Arcadia in Rome faculty and staff really showed how virtual learning can be rigorous, interactive, energetic and of course fun, with their online event: Environmental Governance Simulation. This virtual forum was part of the Spring 2020 students program and conducted entirely online with returned students at home in the US and faculty, staff and Roma Tre students back in Rome.
The Arcadia students played the role of a board of experts on Social Innovation and Organized Crime advising the European Commission for the implementation of the EU Green Deal. The European Commission was represented in the simulation by Roma Tre students and Laura Fasanaro, professor of Economics of Organized Crime and Social Innovation for Arcadia Rome and of History of the EU for Roma Tre University.
Dr. Paola Casinelli, Arcadia Resident Director, Italy, commented: “It is so powerful to see students from the U.S. and from Italy interacting on this task, notwithstanding the difficult times in which we are living. As you can imagine, it required a lot of work from professors and students and it paid off.”
The simulation focused on Climate Change as a main issue of Global Environmental Governance and on the European Union Green Deal, which encompasses the goal of reaching climate neutrality in Europe by 2050. The Arcadia students’ role as a board of experts, divided them into four Teams, sharing the common goal of advising the European Commission on the opportunities and the risks raised by Social Innovation and Organized Crime for the implementation of the EU Green Deal.
In particular, two of the four Teams of Arcadia students analyzed the opportunities that result from Social Innovation entrepreneurship/business (in Europe and/or in other parts of the world, as case studies that can potentially be applied to Europe) and advised the European Commission accordingly.
The other two teams of Arcadia students, analyzed the risks related to environmental crimes perpetrated by Organized Crime (in Europe and /or in other parts of the world) to assess the concrete chances of the Green Deal to succeed.
Two kinds of Analysis Reports, OAR (Opportunity Analysis Reports) and RAR (Risks Analysis Reports) were presented by each team in the simulation and served as a basis for discussion.
The simulation was conducted in English and divided into three phases, lasting a total of three hours.