) Hazels in the vegetation map of Sicily on CLC

[continued on the next page]

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(c)

(d)

Degree of suitability of contexts

Potential areas for the agro-energy district

[continued from the previous page] Figure 1. Results from GIS elaborations for the Sicilian context of study. Source: Authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elaboration.

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Figure 2. Work-related accidents for each province in Sicily region (abscissa: month, ordinates: number of accidents). Source: Authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elaboration on INAIL data (2002-2017).

(a)

CLC for each land-use class

[continued on the next page]

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Ilaria Zambon

(b)

Potential areas for the agro-energy district

[continued from the previous page] Figure 3. Results from GIS elaborations for the province of Viterbo. Source: Authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s elaboration.

4. Conclusions The current energy commitment supported by the European Commission offers strategies and actions, e.g. reducing energy demand, using efficient technologies and raising awareness of policy makers towards sustainable practices. Among these issues, agroforestry biomass is definable as alternative proposals to ensure the supply and diversification of the energy mix, availability, sustainable development, economic competitiveness and the fight against climate change (Monarca et al., 2008; Colantoni et al., 2016). The educational and didactic aspects that can be dealt with in this work are evident because through GIS technologies the analysis of a typical cultivation based on a territorial context can be carried out; moreover, the analysis can also allow a comparison between two areas (in Sicily and the Lazio regions) that are very

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similar because they have the same topological and geographical characteristics but also the presence of a specific cultivation that allows local farmers an increase in their income. Thanks to GIS technologies, the present paper identified rural areas with high potential in economic and energy terms for sustainable development, an innovative reality based on circular economics and then agro-energy districts (Zambon et al., 2018). The role of GIS applications in the field of educational processes linked to territorial development are fundamental today in the Italian context, which, thanks to its biodiversity and latent local traditions, can be a driving force for economic, social and even sustainable development. Moreover, sustainable education does not rely exclusively on the concept of environmental respect, but also on the sustainability that such cultivation will remain over time. Indeed, the analysis suggested how to optimize agricultural Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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mechanization systems limiting job-related risks for operators (Zambon et al., 2017). Currently, traditional and manual mechanical methods are still used in Sicily, making hazelnut harvesting expensive with high labor costs and long hours of work, while in the Viterbo area, mechanization is more advanced and geared to the safety of the operators. The importance of identifying suitable instruments in irregular soils and steep slopes (from 24 to 35%) is perceptible, such as with a self-propelled prototype that can be easily transported in areas with uneven or no roads and other difficult conditions (Monarca et al., 2016). In a perspective of sustainable development based on the concepts of circular economy, the district in the Sicily project will ensure a biomass of 8.5 tons available over a surface area of 4600 hectares of hazelnuts; while, in the southern context, the province of Viterbo (thanks to the residues of hazelnuts, olive trees and vineyards) can guarantee more than 60 tons of biomass (Abenavoli et al., 2016). The use of biomass for energy purposes points to the need for more environmentally friendly and more energy-saving behavior (Colantoni et al., 2016). The development of efficient projects for the energy valorization of biomass tends to involve different actors (e.g. agricultural, industrial and service company producers) and to be characterized by a complex process (Manos et al., 2014). In fact, the organization of agroenergy districts often fails to well define consortia or business associations between the different actors useful for the supply, the first processing of biomass, the management of plants and the distribution of energy. Finally, a network of territorial relations must be set up with an appropriate division of tasks regarding the programming and coordination of financial support measures at local, regional and/or district level, improving the effectiveness of all the instruments that can be used for planning and developing the agro-energy supply chain. These interventions must be adequately supported by communication and technical assistance actions for all the stakeholders who are part of the agro-energy system. Ensuring the correct knowledge and use of GIS tools is indispensable for economic, political and local actors since they must be constantly updated and Copyright© Nuova Cultura

skilled in using GIS technologies for the management of their territory. The educational impact of using these tools is decisive, for example, in managing changes in land use and impacts on ecosystem systems. Moreover, the educational influence of GIS technologies can guarantee accurate opportunities and strategies for spatial planning, conscious management of resources (Privitera and Privitera, 2018; Pesaresi and Pavia, 2018; Presti, 2018), and sustainable development of agro-energy districts. The territories analyzed have a high socioeconomic potential, which makes it possible to encourage the cultivation of hazelnuts in the most suitable areas (guaranteeing a typical and local economy and also the safety of its workers), as well as to promote other forms of economic activity, e.g. sustainable tourism and the consumption of typical and local products. Thanks to the planning and territorial analysis through the GIS programs, the examination of which territories can be suitably cultivated is the first step to establishing virtuous local realities.

References 1. Abenavoli L.M., Longo L., Proto A.R., Gallucci F., Ghignoli A., Zimbalatti G. and Colantoni A., “Characterization of biochar obtained from olive and hazelnut prunings and comparison with the standards of European Biochar Certificate (EBC)”, Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 223, 2016, pp. 698-705. 2. Aydinoglu A.C., “Examining environmental condition on the growth areas of Turkish hazelnut (Corylus colurna L.)”, African Journal Biotechnologies, 9, 2010, pp. 64926502. 3. Best G., Agro-Energy: a new function of Agriculture. Revue LAMNET-NEWS, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nation, 2003. 4. Bolca M., Kurucu Y., Dengiz O. and Nahry A.D.H., “Terrain characterization for soils survey of Kucuk Menderes plain, South of Izmir, Turkey, using remote sensing and GIS techniques”, Zemdirb Agriculture, 98, 2011, pp. 93-104. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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5. Bonet A., “Secondary succession of semiarid Mediterranean old-fields in southeastern Spain: Insights for conservation and restoration of degraded lands”, Journal Arid Environment, 56, 2004, pp. 213-233. 6. Boubaker K., De Franchi M., Colantoni A., Monarca D., Cecchini M., Longo L. and Menghini G., “Prospective for hazelnut cultivation small energetic plants outcome in Turkey: Optimization and inspiration from an Italian model”, Renewable energy, 2015, 74, pp. 523-527. 7. Cecchini M., Monarca D., Colantoni A., Di Giacinto S., Longo L. and Allegrini E., “Evaluation of biomass residuals by hazelnut and olive’s pruning in Viterbo area”, Proceedings of the International Commission of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, Section V. CIOSTA XXXV Conference “From Effective to Intelligent Agriculture and Forestry” (Billund, Denmark, 3-5 July 2013), 2013. 8. Colantoni A., Delfanti L.M.P., Recanatesi F., Tolli M. and Lord R., “Land use planning for utilizing biomass residues in Tuscia Romana (central Italy): Preliminary results of a multi criteria analysis to create an agroenergy district”, Land Use Policy, 50, 2016, pp. 125-133. 9. Delfanti L., Colantoni A., Recanatesi F., Bencardino M., Sateriano A., Zambon I., and Salvati L., “Solar plants, environmental degradation and local socioeconomic contexts: A case study in a Mediterranean country”, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 61, 2016, pp. 88-93. 10. De Vecchis G. (Ed.), Per una geografia del Lazio, Rome, Kappa, 2007. 11. Emer B., Grigolato S., Lubello D. and Cavalli R., “Comparison of biomass feedstock supply and demand in Northeast Italy”, Biomass Bioenergy, 8, 2011, pp. 3309-3317. 12. FAO, “Food and Agricultural Commodities Production”, 2010, http://faostat.fao.org/ site/339/default.aspx. 13. Fea M., Giacomelli L., Pesaresi C. and Scandone R., “Remote sensing and interdisciplinary approach for studying volca-no environment and activity”, Journal of Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Research and Didactics in Geography (JREADING), 1, 2, 2013, pp. 151-182. 14. Franco S., “Use of remote sensing to evaluate the spatial distribution of hazelnut cultivation: Results of a study performed in an Italian production area”, Acta Horticulture, 445, 1997, pp. 381-388. 15. Gaviglio A.A.M., Pirani A. and Rigamonti L., “La progettazione dei distretti rurali: un modello per il ‘caso agro-energetico’”, Aestimum, 2009, pp. 169-177. 16. Gianguzzi L., Papini F. and Cusimano D., “Phytosociological survey vegetation map of Sicily (Mediterranean region)”, Journal Maps, 12, 2016, pp. 845-851. 17. Godone D., Garbarino M., Sibona E., Garnero G. and Godone F., “Progressive fragmentation of a traditional Mediterranean landscape by hazelnut plantations: The impact of CAP over time in the Langhe region (NW Italy)”, Land Use Policy, 36, 2014, pp. 259-266. 18. Leal Filho W., Mandel M., Al-Amin A.Q., Feher A. and Chiappetta Jabbour C.J., “An assessment of the causes and consequences of agricultural land abandonment in Europe”, International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology, 24, 6, 2017, pp. 554-560. 19. Lioubimtseva E. and Defourny P., “GIS based landscape classification and mapping of European Russia”, Landscape and Urban Planning, 44, 1999, pp. 63-75. 20. Longley P.A., Goodchild M.F., Maguire D.J. and Rhind D.W., Geographic Information Systems and Science, London, Bath Press, 2001. 21. Manos B., Partalidou M., Fantozzi F., Arampatzis S. and Papadopoulou O., “Agroenergy districts contributing to environmental and social sustainability in rural areas: evaluation of a local public-private partnership scheme in Greece”, Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 29, 2014, pp. 85-95. 22. Martinez-Casasnovas J.A., Ramos M.C. and Cots-Folch R., “Influence of the EU CAP on terrain morphology and vineyard cultivation in the Priorat region of NE Spain”, Land Use Policy, 27, 2010, pp. 11-21. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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23. Marzocchi W., Scandone R. and Mulargia F., “The tectonic setting of Mount Vesuvius and the correlation between its eruptions and the earthquakes of the Southern Apennines”, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 58, 1-4, 1993, pp. 27-41. 24. Masera O., Ghilardi A., Drigo R. and Trossero M.A., “WISDOM: a GIS-based supply demand mapping tool for woodfuel management”, Biomass Bioenergy, 30, 2006, pp. 618-637. 25. Monarca D., Cecchini M., Colantoni A., Bedini R., Longo L., Bessone W., Caruso L. and Schillaci G., “Evaluation of safety aspects for a small-scale machine for nuts harvesting”, Proceedings of the MECHTECH 2016 Conference Mechanization and New Technologies for the Control and Sustainability of Agricultural and Forestry Systems, (Alghero, Italy, 29 May – 1 June 2016), 2016, pp. 32-35. 26. Monarca D., Cecchini M., Colantoni A. and Marucci A., “Feasibility of the electric energy production through gasification processes of biomass: technical and economic aspects”, International Conference on Computational Science and Its Applications, Berlin, Heidelberg, Springer, 2011, pp. 307-315. 27. Monarca D., Cecchini M., Guerrieri M. and Colantoni A., “Conventional and alternative use of biomasses derived by hazelnut cultivation and processing”, VII International Congress on Hazelnut 2008, (Viterbo, Italy, 23-27 June 2008), 2008, pp. 627-634. 28. Mundia C.N. and Aniya M., “Analysis of land use/cover changes and urban expansion of Nairobi city using remote sensing and GIS”, International Journal Remote Sense, 26, 2005, pp. 2831-2849. 29. Official Gazette, The regulation of the law planning hazelnut production and determining hazelnut plantation areas, Official Gazette Ankara, 2009, pp. 272-289. 30. Pesaresi C. and Pavia D., “Multiphase procedure for landscape reconstruction and their evolution analysis. GIS modelling for areas exposed to high volcanic risk”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 1, 2018, pp. 1741.

31. Piacentini L., Colantoni A., Delfanti L.M. P., Monarca D., Cecchini M. and Bedini R., “The Hazelnut Sector of the Monti Cimini Agro-Industrial District: Economic Analysis and Development Perspectives”, Reports on Economics and Finance, 1, 1, 2015, pp. 110. 32. Pozzo B. (Ed.), Le politiche energetiche comunitarie. Un'analisi degli incentivi allo sviluppo delle fonti rinnovabili, Milan, Giuffrè Editore, 2009. 33. Presti L.L., “Maps In/Out Of Place. Charting alternative ways of looking and experimenting with cartography and GIS”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (JREADING), 1, 2018, pp. 105-119. 34. Privitera D. and Privitera S., “Laboratory as experiment in field learning: An application in a touristic city”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 1, 2018, pp. 77-88. 35. Reis S. and Yomralioglu T., “Detection of current and potential hazelnut (Corylus) plantation areas in trabzon, north east Turkey using GIS and RS”, Journal Environment Biology, 27, 2006, pp. 653-659. 36. Sacchelli S., De Meo I. and Paletto A., “Bioenergy production and forest multifunctionality: a trade-off analysis using multiscale GIS model in a case study in Italy”, Applied Energy, 104, 2013, pp. 10-20. 37. Sarıoğlu F.E., Saygın F., Balcı G., Dengiz O. and Demirsoy H., “Determination of potential hazelnut plantation areas-based GIS model case study: Samsun city of central Black Sea region”, Eurasian Journal Soil Science, 2, 2013, pp. 12-18. 38. Sitzia T., Semenzato P. and Trentanovi G., “Natural reforestation is changing spatial patterns of rural mountain and hill landscapes: A global overview”, Forest Ecolical Management, 259, 2010, pp. 1354-1362. 39. Sluiter R. and de Jong S.M., “Spatial patterns of Mediterranean land abandonment and related land cover transitions”, Landscape Ecology, 22, 2007, pp. 559-576. 40. Van Berkel D.B. and Verburg P.H., “Sensitising rural policy: Assessing spatial variation in rural development options for Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Europe”, Land Use Policy, 28, 2011, pp. 447-459. 41. Westhoek H.J., van den Berg M. and Bakkes J.A., “Scenario development to explore the future of Europe’s rural areas”, Agriculture Ecosystem Environment, 114, 2006, pp. 720. 42. Yuan F., Sawaya K.E., Loeffelholz B. and Bauer M.E., “Land cover classiﬁcation and change analysis of the Twin Cities (Minnesota) metropolitan area by multi temporal Landsat remote sensing”, Remote Sensing Environment, 98, 2005, pp. 317328. 43. Zambon I., Colosimo F., Monarca D., Cecchini M., Gallucci F., Proto A.R. and Colantoni A., “An innovative agro-forestry supply chain for residual biomass: Physicochemical characterisation of biochar from olive and hazelnut pellets”, Energies, 9, 7, 2015, p. 526.

44. Zambon I., Delfanti L., Marucci A., Bedini R., Bessone W., Cecchini M. and Monarca D., “Identification of Optimal Mechanization Processes for Harvesting Hazelnuts Based on Geospatial Technologies in Sicily (Southern Italy)”, Agriculture, 7, 2017a, p. 56. 45. Zambon I., Colantoni A., Carlucci M., Morrow N., Sateriano A. and Salvati L., “Land quality, sustainable development and environmental degradation in agricultural districts: A computational approach based on entropy indexes”, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, 64, 2017b, pp. 37-46. 46. Zambon I., Colantoni A., Cecchini M. and Mosconi E.M., “Rethinking sustainability within the viticulture realities integrating economy, landscape and energy”, Sustainability, 10, 2, 2018, p. 320.

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Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 71-81 DOI: 10.4458/1682-07

GIS applied to the urban archaeology of Enna (Sicily). Towards an archaeological potential predictive model Rossella Nicolettia Facoltà di Studi Classici, Linguistici e della Formazione, University of Enna “Kore”, Enna, Italy Email: rossellanicoletti@gmail.com a

Received: July 2018 – Accepted: November 2018

Abstract The development of a traditional urban Archaeological Map, an essential tool to provide a synoptic framework of the knowledge acquired so far, implies the idea of a final product and by now, for this very same reason, it can be considered outdated. It must give way to a far more complex analysis and to the elaboration of a tool useful not only to map the existing phenomena, but also for the study of the land transformation history. The goal is to analyze and then elaborate potential new knowledge based on the predictability of interred resources. Such an approach is in perfect harmony with Preventive Archaeology’s latest rules and aims to overcome the concept of “Map of Risk” in favour of a “Map of Archaeological Potential”. This will allow: the organization of the urban planning and building choices; the minimization of the archaeological site investigations carried out in an emergency; reduced damage to the public economy. At the same time, it will foster the planning of scientific research and help to conceive the buried archaeological heritage as a resource. The present project proposes the elaboration of the first archaeological map of the city of Enna through GIS, an instrument which proved to be ideal, especially for the purpose of the difficult reconstruction of ancient urban topography and, therefore, of an assessment of potential buried archaeological sites. Keywords: Archaeological Information System, Charter of the Archaeological Potential, Preventive Archaeology, Urban Archaeology

1. Introduction The ancient Henna, called Umbilicus Siciliae by Diodorus Siculus1 for its location in the centre of the island, was founded in the Classical age in a geographical context that was already rich in settlements dating back to prehistoric 1

times. Indeed, this is an area that even if central, we could define as boundary because of its proximity to the Himera Meridionale River, considered a geographical frontier between the East and the West of the island. The city, developed on a 1000 m a.s.l. plateau, is cited as Urbs Inexpugnabilis2 since, thanks to its 2

Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, Decade 2nd, Book 24, chapter 37. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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geographical characteristics, it succeeded in resisting to many years of siege. Its origins are rather mythical and if we follow the literary source3, we should date them to 665 B.C., when Syracuse would have founded it. This a posteriori hypothesis that does not find evidence in the archaeological findings that date back just from the 5th century B.C. when the first coins with legend HENNAION were minted (Jenkings, 1975; Caccamo Caltabiano, 2008). The same chronology can be given to the grave objects found in the only necropolis identified along the southern slopes of the mount, in the contrada Pisciotto. Despite the lack of findings dating back to the Greek age, the city is frequently cited by the sources of the time as a popular and venerated place as cradle of the vetustissimam Cererem4, goddess of harvest and agriculture, mother of Proserpina, the girl kidnapped by the god Pluto. Several ancient writers localize the place of the rape around the Lake of Pergusa, a few kilometers from the city where a sanctuary dedicated to the goddesses with one or more temples and statues had been erected 5. Local historians6, from the 16th century, and the first archaeologists, from the end of the 19 th century moved in search of these monuments. This research in fact turned out to be useless since the settlement on the plateau continued uninterruptedly and the historical phases overlapped.

2. From the Archaeological Map to GIS To build an urban archaeological map means to draw this overlapping and account, on the one hand, for all the transformations the urban pattern has been subjected to, and, on the other, for all the lost data. This is the reason why GIS can be considered as a fundamental tool for archaeological research.

The use of IT tools to record and file archaeological data is not recent and it has been several years since software packages were developed able to manage the very large amount of data that can be produced during the research. The Database management systems, for instance, represented an important turning point in this sense, making it possible to manage the whole complex of documents all research should be equipped with and to connect historical, archaeological, excavation, topographic, photographic and graphic data. Moreover, the use of artificial intelligence also made it possible to process data, connect them and calculate statistics in order to develop more complex analysis. At the beginning this process concerned just the alphanumeric data, but we have been able to record an increasing use of tools for some years now that are able to manage and process the geographical data too. In this case too, a first phase, during which the IT tools were used just to go beyond the paper maps, is now followed by a second phase in which we ask the IT tools not only for the exact localization of data but also their analysis and processing. This is why we believe that today we cannot conceive the idea of building an archaeological map without the GIS support, a system born for wider geographic scopes borrowed from archaeological research with more and more specific applications that range from large scale, in landscape archaeology7, to the micro area of a stratigraphic excavation (Fronza et al., 2001), that can be managed in greater detail towards a truly surprising prospective of processing and analysis of data8. During the last 30 years (Allen et al., 1990) the adoption of GIS in archaeology has seen the 7

Stephanus Byzantinus, The Ethnica, under the heading â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ennaâ&#x20AC;?. 4 Cicero, In Verrem, book IV. 5 We find references to the temples in Pomponio Mela, De Chor, II, 7; Strabo, Geographica, VI, 2, 67; Cicero, In verrem, IV, 48. The statues are cited and partially described by Cicero, op. cit., book IV, chap. 49. 6 Littara, 1587; Giovanni dei Cappuccini, 1752; Lo Menso, 1813; Vetri 1883. CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

Some examples of GIS applications to the landscape archaeology are in Arnese, 2004; Eitel, Panagiotopoulos and Siart, 2008; Ayhan and Cubukcu, 2010. 8 For the use of GIS in archaeological research, see Moscati, 1998; Moscati and Tagliamonte, 2002; Brogiolo and Delogu, 2006. Among the most significative experiences in the use of GIS for Urban archaeology, see Anichini and Gattiglia, 2012; Gelichi and Librenti, 2011; Brighi, 2011; Jessop, 2005; Tepstra and Rose, 2016. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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development of a branch of research aimed at adapting the system to the archaeological field to such an extent that today we prefer to use the new acronym AIS, Archaeological Information System (Anichini and Gattiglia, 2012, p. 31).

3. The Archaeological Information System of the urban area of Enna The work carried out for the development of the GIS for the urban archaeology of Enna followed a path marked by some steps that we briefly summarize here below.

3.1 First step: the census of what is known and its critical issues The first phase consisted in the research and collection of existing data in order to achieve a preliminary census of what is known: this research included the analysis of ancient, historical, numismatic and epigraphic sources. This was followed by the examination of the archaeological research conducted in the urban area since the end of the 19th century, a phase mainly characterized by antiquarian collections followed by the real archaeology with Paolo Orsi from the beginning of the 20 th century, then by a long silence that lasted more than fifty years until the end of the ‘70s, when a policy that was increasingly aware of the correct management and protection of the archaeological heritage got started 9. The examination of the published documents has been followed by that of the unpublished ones through a survey of the archives of the Archaeological Section of the Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. of Enna, that contain all the rough data, that is, the documents that are delivered after archaeological research. The archives also contain maps with the limits of the areas subject to protection constraints and the perimeters of the areas of archaeological interest. 9

Here the main bibliographical references regarding the archaeological urban research at Enna: Orsi, 1915, 1931; De Agostino, 1942-1943; Bernabò Brea, 1947; Fiorentini, 1980-1981; Cilia, 1985; Guzzardi, 1997-1998; Cilia and Fiorilla, 2006; Bonanno, 2013; Giannitrapani, Nicoletti and Valbruzzi, 2015: Valbruzzi and Giannitrapani, 2015. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

This step was rather long and complicated and required many months of work, coming up against many critical points. The history of the archaeological research in the urban area of Enna, for a series of reasons ranging from discontinuity in leading the research, to the continuous and frequent succession of management figures in charge of the protection of the sites and, last but not least, the nonpublication of the emerged data, shows long silent periods and a lack of homogeneity in the data production. To date, an overall interpretation, based on the actual archaeological data and not on interpretative hypotheses, has encountered big problems in being produced. Due to the lack of research, the weight of the ancient sources has been rather dominant up to now: to them alone, unfortunately, we can connect the image of a classical city that the archaeological research has not been able to resurface yet. The profusion and the prestige of some of these sources has, to some extent, diverted the gaze of eminent scholars who, trying to confidently confirm what has been handed down, have misrepresented the archaeological data and contributed to perpetuating wrong interpretations and distorted perspectives. In this sense, the use of the GIS platform that was created has given rather meaningful results. In fact, the collection and filing of the archaeological documentation in a Database made up of related tables, required the elaboration of a specific vocabulary and a thesaurus of terms that was as objective as possible. This entailed the very difficult job of extracting the raw data from the interpreted ones with the result that we rebuilt a history of the archaeology of Enna that may be poorer and less fascinating, but is free of a series of superfluities not based on strictly scientific information. The Database has been created through the Microsoft Access software and is built on a series of tables that have been connected to each other through the ID-code related to every single site. This is an index-linked numerical field that does not allow duplicates and so identifies the site unequivocally. It is a necessary condition to relate all the tables within the Relational

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Database system and these tables to the records of the Geodatabase in our GIS platform. By now the Relational Database (Figure 1) is made up of a limited number of tables: 1. the primary, called “Scheda Sito”, containning all the main data referred to the site (name, localization, typology, chronology, state of conservation, juridical condition, bibliography, etc); 2. the “UT” (topographic unit) table; 3. the “SAS” (stratigraphic archaeological essay) table; 4. the “US” (stratigraphic unit) table; 5. the “Localization” table, where all the data

referred to the place of the finding are contained; 6. the “photographic documentation” table; 7. the “graphic documentation” table. Following a hierarchical architecture, we also connected the “cases tables” (containing the catalogue of finds) to the US and UT tables and RA table (archaeological finds sheets) to the “cases” ones. Since it is conceived as an open architecture, this Database, which is basic at the moment, can be implemented at every moment and at every step of the research.

