Presentation

Educational aims

The specific objectives of the Degree Course match the direction outlined in the documents of national and international bodies, which have been a reference in the organization of the educational programme, also in view of the international accreditation of the Degree, in particular in IFLA Europe, equivalent to the recognition of the European Community for other training courses. The proposed educational process aims at fostering the full integration between knowledge and skills in the field of landscape design and management at different scales, the acquisition of the ability to collaborate with other professionals in the fields of architecture, engineering and natural, agronomic and forestry sciences, of other social sciences and humanities, in a constant adjustment among consolidated skills and abilities. The specific objectives integrate design skills with the attention, extended to the whole educational process, towards themes such as sustainability, sharing and development of processes to increase social awareness, through continuous integration, and an adequate articulation of teachings in thematic design studios, mixing the most purely technical-scientific cultural areas with humanistic disciplines and which refer to the cultural foundations of the landscape. The educational programme is divided into three phases, articulated in four semesters. The first phase is characterised by a process of homogenization of the cultural groundings of incoming students - often very different from each other - through the delivery, in the first semester, of teachings specifically targeted to the prevailing cultural profiles of the students, specifically the 1st cycle degree classes L-17, L-21, L-23 and L-25, in a way to promote the formation of a common knowledge base both under the cultural profile and under the perspective of the technical lexicon. The second phase, coinciding with the second and third semester, is mainly dedicated to train students for design, through four interdisciplinary design studios and some mono-disciplinary teachings integrating them. The studios, which are the cornerstone of the training of landscaper students, are driven by the principles of sustainability, environmental compatibility of the interventions, topicality of the cultural and design proposal, contribution to the redevelopment and prevention of all forms of risk: the landscape design for urban areas, the conservation and restoration of landscape heritage, the strategic project and landscape plan tools for large areas, the relations between urban and extra-urban environment. The third phase completes the course through a unitary start-up path to the labour market that includes adequate space for internship activities, together with any other complementary training activities, at companies and public institutions and which are part of a path leading to the development of the degree thesis project as the final stage of the training course.

