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Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

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cooperative learn<strong>in</strong>g us<strong>in</strong>g as theoretical tools the geography of power (Raffest<strong>in</strong>,1993) and the geography of complexity (Turco, 1988).Salvador the Bahia represents a liv<strong>in</strong>g learn<strong>in</strong>g environment, the transformationof the city makes it easy to understand and to see “the geographical <strong>in</strong>terpretation <strong>in</strong>action”. So the sem<strong>in</strong>ar was based <strong>in</strong> the recognition of the patterns and the processesactually govern<strong>in</strong>g the urban transformation. The students were able to build andto map the history of their quarters, to <strong>in</strong>dividualise the on-go<strong>in</strong>g conflicts among<strong>in</strong>habitants, municipality, other land owners, to <strong>in</strong>dividualise the communicationstrategy of Government and Municipality, to understand the way <strong>in</strong> which consensusand territory control are elaborated. All them are work<strong>in</strong>g as teachers, many of themalso developed empowerment through social work <strong>in</strong> the community, so the experiencerepresented an important opportunity to improve the tools (theoretical andpractical) for their work <strong>in</strong> the field of transformation of space.Walk<strong>in</strong>g Susta<strong>in</strong>able horizons with geographical knowledge and toolsAfter one decade of patchy experience of susta<strong>in</strong>ability the need now is to consolidatesusta<strong>in</strong>ability practice and to embody susta<strong>in</strong>ability approaches <strong>in</strong>to current<strong>in</strong>dividual, public, private, actions. Many communities <strong>in</strong> the world have produced <strong>in</strong>these ten years a wide spectrum of experiences <strong>in</strong> susta<strong>in</strong>ability <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g research,bus<strong>in</strong>ess, public adm<strong>in</strong>istration, civil society, and <strong>in</strong> different sectors from tourismto farm<strong>in</strong>g, from transport to landscape and territorial management. It is time nowfor a second generation of susta<strong>in</strong>ability projects based not so much <strong>in</strong> pilot experiencesbut more on consolidation and diffusion of successful practices. So, tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g,education, exchange among partners, monitor<strong>in</strong>g of successful experiences, and astrategic <strong>in</strong>tegration among knowledge communication and practices, are the kernelsof def<strong>in</strong>itive transition to susta<strong>in</strong>ability horizon.Susta<strong>in</strong>ability culture should become a diffused aspect of decision mak<strong>in</strong>g practicesand not rema<strong>in</strong> the property of enlightened m<strong>in</strong>orities or a theoretical benchmarkfar from reality. The land use daily decision mak<strong>in</strong>g of <strong>in</strong>dividuals, firms, publicadm<strong>in</strong>istrations, have to face conditions of complexity and uncerta<strong>in</strong>ity. They needa vision of susta<strong>in</strong>ability that will help them to take strategic and adaptative decisions.In this chang<strong>in</strong>g context susta<strong>in</strong>ability may not be an optional decision, butis becom<strong>in</strong>g the chosen option. This new decision mak<strong>in</strong>g paradigm can be easilysupported by the wise diffusion and <strong>in</strong>tegration of exist<strong>in</strong>g experiences and theknowledge the practice of geography <strong>in</strong> educational <strong>in</strong>stitutions and <strong>in</strong> the field ofterritorial policies.References1. ARNSTEIN S. 1969. A Ladder of Citizen Participation. Journal of the American Plann<strong>in</strong>gAssociation, 35 (4), pp. 216−224.2. BERKES F., FOLKE C. 1998. L<strong>in</strong>k<strong>in</strong>g social and ecological systems: managementpractices and social mechanisms for build<strong>in</strong>g resilience, Cambridge University press,Cambridge.318

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