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Sustainable development: let geographers take the lead(with a little help from some friends)Barbara GambiniIstituto di Geografia, Universita di Urbinovia Saffi 15, 61029 Urbino, Italye-mail: sognoincatai@yahoo.itAbstractSustainability is essentially a geographical issue with inherent spatial and trans-scale relationshipsand repercussions. More than any other single discipline, geography has the informationand outlook to address sustainable development in its multiple dimensions. Why then,in Italy do geographers – along with other intellectuals and scholars – seem to be reluctant totake up the challenge? A brief analysis of the Italian scene is presented here. Is this reluctanceappreciable elsewhere, and why – or why not? What reserves should geographers have againstundertaking the mission of contributing to the sustainability discourse, given our discipline’sunique position and the promising directions that are already being explored?Key words: sustainability, environment, geography, curriculum, ItalyIntroductionSustainability is geographical in its very essence (Wilbanks 1994, etc.): among alldisciplines, geography is the one that has always dealt with both social and naturalsciences, examining the interactions among these and between these and space– although not without a certain discontinuity in communication (Castree, 2003,p. 206), or even mutual suspicion between physical and human geographers. Anticipatingthe most recent, still under-explored trends of the research towards sustainability,geography has also long tackled cultural issues. What is possibly even morerelevant, is that geography has a constitutional predisposition to deal with scales andinter-scales analysis, which is absolutely essential to a comprehension of the issuesrelated to sustainability, given the complex trans-scale repercussions of all events,decisions, policies (Vallega, 1994, p. 20, Cencini, 2001, p. 145−146, Beroutchachviliet al., 2004, p. 4). More than any other discipline, geography has accumulateda wealth of diachronic information on most of the constitutive aspects of sustainability,as are environmental change and vulnerability, resource-, information- andcommodity flows, population and migration dynamics, transports, land planning anduse, behaviour-, perception- and employment geography, health trends, geopoliticalissues, service provision, lifestyles and poverty, bio-cultural diversity, etc. That is tosay, the sustainability discourse badly needs the contribution of geographers.It seems appropriate to put forth a personal premise, i.e. that with humans’ limitedknowledge it is not possible, and probably will never be, to ascertain and certify theabsolute sustainability of a system – any system. Sustainable development itself is a300
“non-objectifiable reality” (Kalaora, 2004, p. 160), and yet it has acquired an ontologicalstatus by the “objectifiability,” and indeed objective nature of its opposite,i.e. the un-sustainability of the development model that we are perpetuating. Theopposite of sustainable development is not just business as usual, it is un-sustainabledevelopment. In other words, the opposition is not between utopia and reality,it is between survival and destruction. If no absolutely sustainable systems can beidentified, nonetheless the relative un-sustainability and perfectibility of a systemcan and must be assessed: since no stasis is possible in nature or history, we have tochoose what direction to take, and we can see sustainability as a “a series of stepsalong a pathway that never reaches a final goal” (anonymous quote in BocchiniVarani, 2001, p. 198). Today, our development model is a “wild-teleology system(Von Bertalanffy, 1968, pp. 124−130),” in that it continues its evolution withoutclear goals and strategies, or more precisely with vague, un-stated goals that claimtacit public agreement and a yet unconfirmed validity, but without seemingly havingthe capability to re-adjust, let alone radically transform its strategies to face patentchanges. It would be of great benefit if the scientific world took a clear stance andmade value assessments.Yet in Italy, with few exceptions (Cencini, Vallega), geographers are far frombeing at the forefront of the sustainability debate, and indeed they are reluctant tomake value judgements, based on the presumed “objectivity” and “impartiality” ofgeographical analysis. Apparently, being a geographer is different from being anecologist – a geographer objectively and impartially examines a situation from allpoints of view and all aspects of the human-land relationship without taking eitherposition or indulging in bias. Talking about occupational ethics and environmentaleducation, though, ethicist Alastair S. Gunn speaks of the “dangerous assumption of“neutrality„”(undated, p. 24). Even in the U.S.A., geographers are often overlookedby policy-makers, and they themselves seem to “have chosen not to wade into policydebates” (Wood, 2004, p. 53). Are geographers “abstaining from sustainability” inother countries, as well? If that is the case, why is it so?It is not just geographers but the whole of the Italian intelligentsia that seemsto have embraced the issue of sustainability with a remarkable delay comparedto the international agenda: this reflects the attitude of the Italian political worldand public opinion, which have long confined all environmental considerations topolitical fringes and niche associations, and considered those through the deforminglens of the ever exacerbated political polarisation. Having relegated the environmentto even more marginal positions than it had previously held for some time, themainstream political activity and theoretical production has long failed to incorporatethe sustainability discourse, only to realise recently, episodically and mainlylocally (LA21), its great exploitability in terms of public popularity and support (andaccess to European or other funding). During geographers’ and other intellectuals’absence, in fact, sustainability has become a fashionable word, and all efforts inthe direction of environmental protection risk to be labelled as “sustainable,” evenwhen little more than cosmetic or superficial measures. Being extremely vague, thevery concept of sustainability lends itself to manipulations of all sorts; as with its301
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Changing Horizons inGeography Educa
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ContributorsAnouk AdangFaculty of G
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Margaret C. KeaneSt Mary’s Univer
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Artur ReligaDepartment of Geography
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Contents1. Exciting Geography......
