Francesca Romana Lugeri

The communicative potential of the geological Landscape is an excellent tool for environmental enhancement through sustainable tourism.Following a holistic approach, it is appropriate to define Landscape as the result of the endogenous and exogenous activities that form Earth's surface. In other terms, it can be defined as the result of the interaction of many natural and cultural components.So, it is logical to define Landscape as an informative vector in communicating Geological-Environment Sciences to the widest audience.Contemporary technology offers us new tools to organize and share territorial  knowledge (intended as the integration between natural and cultural components); thanks to GIS, it is possible to represent a large amount of data by the graphical output that synthesizes the data collection and management, as organized by the geographical information system to highlight the topics under study; thanks to GIS, it's also possible to set up procedures to assess the state of the studied landscapes, referring to the dual risk/resource which characterizes our country.Furthermore, it is easy to identify the areas of more excellent natural and cultural value by integrating the resulting thematic maps. That is particularly useful in identifying and managing those areas of the Italian territory, where the distinctive Landscape's features add an element of cultural diversity. All of these tools are essential for Geoparks' strategic policies.A strategic integration between the Landscape's characteristics and the social-cultural development of some regions of particular interest, realized to create more vital public participation, can be achieved by using new topics such as nature, culture, and sport. A prototypical App is proposed, showing the most famous outdoor sports location from a scientific point of view. By displaying thematic maps  (3D modeling, animation), it is possible to integrate local environment and culture information. GIS and 3D modeling are flexible and friendly tools in educational plans and territorial promotion, as confirmed by the GeoloGiro experience (Geology at the Giro d'Italia 2012-2020).Keywords: Landscape, Geoparks, Heritage, Divulgation, Sport, SmartApp

The role of geological and geotematic mapping has recently come to the forefront in spatial/environmental management. This paper aims to present some cases of boundary extension in the use of contemporary cartographic tools (GIS and WEBGIS). The potential of digital maps and associated databases offers a wide range of applications, responding to the urgent need to make available to users (practitioners in the technical sectors, planners and society as a whole) the most important concepts to concretely achieve better land management, active risk prevention and sustainable resource enhancement. The application of geomorphological maps to issues closer to society can effectively create its approach to more properly technical-scientific issues, fostering a shared awareness, useful in protecting and enhancing the fragile Italian territory. The described experiences focus on GIS, which confirms its effectiveness both for social involvement in environmental issues, and in territorial/environmental management.

The need of protection of the territory is a priority for the society, which is an integral part of it (unfortunately, this coincidence is often forgotten): the new environmental issues require the development of innovative management strategies and of appropriate knowledge and models. The balanced use of resources, essential for the survival and well-being of society, can be optimised through the promotion of the territory. The identification and the sustainable development of local resources can only be achieved by directing development policies towards a path of integration between ecological needs, protection of the landscape and socio-economic and cultural needs. The landscape, read as a result of the interaction between human and natural processes, is a rich heritage to safeguard, enhance and promote. The key requirement underlying each cultural and environmental enhancement project is the knowledge of the territory in its manifold aspects; knowledge that can be properly synthesised through cartographic representation: maps are tools to make data easily accessible and meaningful. In this contribution, after having carried out a review of the literature on GIS technologies and having provided some work examples, we analyse some proposals about the application of PPGIS on communication of environmental promotion initiatives; PPGIS, in fact, are effective in risk communication and information and in the consequent prevention of disasters. The mediated and participatory use of PPGIS technologies, furthermore, allows a community-based approach, fundamental for reducing the disaster risk.

This article is dedicated to the Campania region (South West Italy), a complex region both for environmental and cultural components: in particular, our attention is focused on the volcano, which, by representing its contradictions, becomes its icon. Through an examination of the relationships between the land settings and the geological history of the places, we move on to consider the link between the territory and one of its most symbolic products: on the slopes of Vesuvio, are cultivated those vineyards composing the so-called Lacryma Christi, a wine of ancient history, whose name is a reflection of legends and myths, deeply linked to tradition. Trying to explain the origins of the various elaborations of reality, characterized by resorting to the supernatural, the following pages want to offer a path that allows the observation of social and natural reality from multiple perspectives.

In recent months, humanity, is experiencing a set of situations that have completely changed the existing balances, worldwide. The pandemic from COVID-19 brings the collective memory back to the terrible Spanish flu, thought to have infected a third of the world's population and killed at least 50 million people, between January 1918 and December 1920. Approximately one hundred years later, the whole society is facing with a virus—per se weak, but extremely agile in contagion—and the most delicate problem is, once again, how to manage the emergency, how to mitigate the consequences of damage, and how to get the normal living conditions again. One of the consequences of the pandemic, is obviously a widespread economic crisis. One of the most relevant resources of the Italian country is the Landscape, an unquestionable attraction, due to its geological origin and development. This work proposes a vision on the situation we are living, aiming at suggesting one of the possible ways to escape some of the virus’s damages, by implementing a balanced fruition/administration/management of the territorial resources.

We live in an era defined as postmodern. Socio-economic developments require a knowledge that keeps pace with the dizzying speed of technological evolution. The disconnect between progress, society, and environment triggers unpredictable side effects on the planet: that is the Anthropocene paradigm. How can this be changed? Shared awareness seems to be the only possible solution that can be only reached through knowledge, which is provided by science. Landscape, as the perceivable expression of our planet, becomes a strategic tool in communicating Territorial Sciences, aiming at involving society in a common action toward a sustainable future. The awareness of being part of an ecosystem is achieved through the knowledge and the experience of the environment. The risk prevention must necessarily be based on cognitive processes that activate in society conscious knowledge, as well as virtuous practices. Knowledge is wisdom, the first step towards the so-called "civil self-protection". A lot of initiatives have been started in the last years, all around the world. Most of them are devoted to the school activities. However, the facies sociale of the decision makers is not enough involved in the topics we have talked about. So the voters, the policymakers, the territorial planners, are more interested in those problems related to the "here and now". They have to be sensitized on what prevention means, on environmental protection, on territorial valorization. The landscape encompasses a lot of meanings and trigger emotions, thus it provides us with the most effective tools to share the essential concept of Earth Sciences, especially those ones that can help individual/community/society to better behave, toward a healthier planet and a shared well-being.

Landscape is part of everyone’s cultural heritage, if recognized and understood; such consciousness fosters a more creative participation of society in a balanced management of the territory and sustainable development: an important resource in times of crisis. Cognitive tools now enjoy a wide use and offer us a means of immediate communicative diffusion of scientific knowledge relative to an area and an environment. LANDSCApp, a smartphone app, gives the public a chance to try an alternative approach to the knowledge of the natural and cultural territorial heritage, thanks to a set of information related to the geological, morphological, environmental settings of the Italian landscapes.