Course Description

The course traces the representation of four stories (Venice the city of lovers; Getting lost in Venice; Venice and Death; Watermarks of Venice) and three ideas of Venice (Venice and its lagoon, Venice as special city, Venice as metropolitan city) from 1971 to 2005. In addition to an introduction to the Qualitative Research Methods (QRM), the course will investigate the relations of the three ideas with the capability of Venice to foster social innovation, especially through arts, creativity and academic knowledge. In particular, the course will explore what kind of social innovation is detectable through the stories and the ideas of Venice as a case study.

Aims

The aims of the course are:

1. to develop skills and competences to lead a case study through the use of (QRM) particularly appropriate for the case of Venice­: biographic approach and collecting life histories, interviews, psychogeographic derive;
2. to recognize and conceptualize the manifestation of social innovation in arts, creative and academic sectors in Venice.

Learning outcomes

Students should be able to recognize the basic assumptions, central ideas, and main criticisms of the concept of social innovation, especially in a sociological approach to globalization processes and their impact on local identities. In particular, with reference to Venice as case study developed during the course, at the end of their field research, students should be able to manage a qualitative research and write a research paper in an appropriate scientific style. At the end of the course students will be able to understand and manage the main issues of the social innovation.

Teaching method

The course uses the following methods of teaching:

• lecture by teachers
• class discussion conducted by teachers
• workshop
• psychogeographic walking
• films
• interviews with the main stakeholder of Social Innovation in Venice, such as: Biennale di Venezia, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Fondazione Gianni Pellicani, Sale Docks, Palazzo Grassi, Associazione Veneziana Albergatori, Fondazione Cini, Fondazione di Venezia, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Associazione Metri3, Associazione About, Comune di Venezia             

The first part of the course is referred to the QRM which will then be applied to the case of Venice; the second to the four stories of Venice to contextualize the main global discourses on Venice; the third to the three ideas of Venice to trace the latest policy making. All these topics are preparatory to understand social innovation as innovation in social relations. The second and third parts attempt to answer to the question: what are we talking about when we talk about social innovation in Venice? The first part is preparatory to the field research for finding clues of social innovation in Venice.

Course outline

(The guest speakers mentioned are TBC)

Chapter 1, classes 1-3: QRM

• Introduction of the course
• biographic approach and interview techniques
• psychogeographic derive

Chapter 2, classes 4-8: Stories of Venice

• Selected literature on Venice: a sociological reading (1) (Guido Borelli)
• Selected literature on Venice: a sociological reading (2) (Guido Borelli)
• Selected movies on Venice: a sociological approach (Borelli)
• Getting lost in Venice (1): lecture by Daniele Vazquez (1)
• Getting lost in Venice (2): lecture by Daniele Vazquez (1)

Chapter 3, classes 9-13: Ideas of Venice, Maurizio Busacca

• Ideas of Venice – Introduction
• Venice as a special city, from Giuseppe Mazzariol to Massimo Cacciari (Lucio Rubini)
• Marghera as a Garden City (Remi Wacogne)
• Selected movie (Maurizio Busacca)
• Roundtable with social innovators (Friday morning in Venice)

Chapter 4, classes 14- 21: Social Innovation, Maurizio Busacca

• The power of Social Innovation
• Interactive Lecture n.1 to trace practices of social innovation in Venice (Paola Ravenna, Municipality of Venice)
• Social Innovation: intuition, precept, concept, theory and practice
• Interactive Lecture n. 2 to trace practices of social innovation in Venice (Paolo Carlucci)
• Social Innovation through arts and creativity
• Interactive Lecture n.3 to trace practices of social innovation in Venice (Marco Baravalle)
• Interactive Lecture n.4 to trace practices of social innovation in Venice (Riccardo Bermani)
• Psychogeographic derive to discover traces of social innovation in Venice (Friday, all day long)

Chapter 5, classes 22-24: Develop ideas of Venice, Guido Borelli

• Students workshop: During these three classes the students will prepare their speeches to present original ideas of Venice that could involve practices of social innovation in Venice. (Irene Chini)