Figure 1. Structure of the External Relational Database linked to the features in Arcmap. Source: Author’s elaboration.

Our Database has been conceived with two aims: to create a large box able to file as many data as possible coming from very different sources, and a platform able to communicate with the GIS tool.

3.2 Second step. Creation of the GIS platform The second step consisted in the input of all the geographical data in ArcMap, that is the locationing of all the certain or supposed sites. The geographical data have been digitalized on Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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different layers and geo-referred on digital vectors or raster based cartographies. The documentary base of the Project consists of a cartography which, grouped in a single set of data, brings forth the Group Layer of the Territorial Maps at different scales, from 1:25,000 to 1:2,000, to which the orthophoto graphic map, the DEM and some historical maps have been added. On this basis, the geodatabase of all the archaeological interventions and the discoveries of the urban area of Enna has been created (Figure 2). We chose to distinguish, on different layers, the data obtained from “Literary and historical sources”, based on rarely verified hypothetical locations; those deriving from “Archaeological research conducted at the end of the 19th / early 20th century”, which, against any expectation, are rather precise and therefore are represented by punctual shapefiles; “Archaeological investigations from the second half of the ‘70s”, when the Office of Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. of Enna was established (however there is a rather fruitful phase of research not followed by an adequate edition of the results); and all the data resulting from “Inspections, alerts and urgent interventions”. This Group layer, called Archaeological Heritage, also contains the polygonal shapefiles of the “Perimeter of the areas subject to protection constraints”10, and the “Perimeter of the areas of archaeological interest for PTPR”, developed on paper by the Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. of Enna and digitalized, here, on polygonal shapefiles. Finally, other layers are constituted by the “Toponymy Testimonials”, by the localization of the medieval “Well system”11; and by the linear path of the “Trazzere”12.

Available on the S.I.T.R. provincial Knot website (Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. of Enna Data Processing). Direct link: http://www.regione.sicilia.it /bbccaa/Dirbenicult/soprintendenze/vincoli/Archeolo gici/archeoEn.html. 11 For a recostruction of the well system, see Maggiore, 2010, pp. 229-240. 12 Trazzere is the name given, in the local dialect, to the ancient roads. The “Regie Trazzere of Enna shapefile” can be downloaded at the following link: Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Each of the layers listed above is connected to a related table reporting synthetic data. The item ID_SITO, containing a univocal code for every single site, allowed us to identify, without margin of error, each archaeological site and to connect it to the related external database that communicates with our GIS platform through the function Join. The exact correspondence of the code attributed to a single site on every table connected to it, guarantees the match between the systems and their interoperability.

4. Results and perspectives 4.1 Back to the objective datum One of the aims of this research using the GIS platform was to strip the archaeological data from the interpretative apparatus that inevitably grew around it and to locate the naked data on a map with a predictive role. That is why the GIS functionality came to our aid. The mere possibility of linking each piece of geographical data to a table containing objective and precise information means that every single point marked on the map “speaks”, not hiding its true nature, the accuracy of the positioning, the real data we have and those that are only interpretative hypotheses. Indeed, for each site a field called “Level of Localization” has been included in the table, which allows us to distinguish, even in the cartographic visualization using various kinds of symbols, which sites are supposed to exist only thanks to bibliographic sources and which, instead, can be located with certainty. So, while on a static map each point was equivalent to another and, for example, the hypothetical localization of the still to be found ancient theatre had the same value as the real location of a well, a grave and what has really been identified, our platform gives back to each element its real value and meaning, leaving no room for misunderstandings or reconstructions based on unproven data. This, in our opinion, is already an essential result.

http://www.opendataterritorioenna.it/datiscaricabili/rete-trazzerale-della-provincia-di-enna/. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Figure 2. Screenshot of the Project “Urban Archaeology GIS of Enna”. Source: Author’s elaboration.

4.2 The Analysis All the fields included in the Geodatabase, together with the more numerous and complex ones in the external relational database, linked through the Join function to our geographic data, allow a number of simple or combined queries that we can define as infinite, especially if we consider that, as this is an open platform it will be possible at any time to implement it by integrating missing and adding new data. The archaeological GIS of the city of Enna, finding itself in a phase that we could define embryonic, is already very useful in the basic query forms of the system, because they make it possible to reflect on the ancient urban topography, which is vital for the development of any other observation. The query selections carried out on the chronology of discoveries, combined with those connected to their typology and re-elaborated by spatial analysis tools, enable us to outline phase maps (Figure 3). A more correct positioning of the finds, and the extrapolation of the merely supposed locations give us a more accurate picture of the different settlement phases and the dynamics of exploitation of the

plateau. Therefore, now it is possible to get rid of the heavy conditioning imposed by ancient sources and the wrong location or dating of the findings. Interesting observations have also been made in terms of the reconstruction of the history of the research and the methodologies that characterized it: for example, in the “method of discovery” field, within which the “planned excavation”, “site identified as a result of reporting”, “inspection result”, “occasional recovery” items were made selectable, some statistical evaluations were made which should lead to a deeper reflection on how much this has influenced and continues to influence, the correct interpretation of the data. On a programmatic basis, it would then be appropriate to develop recovery and restoration programs and policies by questioning the system on the “degree of conservation” that each site presents or to plan a more careful protection by analysing the fields related to the “legal status” of goods and, above all, by developing analyses on the fields called “archaeological risk”, “archaeological building risk” and “protection proposals” in order to develop a specific urban policy and more targeted research and protection programs.

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Figure 3. Phase map based on findings dating back to the Roman period. Source: Author’s elaboration.

4.3 The Map of the Archaeological Potential

the western side of the Enna plateau.

The collection of data deriving from archaeological research was accompanied by an analysis of the city’s most recent urban history: some ancient cartographic documents were uploaded on the platform, reproducing the state of expansion of the city in relatively recent years. The following map (Figure 4) is a 1943 topographic city plan realized by the US army 13, overlaid on a 2010 orthophoto14. This overlapping of two different moments of the history of the city, together with the “switching-on” of the findings of some areas, led us to reflect on a particular moment of the history of archaeology: the beginning of the ‘30s, when the first research was conducted on 13

The chart has been downloaded from http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/italy_city_plans/ 14 Downloadable from: http://wms.pcn.minambiente.it/ogc?map=/ms_ogc/WMS_v1.3/raster/ortofoto_c olore_capoluoghi.map&. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Figure 4. Map of Enna of 1943 on an orthophoto of 2010.

At that time, this large non-built-up area was considered barren even from an archaeological point of view. According to some sketchy information related by Paolo Orsi, we know that

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when explored, some of these areas were not exactly virgin but already deeply transformed by the presence of quarries. Although the area was already ruined by mining activities, rare fragments of prehistoric sherds and Greek tiles were found (Orsi, 1931, p. 380). Thanks to the recent publication of part of Paolo Orsi’s notebooks (Valbruzzi, 2015), today the news is that “in the esplanade near the Tower of Frederick II” late Roman or Byzantine burials had been found. This data, combined with the discovery of a headstone in the same area with the Latin inscription on tabula ansata, seem sufficient to exclude the hypothesis that the area was not frequented. Today we believe that the archaeological research that was still in an embryonic state in the ‘30s did not manage to properly document the area: in fact, as visible on the maps dating back to the ‘50s and ‘60s, in the following years this part of the plateau underwent the most profound transformation subjected to a trend of urbanization to be considered among the most impressive in the history of the city. A photographic documentation of the years preceding the building boom came to our rescue in this sense too. Therefore, if scholars have been inclined to state for several decades that the ancient settlement was located only on the eastern part of the plateau, in the light of what has been ascertained thanks to the analysis resulting from the present study, we believe that we must also focus on the western sector of the town. This has a significant influence on our assessment of the archaeological Potential. The Map of the Archaeological Potential obtained by this analysis (Figure 5) outlines the different levels in the following way: in red, HIGH level of potential, areas with the most significant results during the archaeological research and areas focused on because of historical data and tradition, despite the poor findings. In yellow: areas where we believe it is still possible to identify ancient traces, despite the fact that the archaeological research has not

recorded significant findings (MEDIUM). The remaining part of the western sector of the plateau is outlined in green (LOW): this is the widest area affected by the invasive building activity from the ‘50s to the ‘80s. A fourth level of risk, MEDIUM HIGH, was created through the GIS Buffer function and affects the slopes. Therefore, a 200 meter width band has been traced all around the areas marked on the plateau: a summary and only indicative delimitation, apt to include the slopes of the urban centre certainly affected by a secondary distribution of finds, by necropolis or fortification sections. The resulting map highlights a differentiation of areas according to their potential to show traces of the past. Consequently, it could be transformed not so much into an instrument whereby we could impose bans for public or private works, but into an opportunity for all the parties involved to develop projects, so to reconcile protection and scientific research in a smart, history respectful urban development.

5. Conclusions The need to geo-refer uncertain or only supposed data has forced us to reflect on previous research and to ascertain the numerous “information gaps” gathered over time. These holes, almost physiological in multi-layered sites and in continuity of life such as urban centres, are on the one hand mainly due to the loss of information following demolitions and destruction and, on the other hand, to the difficulty in interpreting complex stratigraphies. Nevertheless, the biggest voids are mostly owing to the lack of continuity in the research and classification. Today, as a result, there is not only little conformity in what has been published so far, but also among the archival data of the Soprintendenza we face a fragmentary and incomplete documentary production.

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Figure 5. Map of the Archaeological Potential of the Urban area of Enna. Source: Author’s elaboration.

This work was born with the belief that a GIS dedicated to urban archaeology is not only a useful tool to take a census of all the data produced by discontinuous and confused research in order to reorganize and reconsider them, but also a necessary instrument for the protection and management of the urban area. If the research and protection bodies of the archaeological heritage adopted such a system consciously and commonly, it would acquire the role of an open source bank where all data could merge. This would reduce the dispersion of information to a minimum, oblige all professionals or operators to use standard criteria of general documentation and guarantee a minimum level of cataloguing of the data. On the other hand, used by the territorial management bodies, it would become an invaluable tool for urban planning and the preliminary planning phase of public procurements, as it would speed up the survey procedures of the Archaeological Interest Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Preventive Evaluations regulated by the Code of Public Procurement and aim to avoid the unlucky event of bumping into unexpected finds of archaeological artefacts during the excavation work. To produce a map based on the predictivity of the buried resources, recording the hidden archaeological deposit but also highlighting all the areas where it has been irreparably compromised, means to approach a model of preventive urban archaeology. This is the reason why we prefer to use the definition “Map of the Archaeological Potential” to “Map of the Risk”: it is not just a matter of semantics. It is a deeper difference that has to exercise influence on the mentality of those who live in and those who govern a city; a change in perspective to go beyond the idea of an archaeology of emergency, towards archaeological research and urban development planning that provides for the protection and enhancement of an archaeological heritage that has to be interpreted as a real resource. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Acknowledgements The Author thanks: Prof. Flavia Zisa, tutor of the research scholarship assigned to the undersigned by the “Kore” University of Enna for this project; Dr. Pinella Filippa Marchese, Director of the Archaeological Office at the Soprintendenza BB.CC.AA. of Enna, and Prof. Domenico Marino, for suggestions for the English translation.

10.

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Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 83-93 DOI: 10.4458/1682-08

The middle valley of the Sinni (Italy, southern Basilicata). Analysis of visibility between medieval fortified sites (11th-14th century A.D.) Valentino Vitalea a

Dipartimento delle Culture Europee e del Mediterraneo (DiCEM), University of Basilicata, Matera, Italy Email: vitale.valentino@libero.it Received: April 2018 – Accepted: November 2018

Abstract Viewshed Analysis, or visibility analysis, allows you to evaluate the range of the observation area from a given location, tower, lookout, the creation of a hypothetical model of how these sites communicated and related to each other. The study, conducted as part of the author’s doctoral thesis, examines the ancient medieval landscape in the middle Sinni Valley in southern Basilicata, starting from the development of the entire system of fortifications between the municipalities of Valsinni and Colobraro, in the eastern portion, with the two respective fortresses of barrage locality “Il Pizzo” and locality “Cozzo Madonne della Rocca”, until you reach the innermost part in a Tyrrhenian direction westwards with the fortress of the “Castello di Seluci”, now in the municipality of Lauria (PZ). In the case of fortified settlements in the hinterland of this area, a central function was carried out by Chiaromonte (PZ), the center of the county already under the Norman Clermont family during the 11th century A.D. and also during the Regency of the Sanseverino family in the 14th century A.D. With these premises it is fundamental not only to highlight the area immediately visible from each site, but also to understand the level of intervisibility that had to exist in the settlement network of this given territory between the 11th and 14th centuries A.D., the moment when the entity and future vocation of this precise territory are consolidated. Keywords: Drone, Medieval Archaeology, Medieval Topography, Norman, RPAS, Viewshed Analysis

1. Introduction. Archaeological survey activities The medieval settlement system of the Sinni valley preserves significant traces of structures, whose chronological limits take into account the central centuries of the Middle Ages, from the end of the ninth to the 15th century A.D., characterizing a geographical area with a Copyright© Nuova Cultura

historical picture of particular interest. The area extends from the Ionian coast in the east to the slopes of Mount Sirino in the west and is crossed by the river Sinni; inside it included the territory of Mercourion and Latinianon, particularly involved in the development of religious settlements of both Greek and Latin rite as well as being affected by the parallel phenomenon of

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the encastellation that began here from the 10 th to 11th century A.D. Just from the 11th century A.D. the settlement typology in this territory changed compared to the previous period, passing from a scattered rural settlement model to the intensification of the demonic settlement on the summit hills (Sogliani, 2010, pp. 171195; Sogliani, 2017, pp. 265-312). The strong centralisation in a dominant position is indicated by the spread of the fortified settlement system in Norman times, a phenomenon in this area, as in the rest of the region, facilitated by the absence of large urban centers. Among the defensive and lookout settlements abandoned between the 14th and 15th centuries A.D. and no longer repopulated are the towns of “Catarozzo” in the municipality of Francavilla in Sinni (PZ), “Castello di Seluci” in the municipality of Lauria (PZ), “Il Pizzo” (Valsinni, MT) and “Cozzo Madonne della Rocca” near the centre of Colobraro (MT). The portion of territory being investigated by this research has already been partially examined during the years 2001-2003, by bringing together the data in the publication of the “Archaeological Map of the Sinni Valley” (Quilici and Quilici Gigli, 2001). These volumes, still indispensable for the knowledge of the elements that constituted the settlement of this area, so far represent an underestimated archaeological fact in the medieval age. The sample acquired in years of field research in the middle Sinni Valley, in terms of quantity and complexity, always leads to the same result, just as in numerous national and international experiences 1. The following considerations represent part of the research activities carried out by the author in the area between the municipality of Valsinni (MT) and the eastern limits of the municipality of Lauria (PZ) in the locality of “Castello di Seluci”, on an investigated territory that extends for about 500 km2 distributed in an area of more than 13 municipalities in southern Basilicata along the middle Sinni valley. The data were taken from the results of the author’s PhD research conducted between 2015 and 2017, entitled: “Settlement systems, organization and evolution of the medieval landscape in southern Basilicata: the middle Sinni valley. The forms of secular and ecclesiastical power between the 10th and 15th centuries A.D.” (Vitale, 2018). The data collection phase was divided into: 1) a surface Copyright© Nuova Cultura

reconnaissance campaign; 2) repeated site inspections to acquire GPS points to check the evidence at different times of the year; 3) continuous site inspections to perform flights using RPA of the evidence identified. The opportunity to replicate the data was fundamental considering the visibility of places based on the rich vegetation in different seasons of the year. All this evidence is located in places where no agricultural activities are practised, so the surrounding land is currently used for forestry purposes and with very little visibility (Brughmans and Brandes, 2017). The experience with satellite georeferencing and positioning systems is now a well-established methodology of investigation in archaeological research. These phases were carried out with the help of a Leica GNSS GS08 Plus GPS Rover system, which made it possible to carry out the most precise mapping of the investigation. The same RPA Phantom 4 DJI used for aerial reconnaissance is equipped with a GPS sensor with accuracy between +/- 20-30 cm (the possibility of flight was guaranteed in compliance with the legal regulations for RPAS: Valentino Vitale operator RPAS for specialized critical and non-critical operations No. 9981). The shots and photoplans taken through aerial acquisition carry all the information of a ground GNSS system, allowing the implementation of the two data directly on the GIS (Campana, 2013). The possibility of earthing the hook points detected by the GNSS system has made it possible to correct the positioning error offered by the RPA and georify the orthophotos made with millimeter precision. The GNSS system allows sub-centimetric precision positioning in areas such as those surveyed with poor shrub vegetation on the crests of walls. The possibility to work with an RPA system with integrated GPS built by DJI with positioning of shots usually below 30 cm, makes it possible data to obtain results in the georeferencing phase that summed up do not reach imperfections that go beyond a couple of centimeters of error, This value can be considered optimal for the positioning works of large architectural complexes distributed, among other things, on non-flat surfaces, thickly located at high altitudes along rocky ridges. The feedback between different photographic series was of great help in identifying and understanding the Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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tracks. For the aerial-photogrammetric coverage of the territories in question, reference must be made to the flights of the Basilicata Region and to the IGM. The GIS system used for the

development of research in the middle Sinni Valley includes numerous information plans, all in vector format (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Chiaromonte (PZ). GIS of medieval evidence. Graphics processing by the Author.

Most of these are now available through the RSDI Basilicata portal (http://rsdi.regione.basilicata.it/web/guest/mappe-in-linea). In particular, the latter provides cartography useful for the research work in question such as: administrative limitations; land use map; geolithological map; 2013 and 2014 orthophotos; DSM and DTM (both with a resolution of 5m); regional technical map of 2013. The sections can be downloaded in georeferenced TIFF format for orthophotos, DTM and DSM, while in vector DXF format for all the above listed types of cards and refer to the WGS 84 UTM 33 N coordinate system. A digital model of the land at 5m of the entire investigated area was generated from the level curves of the regional technical cartography 1:5.000 (CTR), thus creating the TIN (the TIN defined as “Triangulated Irregular Network” is a

digital structure used in a GIS to represent a three-dimensional surface) of the area, a model that the regional cartography (RSDI Basilicata https://rsdi.regione.basilicata.it/) does not provide at the moment.

2. Viewshed Analysis between fortified sites: questions of method The interest in the medieval world in the middle Sinni valley, in the problems related to the management and organization of the territory, a place of contact between different people and cultures, makes it possible not only to know the historical / settlement of this territory but to understand a series of pieces of evidence that are clearly recognizable on the territory in their primary vocation in the historical period between the 11th and 14th Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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centuries A.D., not yet fully clarified in its diachrony and local development. In recent years, numerous archaeological cartography projects have been born in Italy both at urban level, and at the broader territorial level, in line with the dictates of landscape archaeology, a discipline that aims to reconstruct ancient landscapes, through the recognition of the traces left by nature and man over time (Cambi, 2011; Salzotti, 2012). The study in the field of landscape archaeology and themes linked to topography, archaeology and architecture of the medieval landscape, new technologies applied to archaeological research, was decisive. The

study, conducted as part of the author’s doctoral thesis, examines the ancient medieval landscape in the middle Sinni valley in southern Basilicata, starting from the development of the entire system of fortifications between the municipalities of Valsinni (MT) and Colobraro (MT), in the eastern portion, with the two respective fortresses of barrage locality “Il Pizzo” and locality “Cozzo Madonne della Rocca”, until you reach the innermost part in the Tyrrhenian direction towards W with the fortress of “Castello di Seluci”, today in the municipality of Lauria (PZ) (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Sinni Valley: orthophoto 2013 with positioning of 11th-14th century A.D. sites. Graphics processing by the Author.

