Scuola di Studi Superiori "Ferdinando Rossi" dell'Università degli Studi di Torino - SSST

The course aims at illustrating the operational implications of the application of sustainability models to the public policies and entrepreneurial behavior. As shown by recurrent environmental and health emergencies, the advent of Anthropocene defies the issues of mitigation and adaptation for public policies and institutions, included the market as a social construct.
Through a multidisciplinary approach, the course is introduced by a critical analysis of the current territorial transformations which have been deemed as the “Urban Age”.
The magnitude and the interconnection of contemporary territorial dynamics are the backdrop and the drivers for a radical reconsideration of public policies and go along with a transformation of firms and markets behavior. These latter will be described and interpreted with regard to the policies of corporate social responsibility, organizational and social sustainability of the cultural and creative industries, and energetic transition and the related changes in the energy markets.

Essay on one of the course subjects, with public presentation.

Module 1 - The urbanization of the world: key issues and processes of the contemporary territorial development

Teaching staff: Carlo Salone (9 hours)

The concepts of 'city' and 'region' have long time played a central role in the geographical discourses, especially
in the analysis of economic development and the political structures of the society.
The complex interation between local and global, induced by the enlargement of economic relationships, the markets integration and the intercultural dynamism, undermines the mechanical vision of the relationships between territorial structures and scales, as crudely shown by the recent Covid-19 pandemic.
After providing the students with some keys for analysing of the re-scaling and urbanization processes engendered by the globalization, the module will focus on the ties among regional structures, development/underdevelopment processes, the 'regional Renaissance' occurred since the Nineties of the last century and the recent resurgence of the economic and political competition between regions and 'post-national' states.

Module 2 - Energy transition and green deal

Teaching staff: Valeria Di Cosmo (9 hours)

This module focuses on the energy markets and their transition towards a green economy. In the first part of the class, the students will understand the dynamics behind the oil, coal and the gas market. Then the students will study the electricity markets. Which will be analysed both theoretically and empirically (with case studies).
The second part of the class will focus on energy transition and, in particular, on renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The class will highlight the positive effects of those measures on the energy transition but will also focus on costs, and possible drawbacks. Finally, the concept of energy community will be introduced and a special attention will be drawn on circular economy and forms of integration between energy, mobility and alternative technologies (in particular, batteries and hydrogen).

Module 3 - The management of sustainability: models and experiences

Teaching staff: Maurizio Cisi (9 hours)

This course aims to develop knowledge and understanding of contemporary issues in the theory and practice of sustainability. The course will adopt a critical stance and examine both the theoretical underpinning and the practical challenges associated corporate social responsibility. In this context, emerging practice will be critically examined through the study of real case studies.

Module 4 - The development of culture: Organizational models and conditions for sustainability

Teaching staff: Sara Bonini Baraldi (9 hours)

The development of culture is based both on the processing and transmission of cultural contents, and on the ability to develop organizational models that ensure the sustainability and growth of projects and organisations.
After introducing the students to the traditional tri-partition of actors working in the economy and cultural sector (public, for-profit, and non-profit), the module will focus on the recent reform of the third sector, on the definition of 'cultural and creative enterprise' and the concept of 'hybrid organization'. The economic and legal characteristics of the different institutional forms will be exemplified through the discussion of some case studies, with particular emphasis on social entrepreneurship as a fundamental drive for the sustainability of cultural projects.