Description
Globalization, in particular economic globalization, has important impacts on the environment that have to be considered in order to achieve sustainable development.
The course aims at introducing the students to sustainable development concept in relation to globalization, with a special focus on environmental aspects. Environmental issues have gained center-stage in economic analysis and policy-making and their urgency has opened new opportunities in terms of technological innovation and entrepreneurship.
Through an interdisciplinary perspective, the course will provide students with competencies and instruments for the understanding and analysis of sustainability issues and for the development of solutions oriented towards the promotion of sustainable development processes both at a local, national and international level.

Introduction and objectives
The course focuses on environmental issues in a globalized contest within the framework of sustainable development and aims to help students develop critical thinking and capacity to develop solutions.
For this purpose the course will cover different themes, starting from the introduction of the concepts of sustainable development and globalization in relation to the environment, from their origin to the SDGs. Special focus will be given to climate change (SDG13), Energy (SDG7), Biodiversity (SDG15) and consumption and production (SDG12). The current pandemics and its relation to sustainable development will be also taken into consideration.
In the final part of the course the students will be engaged in putting in practice what they learnt during the course designing projects to promote sustainable development in Venice, using the design thinking methodology.

THEME I – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT
THEME II – SDGs AND THE ENVIRONMENT: THE CHALLENGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE (SDG13), ENERGY TRANSITION (SDG7) AND BIODIVERSITY
THEME III – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE: SDG12
PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: DESIGN THINKING LAB

 

Course organisation and supervision
The overall structure of the course and its thematic organisation have been developed by Ilda Mannino (TEN Program - Venice International University) in collabo-ration with Ignazio Musu (Ca’ Foscari University, TEN Program - Venice Interna-tional University). Ilda Mannino is also coordinator of the course.
The course is organised around different thematic areas taught by Ilda Mannino and Ignazio Musu and includes a design thinking laboratory chaired by an external expert.

 

Course Requirements
Students will be expected to do the required readings and to attend class regularly. Attendance is compulsory for all students. Required readings will be designated on a weekly basis according to the lectures listed in the course outline. Students will be also encouraged to find additional material for their final project by searching the Internet and accessing suggested websites.
Field trips and seminars related to the course will be arranged.

 

Ca’ Foscari students enrolled in Bachelor degrees - Management or Economics Department can attend this course and final exam (auditors are not admitted) however they cannot include it in their “piano di studi” as this course is equivalent to a Master degree course.

As this course is considered equivalent to the course “Pianificazione Strategica e Management della Sostenibilità” and awarded 12 CFU, Ca’ Foscari Master degree students – Management Department must integrate the 40 hours of in-class tuition with a minimum of 40 hours in seminars, field trips and VIULECTURES*.

*VIULECTURES is an initiative promoted by VIU to provide a platform for interna-tional and local professors to discuss key and current issues.
Participation in the VIULECTURES is compulsory and counts towards the integration of 40 hours in seminars/field trips for students enrolled in Master degrees of the Department of Management.

 

Evaluation
Module Essays – There will be a short essay requested to each student for each module – 45% of the final grade.
Final project – There will be a group research project to develop, to present in a written group report and through an oral presentation in class – 45% of the final grade.
Class participation – Overall class participation, in terms of both attendance and interaction, will count for 10% of the final grade.

 

Syllabus

ORIENTATION
Week 0 – February 20-24

Thursday, February 23 - Opening Ceremony

THEME I – SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CONCEPT
Week 1 – February 27

Lecture 1
Introduction to the Sustainable Development Concept
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program, Venice International University)
Required Readings: Book Ecological Economics, by Michael Common and Sigrid Stagl, Chapter 4; UN (1992), Rio Declaration.