In the case of fortified settlements in the hinterland of this area, a central function was held Chiaromonte (PZ), the centre of the county already under the Norman Clermont family during the 11th century A.D. and also under the Regency of Sanseverino in the 14 th century A.D. (Vitale and Lista, 2015; Vitale, 2014, pp. 215233; Vitale, 2015, pp. 11-22). With these premises it is fundamental not only to highlight Copyright© Nuova Cultura

the area immediately visible from each site, but also to understand the level of intervisibility that had to exist in the settlement of this given territory between the 11th and 14th centuries A.D., when its future entity and vocation are consolidated. Visibility analyses, or more commonly, “Viewshed Analysis”, refer to the more general category of digital spatial analysis and allow the identification of areas visible from Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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a given point of view, which can be seen from one or more observation points (Pecere, 2006, pp. 177-213; Wheatley, 1995; Wheatley, 1996, pp. 75-103), allowing the assessment of the range of the control area from a given position, tower, lookout, settlement or other eminent point within a given territory, generating a hypothetical model of how these sites communicated and related to each other. In fact, the visibility aspect of a place was, at least until mid-14th century A.D., one of the fundamental elements taken into account by communities in the preference for territories on which to establish a settlement, highlighting a greater peculiarity as regards the choice of fortified sites (Nutsford et al., 2015, pp. 1-7). The systematic survey of the entire area was fundamental, with an initial positioning of the evidence, an activity that allowed us to understand the spatial location of the sites and the underlying motivations for their position, often dictated by the vocation of the centres in the management of the defence of the territory on which they were created for the management and governance of the same. Topographic reading and positioning of evidence through GNSS has allowed the creation of most of the cartography, functional to a specific analytical approach such as the analysis of visibility of the areas identified. It was possible to distinguish fortified sites that existed at the same time in history, to give them a very precise weight as regards their strategic function and the importance of their position, and to try to obtain through the various spatial analyses a map dedicated to the theme of research. From the first inspections carried out, thanks to the subsequent aid of cartographic analyses, it was possible to obtain an overview and the underlying motivations for the foundation of a site in one place compared to another, as well as to ascertain in which communicative relationship they are between themselves. An example is the “barricade” naturally constituted by the position in which the two torrazzi of locality “Cozzo Madonne della Rocca”, near Colobraro (MT), and “Il Pizzo” in the municipality of Valsinni (MT); eminent in terms of the position on which they rise, they constitute the first closure for those who arriving in these lands from the sea directly from the Ionic side of Lucania want to access the Sinni valley. The physical closure of a highly strategic Copyright© Nuova Cultura

and spontaneously strategic place like this, consisting of a natural narrowing of the same valley between the two slopes rising towards higher altitudes, had already been a prerogative during previous historical periods with the case of Monte Coppolo and the other contemporary settlement “Timpa del Ponte” located further downstream and consisting of the plain still visible in the middle of the river Sinni (today the place so called has been considerably reshaped and destroyed because of the quarry works which took place in the years before the imposition of archaeological constraints). The area’s vocation as a barrier and defence site for the river valley is confirmed by the discovery of these two fortified sites dating back to the Middle Ages, in close connection with the nearby castles of Colobraro and Valsinni. This system of four fortified bastions, placed in a position of immediate visual control, is set up in a highly strategic area for the management of temporal power in southern Lucania. The evidence found in the “Castello di Seluci” locality, now in the municipality of Lauria (PZ), is mirror-like, but in the opposite direction. Located in the western part of the middle Sinni valley, the architectural complex is made up of fortified structures placed at an imposing altitude compared to the surrounding territory (from 945 m a.s.l. to 975 m a.s.l. at the top, while the neighbouring valley slopes down to 700 m a.s.l.). The latter, too, in carrying out its tasks of barrage and lookout, was placed in a predominant position and in perfect visual communication with the nearby fortified centre of Latronico (PZ), managing access from the Mercure valley to the hinterland. The data emerges powerfully from the spatial analyses of visibility conducted in these two precise areas, allowing us to understand some of the motivations underlying the foundations of these entities, which would otherwise have been useless in harsh territories poor in springs where it was difficult to lead everyday life. Similar positions have guaranteed the survival for centuries of places such as Chiaromonte as the center of the County, also placed in a position of predominance and control over the surrounding territory, providing a wide view practicable over long distances under the power of the Norman Counts (it is a fact that the human eye cannot distinguish objects perfectly that are more than Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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15-18 km away, although it must be taken into account that from places like Chiaromonte you can actually see the coasts lapped by the Ionian Sea along the Gulf of Taranto), favored in this perspective by the immediacy and fertility of arable areas with the presence of springs placed immediately behind the rocky hill summit. The system created between high altitude nerve centres within an impervious territory and crossed by the Sinni in its narrow river valley has allowed the recognition of at least 10 nerve centres for the defence of the territory, located to create and manage a fortified network in close visual and communicative connection. The system was managed visually thanks to a reference of stations from one position to another so that, from the physical closure of “Cozzo Madonne della Rocca” until arriving at “Castello di Seluci”, the body of defence and government of this extensive mountain area was complete. These stations are located as the crow

flies at an average distance of no more than 8-10 km, ensuring fast communications for good control of the territory. Thanks to the use of this methodology it is possible to recognize places where hypothetically there could be watchtowers to allow communication between sites: for example, between Chiaromonte and Roccanova, which rose up in positions where the necessities of both did not directly foresee particular communicative needs, there are precise positions where to concentrate the research and to evaluate this hypothesis. The opportunity to combine the results of individual visibility analyses, making what was seen from one point comprehensible compared to all those that stood nearby, allows us to make further hypotheses on the possibility of locating abandoned areas with settlement vocation that have not yet been found.

Figure 3. Viewshed Analysis between the monasteries of “San Nicola in Valle” and “S.M. of Sagittario” with respect to Chiaromonte (PZ). Graphics processing by the Author.

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The dynamics of the settlement of the monastic and religious complexes, which arose in the immediate vicinity of the centres with greater political and economic power on which they depended, were different. These religious communities have often been the direct result of the emanation of central power, rising in places destined for them with different purposes such as the defence of the territory, the regeneration and revitalization of uncultivated areas. There is no doubt that monks have a strong vocation to cultivate wooded or completely abandoned areas, based on their practical and theoretical knowledge. This is the case of the monastery of “Santa Maria del Sagittario”, a Cistercian subsidiary of the distant monastery of Casamari in Lazio, strongly desired in the places where its ruins are preserved by the Norman comitology family of Clermont; at the end of the 14 th century A.D., in order to reduce its hegemonic claims, the Sanseverino family (who succeeded the power in Chiaromonte) opposed the

Carthusian monastery of “San Nicola in Valle” to it (Figure 3). Crossing the greenhouses and valleys to the south of the Sarmento and to the north of the Serrapotamo, we encounter different monastic entities that are also part of this complex system of political management. This is the case of the monastery of SS. Elia and Anastasio or the monastery of “Kyr-Zosino” (both of Greek worship) from which the two centres of Carbone and Cersosimo would be born by aggregation respectively. In this perspective, the distinction of power between Latin and Greek centres of worship must always be kept in mind, in a system of division of the territory that is distinct from each other. It is no coincidence that the power established here over the centuries has not allowed the Greek rite foundations to interfere in predominant positions but has found a place along two of its tributaries, in more marginal and neighboring positions.

Figure 4. Photographic restitution of the evidence of the monastery of “San Nicola in Valle” (RSDI geoportal of Basilicata). Graphics processing by the Author.

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The monasteries of the middle Sinni, Sarmento and Serrapotamo valleys went on to develop a system they managed, divided into satellite centres such as “grancie” and fortified houses, which would in turn manage distant territories full of important economic and political interests. In the cases of the monasteries of Latin origin and their appurtenances, the visibility analysis method allowed the recognition of a spatial distribution order directly under the centre of Chiaromonte, as a headquarters. The spatial analyses have recognised the direct visual contact of the Sagittarius Monastery and the Charterhouse of St Nicholas with the County Centre, but not directly between them and their appurtenances. For example, the Cistercian monks, on whom the Ventrile grance depended, had no direct connection with this, while both are clearly visible from Chiaromonte (Vitale and Bruno 2012, pp. 371-376; Vitale, 2018). The same applies to the Carthusian monasteries, to which at the beginning of the 15th century Count Wenceslas entrusted the management of territories once managed by the so-called “Castello di Rubeo” (Figure 4).

3. Conclusions In the introduction it was underlined how when this study was started the archaeological research in the Sinni valley was basically based on the original scheme of the Archaeological Map of Quilici (Quilici and Quilici Gigli, 2001), and therefore on the traditional methods of ancient topography: analysis of written sources, surface reconnaissance and reading of vertical aerial photographs. During this investigation this was all joined by others such as remote sensing via “RPA georeference”, but above all, spatial analyses such as Viewshed Analysys were conducted between the different sites investigated (Wheatley and Gillings, 2000, pp. 1-27; Wheatley and Gillings, 2002). The cartography presented is by no means the complete census of the archaeology currently

present in this geographical area. It is true, however, that the results reached in quantitative and qualitative terms can be projected at a regional level as a model for establishing an estimate of the medieval archaeological potential and the dynamics of transformation along the 5 river valleys of Lucania. Increasing visibility and systematically searching within adjacent spaces with new investigative tools will also allow us to find what does not exist today. The spatial distribution of the settled areas follows dynamics of positioning purely in defensive areas in high rise positions (Figure 5). All the fortified places of emanation of central power rise on rocky spurs easily defensible from which by agglutination the respective historical centres develop. The lookout positions, which were built in places even harsher than the first, indicate the lack of development beyond the 14th century A.D., when their definitive abandonment can be attested. As such, they have continued to deteriorate in their conditions until today, to indicate the specific function of the building moment, which is no longer recovering for obvious reasons in the change of the political and defensive strategies of the area. Therefore, the tops of the ridge along the two sides of the Sinni river and its streams, such as the Serrapotamo and the Sarmento, are preferred. Along these, a whole series of centers still existing today develop, from the satellite function with respect to the center of the Chiaromonte County, which arose in the position of greatest visibility of the area from which to be able to entirely dominate the territory that the Counts had to manage. The wide radius visible from this place makes it possible from the same point to cover considerable distances, reaching the coasts of the Ionian Sea between Scanzano and Policoro towards E, and allowing communication with all the fortified centers of the area. It is therefore possible to distinguish three precise moments in the development and abandonment of some fortified centers.

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Figure 5. Viewshed Analysis of the Chiaromonte County Centre (PZ). Graphics processing by the Author.

The first refers to the central centuries of the Middle Ages between the 10th and 11th centuries A.D., when the Norman Clermont family established themselves and centers that were already in existence upon their arrival, such as Chiaromonte and Senise, were reborn (Corrado, 2001, pp. 227-254; Manzelli, 2001, pp. 113152). The reconstructive hypotheses of the landscape of those centuries and the documentary and archaeological attestations to which it has been possible to refer indicate the presence of at least 4 most important centers: Chiaromonte, Senise, Teana and Noepoli. The presence of monasteries of Greek origin, such as the monastery of St. Elias of Carbone, was a counterbalance. The 11th century became the moment of contact between the Greek monasticism of Mercurion and the arrival of Latin monasticism of Latinianon. The next phase, where the birth and foundation of structures dictated by the new Norman government in the middle Sinni valley are attested, was defined between the 12 th and 14th

centuries, owing to the homogeneous characteristics of the settlement typologies, the uniformity in the architectural and constructive planning and to the homologous choice of places to be installed for the government and the organic management of the whole valley. The 4 centers mentioned for the previous phase are joined by new buildings and the restoration of other sites, probably already partly inhabited. The reference goes to Latronico, Episcopia, Roccanova, Colobraro and Valsinni, while lastly the defences and the closure of the central sector of the Sinni valley are prepared with the foundation of the so-called Castello di Seluci in W and E with the two fortified towers of “Cozzo Madonne della Rocca” and “Il Pizzo”. The three watchtowers will be the emblem of the fortification system of Norman management in the territory, since with their political decline they themselves will suffer a slow decline culminating in their abandonment during the 14th century A.D. (Figure 6).

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Mappa” was to build a tourist, naturalistic and historical route inserting everything in a cultural itinerary that reveals the medieval archaeological evidence still surviving in relation to the surrounding landscape. All this, thanks to the creation of a dedicated website and the integration of data retrieved within a GIS platform, has allowed a wide audience to understand the archaeological and architectural potential of the valley in the medieval historical diachrony, starting a process of general awareness aimed at cultural heritage. Figure 6. Oblique drone photo: “Cozzo Madonne della Rocca” in the foreground; on the left of the frame “Il Pizzo”; in the background “Tempa del Ponte” and Monte Coppolo; Valsinni (MT) on the left. Photo: V. Vitale.

This was the moment when the major monastic centers with Latin rite in the area were built, partly supplanting the power of the orthodox rite cenobi, such as that of Carbone. The abbey of Sagittario was founded during the 12th-13th century A.D. with a series of “grancie” and appurtenances distributed throughout the territory (Figure 7). Strongly desired by the central power, this foundation will manage and organize the teniments and the countryside of the county of Chiaromonte, in the dichotomy born later with the arrival of the Carthusian monastery of San Nicola in Valle arriving in these lands at the end of the 14th century A.D. Their power will be one that will heavily affect Greek monasticism, making it like a small enclave during these centuries destined to shrink more and more. The archaeological and topographical researches carried out in the Sinni valley have been conveyed for their own vocation in the project called “ARCHEO MAPPA. OPEN DATA CHIAROMONTE (PZ)”, carried out thanks to a grant from the Basilicata Region to the writer. The project has had as objective the reconstruction of the historical events of the medieval County of Chiaromonte (PZ), through what is the recognition of the pivotal points of the Middle Ages in the valley and the possibility of interaction with the local population. The idea set with the realization of the project “Archeo Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Figure 7. Oblique drone photo of the monumental complex of Ventrile, Chiaromonte (PZ). Photo: V. Vitale.

References 1. Brughmans T. and Brandes U., “Visibility network patterns and methods for studying visual relational phenomena in archaeology”, Frontiers in Digital Humanities: Digital Archaeology, 4, 17, 2017. 2. Cambi F., Manuale di Archeologia dei Paesaggi, Rome, Carocci, 2011. 3. Campana S., Carta archeologica della provincia di Siena. Montalcino, Vol. XII, Perugia, Grafica Diemme, 2013. 4. Corrado M., “Manufatti altomedievali da Senise: riesame critico dei dati”, in Quilici L. and Quilici Gigli S. (Eds.), Carta archeologica della Valle del Sinni, Fascicolo 4: zona di Senise, Rome, L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2001, pp. 227-254.

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5. Manzelli V., “La zona di Chiaromonte”, in Quilici L. and Quilici Gigli S. (Eds.), Carta archeologica della Valle del Sinni, Fascicolo 5: da Castronuovo di S. Andrea a Chiaromonte, Calvera, Teana e Fardella, Rome, L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2001, pp. 113-152. 6. Nutsford D., Reitsma F., Pearson A.L. and Kingham S., “Personalising the viewshed: Visibility analysis from the human Perspective”, Applied Geography, 62, 2015, pp. 1-7. 7. Pecere B., “Viewshed e cost surface analyses per uno studio dei sistemi insediativi antichi: il caso della daunia tra X e VI sec. A.C.”, Archeologia e Calcolatori, XVII, 2006, pp. 177-213. 8. Quilici L. and Quilici Gigli S. (Eds.), Carta Archeologica della Valle del Sinni, Rome, L’Erma di Bretschneider, 2001. 9. Salzotti F., Carta archeologica della provincia di Siena Volume XI. Finalità, metodi, strumenti, Siena, NIE, 2012. 10. Sogliani F., “Il mondo rurale della Basilicata nel medioevo. La lettura archeologica della compagine insediativa, delle modalità di controllo e sfruttamento territoriale dei sistemi socio-economici delle campagne tra X e XIII secolo”, Archeologia Medievale, XXXVII, 2010, pp. 171-195. 11.Sogliani F., “L’archeologia medievale in Basilicata: progetti di ricerca e cantieri di scavo”, in Panarelli F. (Ed.), Alle fonti della Basilicata medievale: edizioni, progetti e cantieri, Bari, Adda, 2017, pp. 265-312. 12. Wheatley D., “Cumulative viewshed analysis: A GIS-based method for investigating intervisibility and its archaeological application”, in Lock G. and Stancic Z. (Eds.), Archaeology and GIS: a European Perspective, London, CRC Press, 1995, pp. 171-185. 13.Wheatley D., “The Use of GIS to Understand Regional Variation in earlier Neolithic Wessex”, in Maschner H.D.G. (Ed.), New Methods, Old Problems. Geographic Information Systems in Modem Archaeological

Research, CAI Occasional Paper 23, Carbondale, Ilinois, 1996, pp. 75-103. 14.Vitale V., “La Contea di Chiaromonte (Basilicata): fonti documentarie e persistenze archeologiche. Materiali per la ricostruzione storico-insediativa dall’età normanna al basso medioevo”, in Meo F. and Zuchtriegel G. (Eds.), Siris Herakleia Polichoron. Città e campagna tra antichità e medioevo, Siris, 14, 2014, pp. 215-233. 15. Vitale V., “La Contea di Chiaromonte: persistenze archeologiche dai Clermont (XI sec. d.C.) ad oggi”, in Vitale V. and Lista M. (Eds.), La Contea di Chiaromonte. Ceti sociali ed istituzioni ecclesiastiche tra XIV e XVIII secolo d.C., Lagonegro, Grafiche Zaccara, 2015, pp. 11-22. 16.Vitale V., “Sistemi insediativi, organizzazione ed evoluzione del paesaggio medievale nella Basilicata Meridionale: la media valle del Sinni. Le forme del potere laico ed ecclesiastico tra X e XV secolo d.C.”, PhD Thesis, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Dipartimento DiCEM, Matera, 2018. 17. Vitale V. and Bruno B., “La valle del Sinni in età medievale. Il monastero di San Nicola del Ventrile (Francavilla in Sinni – PZ): primi dati”, in Redi F. and Forgione A. (Eds.), VI Congresso Nazionale di Archeologia Medievale (L’Aquila, 12-15 September 2012), 2012, pp. 371-376. 18.Vitale V. and Lista M. (Eds.), La Contea di Chiaromonte. Ceti sociali ed istituzioni ecclesiastiche tra XIV e XVIII secolo d.C., Lagonegro, Grafiche Zaccara, 2015. 19.Wheatley D. and Gillings M., “Vision, perception and GIS: Developing enriched approaches to the study of archaeological visibility”, in Lock G. (Ed.), Beyond the Map. Archaeology and Spatial Technologies, Amsterdam, IOS Press, 2000, pp. 1-27. 20.Wheatley D. and Gillings M., Spatial Technology and Archaeology. The Archaeological Applications of GIS, London-New York, Taylor and Francis, 2002.

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Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 95-104 DOI: 10.4458/1682-09

New ISTAT “microzones” layer: a new way to read land cover statistics Stefano Mugnoli, Fabio Lipizzi, Antonella Espostoa a

DIPS-DCAT-ATA, ISTAT (National Institute of Statistics), Rome, Italy Email: mugnoli@istat.it Received: July 2018 – Accepted: October 2018

Abstract The aim of this paper is to describe the procedures used to integrate geographic datasets in order to produce new ISTAT “microzones” layer, an upgrade of the 2011 Census cartography. The above is an experiment based on the management and fusion between Land Cover data concerning hinterland areas (i.e. cadastral data) and maps produced by regional or local authorities. All the activities are in progress and under assessment. Integration and elaboration are carried out using a number of ArcGIS 10.4.1 tools. The main achievements so far have been to produce integrated geographic datasets and to link microzones land cover and use legend with LUCAS (Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey) one. Other very useful pilot data are represented by four band high resolution aerial images; calculating simple radiometric indices (SAVI, ENDVI), in fact, it can be possible to improve the estimates of vegetation cover, especially in urban areas. All the information collected can be a very useful way of improving the quality of land cover/use statistical data, although the integration of data that came from different sources can involve an accuracy loss and a generalization of the final product; the activities will be extended to the entire Italian territory to enhance the value of the input data. Future work will be planned to automate all data processing and integration with other geographic database sources, in order to increase data details and to reduce the generalization of the same. Keywords: ArcGIS 10.4.1, Census Data, Enumeration Areas, Land Cover/Use

1. Introduction The renewal process of the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) provides the data production through the new Integrated Statistical Registers system (SIR). One of the four SIR registers is the Base register of the site (RSLB) that will make it possible to uniquely locate all SIR information. For this reason, ISTAT has Copyright© Nuova Cultura

planned the implementation of the enumeration areas layer called “microzones”. Therefore, the new microzones layer constitutes the base map to contain and disseminate SIR data and information (Lipizzi, 2013). This paper aims to briefly set out the methodology used to realize the new ISTAT microzones layer; some legend details will be provided in order to better understand the way in Italian Association of Geography Teachers

Stefano Mugnoli, Fabio Lipizzi, Antonella Esposto

which each polygon is represented on the map. Its name is related to the fact that the microzones layer is a further subdivision of the ISTAT enumeration areas layer; the latter is divided into very small polygons, homogenous in their LC/LU aspects; this creates a kind of a plot made up of many micro-areas. The ISTAT census enumeration areas vector layer, in fact, represents the cornerstone to analyse the Italian territory from a statistical point of view. All the data collected during census surveys are linked to each of the over 400,000 enumeration areas drawn on Italy. This dense plot helps us to describe the entire national territory in a very detailed way, particularly in urban areas. Therefore, in order to improve LC/LU statistics and to better characterize each enumeration area, the ISTAT ATA (Environment Territory) unit planned to produce a sort of a microzones mosaic layer described by a land cover/use definition compatible with the LUCAS (Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey) legend. This certainly allows both to define more clearly the homogenous areas contour for the future and to optimize the geo-localization of all census variables. With regard to the above, it is important to remember that ISTAT has just planned a continuous population Census survey that should start very soon. It is thus absolutely fundamental to have a very detailed reference cartography. Census geographical datasets are essentially used for classifying and characterizing national territory in relation to resident population, buildings, services and industry. Supplementing this information with land cover and land use data, it can be possible not only to produce comprehensive data on land cover/use, but better to calculate some statistical parameters (i.e. population density) at local and global level too. But not just that: in fact, statistical information at this level of detail can be used to evaluate other important phenomena like soil consumption, urban sprawl (European Environment Agency, 2006), accessibility to territory and the demographic change in population distribution. In short, our product can be considered a sort of “Land Cover/Use (LC/LU) Synthetic Layer” (from the Greek term “σύνϑεσις” in the sense of getting together geo-statistical information Copyright© Nuova Cultura

derived from many different geographic datasets); its main use is to support statistical surveys since it is the result of integration and harmonization of different kinds of thematic archives such as administrative, demographic, infrastructure (road, railway, ports, airport, etc.), agricultural Census data and environmental maps. Moreover, the peculiar legend of the map is undoubtedly useful in better understanding the synthesis process. In Italy CISIS1 (Centro Interregionale per i Sistemi Informatici Geografici e Statistici) has contributed to harmonising geographical and statistical data. One of the most important results is the release of the database “DB Prior 10K” at national level. The database developed by CPSG (Comitato Permanente per i Sistemi Geografici), provides some layers (i.e. streets, railways, hydrography) with the same data structure. Therefore, every geographical ISTAT data is designed to pursue the same purpose: to provide standardised information for the entire national territory. The final geo-statistical microzones layer was developed through collaboration of many people and after the review of many different intermediate products. In the end, the activity is the sequel of many ISTAT experimentations (Lipizzi and Mugnoli, 2010; Chiocchini and Mugnoli, 2014; Mugnoli et al., 2011; Lombardo et al., 2017).

2. Methodology The purpose of the new ISTAT microzones layer is to synthesize and integrate different land cover/use and geo-statistical datasets in just only one statistical cartography; but it should not be considered as a cartography product in the strict sense since the vertex distance and the generalization of the polygon is not related to a specific scale; moreover there is no real Minimum Map Unit (MMU) (Marchetti, 2002). Having said that, considering ISTAT enumeration areas as a basic layer, other many different official LC/LU datasets, at Continental level or realized by national and regional Italian

For more information regarding CISIS activities: http://www.cisis.it/. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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institutes (i.e. CORINE LC 2 and cadastral data distributed by AGEA: Agency for the Agricultural Supplies, local LC/LU maps and Technical Cartography) and street/railway networks are merged with the first in order to concentrate both statistics and geographic information in a unique product. In Figure 1 is shown an example of an enumeration area divided into some microzones; the old enumeration are as are in red while the features that have been extracted are in yellow (i.e. streets, railways, rivers, aquaculture facilities). The main idea arose from an experimental PSN (National Statistical Program) project called Synthetic Statistical Land Cover map (Italian acronym CSCS), in which different geographic datasets are collected together in a unique topological correct layer. In Figure 2 the same area of Figure 1: some features have come to light (buildings in pink, roads in grey, sport facilities in brick, water areas in blue, cropland in ochre, fruit trees in light green and woodland in dark green). Street and railway layers were converted into polygons starting from commercial networks and running differentiated buffer algorithms; i.e. for roads the buffer was on the basis of the Functional Road Class (FRC) field.

using some simple vegetation indices it is possible to isolate green areas such as woods, grasslands, urban parks and trees along the roads. Four band aerial orthophotos at high resolution (50 cm in extra-urban areas and 20 cm in urban centres) are suitable for the extraction of vegetation indices (Xue and Boafeng, 2017) thanks to the presence of the Near Infrared band (NIR). In order to create a complementary layer, some vegetation indices were extracted. The first choice went for SAVI (Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index) (Huete, 1988) that can be automatically calculated by an ERDAS/Imagine software algorithm and ENDVI (Enhanced Normalized Difference Vegetation Index)3 that has been performed by a batch process in python4. For the SAVI the main difficulty is to calculate a canopy background adjustment factor that varies from 0 to 1. The index that can give even more homogeneous results is the ENDVI; in fact, this index uses the red and green as the reflective channels and blue as the absorption channel. It must be remembered that a normal healthy plant will reflect both visible green light and NIR light. The formula is:

In brief, data integration is based on ArcGIS 10.4.1 algorithms that make it possible to analyze and synthesize vector layers in a very simple way; the most used tools for this experimentation belong to analysis and data management ones. An adjustment of the map topology was necessary by editing tools (i.e. to eliminate micro polygons that were created during the process).

