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Short Description

The Laboratory of PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY & ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS (PHYGEO ENVI Lab) was established in 1999 (PD322/22/12/1999) supporting the scientific & educational work of the School in the area of Natural Resources Management using ICT tools. It provides the knowledge background in cutting-edge subjects such as natural resources management, environmental planning, water-energy-food-ecosystems NEXUS (WEFE NEXUS), modelling & optimization of water resources, environmental policy, adaptation to climate change and environmental impacts assessment. Members of the laboratory participate in the implementation of H2020, LIFE, Interreg, Horizon Europe & national research programs.

Education

The PHYGEO ENVI Lab offers courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the area of environmental management and protection, environmental impact assessment, natural resource management, WEFE Nexus, environmental planning, water governance, water resources modeling, environmental systems optimization, groundwater ecosystem services, climate change adaptation. Also, members of PHYGEO ENVI Lab supervise diploma and graduate theses.

Undergraduate Courses
Physical Geography and Environment (3rd Semester – Compulsory)
Environmental Impacts (8th Semester – Elective, Flow 2 – Direction 2, Flow 3 – Direction 2, Flow 4 – Direction 1, Flow 5 -Direction 2)
Climate Crisis and Natural Resource Management (8th Semester – Compulsory, Flow 2, Elective, Flow 5 – Direction 2)
Environment and Development (8th Semester – Inter-departmental, Elective, Flow 3 – Direction 2)
Environmental Planning (9th Semester – Elective, Flow 3 – Direction 2)

Graduate Courses
Graduate Program “Geoinformatics”: Methods and Techniques for Environmental Impact Assessment – Special Issues of Natural Resource Management
Graduate Program “Urban and Regional Planning” – Climate Change and Spatial Governance

Research

The research activity of the PHYGEO ENVI Lab is primarily in the area of:

1. Environmental management focusing on the study and analysis of the environmental variables, their relationships and functions that take place in nature, the assessment and measurement of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of natural and anthropogenic variables (eg. Soil, water, air, landscape, cultural resources, infrastructures, networks) and their distribution in the physical environment, the causes that generate these distributions, their carrying capacity as well as human interventions and effects.
2. environmental policy focusing on the coherence analysis of environmental policies, Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems Nexus, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) with emphasis on quantifying and measuring the impacts on the natural and human environment of projects, programs, plans and policies and standardization of environmental studies
3. optimization with emphasis on environmental design problems and policies
4. climate change impacts in urban areas with a focus on designing environmentally friendly solutions / interventions (e.g. public spaces, green areas) which will contribute to the adaptation of urban environment to climate change and the enhancement of city’s climate change resilience.