Lecture 2
Development of the SD concept part 2
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required Readings: Book Ecological Economics, by Michael Common and Sigrid Stagl, Chapter 10: 10.1 and 10.4; UN (1992)

 

Week 2 – March 6

Lecture 3
Development of the SD concept: Rio 92 and the Rio Declaration
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Lecture 4
The Sustainable Development Goals: From Rio 92 to the SDGs
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required Readings: http://www.undp.org/mdg/; http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/reports.shtml, The Millennium Declaration; http://unsdsn.org/; UN 2012, The future we want.

To be read before the next class: https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topics/sustainabledevelopmentgoals
Required Readings:
Choose one SDG to present it in class

 

Week 3 – March 13

Lecture 5
The Sustainable Development Goals: going in depth
Presentation of the SDGs by the students

Choose one SDG to present it in class

Lecture 6
The Sustainable Development Goals: going in depth part II
Presentation of the SDGs by the students

Choose one SDG to present it in class

 

Week 4 – March 20

Lecture 7
SDGs and SD: Critics, Covid Impacts and Future Perspectives
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Reid A.J. et al. (2017). Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals still neglecting their environmental roots in the Anthropocene, Environmental Science and Policy 77, pp 179–184. Lomborg B. (2017). The Mis-Measure of Development; Swain R. B. (2017). A critical analysis of the Sustainable Development Goals. Latouche S. (2003). Sus-tainable development as a paradox. Symposium Baltic Sea 2003. Gdansk, Kalinin-grad, Tallinn, Helsinki and Stockholm; Bali Swain R. (2017). A critical analysis of the Sustainable Development Goals, in W. Leal Filho et al. (eds.), Handbook of Sustain-ability Science and Research, World Sustainability Series.

 

Lecture 8
Lecture and Open discussion: Critics to SD and SDGs: are they achievable? Economic growth and Sustainable Development
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required readings: Naidoo R. & Fisher B. (2020). Sustainable Development Goals: pandemic reset, Nature, Vol 583; Alibegovic M, Cavalli L., Lizzi G., RomaniI. (2020). COVID-19 & SDGs: Does the current pandemic have an impact on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals? A qualitative analysis, FEEM Brief, 07, June 2020; Gulseven O., Al Harmoodi F., Al Falasi M., ALshomali I. (2020). How the COVID-19 Pandemic Will Affect the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?, preprint, not peer-reviewed.

 

Week 5 – March 27

Lecture 9
Introduction to Design Thinking
Stefano Franzon, Amploom

Lecture 10
Lecture: Alternatives to SD and Economic Growth & the Planet Boundaries
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required readings: Steffen W., Richardson K., Rockström J., Cornell S. E., Fetzer I., Bennett E. M., Biggs R., Carpenter S. R., de Vries W., de Wit C. A., Folke C., Gerten D., Heinke J., Mace G. M., Persson L. M., Ramanathan V., Reyers B., Sörlin S. (2015). Planetary boundaries: Guiding human development on a changing planet, Science 347 (6223), doi: 10.1126/science.1259855

 

Week 6 – April 3

Lecture 11
Design Thinking | Understanding part I: Introduction to the Research Tools
Stefano Franzon, Amploom

Assignment 1: essay Module I by April 5

THEME II – SDGs AND THE ENVIRONMENT: THE CHALLENGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE (SDG13), ENERGY TRANSITION (SDG7) AND BIODIVERSITY (SDG15)

Lecture 12
The Challenge of Climate Change
Prof. Ignazio Musu (Ca’ Foscari University and TEN Program, Venice International University)

Readings: T. Choudhary, Climate and Energy Decoded, Hope Spring Press, 2022, ch. 1-3.