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The main problem in our case was the fact that LC/LU local maps are focused on the CORINE legend and it is not so easy, after having integrated CTR and street networks, to classify interstitial zones, especially in urban areas. Therefore, aerial images processing made a substantial contribution, both in extra urban and urban areas covered by vegetation. In fact, by 3 2

For more information regarding CORINE LC: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/COR0landcover. CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

For more information regarding ENDVI: https://maxmax.com/endvi.htm. 4 Regarding several vegetation indices see also: MrĂłz and Sobieraj, 2004. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Figure 1. An example of microzones in extra urban area. Bologna municipality. Source: ISTAT.

Figure 2. An example of Synthetic Statistical Land Cover map. Source: ISTAT elaboration on regional LC/LU and street network data.

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Stefano Mugnoli, Fabio Lipizzi, Antonella Esposto

This ENDVI formula sums the NIR and Green channels together for the reflective channel. The Blue channel is multiplied by two to compensate for the NIR and Green channels being summed together. In Figure 3A is shown a result of image processing algorithm to extract ENDVI index in an urban area (Rome EUR), where white pixels represent green areas. After that, it is necessary to reclassify the image for two reasons: it is fundamental to convert the continuous file in a discrete one; it must be made sure to isolate just the pixels that represent the green areas; an example of this approach is provided in Figure 3B (in green just the pixels that had a DN>=0,2).

Rocca et al., 2001). The first algorithm identifies groups of contiguous pixels in the same class, called “raster regions” or “clumps”; a clump image is the input of the second algorithm that eliminates clumps below a given area. In this way, small noise (salt and pepper) effects are removed in thematic maps. Vegetation index images can be reclassified into a two class thematic layers: areas with and without vegetation. In this case, we have decided to identify the two classes as green urban areas (inside ISTAT urban centres) and artificial land. Finally, raster regions are converted into a polygon vector layer.

Therefore, with the help of two ERDAS/Imagine algorithms (Clump and Eliminate) it was possible to group together green pixels in clusters and then remove areas below 1,000 sqm (Kienast-Brown and Boettinger, 2010; Dobermann et al., 2003; Della

Figure 3A. An example of ENDVI index image in urban area (Rome EUR). Source: ISTAT elaboration on data AGEA.

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100

Figure 3B. Figure 3A reclassified (Rome EUR). Source: ISTAT elaboration on data AGEA.

3. CSCS and Microzone LC legend ISTAT enumeration are as are described by a lot of attributes that identify each polygon from an administrative and statistical point of view. There are some codes that can be useful to frame each area in a sort of LC/LU classification. Since 2001 each enumeration area had been identified according to a key related to its main “vocation”. This sort of legend was focused especially on human activities, uses or services for the citizen. Having considered the need to define a clear and useful LC/LU legend to uniquely describe the entire national territory, the choice has fallen upon LUCAS (Land Use and Cover area frame Survey) because this is a “survey that provides harmonized and comparable statistics on land use and land cover across the whole of the EU’s territory”5. And not just for this reason, the CSCS class legend has been based on the LUCAS one because LUCAS is an LC pure legend; moreover, all the map layers at our

disposal make it possible to identify each CSCS polygon by a LUCAS class. Upon completion of the CSCS description, it is easy to transfer the classification to the microzones layer since the latter is a sort of summary of the former. The first draft provides a 45 LC class, mostly at LUCAS level 1. But classifying each microzone is not always simple, especially in the case in which polygons can be referred to LU rather than to LC. For example, it is very difficult to characterize the “green urban areas” on the basis of the LC pure legend, as LUCAS is. Usually green areas are classified on the basis of their use (i.e. amusement parks, community gardens, etc.). Attempts have been made to separate grasslands and woodlands from “green artificial” ones. In this specific case an invaluable aid is represented by image processing, as described above.

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4. Topology rules and accuracy assessment When different geographical databases are merged into a unique layer, some overlay errors inevitably occur. It is therefore essential to define very strict topology rules upstream. First of all, you have to decide the overlay order of the layer. In our case the basic layer is represented by water (river, lake, lagoons, etc.) and wetlands; above this railways, streets and buildings in this order; then, agricultural and natural area layers; finally the polygons derived from the ENDVI. Of course, in so doing, it is necessary to deal with the overlay areas (bridge, road crossings, etc.). Using some simple ArcGIS 10.4.1 analysis algorithms (Intersect and Symmetrical difference), different layers can be merged automatically without topology errors. To give an example, Basilicata, an Italian region of about 10,073 sq.km composed of 5,107 enumeration areas, is divided into 317,928 polygons in CSCS layers. It is only thanks to the fact that the topology is correct that it is possible to evaluate the land cover of each class. In Table 1 is shown a summary of land cover surfaces for Basilicata related to the LUCAS legend at level 0. X,Y tolerance is set at 1m, the same as the enumeration area layers. LUCAS Class A00 B00 C00 D00 E00 F00 G00 H00

Definition Artificialland Cropland Woodland Shrubland Grassland Bare land and lichens Water areas Wetlands

Surface (ha) 27,796.86 530,902.33 219,757.59 64,059.24 17,669.29 120,381.03 11,098.02 174.75

% Region 2.76 52.70 21.82 6.36 1.75 11.95

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An additional benefit in using the LUCAS legend is the possibility to assess the accuracy of the CSCS layer by LUCAS points themselves. The total accuracy for Basilicata referred to 597 LUCAS points (year 2012) stands at about 70% (69.23%). Class accuracy varies from 72.02% for the woodland to 33.33% for the grassland 6. The real problem is due to the number of LUCAS points of the less represented classes. In our case, for example, we have just 5 points for the “Bare land and lichens/moss” and no LUCAS points for the “wetlands”. Moreover, it is clear from the error matrix that there are clear overlaps between natural grasslands (pastures) and agricultural ones. The CSCS layer is completed for 8 Italian regions and it is now proceeding to transfer information to the Census 2011 enumeration area layers to create microzones layer. This process has been completed just for EmiliaRomagna that now has 65,346 microzones vs 38,603 old enumeration areas. In Figure 4A a focus on the Census 2011 enumeration layer (Parma municipality); in Figure 4B the same zone for the microzones one. Different colors represent different LC classes.

5. Conclusions The need to have a homogeneous statistical cartography for the entire national territory is a priority not only for ISTAT but for national and local administrative authorities too. Enumeration areas layer have played a crucial role until now in describing statistical indicators in their territorial and environmental aspects. However, enumeration areas are not suitable to describe LC and get territorial parameters to some important ISTAT surveys (i.e. agricultural census, transport and services surveys, etc.). So the new ISTAT microzones layer has to be seen as the base map phenomena.

1.10 0.02

Table 1. Basilicata land cover surfaces according to LUCAS legend (2011). Source: ISTAT elaboration. 6

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Figure 4A. Census 2011 enumeration areas classification (Parma municipality). Source: elaboration on data ISTAT.

Figure 4B. Microzones 2018 classification for the same area as Figure 4A. Source: elaboration on data ISTAT.

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Stefano Mugnoli, Fabio Lipizzi, Antonella Esposto

Another important aspect is the fact that ISTAT releases the data at least at municipality level. It is important to say that the Italian municipality surfaces vary greatly: from 12 Ha (Atrani) to 1,287 sq. km (Rome). CORINE and other National cartographic production (i.e. National Map of Soil Consumption produced by ISPRA)7 are not suitable because of their spatial resolution. From the above, new microzones layer are really a new way to read LC/LU statistics. Just having data about LC linked to statistical ones enables one to classify any area of the National territory according to criteria which may be decided on the basis of specific needs. Moreover, the storage of the data in a geodatabase allows data extraction by very simple SQL queries. Furthermore, all the geographical data are correct in relation to topology and this fact is fundamental for the quantification of the LC/LU classes. All the information collected so far can be a very useful instrument to improve the quality of statistical land cover/use data although the integration of data that came from different sources can involve an accuracy loss and a generalization of the final product. The future steps will be planned to automate all data processing and integration with other geographic databases so as to increase the data details and reduce the data generalization. During 2018 the project foresees the involvement of 80% of the National territory.

Acknowledgements -

Even if the paper was devised together by the Authors, F. Lipizzi wrote paragraphs 1 and 5, S. Mugnoli wrote paragraphs 2, 3 and 4, A. Esposto worked on Figures and Tables.

The Authors are extremely grateful to Luisa Franconi for the revision of the text.

The Authors thank all the people of the ISTAT ATA unit who daily works to implement ISTAT geodatabases.

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References 1. Chiocchini R. and Mugnoli S., “Land Cover and Census integration geographic datasets to realize a statistics synthetic map”, Proceedings of European Forum for Geography and Statistics (Krakow, 22-24 October 2014), European Forum for Geography and Statistics Conference, 2014, https://www.efgs.info/conferences/efgs/2014 -krakow/. 2. Della Rocca A.B., Pignatti S., Mugnoli S. and Bianco P.M., “La Carta della Vegetazione della Tenuta di Castelporziano”, in Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL (dei Quaranta) (Ed.), Il Sistema Ambientale della Tenuta di Castelporziano, Scritti e Documenti XXVI, Rome, 2001, pp. 709747. 3. Dobermann A., Ping J.L., Simbahan G.C. and Adamchuk V.I., “Processing of yield map data for delineating yield zones”, in Stafford J. and Werner A. (Eds.), Precision Agriculture, Wageningen, Wageningen Academic Publisher, 2003, pp. 177-186. 4. European Environment Agency, Urban Sprawl in Europe – the ignored challenge, EEAreport n. 10/2006. 5. Foody G.M., “Status of land cover classification accuracy assessment”, Remote sensing of environment, 80, 1, 2002, pp. 185201. 6. Gallego F.J., “Remote sensing and land cover area estimation”, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 25, 15, 2004, pp. 3019-3047. 7. Huete A.R., “A soil adjusted vegetation index”, Remote sensing of environment, 25, 3, 1988, pp. 295-309. 8. Huete A., Didan K., Miura T., Rodriguez E.P., Gao X. and Ferreira L.G., “Overview of the radiometric and biophysical performance of the MODIS vegetation indices”, Remote Sensing of Environment, 83, 2002, pp. 195213. 9. Kemp K., Encyclopedia of Geographic Information Science, SAGE Publications, 2008. 10. Kienast-Brown S. and Boettinger J.L., “AppItalian Association of Geography Teachers

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lying the Optimum Index Factor to multiple data types in soil survey”, in Moore A.C., Kienast-Brown S., Boettinger J.L. and Hartemink A. (Eds.), Digital Soil mapping: Bridging research, Environmental Application and Operation, Berlin, Springer 2010, pp. 385-398. 11. Lipizzi F., Innovazioni di processo e di prodotto nelle fasi di aggiornamento delle basi territoriali 2010-2011, ISTAT Working Papers, n. 2/2013. 12. Lipizzi F. and Mugnoli S., “Le statistiche agricole verso il Censimento del 2010: valutazione e prospettive”, Proceedings of the conference “Le Statistiche agricole verso il Censimento del 2010: valutazioni e prospettive” (Cassino, Università di Cassino, 26-27 October 2006), Cassino, 2010, pp. 381-394. 13. Lombardo G., Esposto A., Minguzzi R. and Mugnoli S., “La CSS ISTAT un nuovo strumento per le statistiche territoriali”, Geomedia, XXI, 2, 2017, pp. 26-30. 14. Marchetti M., “Metodologie per una cartografia di uso del suolo multilivello e multiscala: analisi e sperimentazione applicativa”,

Documenti del territorio, 49, 2002, pp. 33-51. 15. McRoberts R.E., Wendt D.G., Nelson M.D. and Hansen M.H., “Using a land cover classification based on satellite imagery to improve the precision of forest inventory area estimates”, Remote Sensing of Environment, 81, 1, 2002, pp. 36-44. 16. Mróz M. and Sobieraj A., “Comparison of several vegetation indices calculated on the basis of a seasonal spot xs time series, and their suitability for land cover and agricultural crop identification”, Technical Sciences, 7, 2004, pp. 39-66. 17. Mugnoli S., Chiocchini R., Cruciani S., Esposto A. and Lipizzi F., “Integrazione di dataset geografici di copertura del Suolo e Censuari per la realizzazione di una mappa statistica sintetica”, Proceedings of the XV National Conference ASITA 2011 (Colorno, 15-18 November 2011), Parma, 2011, pp. 1633-1640. 18. Xue J. and Boafeng S., “Significant Remote sensing Vegetation Indices: a Review of Developments and Applications”, Journal of Sensors, 2017, pp. 1-17.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

THE LANGUAGE OF IMAGES Edited by Elisa Bignante and Marco Maggioli

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 107-116 DOI: 10.4458/1682-10

Video as a support to education in geography Giancarlo Macchi Jánica, Melissa Tomassini, Anna Guarduccia a

Geography Laboratory, University of Siena, Siena, Italy Email: giancarlo.macchi@unisi.it Received: October 2018 – Accepted: December 2018

Abstract The digital and IT revolution, together with the spread of the Internet, has changed and enhanced our tools and ways of communication. To what extent can these new forms of interaction and transmission of ideas be used in an improved manner in the geography education process? One of the areas that has seen a relevant transformation is the production and distribution of audio-visual content. Starting from the question of whether and to what extent current video techniques are a valuable method for the dissemination of scientific ideas, this paper discusses the main phases of a project conducted by the University of Siena’s Geography Laboratory, which involved the production of targeted films aimed at the explanation of a complex theme such as globalization. One of the key characteristics being highlighted was the technical quality. This intellectual analysis also entailed an assessment of the degree of approval, usability, and efficacy in the learning process with geography students at college level. Keywords: Globalization, Geography, Education, Film, Video

1. Introduction Between February and November 2014, the Laboratory of Geography of the University of Siena published on the Internet two educational videos titled Globalization: a geographical approach (https://goo.gl/1bYUur) and Globalization: a historical approach (https://goo.gl/uVc2Nx). The project aimed to produce academic content in geography that accredited the dissemination of globalization as a scientific subject (Dicken, 2004, pp. 14-15). Four years after their online publication, the experience collected in the classroom through these videos, as well as the significant number of views obtained, has

stimulated a joint assessment by the members of our Laboratory. The idea is to perform a comprehensive evaluation of the scrutiny undertaken, examining its learning objectives, its methodology, and outcomes. The evolution of video platforms and their integration with social networks and mobile devices, only recently granted to video recordings, document a status of ubiquitous instruments for education and scientific circulation (O’Reillya and McManusa, 2015, p. 10; Patterson, 2015, p. 524). If presentday societies can listen to music videos at will, it is equally feasible that today’s humanity can carry out a continuous process of education by virtue of the same type of media. In addition, the Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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rapid expansion of technology and digital recording devices is a critical factor that has bolstered the formation of a context where the achievement of the internal production of informational videos has become easy and reasonably straight-forward. Accordingly, the focus of the present article consists in the creation of visual communication as educational material (Raack, 1972, pp. 111-115). Our investigation also sets out to understand to which extent new multimedia tools can coexist in the geographical training and integrate a traditional approach, inside and outside the lecture hall.

Figure 1. Frame of the opening sequence of Globalization: a geographical perspective.

process with a genuine, interdisciplinary viewpoint. The use of videos, documentaries, and films in teaching classes does not constitute a new concept. There is a vast bibliography on this which is difficult to summarize in these pages. Nevertheless, pioneering works worthy of remark are The portrayal of educators in motion pictures (Schwartz, 1960) and Teachers in the movies (Edelman, 1983). The topic we are exploring has undergone a compelling development, apparently connected to the propagation of the digital audiovisual medium at the beginning of the 21st century. An appreciable contribution is Using Popular Films to Challenge Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs about Teaching in Urban Schools (Grant, 2002). Also, Trier has explored the complexity and potential of these tools for the written support, challenging the Cinematic Construction of “Literacy” with Preservice Teachers (Trier, 2001). Questioning the usefulness of films as a significant and complementary appliance for learning, this paper addresses the advantage of video production for teaching geography (O’Doherty et al., 2011, p. 910).

2. Aims of the project The choice of globalization as the central subject matter of the video stemmed from its significance in geographic university teaching (Elden, 2005; Spring, 2008). Specifically, the two videos aimed to highlight the relevant aspects of globalization observed from two distinct perspectives: on the one hand, its geographical explanation in the strict sense and on the other, an essential discussion from a contemporary history standpoint (Hopkins, 2010). The research endeavors to verify to which extent films broadcasted on the Internet enhance and blend with concepts acquired by students on such an allembracing and broad theme in the classroom (Hillman, 2015). From the preparatory stages, we have assumed that different frames of reference – in this case that of a geographer and a historian – would have been indispensable to offer a complete understanding of a heterogeneous issue such as globalization (Andrist et al., 2014, pp. 196-197). In the specific case of the videos at hand, the underlying gist was to approach the production Copyright© Nuova Cultura

The tempting proposal of making targeted films for academic purposes was born as an authentic effort to appraise the ability to promote scientific notions through media other than texts, whether in its traditional printed form or in its increasingly spreading digital version (Fehn and Schul, 2011a). Although the printed document illustrates a unique and unparalleled device for original content transmission, and a perfect complement of classroom teaching, the progressive growth of innovative communication channels following the advent of the Internet has introduced groundbreaking opportunities for information transfer. The applicability of these modern devices as pedagogical tools remains partly unknown and must be assessed within a collective and shared backdrop (Imig, 1981). As outlined above, our work program aimed at the production of video documents to be published in the open domain of Internet, in order to guarantee free access to the public, therefore, not Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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exclusively addressed to students of the degree courses, who were involved in the teaching carried out by the staff of the Laboratory of Geography of the University of Siena.

of videos – nor their alleged convenience – but rather to evaluate the potential of the channel itself as a learning device (Leung and Hawkins, 2011).

Globalization presents various ramifications that made it one of the most appealing themes of contemporary geography. It is a broad subject that lies precisely at the intersection of topics such as development, urban or political geography, to name just a few. Such a phenomenon characterizing the era we are living in has progressively affirmed itself as one of the focal motives of the typical program of introductory modules in geography (Reilly and McManus, 2015). Consequently, the choice was also dictated by the consideration that a valid representation of the theme of globalization would have a positive spillover effect on other related talking points during geography courses.

The reference context for this study was thus geographical training at a higher education level. Within this process, a starting question was to discern if the integration of new technological tools needs to be considered crucial in the current socio-cultural context (Puttilli, 2014). In other words, the analysis was meant to estimate to what extent advanced communication instruments can now be successfully and expertly melded with traditional methods of education. From the beginning, the logic was, therefore, to identify and experiment with mechanisms that would favor the integration of new videos and video documents with the regular tools of conventional training (Smith, 2003, p. 38). At the same time, our goal was to figure out if such fresh practices could endorse the construction of educational materials that satisfied both their use in curricular education and as a platform for scientific dissemination.

Figure 2. Frame of the opening sequence of Globalization: a historical perspective.

At first glance, it may be argued that the aim of the project was to move towards a simplification of support materials for academic training and to produce a substitutive device for books and texts. On the contrary, and as stated before, the objective was to experiment the realization of innovative technological tools empirically (Andrist et al., 2014). At present, videos typify a medium that has attained an overwhelming recognition as a mass communication format. As stated by Imig, “film is dynamic in time and orientation, presents multiple visual and audio information that can depict a range of interpersonal behaviors beyond that conveyed by printed words or other symbols” (Imig, 1981, p. 260). Our core objective was not to exploit the recent popularity Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Furthermore, we are keen to understand if the films discussed in this paper may perhaps be used opportunely both in scholastic and in university stages of geographic education. Would the message and the language be consistent with multiple degrees or levels of training? In this respect, the initial goal was to fathom how videos could consolidate and improve the preparation and acquisition of scientific knowledge gained in the classroom or through printed manuals (Hillman, 2015).

3. Structure and contents The two video clips were both structured as interviews (Leung and Hawkins, 2011, pp. 350351) and the principal characters are respectively Professor Claudio Greppi in Globalization: a geographical perspective (Figure 1) and Professor Tommaso Detti in Globalization: a historical perspective (Figure 2). The rationale of organizing the narration around an interview is chiefly based on the necessity to provide the highest degree of authoritativeness to the contents produced (Andrist et al., 2014, p. 19). To achieve

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this, we decided to choose well-acknowledged university fellows as the main actors of the commentary (Figure 3). Today the web is marked by a condition of relativism, here also intended as an absence of authority. From the beginning, it was evident and essential to pinpoint the mechanisms for assigning a satisfactory standard of competence and credit to our video clips. The interview was devised as a procedure to envisage a dialogue between two ideal interlocutors. On the one hand, a narrator or interviewee and on the other, a listener or interviewer. During the preparation stages of the article, a one-sided dialogue structure for the interview was preferred. It should be remarked, however, how current platforms for video publishing constitute recognized social networks that ensure a productive interaction with the final viewers. In fact, nowadays every online platform enjoys spaces to insert comments through which it is possible to provide feedback to documents and subject matters therein.

The structure of the contents was organized according to an ideal order of information that pertains to a logical sequence. Each interview was articulated in a series of themes that the interlocutor asked the interviewee. One of the most relevant elements of all the choices made was, of course, the duration of the videos (Fehn and Schul, 2011, p. 26). The length adopted was a maximum of 15 minutes. The main problem was to define which timespan represented the best option and encouraged the construction of the most suitable container for the transmission of ideas (Fehn and Schul, 2011, p. 39). Today the audience of video platforms leans toward short films; therefore, we inquired whether it was better to single out an ideal length limit or the balance between the quantity of information to be transmitted and the duration of the movie. The interview was structured in five questions and each segment of the video production centered around these concepts. It is worth pointing out how the interpretation of the set of questions by the two interviewees was considerably divergent. As will be explained below, the interviewees had the opportunity to develop ideas around the survey freely. The questions proposed to both interviewees were, or at least can be summarized, in the following five points: 1. What is the meaning of the term globalization? When was the first time you heard the term globalization? 2. What are the differences between contemporary globalization (post-colonial) and historical globalization? 3. What role did different media play in 20th century-globalization? 4. In your opinion, what paradigm (homogenization, polarization or glocalization) best describes the social and cultural dynamics of the last two decades?

Figure 3. One of the key aspects of the video documents produced was the promotion of the highest level of authoritativeness through eminent figures.

CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

5. In which way is the development of multinational corporations and the increase in direct foreign investments transforming the general framework of state sovereignty? What is the role of globalization in the economic dynamics of emerging countries?

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In addition to the initial questions, participants were asked to introduce bibliographical references, concepts, and news that would motivate viewers to explore the topic in more detail independently. This aspect has been of great interest and usefulness since the document references mentioned in the videos were texts consistently used during lectures (Bauman, 2005; Bayly, 2004; Levinson, 1971; Osterhammel and Petersson, 2005; Robertson, 1995).

