Marco Bertagni Executive Director of Bertagni Consulting srl

Bertagni Geography: a new way of thinking, teaching and applying geography.

Paradigmatic case studies of geography based, multi-perspective and multi-

disciplinary approaches

Zoltán Kovács Vice-President, Hungarian Geographical Society Chair of the Organising Committee – EUGEO CONGRESS – Budapest 2015

“As the final programme demonstrates, geographers seek to find answers to a growing number of problems affecting humankind. The motto of the present congress „Convergences and Divergences of Geography in Europe” reflects the way in which our discipline has developed in the recent past. The mushrooming of new research topics, the far-reaching specialisations and not least the strengthening cooperation between geographers and representatives of other disciplines all loosened up the traditional boundaries of geography. Is divergence pervasive within our discipline or does it go hand in hand with certain tendencies of convergence among various sub-disciplines, countries and schools?”

BERTAGNI GEOGRAPHY: A NEW WAY OF THINKING,

TEACHING AND APPLYING GEOGRAPHY

www.bertagnigeography.com

A NETWORK of individuals of different academic origins that has committed itself to intercepting the various sources of knowledge that are complementary to geography

WHO WE ARE?

HOW GEOGRAPHY SHOULD BE FROM OUR POINT OF VIEW:

Multi-disciplinary

Foundations of a complex knowledge

Fresh water to satisfy the thirst of knowledge

Allowing and promoting analysis on different scales

Connected to the labour market

Dynamic, holistic, practical and oriented towards problem solving

Geography as a Hub for Multi-disciplinarity

Geography is a riverbed filled by the waters of other disciplines. And this INTEGRATED River flows into the Sea of Knowledge

The GEO RIVER

Geography is the head of an octopus able to take in and to HARMONIZE the processing of data coming from different

sciences

The GEOCTOPUS

This multi-facetted geography is the HUB for INTERCONNECTIONS among different knowledges

Geography is a foundation of a complex knowledge

� We want to FUNCTIONALLY RECONNECT what it has been artificially disconnected in terms of sciences

� We prefer a “WELL DONE HEAD” to a “full head”, according to Edgar Morin’s statement

� Geography is a great FOUNDATION in order to build a solid inter-connected knowledge

Fresh water to satisfy the thirst of knowledge

We don’t share Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s description of what a GEOGRAPHER is.

The geographer inhabits the sixth planet the prince visits. Ironically, considering that he’s a geographer, his worldview is pretty limited. His planet is “the most magnificent and stately” one that the prince has seen, but when the Little Pince asks the geographer whether there are mountains and oceans on his planet, the geographer has no idea.

Since he is not an explorer. He does no exploring.

He will only talk to explorers and write down what they say. GEOGRAPHY IS EXPLORING THE WORLD AND WATER TO SATISFY THE THIRST OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD!

Geography allows and promotes analysis on different scales

In our multi-facetted analysis of reality we intend to act using DIFFERENT S C A L E S , l i k e w i s e H U M A N GEOGRAPHY (from general trends of Population to single Man’s life histories) and PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY(from bigger portion of the Territory to single Places)

For a better life and connected to the labour market

Learning and applying Geography according to our philosophy implies, in our opinion, a double PLUS: 1.  A PERSONAL ENRICHMENT 2.  A P R O F E S S I O N A L

ADVANTAGE

Dynamic, holistic, practical and oriented towards problem solving

Finland is about to embark on one of the most radical education reform programmes ever undertaken by a nation state, escaping

traditional “teaching by subject” in favour of “TEACHING BY TOPIC”.

Liisa Pohjolainen, director of Education Dptm, Ministry of Education, Helsinki

E se partissimo proprio da lì? Dai problemi? Si rovescerebbe il punto di partenza. L’accento verrebbe posto sui FENOMENI da analizzare piuttosto che sulle rigide specializzazioni accademiche. Si aprirebbero orizzonti metodologici sostenuti dal tentativo coraggioso di restituire la giusta complessità ai fenomeni investigati. Le barriere cognitive e le arbitrarie sovrastrutture specialistiche verrebbero messe in discussione a favore di una più feconda contaminazione delle discipline: la sola in grado di rispondere alla complessità con la complessità

Giovanni Attili, professor at Università La Sapienza, Rome

Geographical EDUCATION should:

stimulate DIRECT experiences

support dialectical and intensive RELATIONSHIPS between teachers and students

disregard for FORMALISM and superfluous bureaucracy

pave the way for PRACTICAL aspects through the new “reinforced” role of geography teached with a PHENOMENON BASED APPROACH

help creating functional and strategic CONNECTIONS between geography and other areas of knowledge

address and solve PROBLEMS instead of racking one’s brain on sterile concepts and questions such as “Can geography be given an adjective?” or “Has geography its own autonomy?”

