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The Master's Project

The University Master's Degree in "Landscape Design and Quality" was instituted in 2003 at the Faculty of Architecture of the University "G. D'Annunzio" of Chieti-Pescara, in association with the Faculty of Architecture A of the Roma 1 University and the Faculty of Architecture (Ascoli) of the University of Camerino. The course has the support of a pool of public and private bodies which participate in evaluating academic output.

The Master's is intended to deal with increasing demand for a landscape qualification for urban and territorial projects following the recent signing of the European Landscape Convention and the successive State-Regions Agreement, which translates the Convention's principles into the Italian context.

With this background, the Master's proposes to offer conceptual and practical methods for reinforcing landscape values within current design and planning procedures for urban and territorial intervention, with attention focussed on management aspects. In particular, the Master's takes as its didactic objective the inclusion in current practice of the quality objectives for landscape introduced by the European Convention and the State-Regions Agreement.

The Master's, which operates under the auspices of the Ministry for Heritage and Culture, is aimed at technicians and experts who wish to refine their ability to promote landscape priorities in project organisation and control, both within administrations charged with landscape protection and other government administrations in the territory, as well as within professional structures.

The specific issues included in the Landscape Design and Quality Master's Degree are:

a. Landscape and Public Works
b. Landscape and upgrading of sites at risk of degradation
The first issue is of topical interest in Italy. Faced with a grave lack of infrastructure and public works, our country is experimenting with new intervention policies designed to integrate activities for economic development with different networks, both in the south and in more industrialised areas.
The second issue is becoming ever more critical due to growing interdependence between policies for protection and value-enhancement of heritage and policies of local development planning.

Educational model

The Master's Degree operates at a European level, with a network of faculties of architecture linked through the association of the University of Chieti-Pescara, Roma 1 University, La Sapienza, and the University of Camerino and through collaboration with IBA, the University of Cottbus, the Delft Polytechnic, Lyon University and the University of Ljubljana.

The core of the course is studied in Pescara, with further working sessions in Rome and Ascoli. Students registered in the Master's may also, by request, be authorized to carry out further studies at associated European campuses, with costs, including insurance, at the expense of the students. See course regulations for further information.

The Master's will offer methodological and operative tools designed to assure landscape quality in urban and territorial transformation interventions.
It is a second-level educational degree in which graduate students acquire specific professional abilities in the procedural areas of landscape protection administrations, public territorial bodies, engineering and technical study companies.

At the end of the Master's course, the student must be able to:
- contribue to carrying out the objectives of landscape quality within the design and planning of urban and territorial interventions
- carry out landscape quality control within intervention authorization procedures in public administration
- include elements of landscape quality control in calls for bids for the design of public works, integrated projects, complex programmes and other territorial interventions

Programme

Number of teaching hours: 60 CFU credits (1,500 hours) in total, subdivided as follows: lessons + schoolwork 24 CFU (600 hours); workshop activities 10 CFU (250 hours); individual study 14 CFU (350 hours); apprenticeship (300 hours).

Specialization Module A*
Identification of landscape quality
12 CFU (300 hours) of which 8 are Lessons-Schoolwork and 4 Study
Specialization Module B*
Projection of landscape risk
12 CFU (300 hours) of which 4 are Lessons-Schoolwork, 2 Study and 6 Apprenticeship
Specialization Module C*
Landscape Sustainability of Projects
12 CFU (300 hours) of which 8 are Lessons-Schoolwork and 4 Study
Specialization Module D*
Landscape Project Organization
12 CFU (300 hours) of which 4 are Lessons-Schoolwork, 4 Study and 4 Apprenticeship
Integrative Workshop
12 CFU (300 hours) Applied Activities (5 CFU, 125 hours) Apprenticeship (2 CFU, 50 hours)
Final Project (5 CFU, 125 hours) with graphics
Trainee positions at Italian and European universities and public administrations, with final reports

Intended Outcomes

Application of the European and national directives relative to the landscape quality objectives. Evaluation of landscape sustainability for new building, urban and infrastructure construction projects. Organisation of protection and value enhancement activities for heritage with effects on development.

Prerequisites and procedures for admission

The Master's Course is limited to students who hold a specialized degree in the following areas: 4S, Architecture and Building Engineering; 3S, Landscape Architecture; 54S, Territorial, Urban and Environmental Planning; 28S, Civil Engineering; 10S, Conservation of Architectural and Environmental Heritage; 12S, Conservation and Restoration of Historical-Artistic Heritage; 82S, Environmental and Territorial Science and Technology; 86S, Geological Sciences; 77S, Agricultural Science and Technology; 74S, Rural and Forest Resource Science and Management or a degree in Architecture, in Urban Planning, in Territorial, Urban and Environmental Planning, in Civil Engineering, in Environmental Sciences, in Earth Sciences, in Agriculture.
Admission to the course is limited to 20 students per academic year. The course will not commence with fewer than 10 requests for admission.
Admission to the course depends upon passing the entrance test, which is an interview with a commission including the Master's Course Coordinator and another two members designated by the Regulatory Committee, from the committee itself.

Programme Structure

The Master's is divided into 4 modules which study specific operational dimensions in the treatment of landscape quality, plus an Integrative Workshop. The four modules function also as a "course of specialization" and as such are recognised as credits acquired for completion of the course.
To receive the Master's, students must have successfylly participated in a complete cycle of modules and workshops, for no fewer than 1,500 hours (corresponding to 60 credits, or 1 credit every 25 hours, as specified by Dm 509/99).
Recognition of credits is based on regular attendance as well as maintaining passing marks.

E-learning

Students have a choice of attending the four Master's modules in a traditional fashion or by e-learning, distance learning on the Internet. On-line courses are available through an e-learning platform which allow asynchronous activities (study of lessons, self-evaluation tests, participation in forums, etc.) and synchronous activities (videoconferences, simultaneous seminars, revising on-line with an instructor or tutor, etc.).
Didactic material is supplied for each lesson:
- complete written text;
- slides, complete with images, graphics, summaries, tables, etc.;
- audio comments by instructors synchronized with slides;
- self-tests;
- more in-depth material, if necessary;
- documentary sources and bibliographies;
- other material
Exams are carried out in a traditional face to face manner at the university.

Attendance, courses and exams

Attendance at lessons and practice sessions is required for at least 75% of the total hours of each module and 100% of the apprenticeship section.

Each module is programmed to follow the required educational objectives and methods.

The entire course will take place, as established by the regulations, from 5 November and 31 May of each academic year.
Student assessment is carried out with a final exam for each module and for the workshop.
Assessment of students who have attained the credits necessary for attending the final exam of the Master's Degree is carried out through a thesis dissertation related to issues from the modules and the workshop.
Following final course exams, the degree title of 2nd Level Master's Degree: "Landscape Design and Quality" is given.

Regulatory and Coordination Committee

The Regulatory Committee of the Master's Degree, as defined by Article 9 of the Regulations, includes Professors G. Ciorra, A. Clementi, S. Dierna, M. Ricci and P. Baldi, the Director General of the Ministry for Heritage and Culture (or his delegate).
The Coordinator of the Master's Degree, as defined by Article 9 of the Regulations, is Professor M. Ricci.