4. Globalization: from narration to production The entire project – from its initial preparation to publication – was marked by specific steps that were coordinated in a given order (Mistry, 2013). The process was divided into five distinct phases that required – in the early stages – several attempts by trial and error and experimentation to achieve the desired quality standard (Wenger, 2007). Our ambition to reach a substantial qualitative value has influenced many of the choices of this path.

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in the opening statements of their answers. The result is precisely that of defining an effective logical dynamics and rhythm in the design of the expected dialogue.

4.2 The shoot In front of the camera, the subject sampled was left to speak openly without any interruptions, or indications of any kind. The function of the interviewer was passive and neutral. His presence served to ensure the naturalness of the gesture and allow the interviewee to present a spontaneous expression during the shot. In fact, in the filming, the inquirer not only never appeared in the frame, but during the video-editing, his questions and voice were excluded from the final cut.

4.1 Interview planning Each of the two interviews began with a group of general questions on the subject of globalization. Interviewees received the questionnaire beforehand. As stated above, great attention has been given to the interviewees’ opportunity to interpret and develop the survey with no conditioning of any kind (Sealey-Ruiz, 2011, p. 317). Each question translates ideally into one of the sections determining the structure of the videos. The queries and the related subtopics served as a map or guide to lead the interlocutor or addressee progressively within the dialogue at a level of ever-increasing complexity. One of the primary goals from the onset was to leave this structure implied within the conversation (Hillman, 2015, pp. 313-314). The questions were not stressed openly by an interviewer, nor by a background voice or by a title or text to separate the different sections of the dialogue. The only precaution interviewees were requested to take was to clarify each topic implicitly, including the meaning of the question Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Figure 4. A feature of Globalization: a historical perspective is the extensive use of b-roll movies and context clips that help to improve and strengthen the narrative structure.

One of the main objectives was to comply with a high-quality standard for the shoots (McDonald, 1985, p. 62). A reflex camera with a photographic lens was used for this purpose. The method adopted offered a great advantage in

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terms of image quality but placed limits on the trend of the recording process. SLR cameras – for purely commercial reasons – do not enable continuous shooting and stop their recordings every 15 or 30 minutes. In addition, shooting interrupted every 15 minutes also requires more extensive work during the video editing process. All shots were taken with 50mm lenses (on an APS-C sensor) to assure the lowest degree of deformation of the interviewee. Concurrently, the maximum focal aperture was used to blur the background and, thus, emphasize the figure of the interviewee. In the specific case of the conversation with Claudio Greppi, the interview foresaw a double-take with a second camera for a lateral shot to favor the video editing process. In any case, the use of the SLR was to obtain an excellent depth of field at the interviewed shots that made it possible to define an adequate level of filming.

paramount to achieve a good audio track through the equalization of the levels and the removal of the background noise.

In both cases, the focal aperture of the lens, which can convey the maximum amount of light possible, was determinant in making satisfactorily illuminated shots and the isolation of the subjects from the background.

4.3 The audio At a technical and methodological level, the aspect upon which most emphasis was placed was the audio recording. A double voice taping accompanied the video shooting. The redundancy of this operation was not only directed at the construction of a backup copy but was necessary for the post-production of a better quality of audio to be employed in the video editing phase. The decision to have a double recording was made on the assumption that poor audio quality would have simply produced a video of decreased impact (Plowman and Stephen, 2008, p. 556). In other words, the videos had to be characterized by a clear transmission of the messages through the voice (Fehn and Schul, 2011, p. 31). The audio recordings were conducted through microphones both on the input of the SLR itself and with a professional digital recorder. The adopted scheme gave us the possibility to make a high-quality lossless recording in WAV format at 24khz/bit. This configuration subsequently turned out to be Copyright© Nuova Cultura

Figure 5. One of the key features for both videos was the use of animated cartography. In Globalization: a geographical perspective, animated maps were used as a tool to explain the geographical migrations and homogenization of Homo sapiens (A). In Globalization: a historical perspective maps were employed to represent the role of telecommunications like the Transatlantic telegraph cable (B) but also to contextualize the narration regarding the development of emerging markets and countries.

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4.4 Video editing

1,080p, while the second one was equal to 720p.

One feature shared by the two films was the type of shot taken through a close-up. The interview with Claudio Greppi lasted a total of 1 hour and 36 minutes. This recording time was subsequently reduced to 10 minutes and 43 seconds of the final cut. The talk with Tommaso Detti had a duration of 1 hour 28 minutes, then condensed into a 15 minute 25 second video clip. The free approach to the interview, described above, required more effort in selecting sections of the shot for the editing of the final video. To allow fluidity in the final photomontage, different strategies were adopted for the two films. In the first case, we used double shooting. That solution comprises the cutting and mounting between the parts of the shot without major obstacles. In the second case, realized just with one SLR, the fluidity in video editing was accomplished by means of a large number of b-roll movies and context clips accompanied by the voice of the narrator in the background (Raack, 1972, p. 114). In fact, the constant use of video clips in Globalization: a historical perspective led to a high-quality product and a significant difference between the two videos (Figure 4).

According to the aims of the study, the conditions of the platforms that offered the possibility to publish the videos were assessed. Following the logic of full accessibility and given the free nature of the platform, it was posted on the YouTube platform (Patterson, 2015, p. 524).

Another aspect that differentiates the two films is the presence of a soundtrack in Globalization: a historical perspective. In this regard, the video consists of six different music tracks in the background, which play along with the interviewee’s voice. The choice of all the audio and video clips was made from accessible Creative Commons Licenses on the Internet. Both the music and the clips were used as a device to foster a more plausible context and, therefore, to facilitate the descriptive process conducted by the interviewee’s narration. In the first film (Globalization: a geographical perspective), instead, steady pictures and maps were applied only as an incorporation to its final montage (Figure 5). 4.5 Publication After the completion of the montage, the compression was carried out, trying to maintain the quality of the product as unaffected as possible. The final version of the first movie was

5. The video in the classroom Commercial promotion of the video clips was never done after their release, and they were not promoted through other channels such as social networks. The videos began to be utilized primarily in classrooms during the 2015/2016 geography courses. Initially, they were presented jointly with other films on the Internet for their use in and outside the lecture hall. In the successive academic year, the videos were designated as an integrative content of the course, and students were highly recommended to watch them. Then, during the next academic year 2017/2018, it was decided to evaluate, through an impartial framework, the potential of video documents as an educational tool. This initiative was implemented by examining the case of Globalization: a historical perspective, in the wake of the higher popularity in terms of views that this clip gained, especially if compared to Globalization: a geographical perspective. By September 2018 this video had already exceeded 18,000 views, while for the second film this number was still around 1000. Nonetheless, it should be noted that it is complicated to understand which choices between the two productions may have brought about these significant divergences. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that Globalization: a historical perspective represented in general a more evolved stage, distinguished by more attention to technical details like background music, as well as a list of more than 60 video clips, with the purpose of contextualizing the narration. This attention and zeal engendered discordances in the final result of both productions. As stressed by many researchers, the evaluation of the impact in the classroom is still

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one of the critical points within the entire creative process and production (Sealey-Ruiz, 2011, pp. 315-317). Bearing this in mind, students enrolled in the three-year cycle of literary and philosophical studies, attending the Geography D course at the University of Siena, were chosen as a reference sample. Besides, in order to validate video production as a teaching device, a two-step procedure was followed. Early on, during the lectures held in the entire semester of 2017/2018, the clip Globalization: a historical perspective was never shown in the classroom. At a certain point of the semester, the web address to access the video was handed out to all the students who had attended classes regularly. The video was presented without emphasizing it as supplementary material for the globalization subject. During the rest of the course, no more indications or remarks with regard to the video were made in class (Leung and Hawkins, 2011, p. 352). Just before the end of the semester, an anonymous online questionnaire was submitted to the sample group to which students answered directly in the classroom through their smartphone devices. The survey consisted mainly of eight questions without a formal structure (O’Reillya and McManusa, 2015, p. 11). The form was proposed to a group of 105 students who attended the geography lesson that day. Students who answered the first question negatively were automatically excluded from the rest of the questionnaire. The questions were: a. Have you seen the video Globalization: a historical perspective? b. Did the video express the concepts clearly? c. Did the footage depict content that you consider attractive? d. Was the video relevant to your university education? e. Has the video sti1mulated you to deepen the theme of globalization? f. Did you find appropriate the length of the video? g. Would you be interested in watching (30:00) a more extended version of it? h. Do you consider the contents of the docu-

ment relevant to those of the geography curriculum? The results were as follows (Table 1). After two months and two weeks from the indication of the links, 77.14% of the students had seen the video clip. Considering that a total of 105 students took part in the poll, a sample of 81 needs to be regarded as the actual sample of this assessment. The positive or affirmative results of the questions from b to h are shown in Table 1. The interpretation of these results is elaborate, but to some extent, it is feasible to draw the attention to elements useful for the analysis summarized in these pages. Questions b, c, and d, to be read together, demonstrate a good reception of the videos. As underlined by the responses to these three questions, the general feedback was positive, also given that a large portion of the population sample watched the video. We must remember that the video was not mandatory and we assume that there had been also a word of mouth process that produced these results. Moreover, we hold that the group of first viewers had deemed the film useful for the learning program and, thus, presumed that the high value attributed resulted in a positive suggestion or judgment passed on to the classmates. The percentage of affirmative responses to question d lays the emphasis on a high rate of individuals (80.2%) who think it is consistent and coherent with their university education.

question b. c. d. e. f. g. h.

affirmative answers 81 76 65 71 78 43 79

percentage 100.0% 93.8% 80.2% 87.7% 96.3% 53.1% 97.5%

Table 1. Answers to the evaluation survey of the video Globalization: a historical perspective.

In summary, this specific movie was valued as a “relevant tool” in the overall framework of the degree course and not only contextualized

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within the geography program. The answers to question e show how the movie, beyond its contents, was able to “induce” further consideration of this topic. The outcomes to f and g are apparently conflicting, but are particularly thought-provoking, for the very reason that they provide key elements to one of the crucial questions of the project. All the interviewees consider the length of the video “adequate”. Simultaneously, answers to g show how a double-length version of the movie does not attract students’ attention as an education device and how much lower their predisposition to engage in a video of greater length is. To conclude, data collected in response to question h are pertinent, in that there is a consistency between what was discussed in the classroom, the readings, other texts and the contents of the film.

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in comparison to another. As geography teachers, the overall judgment we make is that custom video production is a process with enormous potential for student education and the perception that we have had as educators is that the project has to some extent improved training experience in general. Not merely is it a mechanism to integrate, but above all to strengthen and connect the concepts acquired in the classroom.

Acknowledgements G. Macchi Jánica wrote paragraphs 1 and 4 (with all its sub-paragraphs), M. Tomassini wrote paragraphs 2 and 3, and A. Guarducci wrote paragraphs 5 and 6.

References 6. Conclusions It is somewhat difficult to draw a conclusive statement on this educational project. In fact, it must be considered as ongoing since the films described in these pages are accessible even now and free for use and will continue to act as tools for integrating teaching. On the one hand, it should be clarified that these results have overall confirmed the expectations outlined in the introductory part of this text. This four-year experience has proved that films can be powerful educational tools, favorable both to integrate and enrich the education of even complex geographic themes. In our opinion, the most critical aspect was the enthusiastic reception that these films had among geography students of some degree courses at the University of Siena. For both the videos produced, it was plausible to maintain that this type of video documents constitutes an excellent integrating tool, both for classroom teaching activities and for classroom dialogue or as an integration training outside the classroom. What seems to emerge from the comparison of the two films in question is that quality plays an essential role in the rise and diffusion of these instruments. Notably, the presence of music tracks in the background and movies as context elements produces greater popularity of one film

1. Andrist L., Chepp V., Dean P. and Miller M.V., “Toward a Video Pedagogy: A Teaching Typology with Learning Goals”, Teaching Sociology, 42, 3, 2014, pp. 196-206. 2. Bauman Z., Globalizzazione e glocalizzazione, Rome, Armando Editore, 2005. 3. Bayly C.A., The birth of the modern world 1780-1914. Global connections and comparisons, London, Blackwell, 2004. 4. Dicken P., “Geographers and ‘Globalization’: (Yet) Another Missed Boat?”, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 29, 1, 2004, pp. 5-26. 5. Edelman R., “Teachers in the movies”, American Educator, 7, 26, 1983, pp. 26-31. 6. Elden S., “Missing the Point: Globalization, Deterritorialization and the Space of the World”, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 30, 1, 2005, pp. 8-19. 7. Fehn B.R. and Schul J.E., “Teaching and learning competent historical documentary making: Lessons from National History Day winners”, The History Teacher, 45, 1, 2011, pp. 25-43. 8. Godfrey B.J., “Regional Depiction in Contemporary Film”, Geographical Review, 83, 4, 1993, pp. 428-440. 9. Grant P.A., “Using popular films to challenge preservice teachers’ beliefs about teaching in urban schools”, Urban Education, 37, 1, 2002, pp. 77-95. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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10. Hillman S., “Grim Expectations: Video Testimony in the College Classroom”, The History Teacher, 48, 2, 2015, pp. 295-320. 11. Hopkins A.G., “The Historiography of Globalization and the Globalization of Regionalism”, Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 53, 1-2, 2010, pp. 19-36. 12. Imig D.R., “The Use of Film in the Measurement of Student Learning”, Family Relations, 30, 2, 1981, pp. 259263. 13. Leung C. and Hawkins M.R., “Video Recording and the Research Process”, TESOL Quarterly, 45, 2, 2011, pp. 344-354. 14. Levinson C., Capital, inflation and the multinationals, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 1971. 15. McDonald J.P., “Teaching the Documentary Arts: Combining Writing with Research and Photography”, The English Journal, 74, 7, 1985, pp. 56-63. 16. Mistry J., “Commentary on Participatory Video”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography, 1, 2013, pp. 119-123. 17. O’Doherty K., Troseth G.L., Goldenberg E., Akhtar N., Shimpi P.M. and Saylor M.M., “Third-Party Social Interaction and Word Learning from Video”, Child Development, 82, 3, 2011, pp. 902-915. 18. O’Reilly G. and McManus R., “Practice and Theory in Geography: Experiences from international collaboration for teacher education”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography, 2, 2015, pp. 7-18. 19. Osterhammel J. and Petersson N.P., Storia della globalizzazione. Dimensioni, processi, epoche, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005. 20. Patterson C., “Lope on YouTube: Film Analysis and Amateur Video Production in a ‘Comedia’ Course”, Hispania, 98, 3, Special Focus Issue: The Scholarship of Film and Film Studies, 2015, pp. 522-532. 21. Plowman L. and Stephen C., “The Big Picture? Video and the Representation of

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Italian Association of Geography Teachers

MAPPING SOCIETIES Edited by Edoardo Boria and Tania Rossetto

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 119-134 DOI: 10.4458/1682-11

Extroverting Cartography. “Seensing” maps and data through art Laura Lo Prestia Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Geografiche e dell’Antichità, University of Padua, Padua, Italy Email: laura.lopresti@unipd.it

Received: September 2018 – Accepted: October 2018

Abstract Drawing attention to the “extroversion” of geographic language, in this paper I explore the proliferation of mapping and its spatial fragments outside geography and, specifically, in the fabric of contemporary art. Art theories and practices consistently involve, as an effect of the spatial turn, cartographic textures and grammars by differently highlighting the manifold functions, mediations and materializations of maps. Inspired by the engagement, particularly of women artists, with cartography, I discuss the artistic exploration of mapping through various interpretative categories such as “spatial (de)generation”, “temporal proximity”, “ecologism” and “dataism/datactivism”. Each notion often entails a distinctive practice of seeing (that is, observing and interpreting) and sensing (namely, feeling and materially experiencing) artistic mapping and data – which, woven together, may explicitly refer to what I term the practice of “seensing”. This way, multiple insights to art maps’ visuality, materiality and perception of space are given. In conclusion, I consider the pros and cons that an aesthetic encounter with mapping gives to geography and to its creative transformation. Keywords: Mapping, Cartography, Contemporary Art, Visuality, Materiality

1. Introduction Whether it is an exhibition in a gallery or a museum, the wall of a street, a participatory project, a digital platform, as well as the cover of a book or a “cartifact”1, we can all often come across a creative map in our ordinary lives. In truth, so closely bound have cartography and art become, especially in the last decades, that even the criticism, experimentation and creativity that

have recently informed some strands of map studies and qualitative GIS (Lo Presti, 2018 for an overview) would be more fairly comprehensible within the wider recognition that cartography has received both in popular culture and humanities. The map is in many contexts considered an aesthetic object, a mundane or visionary space, both poetic and poietic, where places, subjectivities and objects are newly discovered and navigated through unforeseen

Map scholars usually adopt the word “cartifact” to allude to an ordinary object which, despite presenting a cartographic design, does not function as a real map. 1

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motifs and relationships. As such, the graphical and cultural life of maps looks to have vastly outpaced the quiet and stable moorings of academic cartography, standing the chance to confront outer and hybrid mapping representations and practices, which are strongly grounded in popular, literary and artistic contexts. In this paper, I motivate the sensitiveness to intercept the cartographic transformation and consumption that occur in those other cultural environments as a form of “extroversion”, in the sense that geographers’ attention and interests are directed – as the definition of “extroverted” in the Merriam-Webster dictionary suggests – wholly or predominantly toward what is outside the self [in this case, their discipline]. I aim to explore one of the numerous symptoms of this mapping extroversion in the heterogeneous use and eclectic conceptualization that is made of maps in contemporary art. In this changing context, art historians, artists and curators have contributed to a whole plethora of exhibitions, catalogues and books on geographic and cartographic themes (e.g. Harmon, 2004, 2009; Thompson et al., 2009). With the rise of the “spatial turn” in social sciences and humanities (Warf and Arias, 2009), art has indeed placed a thriving emphasis on space, place and environment beyond its long-standing devotion to landscape paintings. As for the category of art historians, the field of visual culture, variously influenced by French philosophie de l’art, German bildwissenschaft and English visual cultural studies, pulled into focus manifold aesthetic, cultural and social analyses on the cartographic representations of both modern and contemporary art (Alpers, 1983; Bruno, 2002; Buci-Glucksmann, 1996; Castro, 2011; Didi Hubermann, 2011; Harmon, 2009; Rogoff, 2000). Most recently, the explosion of digital technologies and the transition of mapping tools into the virtual world have similarly attracted a thick blanket of art and media scholars (Kurgan, 2013; Mattern, 2015, Verhoeff, 2012). Even if it may be trivial to say so, the aforementioned speculative works could not exist without the “meat” provided by hundreds of cartographic imagery builders: the artists. When we shift the attention to them, the number of maps and mapping tropes to consider in our survey Copyright©Nuova Cultura

would grow exponentially. In this regard, Ruth Watson (2009) listed 24 map exhibitions from 1977 to 2009, shifting also the attention to aboriginal art. Catherine D’Ignazio (2009) and Inge Paneels (2018) have furtherly suggested to geographers other entry points to catch the lively entanglement between mapping and contemporary art, attempting to understand the reasons that brought so many art practitioners to use maps for their activity. Lately, the category of “map art” has continued to proliferate as it ought to consider not only individual artists working with map-like visualizations, but also several exhibitions which have taken mapping as a central theme yet declined in different ways (that is, without strictly considering maps but also atlases, globes, landscapes, territory, borderscapes, topology, GIS, GPS and so on). Viewed in this way, we might argue that mapping is ubiquitous in art (Watson, 2009) as much as it is in everyday life (Cosgrove, 2006), notwithstanding that the familiar form and the ordinary uses of maps often become strangely distorted in the world of art. Yet the diversiﬁed possibilities in which maps are embedded in a wide range of creative and critical spatial practices are still far to be recognized both in art and geography. Such a cartographic onslaught requires us, in this sense, to pause and understand the various functions and dysfunctions, epistemological possibilities or aporias, political messages and sensorial stances that recurrently affect, decompose and recompose the simultaneously biased and beloved “cartographic reason” (Farinelli, 2009). By and large, the cartographic object richly adsorbs several shapes, content, information, visions, suggestions, narratives and counternarratives which constantly inspire new research, artworks and activism. For instance, maps are chosen by artists to experiment with a geoaesthetic filled with revelation, emotion, trauma and delight. For activist purposes, geovisualizations can be deployed as analytic and synoptic tools to foster critical awareness of the political, social, and economic issues facing our present; for others, mapping is also seen as a narrative process that encompasses alternative explorations of the city or the natural environItalian Association of Geography Teachers

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ment, disclosing new ways of story-telling that may not even include any palpable cartographic tool. The map, in that case, may intermittently vanish and materialize through poetical and political walking or through much more cognitive and playful wayfinding (Butler, 2007; Careri, 2006; O’Rourke, 2013; Pinder, 2005). Even though such “outward” mapping gained ground without always putting an explicit dialogue with the subject area of geography, throughout time it has nonetheless solicited geographers’ interest. As I have partly discussed in a previous contribution for this journal (Lo Presti, 2018), some of them have seriously considered artistic maps, particularly those produced in high art, as vivid entry or breaking points to their theory. In this sense, art has often offered eloquent figures to support the geographical reasoning and stimulate spatial imageries, be such images advanced to enhance the critical deconstruction of the map (Crampton, 2010; Wood, 2010) or, more recently, to illuminate much more material, intimate and multisensorial consumptions of cartography (Rossetto, 2017 and 2018). Lastly, we can also count some collaborative art projects on cartography which have involved geographers and cartographers as art curators and collaborators2. For the most part, however, engagement with art often comes down to a curious and ludic stance, more so because it is not centered on uncovering the distinct spatiality and specialty of the art system, nor on recognizing its legacy and historiography, thus risking to “[un]respect the integrity of disciplinary art and practice” (ToliaKelly, 2012, p.134). An instance of this smug yet distanced posture engendered by professional cartographers toward creative mapping can be grasped in the following words: “We smile when we see a map used in an artistic way as if it’s an acknowledgement of the value of maps to society. Our world is such an important place that as custodians of the way in which we portray it, we In 1992, Denis Wood organized the “Power of Maps” exhibitionat the Smithsonian Museum; “Mappa Mundi Universalis” is the art work created by geographer Gunnar Olsson and artist Gunnael Jensson for the Biennale of Uppsala in 2000; Martin Dodge and Chris Perkins curated “Mapping Manchester” in 2009-2010. 2

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are excited by the array of interesting ways in which maps can be used artistically” (Field, 2009, p. 287, my italics). Smiling and excitement, though, cannot always be the unique expressions that artistic maps deserve. This is the reason why this contribution calls geographers to acknowledge “moments of mutual respects” and “creative learning” (Hawkins, 2011) with artists, but also of emotional involvement and critical engagement, by carefully contextualizing different modes of looking, criticizing, feeling and even absorbing the experiences of mapping practices that are no longer under their control as they involve other actors (graphic designers, artists, activists), but also different themes, protocols, audiences, materials and spaces of display. To grasp the special spatiality of art worlds, we should expressly embrace a composite methodological stance that takes into consideration both the ways that artists conceive their mapping work and the modes in which, in such transitivity, geographers are asked to interpret it. In particular, as little attention is usually paid to the (self)ethnographic and theoretical methods of comprehending art objects (Bal, 2003), I suggest channeling our attention to two main acts: seeing and sensing. The first move – the seeing– discusses the possibility to acknowledge the position of the researcher/observer in the act of looking at visual objects. If “looking is inherently framed, framing, interpreting, affect-laden, cognitive and intellectual” (2003, p. 9) – as Art historian Mieke Bal pointedly asserts – this means that the researcher, when she looks, can intersect different modalities of thinking about maps in art. All the more, I contend that those interpretations should be also fairly laid bare through the analysis. For instance, the geographer might be attracted by a map for what it represents to them, by focusing on the meaning of the image while decontextualizing it from its context of production as much as its space of display. Yet art practices, and the way in which they are designed “Whose map is it?” refers to the Iniva project involving both geographers and artists curated by Harriet Hawkins in London. In March 2018, MAPSSPAM was exhibited at the Italian Geographical Society (Villa Celimontana).