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Barbara Katharina Mayerhofer, Teach
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How to design and implement excitin
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only increase their motivation to l
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Ministry of Education. Having in mi
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eEurope and the Bologna agendaIn hi
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The main learning approachesencoura
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as a vibrant exciting subject at un
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include ICT as part of the educatio
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19. RICHARDSON J. A. 2001. Collabor
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class using identical instructions
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ability to hold and move a load is
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the range of practical activities.
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Multimedia learning of geographical
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• an organizer and manager of a l
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Geographical fieldwork in forestsJa
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One of these field study laboratori
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learning“, to develop and then in
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egin). It is referred to the inter-
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overruled by the judge and some sus
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esses or their reciprocal relations
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formulated one of key principles in
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Dress rehearsalHow should a present
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of the world, but multiple maps of
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focused on landscape, climate, popu
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ments in academic geography, could
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Training geography teachers in Pola
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a series of intellectual as well as
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• optional subject (30 hours) use
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of the lower levels of education. H
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• the one-subject model: the cont
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delivery, and the methods of the pa
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• Pathways signal important tasks
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Geography competitions as stimuli f
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Figure 1. Changes in the structure
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Challenges for the futureNowadays t
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A perspective from the United State
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The process of GIS inquiry - Thinki
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Remote Sensing in Geography Educati
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IntroductionThe Democratic Republic
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images visualise the “tree vegeta
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PART TWOProfessional Developmentand
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Key elements of an introductory stu
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Some textbooks also provide self-le
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Geography programs and BolognaThere
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equirements. In the faculties of Ar
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Even though this only is a short an
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Background of international student
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students in their language skills.
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International collaboration in dist
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Designing and teaching the distance
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audio lectures - one for presenting
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enrolled in geography courses at po
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development experience. Whilst Craf
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Networking and social diffusion of
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is mistreated, the culture is a-cul
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3. ABALAR. 2004. “Editorial”, i
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to gather process and store spatial
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1. Fundamental to understanding GIS
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The Future of Geography and Geograp
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of geography. In Singapore Social S
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geography should become much more s
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the handful of disciplines that has
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and respected and the institutional
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3. The strength of school and unive
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It is quite clear that Vidal de la
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Effective Practices in Distance Edu
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on to the other satellite school. O
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4. Ministry of Education. 1999. The
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schools is the result of the role e
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• A statistically significant dif
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Charles University geography gradua
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Table 1. First job in studied field
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importance in geography study progr
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The Anglo-Saxon model was collectiv
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academic science. I do believe that
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can convene. Details of these modul
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preparation and to some extent, tea
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The assessment must form the basis
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The teaching shall build on the pup
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The Relationship between Geography
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Geography and Territory Planning ha
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we wished, of course we have obtain
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Why Managers from Multinational Com
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able to have training in different
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ContextUtrecht University is a larg
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Typical is the very open atmosphere
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Times of Change for Geography Educa
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where it is divided into specific b
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• traditional versus progressive
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on European Dimension of Teaching g
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With the ongoing development of tel
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Figure 2. Present at Annual Congres
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It is expected that the more active
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An evaluation of geographyand geogr
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The problems of geography and geogr
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Europe in geographical education -
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Then these results were compared to
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Figure 9. Countries mentioned by th
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Internationalizing geography in hig
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nationalize their undergraduate and
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Groups also focus on international
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The Position of Geography Graduates
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have also affected the number ofGeo
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The majority answered that they wou
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In the Primary school curriculum, G
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the efficacy of the teaching and le
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228
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What Europe do we teach?A view from
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The regional approach is used in on
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The syllabi reflect mainly that the
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Geography Forum: Intercultural Lear
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Was Intercultural Competence promot
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of geographical education in our un
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Higher education (University) as a
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This table shows the importance of
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the studies on what exists, to cons
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248taught in the foreign language e
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Page 256 and 257: Why geographers should be able to s
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Page 260 and 261: of geography in the process of inte
Page 262 and 263: 9. BRUSA C., ed. 2002. Processi di
Page 264 and 265: Nowadays, according to the literatu
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Page 268 and 269: 3. Dziennik Ustaw nr 61 z dnia 19 c
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Page 278 and 279: ole: they form attitudes, views, pr
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Page 284 and 285: Some backgroundFor a number of year
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Page 288 and 289: Geography and Environmental Science
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Page 292 and 293: Geography and Languages in Intercul
Page 294 and 295: Table 1. The most widely taught for
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Page 298 and 299: References1. CALVET L. J. 2002. Le
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Page 310 and 311: includes geography. The context is,
Page 312 and 313: • protected areas8. Landscape sec
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Page 322 and 323: By signing and ratifying the Kyoto
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Page 326 and 327: 8. UNITED NATIONS 1997. Kyoto Proto
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