Syllabus

26/02/2018 Mon
Presentation of the course         

28/02/2018 Wed

Biographic approach and interview techniques

05/03/2018 Mon
Ideas of Venice - Introduction   

07/03/2018 Wed
Psycogeographic derive

12/03/2018 Mon
Venice as a special city, from Giuseppe Mazzariol to Massimo Cacciari   

14/03/2018 Wed
Selected literature on Venice: a sociological reading (1)

19/03/2018 Mon
Marghera as a garden city          

21/03/2018 Wed
Selected literature on Venice: a sociological reading (2)

26/03/2018 Mon
Selected movie on Venice          

28/03/2018 Wed
Selected movies on Venice: a sociological approach

11/04/2018 Wed
Getting lost in Venice (1): lecture by Daniele Vazquez / Ralph Rumney and The Leaning Tower of Venice

16/04/2018 Mon
The power of Social Innovation

18/04/2018 Wed
Getting lost in Venice (2): lecture by Daniele Vazquez / Ralph Rumney and The Leaning Tower of Venice

23/04/2018 Mon
Social Innovation: intuition, precept, concept, theory and practice          

30/04/2018 Mon
Interactive Lecture n.1 to trace practices of social innovation in Venice    

02/05/2018 Wed 5 pm
Lecture prof. Nuvolati

07/05/2018 Mon
Interactive Lecture n.2 to trace practices of social innovation in Venice

09/05/2018 Wed
Interactive Lecture n.3 to trace practices of social innovation in Venice

11/05/2018 Fri
Roundtable with social innovators

14/05/2018 Mon
Social Innovation: intuition, precept, concept, theory and practice

16/05/2018 Wed
Interactive Lecture n.4 to trace practices of social innovation in Venice 1.30 pm
Lecture Prof. Vazquez 5 pm

18/05/2018 Fri
Psychogeographic derive to discover traces of social innovation in Venice           

21/05/2018 Mon
Students workshop

23/05/2018 Wed
Students workshop

Evaluation

Midterm evaluation (at the end of Chapter 3).

The midterm evaluation consists of a production of a research project that students intend to subsequently implement in Venice. The research project will be organized so as to specify:

1. goals to be achieved;
2. methodology used;
3. work plan on the field (interviews, direct observation, etc.);
4. expected results.

The final exam consists of:

1. the production of a scientific paper on Social Innovation in Venice;
2. a speech to present an original idea of Venice.

The speeches will be presented in a special session (a sort of TEDx) that will be videotaped.

The final vote is made by the weighted average of the paper evaluation (60%), and the speech (40%).

The course uses the following evaluation criteria:

• regular meeting attendance;
• equity of contribution;
• evidence of cooperative behavior in teamwork;
• appropriate time and task management;
• use of a range of working methods;
• appropriate level of engagement with task;
• development of professional competencies;
• evidence of capacity to listen;
• responsiveness to feedback/criticism.

Readings

Brodskij, J. (2013), Watermark: An Essay on Venice, Penguin Books, London.

Goldsmith, S., Georges, G. and Burke, T.G. (2010). The Power of Social Innovation. How Civic Entrepreneurs Ignite Community Networks for Good, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Moulaert, F., MacCallum, D., Mehmood, A. and Hamdouch, A. (2013), The International Handbook on Social Innovation. Collective Action, Social Learning and Transdisciplinary Research, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, Northampton.

Norwich, J.J (2004), Paradise of Cities. Venice and Its Nineteenth-Century Visitors, Penguin Books, London.

Rumney, R. (2002), The Leaning Tower of Venice, Silverbridge, Paris.

http://www.royalbooklodge.com/en/publications/the-leaning-tower-of-venice/

Bibliographic references

Brodskij, J. (1991), Fondamenta degli incurabili, Adelphi, Milano.

Cacciari, M. (1988), Idea di Venezia, Arsenale, Venezia.

Costa, P. (1993), Venezia. Economia e analisi urbana, Etaslibri, Padova.

Mazzariol, G. (1969), La laguna per Venezia e il suo Hinterland, COSES, Venezia.

Settis, S. (2014), Se Venezia muore, Einaudi, Torino.