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by contemporary artists, may considerably require more than a representational approach. Many art objects ask to draw the attention – rather than an elucidation of the internal meaning of the image – to their usability, affectivity, spatiality, materiality and becoming. The gesture of sensing encourages one to consider closely also these other characteristics, which are often downplayed by the disinterested criticism of the intellectual approach. As a result, the seeing and sensing modalities, slowly or disruptively uncovered through the aesthetic experience of the artwork, can be experienced through what I define the practice of the “seensing”. The wordplay is useful to underline the conceptual and experiential modes through which the perception of the work of art, be it a map, occurs. Through “seensing”, I posit that more needs to be done to articulate the visual experience as both the intellectual and emotional, attentive and fleeting, symbolical and material. As such, the “seensing” might fruitfully attract geographers and cartographers’ attention and experimentation with maps through a “a variety of perspectives […]in order to think better about the objects they are studying” (Holly, 2005, p. 192). In addition to this methodological clarification, another stimulus moves this intervention as it is difficult to ignore that, at the crossroads between geography and art, artful mapping can be variously co-opted by geography, contemporary cartography and GIS. That is to say that the attention drawn to the “extroverted” use of cartography does not stand as a merely dispassionate move. Many cartographic “reveries” can be actually investigated to destabilize and challenge – and at turns to help to reimagine – the inward scientific cartography and the spatial relations it aims to portray or enact. In short, artworks “at their expense” become a sort of meta-maps for scholars (both cartographers and geographers), who may muse on how, by comparison, the cartographic tool is used in their discipline and what horizon the dialogue with art can extend or shrink.

2. The event of the map: the visual, the material and the spatial in contemporary art The proliferation of avant-garde movements such as Dadaism (1916-1920) and Surrealism (1925), the shock provoked by Fluxus (1962) and Conceptual Art(1965) and the consequent contestation of the traditional art system gave the field of contemporary art the sense of a boundless laboratory of intervention, no longer ruled by any historical imperative (Danto, 1998) and where “no topic, no medium, no process, no intention, no professional protocols, and no aesthetic principles are exempt from the field” (Weintraub, 2003, p.8).Yet, while not dismissing the established meaning of art history altogether, it is nonetheless true that any object of art potentially results from the commingling and overlapping of various techniques, media, languages that end up multiplying and blurring its meaning of departure. To make sense of such complexity, several questions often guide visual scholars in the analysis of contemporary artworks and, to the same extent, they might be helpful for the “extroverted” geographers; e.g. What happens when people look at images? Is the material, through which an image is made of amenable to influence the message that the artist aims to convey? Does the space in which the image is conceived by the artist (the studio) or exhibited (the museum or the public space, for instance) play a role in the final seeing and sensing of the artwork? In paying attention to the issues of visuality, materiality and spatiality of the image, those questions encourage one to see art objects as simultaneously products and processes, that is, multifaceted events, whose elusive and ephemeral sense can be caught in the concrete and contextual experience that either the artist or the viewer construct of the object. Concerning the importance of grasping the event of seeing in its happening, Bal suggests that: “[t]he verb ‘happens’ entails the visual event as an object, and ‘emerges’ the visual image, but as a fleeting, fugitive, subjective image accrued to the subject. These two results – the event and the experienced image – are joined at the hip in the act of looking and its aftermath” (2003, p. 9).

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Consequently, we might argue that every act of looking may trigger a visual event, an intense interaction involving both the artist’s subjectivity and emotionality in relating to her work and the viewer’s sensitivity to accept, recode or reject the image’s scope and swarm of meaning. In capturing and amplifying a particular detail of the work, the observer activates, in such an idiosyncratic way, other feelings, meanings and interpretations with respect to the original cultural sphere in which the map has been conceived. Because anyone could respond differently to the seduction of an image, the combination of the practices of seeing and sensing could let more reflexive visual methodologies enter the realm of artistic geographies. To have a clearer picture, it would be actually appropriate to consider the intimate viewing experience as both personally and socially constructed. In this respect, the visual theorists Sturken and Cartwright argue that: “[w]hen we say that an image speaks to us, we might also say that we recognize ourselves within the cultural group or audience imagined by the image. Just as viewers create meaning from images, images also construct audiences” (2009, p. 45). To better understand the way in which images attempt to relate to their audiences, first it is important to comprehend the intention of the artist. As for the use of maps in art, we should ask who the artist is, which strategies are used to create a map and what purpose drives the artistic creation. Secondly, more attention should be paid to the materiality of the map because art is predominantly a “techne”, it is the ability to create and shape objects. Therefore, the form and the membrane of the medium (paper, textile, glass, dust, wood, aluminum) and the way in which the artwork is concretely located in the artistic site are never random as they are chosen for their evocative qualities to vehiculate the message of the artist. Moreover, the tangible matrices of the artifact motivate or retain different interactions and fruitions of the object; finally, as has been already argued, a focus on the effects that mapping produces for me or you, as observers, who are immersed in the midst of the “seensing” experience, is paramount in our reasoning. Ultimately, acts of seeing (which might be Copyright©Nuova Cultura

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perceived as more rational and conceptual) and sensing (which recall nearness, emotion and sensoriality) mutate following the personal background of the viewer but also the devices and spaces through which the map comes into sight. For instance, if we watch an isolated map attached to a wall and extrapolated from the flux of other images, our “seensing” could be different from the experience of maps in the context of installation art and performance art. These other genres often drive the body of the spectator into a new perception of space, where an immersive way of looking at the maps and mappings is developed in contrast to a detached, contemplative and symbolic interpretation of the artwork. Arguably, when mapping is not involved in performances and installations, moving away from a traditional (semiotic, iconological and formalist) conception of the visual analysis may not be straightforward. In other words, each map, depending on the way in which it has been arranged, may ask to be investigated differently. Significantly, this convoluted game of looks and bodily movements seduces us in considering that a geographical posture looks beneficial to unravel the spatiality and the relationality emerging from the interaction between the artist, the map and the viewer. Once having provided the geographer with some coordinates suggesting “how” to look at art without overlooking personal and disciplinary backgrounds, another question, related to the content of map art, is left open; “what” to look at. Given the richness of map art, in the following sections I provide a personally motivated selection of the several mappings that are experienced in the artistic milieu, by tentatively suggesting some categories such as “spatial (de)generation”, “temporal proximity”, “ecologism” and “dataism/ datactivism”. Being conscious that a true line of demarcation between those artistic practices cannot always be drawn because of the hybrid artistic traditions such works recall and the similar themes they may address, I will try to highlight, very subjectively, the predominant function that conglomerates them. The plotted course serves insofar as to make their richness clear and productive, wherever geographical and nongeographical maps are formed, transformed and informed by the artistic use, appropriation, collection, creation and contestation. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Spatial (de)generation

In my personal encounter with cartography through art, what has incessantly struck my imagination are the modes in which maps are conceptually and physically handled and altered by artists to deviate from their original and intended function. In contemporary art, where norms and conventions are often defied, maps are in many instances torn, burnt, dissected, sawn, slashed, as much as they are rendered unreadable according to the material used to create them. This is why I want to refer to them as instances of a “spatial (de)generation”, which can also play on the absence of names, places, scale and legends. Moving away from the common thinking of the cartographic representation as a geometrical and inert source of spatial certainty, artists go in search of an epiphanic short-circuit. Needless to say, different meanings and gestures, even very disturbing ones, are negotiated and evoked in the process of manipulation; furthermore, in an intriguing way, the degeneration, deterioration and collapse of maps disclose more intimately the wide range of feelings and passions that viscerally bind (beyond the expression of smiling) art cartographers and viewers to them. Concerning this aspect, we might say that the artists interested in the uncanny moulding of the map are also those who engage, critically and iconoclastically, with the art object for what it symbolically represents. The force of this kind of cartography emerges, in fact, through an act of material destruction and decomposition that may metaphorically annul or enhance a conventional feature of the map (e.g. orientation, location, boundaries, objectivity). Moreover, what often lies behind an act of map destruction may be the perilous acknowledgement of its power or, reversely, the will to unmask its weaknesses. Further, acts of cutting, spoiling, sewing, crumpling maps are aimed to conceptually and emotion ally provoke the viewer. On this take, we can introduce “Mappa Lopo Homem II” (Figure 1) by artist Adriana Varejão. The artwork represents the 1519 map of the famous Portuguese cartographer Lopo Homem, illustrating the Americas connected to Asia by an imaginary land, called “Mundus Novus”. The Portuguese cartographer, believing that Asian peoples had similar characteristics to the Copyright©Nuova Cultura

Brazilian ones, became convinced that only the presence of a continuous land could justify this resemblance. Revisiting such visionary terrestrial contact in a historical and political viewpoint, the artist reflects on the systematic project of violence and coercion that concretely led African, Italian and Japanese people to cross and settle in Brazil, adapting to old and new slave labour trades. When I experienced the image, what really touched me, and consequently affected my reasoning, was in fact the presence of a vivid wound standing out on the membrane of the map. The calm imaginary looks therefore shattered by the corporeal cut, which transforms the pictorial space into an aberrant object of conflict and death. For one thing, the clot seems to link the representation of the map to a broader problematic of brutality, presumably insisting on the connection between the development of cartography and the colonial exploration. In truth, the worn and bleeding surface of the map does not merely mimic a bruised territory, but more radically unearths the constraints and sufferings felt by the bodies that moved on that space. The destruction becomes a performative strategy that can cause, as Rambelli and Reinders adeptly explained, “transformations of the semiotic status of those objects. Operating on the materiality – on the body – of a sacred object affects and modifies its symbolic status – its meanings and functions in its cultural contexts” (2012: X). In this vein, the first suggestion that the art of degeneration may give to geography is to return the sense of a “plastic” cartography, meaning by that, a serious engagement with the concrete materiality of the image (Harmon, 2009). The open wounds lying in the fragile body of the map are instead sutured by Ariane Littman in “Surgical Operation” (2004, Figure 2). This time we enter the hybrid space of the performance art. In the penumbral rooms of a former hospital in Jerusalem, the artist, along with other actors, sets up a surgery in which she proposes to mend a series of maps of Jerusalem, which show the various checkpoints, barriers and road networks around the city. The surgical operation lasts seven hours, following the deafening rhythm of breaking news on terroristic attacks and fights concerning the Second Intifada. The estranging and ritual gesture of violating, cleaning and then Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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suturing the skin of those maps mirrors the idea of amending the sick body of Israel. In so doing, the artist epitomizes the figure of both a destroyer and a creator, who is aiming to purify the mutilated and corrupted territory of the entire nation from its faults, thus freeing “a moment of release and catharsis” (Gray, 2013, p. 22.). In her intention, the ongoing deconstruction and reconstruction of maps strives to give the idea of a correlation with the political violent context of everyday life (Littman, Interview, September 17, 2018). Compared to the previous artwork, this performance allows us to gaze into a new conception of space. This time the artist is present and “consumes” her images, demanding attention be paid to her bodily practices and her visceral bond with maps. Consequently, the audience is immersed in a broader sensory experience. People are forced to observe, strangled and displaced, the arrival of the maps on a stretcher as much as they are pushed to follow the alienating operation which is executed on them3. As Littman has further explained: “They [the audience] were there and not there. We had broken the ‘stage’ division, they were amongst us, but not part of what we were doing” (Interview, September 17, 2018). In this spatial arrangement, the eye of the viewer is not exclusively driven toward the content of any of such maps, even though the fact those maps represent the militarised city of Jerusalem gives the key for contextualising the message of the artist. However, it is the broader theatrical scene, where maps are treated as “metaphorical patients”, namely human bodies that could really suffer and die at any moment, to construct the visual event as a disturbing space where to muse on the inherent and the ambiguous power played by cartography, now seen as a political and intimate, corporeal and abstract,

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spatial actor. This example engenders a conceptual critique of political cartography as one that can be concretely staged through a strong anchorage to the materiality of maps. In this sense, when referring to the cartographic degeneration, I literally translate the iconoclastic attitude into a material act of destruction, to gauge the role the materials and gestures play in the artistic meaning-making (du Pereez, 2008) and in the construction of the cartographic practice and its political message. However, an overview of the spatial degeneration in art would certainly need a wider range of examples, and I should also clarify that the “torture” inflicted by artists on maps is not always ideological-driven and it is not just about cutting and sewing. Viviane Rombaldi Seppey decides, for instance, to crumple an everyday object: a common paper map (Figure 3). The map ceases to be useful, as it can no longer show locations. Stripped of its semantic value of departure, it is reduced to its crude materiality: a piece of paper, crumpled and ready to be thrown away. Yet, the title “The world isn’t flat” offers a new interpretation. The compression actually transforms the flat surface into a globe where distances are reduced in an illusionary way. By considering the manipulation of the map in a constructive and generative sense, the artist looks to finally positively recode the act of destruction. She sensitizes us to acknowledge how the difference between flatness and volume is merely one of a changing perspective. By re-orienteering our attention, we are apt to discover new details. Ultimately, each of those spatial degenerations is paradoxically very creative as it unleashes new and unexpected meanings. Several interstices of thought are tangibly opened; there, the power of maps is revealed, emotions stride the map, the geopolitical collapses into an intimate space and maps eventually crumble.

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Figure 1. Mapa de Lopo Homem II, 2004, Adriana Varejao. Source: ENCICLOPÉDIA Itaú Cultural de Arte e Cultura Brasileiras. São Paulo: Itaú.

Figures 2 and 3. On the left, Surgical Operation, 2004, Ariane Littman. Source: Courtesy of the artist. On the right, The World isn’t Flat, 2014, Viviane Rombaldi Seppey. Source: http://www.vivianerombaldi.com/04.Maps/01.Inthe-Making/01.htm.

Temporal proximity

the terms of a “spatialization without temporality”, a device able to visualize the spatial distribution of phenomena but unable to grasp their actuality and becoming, that is the life fermenting on its surface. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Geographers have long wrestled with the idea to englobe time in their maps, forgetting to acknowledge that when maps perform a narrative function, time in effect becomes the predominant agent of space. As such, on more than one occasion, maps have proven to be amenable to telling stories, even very personal ones, to instilling emotions, thus to move us and move themselves. Especially thanks to artistic languages, which were also constant features of the many Middle Ages and Renaissance maps, the cartographic surface accommodates space and time and their different possibilities of coalescence and coevalness. Better said, maps do not have to forcefully represent time in their content, but they can bear meditations at the flowing time, offering a palimpsest where the paths of the personal existence can be traced and commented. Not only can maps “take” their time, but time can also take, grab and devour them. In this sense, the temporality of maps can be also understood in the terms of an atmospheric agent (if we think about the notion of “tempo atmosferico” in Italian) that leaves its physical mark, as a sign of wear, on the cartographic artefact (Rossetto, 2018, p. 11). In any case, art constitutes a visual, verbal and material interface that can emphasize the conceptual and visual temporal-spatial relations that are conceptually envisaged by many geographers (Hind at al., 2018). Devoting most of her activities to the crafting of maps, the artist Joyce Kozloff has recently released a series of works entitled “Girlhood” (2017), held at the DC Moore Gallery in New York, in which she drew, painted and assembled what might appear as beautiful and colourful, but also very childish, maps. One in particular (Then and Now, 2017, Figure 4) depicts a historic map assembled with drawings made when Kozloff was a little girl. Combining the contemporary painting made by the artist with a corpus of drawings found in her parents’ house, the pictorial map becomes an intricate collage where two distant temporalities co-author the making of space. In this regard, as the artist puts it: “the young girl and the adult woman began to shift back and forth within the pictorial space” (Kozloff, 2017). Curiously, the edge of the historical map, usually dedicated to the cartouche, is now filled by a series of dolls that, abandoning their ludic function, actually provide an overview of the American dressing style of the Copyright©Nuova Cultura

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50s. This way, besides the interest in juxtaposing different moments of the artist’s life, the map emerges as an historical artefact of material culture. Moreover, by interrupting the direct link between cartography and politics, the artist provokes us to intentionally bring our attention to more innocent feelings such as memory, nostalgia and the pleasure that maps can joyfully express. Seen in this manner, the cartographic texture opens up to a space where the artist can daintily and tenderly think about the passing of time. The close relationship between mapping and time is returned through a diagrammatic pattern by the artist and cartographer Laura Canali in “Il filo del tempo” (Figure 5). The work has been published on the website of the geopolitical review Limes and exhibited from June 14 to July 26, 2016 at the Chiostro del Bramante in Rome. When I visited the exhibition in the company of the artist, she handed me an account of her life flicking through the lines of the mapping she had produced. The diagram, digitally printed on scratched aluminium, represents the upheavals that Canali’s time line has undergone. This was perceived almost “linearly” during her childhood and “messy” and “knotty” during her adulthood. The turning points of her life are visualized by coloured balls, which are left, as the cartographer puts it, “free to flow to me” (Canali, 2016). As a result, in the chaos of geometric signs, tangled lines and sinuous dancing silhouettes, that are created by the lines of the map itself, the artist attempts to portray her life as a doodle, a jumble which represents the deepest traumas of her intimacy. This “cartographical psychology” (Norment, 2012, p. 3) emerging through the metric of lines and points is nonetheless deeply human and emotional as it invites us to take a sneak peek at her intimacy though maintaining a formal distance. The abstract schematization of feelings indeed works more as a therapeutic gesture which does not suppose any act of annihilation or destruction, as we saw in the previous section.

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upheavals. In this case too, the materials, languages and media are multiplied in the artistic experience to try to sense the ephemerality and complexity of the landscape. Significantly, maps are often the favoured or even contested forms used to explore and communicate scenarios of changing ecological futures.

Figure 4. Then and Now, 2017, Joyce Kozloff, Source: https://www.artsy.net/artwork/joyce-kozloff-then-andnow.

Figure 5. Il filo del tempo 1, 2016, Laura Canali. Source: Courtesy of the artist.

Ecologism

Starting from the Land Art of the late 1960s, attention to and care for the environment, beyond the self-care of the artist, have been another valuable element of the relationship that art has established with the geographical space. Many artists today intercept the contemporary and scientific debates on urbanatural issues, ecologism, sustainability and climate change, by proposing themselves as human “probes”, silent observers of natural forms and trackers of their Copyright©Nuova Cultura

For example, Inlansdis, the term used to technically refer to glacial formation, is an installation made by the artist Dacia Manto and exhibited in 2004 and 2009 to represent the continuous change of ice in the Antarctic continent. Aimed at criticizing the anthropological impact on the natural ecosystem, she crafted a map of the South Pole through the use of superimposed ecological fabrics (Figure 6). A non-digital map, however, might be conceived as a snapshot of a single moment of the geological life of the Antarctic, which cannot imprint in its surface the constant evolution of the landscape. The confrontation between immobility and movement is in fact intentionally sought after by the artist through the conception of a system of fragile and precarious maps that are stacked one on top of the other to disrupt the idea of stasis. In this regard, she discussed her relationship with the map considering her interest in cartography as a sort of fascination for “this gap, that is, the chasm that opens up through our perception, through the body, between the exact reconstruction of the boundaries of a place and the same experience that can be done through the senses” (my tr. Foschi, La Stampa, 2014, Interview). Environmental artists often perceive the nature as an uncanny, disorienting and sensory ecology, whose experience can be more authentically returned through a genuine and unmediated sensorial contact with its spatiality. In search for an intimate encounter with the natural landscape, inhabited by a vast range of non-human presences, any technological means, like the map, can in a first incursion be seen as a noise, an intrusive object which distances the artist’s claim for contingency. In those cases, walking often becomes the preliminary act to grasp natural changes, precisely because it suggests an action always in the progress, slow and cultured in its making, of which the map constitutes a trace or an enduring mark. In this context, the body of the artist stands Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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as the favoured research instrument while the map acts as a coadjutant, both in absentia and in presentia. For instance, according to the Situationists, Land artists and continuing up to the contemporary psycho-geographers, ambling has often been felt like a way of experimenting with several practices of de-territorialization and reterritorialization that escaped the cartography imposed from above. To challenge the official planimetry of ordinary life, many artists, through movements and promenades, attempt to craft new maps documenting the subjective experience of the urban or the natural movement into new strangely familiar settings. We can well understand the value the map takes on in condensing and absorbing the density and complexity of artistic multisensorial explorations in another work by Dacia Manto, “Chi ama la montagna le lascia i suoi fiori” (Figure 7). After her creative residence at Taibon, in the Dolomites, Manto documented her walking research of the mountainous landscape through an intricate installation made of pictures, books, paintings and maps. The artwork is primarily constituted by a topographic shaper, consisting of half cartographic paper fragments and another half of wavy lines of graphite spreading neatly on the floor. In the new assemblage provided by the artist, various maps are cut and rearranged to recall the corrugations of the relief topographies and, as such, emulating the sinuosity of the landscape. Yet they also take on the appearance of a natural element, evoking the autumn leaves fallen on the ground. The viewer’s perception is also altered by a space of slippage since the volumetric matter of the map slowly dissipates into a spiral of geometric lines. As such, the making of space becomes a game of media transformations in which it is up to the observer to decide which movement to follow: the one that from the graphite drawing leads to the construction of the “natural” landscape or the other that from the paper map ramifies the spatial referent in a vortex of enigmatic lines.

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Figure 6. Inlandsis, 2004-2009, Dacia Manto. Soucre: Courtesy of the artist.

Figure 7. Chi ama la montagna le lascia i suoi fiori, 2012, Dacia Manto, image by Giacomo de Donà. Source: Courtesy of the artist and Dolomiti contemporanee.

Dataism/Datactivism

The investigation of the intricate relations between the visuality, materiality and spatiality of map art objects cannot be made without a mention of the digital. Mapping and data visualization are increasingly exerting a profound fashion on artists, graphic designers and activists. For instance, the experience of walking, envisioned in the previous section through the poetic lyricism of abandonment and evasion is instead shown in its artificial, urban, mechanic and repetitive nature when it is translated through data analytics. The work of data artist Laurie Frick, called “Floating data”, results from GPS’ tracking and the use of hand-drawn maps to make visible her ordinary pathways through the city (Figure 8). They are consequently transformed into material patterns that somehow nullify the fleetingness of movement. In this new context, art Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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takes advantage of the most advanced GPS technologies and data visualization software to track human trajectories. The data collected by Frick indeed show that our experience of the environment is made through repetitive paths and spatial domestication: “We go the same places, we repeat ourselves, and occasionally we visit someplace new. People think their movements are boring and they just make the same track from home to work, back and forth, over and over” (Frick, http://www.lauriefrick.com/floating-data/). Her research is also interesting because it also gives us a clue of the materiality of the data. Despite the virtual space has been long treated by human geographers and social scientists as an immaterial and unreal horizon, digital artworks alert us that the information should be reinterpreted as “a sequential state of matter produced by materials and apparatuses, by technological devices in which the separation of form and matter is entirely devoid of meaning” (my tr. Bontems at al., 2008, p. 110).

digitalized by a textural network of trajectories, points and lines which reveal the many data and objects such as air traffic, satellites and wireless signals which cross the natural sky at every second.