 

Mid-term break April 10 - 14

Week 7 – April 17

Lecture 13
The Geopolitcs of Energy Transition
Prof. Ignazio Musu (Ca’ Foscari University and TEN Program, Venice International University)

Readings: T. Choudhary, Climate and Energy Decoded, Hope Spring Press, 2022, ch. 4; D. Yergin, The New Nap. Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations, Penguin Press, 2021, ch.1-26

Lecture 14
Scenarios to deal with Climate Change: towards a Low-Carbon Global Economy
Prof. Ignazio Musu (Ca’ Foscari University and TEN Program, Venice International University)

Required Readings: N. Stern, Why are we waiting?, MIT Press, 2015, ch.7-9, World Energy Outlook, International Energy Agency, October 2022; W. Nordhaus, The Spirit of Green, Princeton University Press, 2012, ch.22-23; T. Choudhary, Climate and Energy Decoded, Hope Spring Press, 2022, ch.5-10

 

Week 8 – April 24

Lecture 15
Pandemics and biodiversity
Prof. Ignazio Musu (Ca’ Foscari University and TEN Program, Venice International University)

Required Readings: C. Perrings, Our Uncommon Heritage, Cambridge University Press, 2014; P. Dasgupta, The Economics of Biodiversity, Abridged Version, British Government, 2021.

 

PRACTICE SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: DESIGN THINKING LAB

Lecture 16
DESIGN THINKING LAB | Ideation: Idea Generation
Stefano Franzon, Amploom

 

Week 9 – May 1

Lecture 17
Focus on SDGs 12: Introduction to Green Economy Concept and Ideas
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required Readings: Lifset R. & Graedel T.E. (2002). Industrial ecology: goals and definitions in A handbook of industrial ecology, Robert U. Ayres, Leslie Ayres (eds.).

 

THEME III – SDGs AND THE ENVIRONMENT: SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION (SDG12)

Lecture 18
Focus on SDGs 12: Implementing the Life Cycle Thinking: Eco-design and LCA
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required Readings: Rebitzer G. et al. (2004). Life cycle assessment Part 1: Framework, goal and scope definition, inventory analysis, and applications, Environment International 30 (2004) 701 – 720; Science direct (2017), Life Cycle Assessment pa-pers abstracts.

 

Week 10 – May 8

Lecture 19
DESIGN THINKING LAB | Prototyping: Testing the Solution
Stefano Franzon, Amploom

 

Lecture 20
Focus on SDGs 12: Drivers for Greening the industry
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required Readings: Lifset R. (1993). Take it back: Extended Producer Responsibility as a Form of Incentive-based Environmental Policy, Journal of Resource Management and Technology, Vol. 21 n.4; Jackson T. (2005). Live Better by Consuming Less? Is There a “Double Dividend” in Sustainable Consumption?”, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 9, n. 1–2.

 

Week 11 – May 15

Lecture 21
Focus on SDGs 12: Sustainable Consumption
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required Readings: Lim W. M. (2017). Inside the sustainable consumption theoretical toolbox: Critical concepts for sustainability, consumption, and marketing, Journal of Business Research 78 (2017) 69–80.

Suggested reading: UN (2019). Playing for the Planet. How Video Games Can Deliver for People and the Environment.

 

Lecture 22
Focus on SDGs 12: Circular Economy
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

Required Readings: Lifset R. (2005). Moving from Products to Services, Journal of Industrial Ecology, Vol. 4, n. 1; Geissdoerfer M., Savaget P., Bocken N. M.P., Hultink E. J. (2017). The Circular Economy: A new sustainability paradigm?, Journal of Cleaner Production 143 (2017), pp. 757-768.

Lamberton C. (2016). Collaborative consumption: a goal-based framework, Current Opinion in Psychology 2016, 10:55–59.

Suggested readings: Guldmann E. (2016).Best Practice Examples of Circular Business Model.

 

Week 12 – May 22

Lecture 23
DESIGN THINKING LAB | Implementation: How to Develop the Solutions
Stefano Franzon, Amploom

 

Lecture 24
Revision of Students’ work
Dr Ilda Mannino (TEN Program on Sustainability, Venice International University)

 

Week 13 (exams) – May 29

Lecture 25
Presentation of Students’ group project

Lecture 26
Presentation of Students’ group project

 

 

 

Last updated: 16 January 2023