Climate Change Modelling, Mitigation and Adaptation concentrates on strategies and actions to mitigate the impact of climate change on society, with a particular focus on infrastructure design. I am teaching 36 hours of the course, including lectures given by the teacher and exercises developed by collaborative work by students and the teacher. The purpose of the course is to provide an overview of modern techniques for designing climate resilient structures in the presence of human impact.
The course focuses on no-regret and sustainable solutions to adjust to current or expected effects of climate change. A special focus is dedicated to wind, storm, geological and water related impacts and the disaster and the marine and land environments.
The course is multidisciplinary and directed to a wide audience with the aim to expand beyond engineering with an innovative vision. The approach is both narrative and quantitative, with some reference to mathematical modelling.
The first lectures will deliver the basis of science of climate change and then the course will focus on its impact with particular reference to design of infrastructures. Decision theory will be introduced to resolve the problem of communicating climate change and reaching convergence between different solutions to mitigate its consequences. Reference will be made to the most recent innovation and modelling solutions, with an interdisciplinary perspective. Dialogue with the students will be an essential ingredient of the teaching method.
On-line lectures
The course adheres to the Unibo experimentation of innovative teaching and learning. As such, some of the lectures will be delivered online, with an innovative use of teaching tools. The calendar of online lectures will be presented later on. Video recordings of the lectures will be made available on YouTube and Virtuale soon after the lectures.
Lectures will be delivered in physical presence and online, in any case with contemporary streaming video.
Interactive learning
The course promotes teaching methods based on the active participation by students by using innovative technologies and social media. A fundamental role is played by the interaction between students and teachers. The idea is to integrate the traditional one-way flow of knowledge from teacher to student with a feedback flow from student to teacher and a cross flow among students. The target is achieved by assigning an active role to the student during his/her education. Innovative teaching methods may include:
- Short presentations by students;
- Groups Question&Answers sessions "Challenge the teacher";
- Self evaluation by students;
- Interim check of students' opinion on the course.
Tutorial documents
The tutorials for the course will be delivered in the form of open web pages, open media and freely accessible videos of all the lectures, for the sake of developing academic education through fully open information. Tutorial web pages for the lectures (the list may be updated during the course depending on the ambition and preferences of students):
- Introduction
- Case study: the Strait of Messina Bridge
- Climate impact in Civil Engineering
- The Earth system
- The climate change problem
- Risk based adaptation design
- Sustainable management of water resources
- Climate change and water
- Inductive and deductive estimation of climate change and climate impact
- Model calibration and validation
- Decision theory
- Design of climate change adaptation actions
The above lectures will be linked in the web page of the course in Virtuale, that is accessible with student's credentials. Please contact the teacher if you do not have access to this page. The virtual classroom is accessible by clicking here.
Videos of the lectures
The videos of the lectures are available at the link below: Playlist of Climate Change Adaptation 2025. Videos will be made available within one week after the lecture.
Calendar of the lectures
All the lectures will be delivered by Alberto and will take place at the rooms of Ex-Asili, via Tombesi dell'Ova, Ravenna. The calendar of the lectures is given here below. Please note that changes may occur. Any change will be communicated by the teacher to the students one week earlier at the latest.
- September 17, 4 hours, 11-13 and 14-16;
- September 24, 4 hours, 11-13 and 14-16;
- October 8, 4 hours, 11-13 and 14-16;
- October 15, 4 hours, 11-13 and 14-16;
- October 29, 4 hours, 11-13 and 14-16;
- November 5, 4 hours, 11-13 and 14-16;
- November 12, 4 hours, 11-13 and 14-16;
- November 19, 4 hours, 11-13 and 14-16.
- November 26, 4 hours, 11-13 and 14-16.
Exam
Learning outcome will be assessed through a online quiz plus a short oral examination. The quiz will count 30 questions with close answer and no penalty for wrong answers, with a duration of 30 minutes. The oral will be short. The exam is in physical presence, with no exception unless those that are admitted by the university rules. The oral aims to assess the ability of the student to deliver a clear and well articulated presentation (this question could be addressed with an interactive activity).
Questions in the quiz and oral examination are related to the topics that are taught during the lectures and are explained in the supporting documents. The teacher may ask questions not directly related to what has been discussed during the lecture in order to assess outstanding capabilities of the student to integrate the notions delivered by the teacher. The highest score (30/30) is reserved to students who demonstrate a full knowledge of the notions, a very good ability to address questions through an efficient synthesis, and a very good presentation. The laude is reserved to students who demonstrate exceptional motivation and integrate the course content with additional notions by following their personal interest and attitude. Exam dates will be fixed in agreement with the students at the beginning of the course. Exam will take place in Ravenna, in location to be defined.
Contact details of the teacher and individual clarifications
The teacher is available to provide clarifications on request, by receiving individual students or groups. Teacher can be contacted by email to fix appointments.
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