Playing with data, as the former Dadaists used to play with words and images to make a critique of their world, these artists can be referred to as “dataist” who are prompted to trace the invisible network of internet, goods, and the vanishing experience of imperceptible things and events through cartographic, diagrammatic and topological patterns. For instance, a massive amount of data circulating on the Internet can be gathered to visualize new configurations to understand our present. Or artists can additionally collect their own data and even for their own sake – considering the case of Laurie Frick – often relying on GPS, mobile apps, and on the software realized by other scientists.

Even though the aesthetic foregrounded by those projects is not strictly enforced by truly political concerns, they steadily delve into the potential of mapping to achieve awareness of complex phenomena which may often be kept out of the light. Given the capacity to make the nonvisible understandable and manageable, most artistic practices, projects and exhibitions which exploit the power of data are indeed directed at activist ends. They are artfully designed to counter dominant narratives. Conscious of the power of art to produce “affect”, that is, to move the audience emotionally by altering their perception of the events, and the potential of activism to challenge power relations, thus to create an “effect” (Duncombe, 2016, p.440), many art practitioners combine appealing visualizations and political messages by experimenting with the possibilities offered by new digital technologies. An example of this digital activism is given by the Forensic Oceanography, a platform created by the Centre for Research Architecture at Goldsmiths (London, UK) to investigate the main causes of migratory casualties in the Mediterranean Sea. For Manifesta, they featured at the Palazzo Forcella De Seta in Palermo a trilogy of work called “Liquid Violence”. One of them, “Death by Rescue” (2016, Figure 10), consists of a monitor based on the floor that reconstructs those shipwrecks which have been purposely left uncharted by the European authorities.

When data are rendered visible and tangible, emerging through the surfaces of several materials, they furtherly challenge our common perception of both the virtual and the physical space. The work of Richard Vijen, “Connected by air” (2018, Figure 9), reframes, for instance, the ceiling’s view of the sky of Palermo, by replacing the architectural perspective of the “da sotto in su” with a digital screening. Housed in Palazzo Costantino on the occasion of the Manifesta biennial of contemporary art, the projection performs a view from above, one that is not aimed to chart the terrestrial territory but the ungraspable aerial atmosphere. The air is

Making use of satellite images, radar, optical sensors, GPS and reconstructing the testimonies of the actors moving on the sea, the collection created an aesthetically refined cartographic documentary. In this new event of seeing, the viewer faces a floating mapping architecture which, on the one hand reproduces the motion and voluminosity of the sea, while, on the other hand, transforms the water into a digitized mass of information. In this way the altered aesthetic of the Mediterranean Sea and its shifting from a liquid and a fathomless body of water to a militarized cartography of wet flesh is visually staged.

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Figure 8. Floating data/Walking, 2012-2014, Laurie Frick. Source: http://www.lauriefrick.com/walking/.

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we should contend that those cartographies are not even so “original” because they speak to their beaten art traditions. But adopting the geographer’s viewpoint, the map consumption in art may raise a different awareness. Art may break conventions of cartography, challenging the audience to think maps, and the phenomena they are entangled with, in new and unconventional ways; or it might be the case that, even in the artistic use of map-making, standards and conventions of maps are replicated. This more often means that the examination of creative mapping may restate what we commonly think about maps, without necessarily pointing to new pathways of investigation. To be clear indeed, we should not forcefully decant artful mapping as a better way of thinking and engaging with cartography. If always in search of new and creative ways of mapping otherwise the world we inhabit and study, the “undisciplined” geographer might be disturbed by this gloomy consideration. Yet it is precisely the extended interest posed by artists, graphic designers and activists in cartography that should reassure geographers on the fact that cartographic imageries and practices have still something to say and spur on in our society. And, even if maps might be appreciated “as they are”, perhaps avoiding the danger of a progressive tale, there is always more space we need to create to better think and understand what it is that they are precisely doing in our world.

Figure 9. Connected by Air, 2018, Richard Vijen. Source: Photo of the Author. Courtesy of Manifesta.

Conclusion

Making order amidst the different understandings of maps and mapping in artistic practices is a difficult task, perhaps an impossible one. In other words, when we enter the realm of contemporary art a linear discourse about the multifarious conditions and codes through which maps are seen and sensed cannot be afforded. The growth and pervasiveness of the map trope provide concurrently heterogeneity and homologation. Artistic works may advance by imitating, experimenting or contesting what other artists did and do so that, playing the part of the art historian,

Figure 10. Death By Rescue, 2016, Forensic Oceanography (Lorenzo Pezzani and Charles Heller). Source: Photo of the Author. Courtesy of Manifesta.

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In its ups and downs, pro and cons, the confrontation with mapping through art looks unavoidable and fruitful for geographers. It is a stratagem to put geography in the position of negotiating its relations with the mapping of the world, and, in the process, to articulate what is singular (as an inheritance of continuous theoretical fertilization and exchange) to its own capacities to analyze such events. For their part, artistic maps and mapping performances offer powerful visions that not only make matter intelligible but also render many abstract conceptualizations tangible. Depending on the context, such imageries can be investigated by geographers and cartographers to critically deconstruct the ideological and political implications that some maps possess; however, art maps can also introduce reflections concerning materials and materiality, as well as affectivity, sensoriality, relationality, and processuality that equally inform the production and consumption of any map. In addition, through the contamination and dialogues with artistic practices and languages (Hawkins, 2011), geographers might be more tempted to weave creative mapping methods into their research and teaching, so that art, rather than being treated as a source of study, becomes also the method through which the research takes shape (Lo Presti, 2018). For those reasons, extroverting cartography becomes a useful posture of research. Not only does it foster the shedding of light on the different understandings of mapping and maps that can emerge from the encounter with art theories and aesthetic ambiances but also the consideration, in the process of discovery, of the advantage that a geographical analysis, and its attunement to space, offers to artistic practices. Under such circumstances, we may conclude by considering the two movements of the geographical gaze, that is, the reflective stance and the look geared toward the outside, as not mutually exclusive. It is thanks to this new dual angle that we can better understand that the geographical works on the visual consequently become visual works on geography. After all, moving on the blurred line or in-between different fields of knowledge is the ideal condition to deconstruct, crumble and rebuild our languages, hopefully with new insights, thematic Copyright©Nuova Cultura

profundity and research practices.

Acknowledgements The Author thanks Edoardo Boria and Tania Rossetto for their comments and useful suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper.

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Italian Association of Geography Teachers

GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES AND (PRACTICAL) CONSIDERATIONS

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 137-144 DOI: 10.4458/1682-12

The European Geonight: how to reconcile academic and popular geography Antoine le Blanca, Massimiliano Tabusib, Alexis Alamela Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale, Dunkerque, France Università per Stranieri di Siena, Siena, Italy Email: antoine.le-blanc@univ-littoral.fr a

Received: November 2018 – Accepted: December 2018

Abstract In 2017, the French National Geographical Committee initiated the first “Night of Geography”, also called “Geonight”, in Paris and a dozen other French cities. The overall event was a success, with a great diversity of the public and organizers, with hundreds of people attending local events. The second edition of Geonight took place on Friday, April the 6th, 2018, and was expanded on the European scale. Around 80 events took place. In France, 25 events were spread throughout the country; there were 37 in more than 20 Italian cities, 14 in Hungary, and further events in other countries such as Portugal, Spain, Greece, and others. The general goals of the project are to put forward geography and geographers, to give the greater public a chance to better grasp the various facets of geography, and to make geographical research more accessible. The baseline is that the proposed events should, whenever possible, be free of charge and open to the public. These events and their success derive from a specific diagnosis and raise some questions. Why is geography so little known and under-appreciated? Why is it that geographical studies do not receive more attention, even if a variety of extremely well publicized topics belong to these geographical studies, such as climate change, natural hazards, geopolitics, as well as cartography and geolocalization? Finally, how can geographers overcome these obstacles? Keywords: Geonight, Night of Geography, CNFG, EUGEO, Event, Diffusion

1. Geography: an unexplored, underappreciated discipline yet vital Geography is not often used as a tool to understand and help implement concrete actions in today’s societies. As mentioned in the updated International Charter for Geographical Education published by the International Geographical Union in 2016 (IGU-CGE, 2016), geographical education is not often considered to be fundamental by the public. This can be seen as a

paradox, since its applications are everywhere. We believe there is a need to better inform the public about geographical research and its applications, but also, fundamentally, to involve more individuals in geographical practices. This is less about top-down information, and more about participatory geography. Geography is part of everyday life; it is fundamental in social practices. People live fuller lives when understanding their environments – this

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is the crux of the issue. Yet people fail to link this to geography, perhaps for lack of communication but also because geographers do not always assert their claims on ideas, tools, and actions that have been widely used by engineers, urban planners, and computer scientists, etc. At times, people do not link geography to their need to better understand their spaces, (e.g. risks attached to living in a flood-prone plain or a landslide-prone territory). Geographers know that they can provide a better comprehension and management of contemporary urban phenomena and challenges such as migrations, social issues, urban transportation, and spatial justice; but do other categories of the population perceive the usefulness of geography? Geography is a participatory science: people use it without even knowing it. For instance, individuals contribute to mapping cities through their moves and behaviours, through their phone applications and geolocalization, through their online comments on recreational places. Participatory, open source, and online cartography is one of the biggest revolutions of today; it links everyday life to scientific research, and geography is at its core; but few people label this as geography.

2. From the image of an old-fashioned science to a relevant, modern way of understanding todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s challenges Geographers not only deal with a variety of subjects, but do so through a wide range of formats and tools. It is a pity to see geography reduced to one or two situations or specific methodologies. In some countries, geography is seen as an economic science, something very abstract, relying on numbers and figures and codes, mapping these numbers, playing with formulae, and imagining evolutions through numbers. In other countries, like France, geography is often associated with history, and with the idea of an old-fashioned science, relying on the memorization of the location of spaces, cities, rivers, and borders. It is associated with dusty libraries and, sometimes, with muddy field trips. Typically, geographers are considered outdated; they are perceived to wear old clothes and have CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

an immense capacity regarding the memory of names and places. Few people see this as useful or relevant for modern challenges. There might be some truth in this image! Clearly, however, this is not only a partial portrayal but an outdated one. Geography is characterized by variety and by an intrinsic link to everyday life. Furthermore, virtually all types of the public can connect to, consider, and modify geographical issues. This includes, for instance, young children who learn to move, analyze and manage space, to control it. They map it in their own way, and they modify it. Learning this is already acting on it: hence, it is of crucial importance that geography and geographers become better known and better appreciated, as such, to a younger audience. This is not only to increase the visibility of geography, it has a much deeper impact. It is a way, for people in general, to improve their quality of life. Knowing better oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s geography, is, very simply, living better. In order to reach this goal, geographers need to show that geography is relevant and capable of bringing solutions to contemporary challenges. Geography takes on climate change and sustainnable development, the gendered production of space, the role of senses and emotions in the structure of communities and their territories, ephemeral territories, underground culture spaces, political and ideological constructs, free zones at various scales, natural and social risks management, and so on. Geography uses not only letters and figures, but also photography, videomapping, satellite, drone images, etc. So, how do we get past all these paradoxes? How do we better inform the public of the variety of geographical research and applications, and how do we reconnect academic geography and popular, real, lived, mostly unnamed geographies? These are the main questions and objectives of the European Geonight.

3. What is the Geonight? The Geonight project was launched in 2016 in France (the first events held in 2017), in order to highlight the variety of geography and geographers, to make geographical research more Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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accessible, to reconnect academic geography to popular geography, to disseminate events throughout Europe, and to balance urban centralization of academic events. During the first two editions of Geonight, a few criteria were implemented so as to give unity and meaning to a project that is, by design, participatory. This was disseminated in various cities and countries. For instance, the events took place during evenings and nights. This was coherent with the idea and title of the project, but also the underlying objective must be highlighted: it was designed to welcome various kinds of the public, not only academics or the families of geographers. Organizers were also invited to put forward unusual, creative aspects of geographical sciences. Geographical sciences are not exclusive to indoor activities; hence, Geonight events combined indoor and outdoor activities. Indoor events were meant to foster exchanges and togetherness, with workshops that were varied: from the academic (conferences, exhibitions, round tables, etc.) to the more creative (buffets, multisensorial geographical games, performances, etc.). Organizers presented jobs linked to geographical education, GIS software and new technologies, future endeavors and original geographical projects, etc. Other events were to take place outside; small fieldtrips and urban walks were organized with a variety of purposes: perception analysis, benchmarking, drawing and mapping, interviews, photography, etc. This was also a discovery for many academics. At night, geography changes. In fact, many geographers are not familiar with geography at night. We rarely interview people at night. We rarely examine rocks and rivers in nighttime conditions. In addition, it is usually not convenient to draw a sketch of a landscape when there is no light, and colors are dimmed. The yearly online reports made available on CNFG and Eugeo websites (see references) highlight these issues and also the limits of some actions. For instance, some cities that had planned to participate decided not to do so for a variety of reasons – lack of funding, lack of volunteer time, hierarchy of academic projects, pressure to Copyright© Nuova Cultura

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publish, and so on. So there is a need to better explain the goals in terms of geographical education and research impacts. In the reports, it is clear that Geonight events have had impacts on the perception of who geographers are and what they do, how geography can provide jobs, how it may help change the world at various scales. Geonight was initiated and promoted by the French National Geographical Committee, but from the start it has been meant to be decentralized and participatory. One of the fundamental objectives is to shed light on the creativity of local initiatives and the variety of people, institutions, and associations that may be concerned and would like to participate in geographical events. Therefore, any project that matches the essence of Geonight can be considered a Geonight event. As an example, local organizers can set up a geographical café in the evening, or a short thematic walk through the city; they can also put together a larger event involving diverse scientific presentations. International coordination is managed by a small committee constituted by members of Eugeo and designated coordinators, preferably one for each country participating. This coordination aims to offer support and information, but does not necessarily organize or evaluate actions. Budgets can be maintained at a low level, since the goal of the Geonight relies on openness and flexibility. Events can be located outside, in cultural or academic institutions, in cafés, or in any place that has free access. Technical materials can be lent by research laboratories, universities, or sponsors. Students and associations can volunteer to help with logistics and assistance to the public. Communication costs are minimal when relying on the use of academic networks and social media. However, some costs (e.g. security issues) could be paid by local organizers. Consequently, it is necessary to mobilize research labs and possible sponsors, and to ask for public subsidies. This, in turn, will give more visibility to the events; more generally, it should be highlighted that these costs accrue benefits: people’s perceptions on geography and geographers evolve, more people can get involved (e.g. students, professsional stakeholders, etc.), and participants have the opportunity to Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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enjoy themselves while understanding how diverse geography can be. After the first two editions, Geonight organizers were able to determine a few issues that needed improvement, related to communication and coordination mostly, both internal and external. The variety of actions, actors, and locations could lead to misunderstandings or workshop failures. Hence it was decided to strengthen general coordination for the third edition, and to try and make a better use of online information and cooperative tools. Also, the authors of this paper plan on doing a field research during the next Geonight, based on a survey that is currently being prepared. The goal is to understand better what happens during Geonight events in various participating countries, how these events may change the vision participants have of geography and geographers. Results should be published at the end of 2019.

4. EUGEO support and the Geonight project at the European scale To describe the involvement of Eugeo in the Geonight event, it is necessary to take a small step back in the history of the Association. As Montanari and Nicolaï underline (2004), Eugeo started its activities as an Association electing its first board in 1996, two years after a first pioneering meeting in Rome (1994). At that time, it was already clear that it was “necessary to reposition geography at the center of the European debate, recuperating the connection between the discipline and the different types of users and scientific operators”; between geographers and the public there was a sort of “barrier of information and communication which had to be removed in order to increase the exchange of ideas and to spark the mass media’s interest in the valuable themes of education and geographical research” (Montanari and Nicolaï, 2004, p. 4). Consistent with this objective, the Eugeo Bylaws (1997) states that “the purpose of the Association is to stimulate the progress and the dissemination of geographical sciences in Europe” (art. 3), and two of the three goals explicitly formulated by Article 4 are: “to promote research and education in the field of geography” and “to establish, to carry out and to support projects and studies Copyright© Nuova Cultura

corresponding with its purposes, and to initiate all necessary actions for their dissemination through public communications and publications”. As seen in these brief notes, Eugeo has been working since its foundation to facilitate the cooperation between geographical associations and geographers at the European scale, and to strengthen the public perception of Geography itself. This challenge has been mainly tackled by at least three kinds of activities. The first one is to facilitate the exchange of information and practices between the associations that are Eugeo members, as well as the implementation of joint activities. The second activity is the organization, every two years, of a large Eugeo Congress for which the participation of young geographers is particularly encouraged, not only from Europe but from all over the world. This favors the Association's connection with geographers and geography enthusiasts, capturing the most advanced elements of the geographical research; it facilitates the exchange of new ideas and gives opportunities for networking within an informal atmosphere. The third kind of activity is a strong and continuous connection of Eugeo with the global scale. In this framework, for example, Eugeo has established a longtime cooperation with IGU network, in order to share the best geographical praxis and to support the definition of new objectives and activities, also in the perspective of being able to reinforce the perception of geography in society. An interesting example, which also connects with the objectives of the Geonight, is the collaboration between Eugeo and the IGU (in particular the Commission on Geographical Education) for the drafting of the new International Charter on Geographical Education (IGU-CGE, 2016). In fact Eugeo has been an active part in the process (Ottens, 2013; van der Schee, 2014; Tabusi, 2016) since the Eugeo Congress in Rome (2013), which was an important opportunity to formulate the Rome Declaration on Geographical Education in Europe (a joint declaration by Eugeo, IGU, IIG and Eurogeo: see De Vecchis et al., 2013). After the Congress in Rome, a series of meetings (Utrecht, Malta, Krakow in 2014, Budapest in 2015) offered the opportunity to discuss the drafting of the principles enunciated in the charter, for which Eugeo was able to make an Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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active and appreciated contribution. The new ICGE contains many references to the importance of geography in our societies and the need to work towards a more widespread perception of the potential of the discipline, considered indispensable for an active and responsible citizenship and to understand many contemporary challenges, suggesting to invest time and resources also beyond classrooms. To reach its goals the charter explicitly mentions the important role of geographical societies, associations and professional network structures, and states: “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” (IGU-CGE, 2016, p. 14). For all these reasons it is easy to understand how the presence of geography in society and a better diffusion and perception in public opinion are historically among the main objectives of Eugeo. This is why Eugeo, with its President Zoltán Kovács, the Association’s Executive Committee and General Assembly, enthusiastically welcomed the idea of a Night of Geography, designed and organized in France on 2017 by the French National Geographical Committee, giving its full support for the spread of the event on a European scale in the 2018 edition.

5. A few examples from the 2018 European Geonight France – In France, around twenty cities participated in the 2018 edition of the Geonight. After the first edition in 2017, there was an increase of the number of department of geographies and of the overall number of participants. The wide range of activities proposed to the public made it a very successful series of events. For instance, in Dijon, the spotlight was put on the regional specificities such as the gastronomic heritage, which included a tasting of the local products. In Paris, participants enjoyed an orientation race throughout the city as well as an exhibition on the history of cartography and an urban fieldtrip in the “City of Lights”. In Clermont-Ferrand, the public was given the opportunity to enjoy walking and cycling Copyright© Nuova Cultura

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fieldtrips, drawing competition, doctoral theses’ presentations, and live radio debates. In Dunkirk, over 85 people attended a comedy club where students and teaching staff presented the discipline aspects with a humorous spirit. Finally, the Geonight in Lyon offered simultaneous activities, including urban walks showing gentrification processes in the city, several conferences and debates, poster and photo exhibitions, and collective mapping. Italy – In Italy, 37 events were organized in 22 cities. There were conferences on little known geographies related to music and literature, urban walks in abandoned and empty spaces, as well as photographic and documentary exhibitions, from Roma to Naples, from Padua to Milano and throughout the country: around 10,000 people took part in the events organized by Italian geographers and their Departments and Associations (see http://www.ageiweb.it/nottedellageografia/). On average, 270 people attended the events with a peak flux of participants of 800/1000 during the biggest event. The overall success of these events was also followed carefully by national media including TV, radio, and newspapers which largely spread the word through many outlets. Hungary – In Hungary, 14 events were organized, of which 4 occurred in the capital city, Budapest, and the rest in 10 other cities across the country. The Hungarian Geonight was marked by several categories of organizers: geography departments, secondary schools, tourist sites, an NGO, and a virtual location. The activities proposed to the public ranged from urban walks at sunset to guided excursions through nature with a campfire, conferences, photo exhibitions, a photo contest, and a popular quiz game. The latter involved 229 people. Altogether, it is reported that 819 people took part of the Geo night, averaging about 60 attendees per event. Portugal – The 2018 Geonight in Portugal was festive. In Porto, narrative field trips retracing the nocturnal dynamic and the history of the city were organized. These field trips were followed by a celebratory picnic. Overall, 60 participants took part in Porto’s activities. In Lisbon, two field trips were organized. The first one invited participants to walk through an old industrial area of the city, highlighting the development of nocturnal activities. The second event consisted of a bike Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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tour through the network of bike lanes to discover Lisbon’s night landscape. In total, 40 people participated in the events organized in Lisbon. Greece – Greece’s geography departments organized events in Mytiline (Aegean University), on the island of Lesvos, and in Athens (the National Technical University of Athens and Harokopio University). The main objective was to make geography known to a broader public and to enhance the learning and the appreciation of geography. At the Aegean University, several activities were organised simultaneously and throughout the night with an estimated number of participants reaching over 500. The event started with a musical theme which lasted throughout the night, followed by a tour of the geography department. Children also contributed to the evening by showing their representations of the Earth and its inhabitants through several painting activities. At the National Technical University of Athens, several activities were set up: from discussions regarding recreational spaces and the “imageability” in Athens, to games proposing to explore the city beyond the visible. Several workshops offered insights on the diversity of geographical subjects, including presentations on Eratosthene’s measurement of the planet, circular economy, and the functioning of weather stations. In total, the events that took place in Athens held over 300 participants. Spain – In Spain, many events were organized in Barcelona, Tarragona, Sant Llorenç del Munt, and Grenada. Numerous activities were proposed to the public, such as: a photographic contest, the screening of a documentary on the sovereignty of the seas and oceans, a field trip in Grenada showing its social reality and its relationship with the urban configuration of the city, a geographical dinner and festive gathering in Barcelona, and a presentation on the project of the recovery of the abandoned village of Masia de Castelló where geographers explained their roles and visions.