PA R A D I G M AT I C C A S E STUDIES OF GEOGRAPHY BASED, MULTI-PERPECTIVE AND MULTI-DISCIPLINARY APPROACHES

The subject of Geography is steadily integrated by other disciplines or branches of science; each binomial is then refined through INTERVIEWS with international professionals with expertise in a specific area and through specialized in-depth ARTICLES.

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With this new cross-cultural character and role, Geography has been placed in functional relation to:

BERTAGNI GEOGRAPHY

Knowledge & Representation

of the World

Man & Populations

Environment & Territory

Economic activities

BERTAGNI GEOGRAPHY

KNOWLEDGE & REPRESENTATION OF THE WORLD

TRAVELLING

MAN & POPULATIONS MIGRATIONS

ENVIRONMENT TERRITORIAL PLANNING

(RECLAIMING OF ZUIDERZEE)

ECONOMICAL ACTIVITIES INTERNATIONALIZATION

PROCESSES (CHINA & LITHUANIA)

4 Paradigmatic cases, out of 60, of geography based, multi-perspective and multi-disciplinary approaches

KNOWLEDGE OF THE WORLD TRAVELLING

BEING CURIOUS RESPECT OTHERS READY TO BE SURPRISED LISTENING SEARCHING FOR THE GENIUS LOCI INTEGRATION INFORMED ABOUT THE PLACE TO BE THIRSTY OF KNOWLEDGE

MAN & POPULATIONS MIGRATIONS

PUSH & PULL RESPECTING RULES WELCOMING ATTITUDE CHANGING YOUR LIFE SKILLS IDENTITY INTEGRATION LANGUAGES OPPORTUNITIES DIRECTIONS LIFE HISTORIES HUMAN SCALE

ENVIRONMENT & TERRITORY TERRITORIAL PLANNING – The closure & partial reclaiming of the Zuiderzee

TERRITORY: FRIEND OR FOE? PRIORITIES

DIVERSIFIED SKILLS AND VISIONS NEEDED

GROWING ENVIRONMENTAL SENSIBILITY CONSERVATION

CONSEQUENCES

AGRO-ECONOMICAL

SOCIAL TERRITORY/ENVIRONMENT

ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES FROM EXPORT TO INTERNATIONALIZATION

ANALYSIS OF COMPANY ACTIVITIES AND MISSION TARGET DEFINITION GEO-LOCALIZATION & GEO-MKT GEOGRAPHICAL KNOWLEDGE OF TARGET MARKET JOINT TRADE PRODUCT ADAPTABILITY MANY FACTORS, NOT JUST PRODUCTS

GRADUAL APPROACH: FROM EXPORT TO INTERNATIONALIZATION Personal travels -  Exploratory mission for single companies -  Joint Trade actions (REX ROMAE) -  Commercial agreement with Chinese Partner -  Location of a space -  - Wider project THE GENIUS LOCI PROJECT

ABOUT THE GENIUS LOCI PROJECT It’s �  a CONCEPT �  about SOMEWHERENESS,

the SPIRIT of PLACE �  about PRODUCTS having a

strict link with TERRITORY (mainly but not exclusively wines & spirits)

�  about the MEDITERRANEAN AREA, HISTORY and LIFE STYLE

�  about SALES of PRODUCTS and SERVICES but also sharing a WAY OF THINKING and LIVING

CONCLUSIONS

Key points of the project Bertagni Geography

Bertagni Geography is a

JOURNEY into the world of a

NEW GEOGRAPHY, linked to other areas of knowledge in a myriad

of ways

Key points of the project Bertagni Geography

Using this new CROSS-CULTURAL

CHARACTER, geography has been placed in

functional relation to 4 distinct AREAS in order to better understand the

reality with MULTIPERSPECTIVE

GLANCES

Key points of the project Bertagni Geography

Our main GOALS are: a) To provide some tools for a BETTER PERCEPTION and KNOWLEDGE of the world b) to connect this new geographical way of thinking to the LABOUR MARKET

WITH OUR APPROACH WE AIM TO

MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

…anyway, we would be happy to know that by applying the philosophy of BERTAGNI GEOGRAPHY at least one person in the

world changed her or his way of travelling, taking a picture, perceiving a place, watching a landscape, planning a territory, organizing activities on international markets, matching

the eyes of a migrant.

Köszönöm a figyelmet, és viszlát!

I wish all those who want to know more about our project to join us for a…

surprising journey! Thank you for your attention and

arrivederci!

Marco Bertagni