work perspectives

Profile: Landscape architect Functions: Private practice, as individuals or as members of larger design groups, also with responsibility functions such as the coordination of work groups. Graduates may carry out their professional activity autonomously, as well as in public and private institutions and bodies operating for the transformation and conservation of the landscape, and in promotion and design companies. Functions (a): landscape design; (b): restoration of historic parks and gardens, with the exception of their building components; recovery of deteriorated landscape (c): design of elements, related to the landscape, of agricultural, forestry and environmental systems; (d): drafting of landscape plans; (e): member of the municipal commissions on the landscape (Ministerial Decree 42/2004 and subsequent amendments); (f): landscape analysis, landscape and environmental consultancy and in the areas of plant production, silviculture, agritourism and rural tourism, defence of the rural and natural environment, rural land planning; (g): valuation activities; (h): cadastral, topographic and cartographic activities; (i): environmental certification of interventions on the landscape and of the quality of plant and forestry production; (l): coordination and direction of activities, in relation to the fulfilments and task envisaged by the European Landscape Convention (L. 1/09/2006) and the Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape (DM 42/2004 and subsequent amendments). (m): coordination and direction of projects and consultancy activities with respect to the actions of landscape conservation and transformation; (n): working in and/or coordinating landscape research activities. Skills: a) LANDSCAPE DESIGN, with specific skills in: relevant regulations, tools for the design of parks, gardens and green areas at various scales: design of private and public green systems, open spaces, gardens and parks, hanging and vertical green areas, outdoor exhibitions and displays, archaeological areas, botanical gardens, cemeteries, golf courses, outdoor areas of tourism and sports facilities, coastal and river settlements; Supervision of landscape construction sites; definition of management and maintenance processes; evaluation of the botanical and agronomic characteristics of ornamental plants, their evolutionary dynamics and maintenance. b) RESTORATION OF HISTORICAL PARKS AND GARDENS, with the exception of the building components, with competences on: recovery of degraded landscapes; activities related to the conservation, restoration and redevelopment of: parks, gardens and historical landscapes, archival, documentary and cartographic analysis; definition of restoration methods for historic gardens; botany and pathological aspects of ornamental plants and methods of rehabilitation and maintenance of the same, management and enhancement plans. c) DRAFTING OF LANDSCAPE PLANS, with competences on: landscape planning activities, through the preparation of landscape plans; national and regional legislation on landscape plans; methods and tools for landscape analysis and transformation; sectoral legislation. d) LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS AND LANDSCAPE-ENVIRONMENTAL CONSULTING, in the areas of landscape requalification, with respect also to abandoned and degraded areas, to the prevention of different forms of risk, to the insertion of infrastructure networks in the landscape, to the analysis and evaluation of landscape and environmental impact studies, to agricultural tourism and rural tourism, to environmental protection, rural land planning, with competence on: the legislation and methodology in the reference sectors; evaluative analysis of the landscape, consultancy on landscape-territorial plans, green plans, geographical, cultural and social contexts. e) VALUATION, CADASTRAL, TOPOGRAPHIC AND CARTOGRAPHIC ACTIVITIES, with competences in: regulations and methodologies related to land and rural valuation; methods and tools for topographic survey and landscape mapping. f) MEMBER OF MUNICIPAL LANDSCAPE BOARDS (Ministerial Decree 42/2004 and subsequent amendments), with skills related to: sectoral regulations, procedures and tools for the evaluations of plans and projects. g) DESIGN OF ELEMENTS, related to the landscape, of agricultural, forestry and environmental systems, with skills related to: sectoral regulations; agricultural and forest systems and their environmental implications; methods and tools for analysis and intervention. h) ENVIRONMENTAL CERTIFICATION OF INTERVENTIONS UPON THE LANDSCAPE and of the quality of the systems for the management of plant and forestry productions, with skills related to: quality systems and regulations about environmental evaluation and certification, in the agriculture and forestry areas; regulations on the environmental impact assessment of the intervention for the landscape-territory transformation, and on the insertion in the landscape of civil, industrial, infrastructural facilities. i) COORDINATION AND MANAGEMENT OF ACTIVITIES, with respect to the obligations and tasks, envisaged by the European Landscape Agreement (L. 1/09/2006) and the Code of Cultural and Landscape Heritage (Ministerial Decree 42/2004 and subsequent amendments), with skills related to: sectoral regulations and legislation; promotion and management of Landscape Observatories; methods and tools for landscape conservation and management. j) COORDINATION AND MANAGEMENT OF DESIGN, CONSULTANCY AND RESEARCH in intervention of landscape conservation and transformation, with competences on: national and European landscape regulations; methods and tools for interventions upon landscape; managerial and strategic planning issues; theories and methods for landscape planning, design and management; scientific issues related to innovative landscape technologies, to landscape protection, to the dynamics of agricultural and forest ecosystems and to the methods and tools for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity. k) CONSULTANCY IN PLANNING ACTIONS OF URBAN REGENERATION AND URBAN LANDSCAPE PLANNING through their skills in garden and landscape planning Professional opportunities All the activities described above may be carried out as freelancers in design, planning, programming or management processes in the public and private areas. These activities may also be carried out as officials or managers in Public Agencies for planning and control or private companies operating in the landscape design and/or promotion. Graduates with enough credits in the specific sectors, may access to the public selection for teachers in high schools. The Degree gives access to the professional Board of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservators (OAPPC), section A, section C (landscape design), after passing the relevant national qualification exam. It also enables the admission to the national qualification exam for the professional register of the Order of Doctors in Agronomy and Forestry (DPR n. 328 of June, 5, 2001, art 12, par.2). The course also enables, after public competition or other selection process, access to 3rd cycle education (PhD courses and Graduate Schools).

Characteristics of the final exam

The final examination consists of the presentation of a thesis prepared in an original way by the student under the guidance of a supervisor. The supervisor may avail him/herself of the collaboration of other professors, researchers, contract professors or internal or external experts, who take on the function of co-supervisors, in the research activity related to the preparation of the final paper. The final paper can be experimental, theoretical or a project design or it can be a short essay on a mono or multidisciplinary theme. For particular subjects of the Degree Course the Thesis can also include a graphic and/or multimedia products. The paper can be written in whole or in part in a language of the European Union, different from Italian. The final work, or part of it, can be carried out in whole or in part also at other Italian and foreign institutions and public and/or private companies accredited by the University of Palermo. The final examination, together with the assessment of the thesis work, must include the evaluation of the candidate's maturity and scientific, technical and professional skills. The modalities for the development of the final paper and the detailed description of the discussion process are defined analytically in the Course regulations.