6. Conclusions This paper aims to address the underrepresentation of geographical topics in the general population. Geography as a discipline does not seem to garner the attention that it could (should?) receive by those who are not experts. Geographers could also be held responsible for this lack of interest due to under-engagement with the public. Organizing events such as Geonight is a first step in the right direction. After two years of implementation, Geonight has become a popular display of the geographical discipline to the general public. For instance, over 10,000 people gathered in Italy to participate in the activities held for Geonight 2018. In France, 25 cities participated with much fanfare. The variety of events piqued the interest of a wide spectrum of the population, including young children. This population represents the future of the discipline. Geonight events differ from traditional representations of geography, such as in a childhood education setting, by offering a different avenue for learning and interacting with geography. Finally, Geonight’s events have proven to diminish the gap between the general public and the actors in the geographical discipline. The effects of this relationship will see positive results in the future as the general public becomes more engaged with geographical topics, and therefore Geonight should be established as a longstanding annual initiative. The organization of Geonight is ever-evolving and can be implemented in further countries; this is one of the objectives of the 3rd edition of the Night of Geography, which will occur on April the 5 th, 2019.

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Figure 1. GeoNight in France.

Figure 2. GeoNight in Italy.

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Figure 3. GeoNight in Greece.

Acknowledgements The paper is the result of the collaboration and common reflections of the Authors. More specifically, A. le Blanc wrote paragraphs 1, 2 and 3; M. Tabusi wrote paragraph 4; A. Alamel wrote paragraphs 5 and 6.

References 1. De Vecchis G., Donert K., Kolosov V., Ottens H. and van der Schee J., “Rome Declaration on Geographical Education in Europe”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (JREADING), 2, 2, 2013, pp. 101. 2. EUGEO, “Memorandum and Articles of Association”, 1997, www.eugeo.eu.

5. Ottens H., “Reflections on Geography Education in Europe”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 2, 2013, pp. 97-100. 6. Tabusi M., “EUGEO Commitment to Geographical Education: from the Rome Declaration to the New International Charter on Geography Education”, Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 4, 2015, pp. 115-119. 7. 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.

3. IGU-CGE, International Charter on Geographical Education, IGU, 2016.

Geonight by Eugeo: www.eugeo.eu/nuitgeo-geonight.html.

4. Montanari A. and Nicolaï H., “EUGEO: Aims, development and organization 1994-2004”, Belgeo, 1, 2004, pp. 5-16.

Geonight by the CNFG: www.cnfg.fr/actualites/nuits-de-la-geographie/.

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TEACHINGS FROM THE PAST Edited by Dino Gavinelli and Davide Papotti

Journal of Research and Didactics in Geography (J-READING), 2, 7, Dec., 2018, pp. 147-153

Re-reading Geography of World Affairs by John P. Cole Giovanna Giulia Zavettieria a

IULM University, Milan, Italy

The section that is shown below is taken from a book written in 1959 by the geographer John Peter Cole. Author of more than 25 volumes of geography, in Geography of World Affairs Cole proceeds to a meticulous and sophisticated analysis of international political issues, supported by corroborating maps, graphs and statistical tables. The book is very useful not only to have a clear and complete idea of the global international relations after the Second World War, but also to understand how the perception of the world has changed over time. However, this article is not intended to be a clear and complete analysis of the topics that will be briefly discussed, but to provide a number of comments on some examples of the perception of certain themes that depend on crystallized stereotypes in the collective imaginary of our time. The extract reported concerns the geopolitical situation of North-East Africa and of a region that nowadays we call the Middle East1. By reading the passage, the emphasis should be placed on several topics, primarily on the active role of the western companies (U.S. and European) in terms of oil production and trade in the abovementioned areas. As a matter of fact, Cole defines oil as “the only mining activity employing a large 1

Excluding Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan that, on the contrary, the author includes.

number of persons”, even if the amount consumed in the countries of North Africa and Middle East is very little. According to the geographer, the causes are attributable to the major U.S. and European companies that deal with the extraction of oil and allow it to be consumed elsewhere. Cole blames this on the fact that the oil-producing countries were in most cases backward and under-populated and that made them unstable, encouraging the dominance, for instance, of the major British companies in Iran. Even the desperate attempts to nationalize oil companies ended up in total financial collapse, leading the oil-producing countries to ask for help from foreign companies again. These dynamics triggered a number of chain reactions that caused: 1. the dependence of the western countries on Middle East oil production; 2. the lack of development of manufacturing industries in North Africa and the Middle East, since crude oil was refined abroad; 3. the misdistribution of the royalties in oilproducing countries. This situation remained almost stable until the birth of OPEC2 in 1960. OPEC is an intergovernmental organization founded by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. It came to number 15 nations in the following years. OPEC was formed by the main oil-producing countries as a response to the dominance of the major

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. For more on this topic visit the official website of OPEC: http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/24.htm. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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foreign oil companies. In 1973, a shock 3 caused by the supply of energy occurred in the West: the oil-producing countries autonomously fixed crude oil prices with disregard for the major Western companies, which, for decades, had controlled the hydrocarbon global market. From that moment on, the OPEC countries began to establish their own oil policies independently of Western companies in order not only to improve their economic situation, but also to gain more autonomy in international political decisions (Bucarelli and Labbate, 2014, pp. 468-469). Since then, the global production of OPEC has not followed a steady trend of growth: there was an early stage of uninterrupted growth up to 1974. For a few years, the production has not grown any more, but, on the contrary, has fallen in some years. From 1979 to 1986, there was a decisive phase of multi-year decline. In 1986 a growth trend started and, although with some periods of stagnation or decline, it remained linear over the long term, albeit with a slowdown from the 1990s. During the 2000s after the invasion of Iraq, the fear of attacks on oilrigs and refineries throughout the Middle East slowed down the production considerably. In 2017, after years of disagreement, OPEC and some non-OPEC countries (such as Russia) announced the cut in oil production. This measure was implemented in order to increase prices, which had been falling to very low levels for years. The fall in prices was in fact crippling many of the oil producing countries, whose economy was (and still is) highly dependent on the price of oil (Barsky and Kilian, 2004; Hamilton, 1985; Hamilton, 1996; Hooker, 2002). Among the most interesting forecasts for the near future is the New Policies Scenario of the IEA4, which shows a hypothesis of the annual growth in oil demand of between 2015 and 2040, albeit at a lower rate than historical averages (Bassam, 2017). It is necessary here to point out the importance of oil in current global geopolitical balances, since the adoption of a lowcarbon economy is becoming an increasingly tangible possibility. Minimizing the role of the 3

On October 6 1973 (Day of the Yom Kippur), the Egyptian and Syrian army simultaneously attacked Israel. In the following days, the Arab OPEC countries decided to support the action of Egypt and Syria through robust increases in the price of barrels Copyright© Nuova Cultura

main oil exporters in the Middle East, however, could not return the desired results. The integration of the energy market between Europe, North Africa and the Middle East can arise from a new paradigm: the waiver of the sole control of sources of energy in favor of their sharing (Morin and Ceruti, 2013, pp. 97-100). Another noteworthy element that emerges insistently in the extract below is certainly the use of the expressions Northeast Africa and Southwest Asia rather than North Africa and Middle East. Regardless of the slightly imprecise history of the Middle East linguistic expression5, it is interesting to focus the attention on the geopolitical background that affects the linguistic conventions and the use of certain expressions rather than others. Cole inserts the passage in a chapter entitled The Region of the Inner Zone which also includes Non-communist Europe and Northwest Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia and Japan, Korea, Formosa. The most interesting thing is the proper use of the names of the geographical areas in relation to the continent they belong to, as an attempt to try to dissociate them from all kinds of national or individual viewpoints. Actually, from a geographical perspective, the border between East and West is fluctuating and indefinite (Prezzo and Redaelli, 2002, p. 19). As a matter of fact, from the European perspective, the American continent is regarded as the West but, from the American perspective, the Asian continent will be considered the West. And everyone knows that the only thing that matters is the perspective, the point of view or, to borrow from Said, the vision: “the Orientalist vision” is “a vision by no means confined to the professional scholar, but rather the common possession of all who have thought about the Orient in the West” (Said, 1978, p. 69). The East and West have acquired a complexity of meanings and cultural references that lead, for example, to associate North Africa with the Middle East for common history and religion (Prezzo and Redaelli, 2002, pp. 19-24). The word complexity derives from the Latin complexus, which meant intertwined, united. Therefore, the and an embargo on the more pro-Israeli countries as retaliation and warning not to give it help. 4 International Energy Agency, https://www.iea.org/. 5 In this respect refer to: Lewis, 1975, 1994; Campanini, 2016. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Mediterranean becomes the sea of complexity, the sea that unites heterogeneity, the sea that generates diversity (Morin and Ceruti, 2013, pp. 83-84). Nevertheless, we cannot fail to take into account that “cultures have always been inclined to impose complete transformations on other cultures, receiving these other cultures not as they are but as, for the benefit of the receiver, they ought to be. To the Westerner, however, the Oriental was always like some aspect of the West” (Said, 1978, p. 67): the problem lies in the single vision that each state has of the Other. The states raise high walls within which they contain their identity that struggles to trespass, preventing a multicolor and multifaceted blend. Apart from the Europocentric issue, which is also of absolute importance, in relation to oil production and trade, the author underlines a still current geopolitical reality, even if 70 years have passed since the publication of his volume.

Acknowledgements

5. Cole J.P., Geography of World Affairs, Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1959. 6. Hamilton J.D., “Historical causes of postwar oil shocks and recessions”, The Energy Journal, 6, 1, 1985, pp. 97-116. 7. Hamilton J.D., “This is what happened to the oil price-macroeconomy relationship”, Journal of Monetary Economics, 38, 1996, 215-220. 8. Hooker M., “Are oil shocks inflationary? Asymmetric and nonlinear specifications versus changes in regime”, Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 34, 2002, 540-561. 9. Lewis B., History: Remembered, recovered, invented, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1975. 10.Lewis B., Islam and the West, OUP USA, 1994. 11.Morin E. and Ceruti M., La nostra Europa, Milan, Raffaello Cortina Editore, 2013. 12. Prezzo R and Redaelli P., America e Medio Oriente: luoghi del nostro immaginario, Milan, Mondadori, 2002. 13.Said E.W., Orientalism, New York, Pantheon Books, 1978.

For revisions and suggestions my thanks go to Dino Gavinelli (University of Milan) and Monica Morazzoni (IULM University).

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References 1. Barsky R.B. and Kilian L., “Oil and the Macroeconomy since the 1970s”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 18, 4, 2004, pp. 115134. 2. Bassam F., “Il peso del petrolio nel futuro economico del Medio Oriente”, 2017, https://www.aboutenergy.com/it_IT/topic/fatt ouh-petrolio.shtml#. 3. Bucarelli M. and Labbate S., “L’ENI e la fine dell’età dell’oro: la politica petrolifera dell’ente nazionale idrocarburi in medio oriente e nel mediterraneo negli anni delle grandi crisi energetiche”, Nuova rivista storica, 98, 2, 2014, pp. 467-476. 4. Campanini M., “1916-2016: come cambia il Medio Oriente a cent’anni da Sykes-Pico”, Atlante Geopolitico, 2016, http://www.treccani. it/enciclopedia/1916-2016-come-cambia-ilmedio-oriente-a-cent-anni-da-sykespicot_%28Atlante-Geopolitico%29/. Copyright© Nuova Cultura

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Geography of World Affairs6 John P. Cole Southwest Asia and Northeast Africa No part of the world has for so long been the home of civilization and the scene of conflicts as the region between and including the Nile in Northeast Africa and the Indus in South Asia. Archaeological evidence suggests that here were the earliest cultivators, the first irrigation works, the first cities, and the oldest empires. Here also the Christian and Muslim religions had their origins. Today, Southwest Asia might be called the centre of world affairs, even though the individual countries belonging to it are among the poorest and weakest in the world. It lies between Europe and the rest of Asia, between the U.S.S.R and Africa. It has land frontiers with the U.S.S.R. in the north, with South Asia and even China in the east, with East Europe and non-communist Europe in the west, and with Africa in the south. The region of Southwest Asia and Northeast Africa is given considerable unity by a number of features. Firstly, from the centre of the region, Arabia, the Muslim religion spread almost everywhere over it and, indeed, was carried far beyond its limits, into parts of Africa and Europe to the west and into Asia to the east. Today most of the inhabitants of the region are still Muslim. Secondly, several hundred years ago almost all of the region came under the control of the Ottoman Empire, centred on Turkey. During the period of Turkish control, little material progress was made, and, indeed, irrigation works were even neglected. Since the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey has remained somewhat aloof and apart from the rest of Southwest Asia. Thirdly, the language of much of the region is Arabic, though the Turkish (Turco-Tatar family) and Persian (Indo-European family) languages belong to completely different families, which is why Turkey and Iran (Persia) are outside the Arab group of countries. Finally, the whole region is poor, good farmland is restricted by dry conditions to very limited areas, and irrigation is vital to the agriculture of several of the countries In only two respects does the region resemble 6

non-communist Europe. It is broken into a number of peninsulas by seas that penetrate far inland, and it is divided into a large number of political units. Here the comparison with Europe ends. As Turkish control of the region weakened in the 19th century and collapsed as a result of the First World War, other powers were able to extend their influence in the region. Britain, with its interest in a reasonably direct route to India, was one of the first, and France, with its expanding empire in Northwest Africa, was also interested. Before this, Russia had started to penetrate into the region and it annexed the Caucasus and Transcaucasia early in the 19th century. Germany was particularly interested in establishing a sphere of influence between Central Europe and the Persian Gulf, but defeat in the First World War put an end to this project. Italy also established colonies in Libya before 1914 and attempted to build up a sphere of influence in Northeast Africa, the annexation of Abyssinia being a further step in this direction. By the beginning of the Second World War, therefore, much of the region had been annexed or influenced in some other way by European powers, and even the U.S.A. had economic interests there. Since the war the tide has turned against the Europeans and, in particular, Britain, France, and Italy have lost influence in the region. A number of independent states have begun to exploit the growing national consciousness of their inhabitants and to enter the already complicated game of power politics now being played in the region. Two important recent examples were the formation early in 1958 of important the United Arab Republic (Egypt, Syria, and the Yemen) and the Arab Federation (Iraq and Jordan). Finally, the appearance of Israel on the scene shortly after the Second World War has further added to the confusion. Its inhabitants may claim that they are not Europeans, but certainly many have been educated in Europe or Anglo-America and in technical and organizational matters are far superior to their Arab neighbours. When considering Southwest Asia and Northeast Africa the reader should always bear in mind the great differences in size and population

Penguin books, Harmondsworth, 1959.

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between the various countries. Israel and the Lebanon, for example, are each roughly comparable in size with Yorkshire, while together they have fewer inhabitants than this county. Turkey, on the other hand, is six times as large as England, and Iran and Saudi Arabia are each twelve times as large. Some of the small territories of the Persian Gulf have only a few tens of thousands of inhabitants, while Egypt, Turkey, and Iran each have more than 20 m. The whole region has about 130 m. inhabitants, 80 m. in Southwest Asia and 50 m. in North east Africa. For most of the countries, population figures are only estimates. Population is distributed very unevenly over the region. In Egypt, for example, almost all of the inhabitants are concentrated in the lands irrigated by the Nile about one-thirtieth of the total national territory. Indeed, most of the population of South-west Asia and Northeast Africa is to be found either in irrigated lands or in the few areas of reasonably heavy rainfall. The more humid areas include the Mediterranean coastlands and some of the mountain areas, of which Ethiopia is the most densely populated. Although the average density is comparatively low, the density in the intensively cultivated parts is in reality very high. There has been little urban development in the region so far. Turkey, with about 20 per cent of its population in towns, is probably the most highly urbanized of the larger countries, though, among the smaller ones, Israel has most of its population in non-agricultural settlements. Mining and industrial developments have recently been causing migration from rural areas to towns, and centres such as Baghdad in Iraq and Cairo in Egypt are growing rapidly. Few figures are available to allow the rate of increase of population to be assessed with accuracy, but what data there are suggest that the increase is rapid. In Syria, the Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, for example, the population is increasing each year by 2-3 per cent. In spite of the great expansion of the oil industry in certain countries in recent decades, agriculture is still by far the most important activity in all but a few districts. Only in Israel and some of the smaller oil-producing territories of the Persian Gulf do other activities overshadow CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

farming. Agriculture is very much restricted by low rainfall over most of the region. In parts of Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan it is also restricted by extensive rugged mountain areas. Only Ethiopia can be said to have an abundant rainfall for agriculture over an appreciable part of the national territory. Most of the countries are more or less selfsupporting with regard to food production and there is relatively little specialization in farming. There is a great contrast between the relatively small, intensively cultivated areas, producing crops such as rice, fruits, vegetables, and dates, and the extensive areas of generally scanty natural pasture supporting sheep, goats, or camels. Much of the region is of no use at all for farming. Only in a few areas are specialized crops grown for export in appreciable quantities-cotton in Egypt and fruits in the Mediterranean coastlands. Undoubtedly there are possibilities of increasing agricultural production in some areas. Higher yields could be obtained by the use of fertilizers and fuller use is now being made of some parts of Turkey with the introduction of mechanization. Except in Ethiopia and the Sudan, however, there are few areas into which cultivation could be extended greatly, and the only real hope of increasing the cultivated area is to provide large works of irrigation in the valleys of rivers such as the Nile, Tigris, and Euphrates which still carry much of their water into the sea. Forestry and fishing are of little or no importance in most of the region. There are few extensive stands of good timber, while the many seas in the region are of little use for fishing. In view of the great fame of the oil industry of Southwest Asia the reader should be reminded that, apart from its oil reserves, the region appears to be very poorly provided with mineral deposits (though it has not yet been fully explored). What is more, the principal proved oil reserves are themselves restricted to a very small part of Southwest Asia. With regard to other minerals, Turkey is the only country with an appreciable production of coal, and it also accounts for about one-quarter of the world's chrome ore, while Egypt mines some phosphates. The oil industry is the only mining activity employing a large number of persons. Very little of the oil produced Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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is actually consumed in Southwest Asia itself. Of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s proved oil reserves in 1956, Southwest Asia had almost two-thirds: world 26,000 m. tons; Southwest Asia nearly 17,000 m.; U.S.A. 4500 m.; Venezuela 1685 m.; U.S.S.R. 1330 m. New reserves are of course constantly being discovered and new techniques are making it a commercial proposition to utilize oil in shales. Even so, the present importance of Southwest Asia as a source of oil can easily be appreciated. From col. IV in table 13, it will be seen that no more than four countries account for almost all of the oil production of the region and, together, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, and Qatar produced about 97 per cent (and more than 18 per cent of the world total). Egypt was the only important producer out-side the Persian Gulf area. So far no large reserves of oil have been found away from the main producing fields around the Persian Gulf itself. The oil production is almost entirely in the hands of a few European and U.S. oil companies, most of the oil is exported to Europe and other parts of the world, and the main benefit the producing countries derive from the industry is their 50 per cent share of the profits of production. Admittedly, these countries, like Venezuela in Latin America, themselves lack the capital and the technicians to develop oil production. Even so, the financial position is not altogether a happy one, and dissatisfaction with it was expressed in the nationalization of AngloIranian Oil Co. property in Iran in 1951. Oil production dropped almost to nothing in the following years and the Iranian oil industry has only been put on its feet again by the assistance of a consortium of foreign companies. A recent agreement between Italy and Iran, whereby Italy is to receive only 25 per cent of the profits of oil production, may eventually lead to a revision of the financial situation in the region. Japan, too, has ignored the traditional 50-50 basis of profit sharing by recently agreeing to pay 57 per cent in royalties on production in its concessions. It is often pointed out that the companies build towns and roads, which will remain even when oil production has ceased. Obviously these are built largely to serve the oilfields, and whether or not they will have any other future use can hardly be expected to concern the oil companies. As in CopyrightÂŠ Nuova Cultura

all branches of mining, there invariably remains the question of finding employment for the workers if and when reserves are exhausted. At present this does not preoccupy the oil countries, for the industry is still expanding. A further question which is also of little concern to the oil companies, is the use made of the oil royalties. These may find their way into the pockets of a limited number of individuals or they may be spent on grandiose public buildings. They could more usefully be spent on works of construction to create alternative employment and a source of income for the government once the oil royalties begin to diminish. The countries of Southwest Asia and Northeast Africa have almost no coal, and even very little timber for fuel. Educational standards are low and there is almost no tradition of manufacturing. Not surprisingly, then, there has so far been a almost no development of industry on modern lines. Any future oil, development of industry might be expected to be based on oil, for the region is one of the least suitable parts of the world for the construction of hydro-electric power stations, unless costly storage reservoirs are provided. As in the oil industry, foreign equipment and technicians are needed if industries are to be established. At present Turkey is the only country producing steel, while Turkey and Egypt produce small quantities of cement and fertilizers, and some light manufactures. Israel also has some modern industries. Elsewhere there has been little modern industrial development so far. The region as a whole is very poorly provided with communications, but the economy does not require the exchange of goods between one region or one country and another. Only oil is moved in large quantities - either by pipeline or tanker. Living standards are low throughout the region except in Israel. Here large amounts of foreign aid have enabled the inhabitants, with their superior technical experience, to provide living conditions closer to those of Western Europe than to those prevailing in Southwest Asia. Cols VI to IX in table 13 help to give an idea of differences in material and cultural levels between the various countries. Undoubtedly Ethiopia and Afghanistan are among the poorest. Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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Almost no figures are available for Arabia. The oil countries must all have benefited from oil royalties, but it is impossible to assess precisely to what extent conditions have so far been improved. Turkey, Syria, the Lebanon, and Egypt, the countries closest to and longest influenced by Europe, are the most advanced economically, but hardly compare even with the poorest in Europe. The problems of the region are many. In the end, aridity appears to be the greatest. If any significant improvements to be made in agriculture, then here, more perhaps than anywhere else in the world, large sums of money will have to be invested in costly irrigation works. It has not yet been decided who provide the necessary capital nor when it will be forthcoming but whoever wishes to bring better living conditions to the region should not forget that agriculture is the principal activity almost everywhere. With regard to oil production, Persian Gulf oil is at present essential to the economy of noncommunist Europe, or at least to certain branches of its economy. Other sources of oil in Algeria, Canada, or Latin America, for example could be exploited rapidly within a matter of a decade, and Europe might by then begin to reduce its dependence on oil from Southwest Asia. European politicians, with their habitual inability to understand the impact of what they say on nonEuropeans, openly boast that their aim is to become independent of oil from this precarious

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part of the world. They rarely express their indebtedness to Southwest Asia for the cheap oil received and they seem not to care if they suddenly cut off the one substantial source of revenue to these poorer countries by finding oil elsewhere. In the field of world power politics Southwest Asia is a vacuum area, for although there are several great powers close to it there is no major power within it. Turkey, connected with NATO, is undoubtedly the strongest military power in the region. The Baghdad Pact countries, Turkey, Iraq, Iran (and Pakistan in South Asia), without the military backing of the U.S.A., have few resources to defend themselves, and the U.K., with so many financial and military commitments in other parts of the world, has in reality little to offer them. The two outside powers now able to exert most pressure on the region are the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. Although the U.S.S.R. is so much closer to Southwest Asia than its rival, the U.S.A benefits from its remoteness in one respect. Most countries would prefer to ally themselves to or receive aid from a distant power than one across their frontier or only a few hundred miles away. Turkey and Iran, the closest to the U.S.S.R., have certainly shown that this is true, and even Afghanistan has connexions with the U.S.A., though much of its foreign trade has for the last hundred years been with Russia.

Italian Association of Geography Teachers

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