Master’s: Geographical Images – Analysis and Production
Presentation
Description
The Master’s in Regional Innovation and Experimentations: Analysis and Production of Geographical Images, within the programme Geography, Planning, Environment and Development, is both vocationally and research-oriented. This dual identity is founded on:
- a pedagogical mission based on iteration over experimentation and theorisation;
- permanent and open dialogue between the professional world and the world of research.
This hybridity is a reflection of the scientific involvement of the pedagogical team, who are truly invested in projects developed with partners in regional authorities, in the volunteer sector, in companies etc. These strong links between the professional features and theory-driven elements of this course are a response to emerging demands expressed by the teaching team as a whole (university lecturer-researchers, researchers, professionals).
There is a very real need to train geographers capable of constructing flexible measures able to meet the needs of those regional organisations who currently find themselves in a state of chronic transition and uncertainty.
The ‘Geographical Images’ subject pathway tackles new forms of cartographic, infographic, photographic and film-based forms of expression. It particularly explores the ways and means by which these forms can be employed in the training of geographers who are capable of creating and using these modes of expression within the frameworks of regional projects and the provision of expert assessments, mediation and research.
The programme of study insists on critical thinking, analysis (to consider the social intentionality of images, the iconic capacity of maps etc.) and on an exploration of new map and film production methods linked to the web.
Objectives
This Master’s programme aims to produce researchers, experts in devising and implementing public policies and stakeholders in regional management. The programme aims to teach students the necessary foundations, on the basis of which they will be equipped to develop a capacity for critical and innovative thought.
The Master’s offers a programme of study that is:
- theory-driven, focused on expert knowledge, ethics and processes of mediation and the monitoring and characterisation of innovations and their propagation;
- methodology-based, organised around questions surrounding the production and analysis of geographical data (constructing, exploiting and reproducing a corpora of data, understanding the issues linked to cartographic representations of data, producing a critical analysis on the basis of these findings);
- practice-driven with workshop course units entitled ‘Experimentation and the Image’ and ‘Experimentation and Mediation’ where students are required to translate an order for a works project into a procedure for analysis and production.
Regional experiments are the central object of this Master’s programme, which is set firmly within the context of practices and theories of spatial and regional action as well as the fields of Critical Visual Studies, Critical GIS Sciences Studies and Critical Political Ecology Studies. Reflexivity is fundamental to this; that is to say, the capacity to handle, work with and absorb controversial issues.
This programme of study has a flexible status to allow room to adjust and adapt in response to social demand.