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SILVIA PIOVAN

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Position

Professoressa Associata

Structure

Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Geografiche e dell'Antichita' - DiSSGeA

Address

VIA DEL SANTO, 26 - PADOVA

Telephone

0498274074

E-mail

silvia.piovan@unipd.it

SILVIA ELENA PIOVAN
University of Padova
Department of Historical and Geographic Sciences and the Ancient World – DiSSGeA
+39-049-8274074 (office)
silvia.piovan@unipd.it

Associate Professor in Geography at the Department of Historical and Geographic Sciences and the Ancient World (DiSSGeA), University of Padova (Italy) since 2022.

Instructor of “GIS: Mapping and Analysis” for the Master’s Degree Program in Local Development and “Cartography and GIS” for the Bachelor’s Degree Program in History.

Instructor of “Historical Cartography in Geohistorical Analysis” for the Second Level Master Degree in GIScience and Unmanned System for the Integrated Management of the Territory and the Natural Resources.
Instructor of “Historical GIS” for the Doctoral Program in Historical, Geographical and Anthropological Studies.

Scientific Responsible of the GIS Laboratory of the DiSSGeA.

Member of the Collegium in the Doctorate Program in Historical, Geographical and Anthropological Studies.
Member of the Steering Committee of the Second Level Master Degree in GIScience and Unmanned System for the integrated management of the territory and the natural resources.

Scientific Responsible for the laboratory “Geopolitica, cartografia e Geografia volontaria: per una cittadinanza attiva”.

Vice President of the Cultural Association “ATHESIA - Centro Ricerche Ambientali”.

She was the Scientific Responsible for the Padova Unit of the 2017 PRIN Project “SYLVA. Rethink the sylvan: Towards the alliance between biology and artificiality, nature and society, wilderness and humanity” (2020-2024).

She is reviewer for different international journals.

Prof. Piovan was a Visiting Associate Professor at the University of South Carolina (USC) in 2015 - 2019 and was appointed Affiliate Professor in the Department of Geography, USC in 2017.

Her research interests are:

- Historical Geography, Historical Ecology and Military Geography
Assessment of the war risk (e.g. unexploded ordnance) in the Veneto region using multidisciplinary techniques.
The relationships between humans and the sylvan through case studies in Veneto and in the southeartern United States.
Geohistorical interactions between hydrography and human activities in alluvial plains, with a specific interest in the Adige and Po river systems (NE Italy).
The relationships between the environment in South Carolina and the military events of the American Civil War, with particular focus on wetlands, forests and weather.
- Mobility and development in historical rural contexts
The mobility of coal and people in the Kentucky valleys, with particular focus to the case study of Lynch.
Development and decline of water powered mills and millponds in South Carolina and in Veneto region.
Abandoned railways: between ecological corridors and greenways.
- Historical Cartography and Geographical Information Systems
Georeferentiation of historical maps and their use for in historical GIS projects.
Evolution of historical maps in relation with geographical explorations in the Modern Age.
Aerial photos, satellite imagery and LiDAR analysis and interpretation.
Viewshed analysis in geohistorical case studies.
Drones for environmental research.
-Stratigraphic Architecture and Geomorphology of Alluvial Plains
The main study areas are the Veneto region and the Southeastern United States.

Notices

Office hours

  • at Second Floor, Wollemborg Palace (Geography Section - DiSSGeA)
    Please, to request a meeting, send an email to: silvia.piovan@unipd.it

Teachings

Publications

10 relevant pubblications:

Piovan S.E., Luchetta S. (in press) (eds.). Guida alla selva di Padova, Nero Editore, Roma.

Piovan S.E. (in press). Microselve urbane inaspettate. In Piovan S.E. & Luchetta S. (eds.) Guida alla selva di Padova, Nero Editore, Roma.Guida alla selva di Padova, Nero Editore, Roma.

Piovan, S.E., Hodgson, M.E., Mozzi, P., Porter, D., and Hall, B. (2023). LiDAR-Change Based Mapping of Sediment Movement from an Extreme Rainfall Event. GIScience and Remote Sensing, 60 (1).

Piovan S.E., Mora L. (2022). L’ex-ferrovia Ostiglia-Treviso: analisi di una foresta e greenway sui binari. Bollettino Società Geografica Italiana. Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana, serie 14, 5(1).

Sang Kun, Fontana G.L., Piovan S.E. (2022). Assessing railway landscape by AHP process with GIS: a study of the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway. Remote sensing, 14(3), 603.

Hodgson M.E., Piovan S.E. (2021). An Indoor Landscape for Instruction of 3-D Aerial Drone Imagery. Journal of Geography in Higher Education.

Sang, K., Piovan, S., & Fontana, G. L. (2021). A WebGIS for Visualizing Historical Activities Based on Photos: The Project of Yunnan–Vietnam Railway Web Map. Sustainability, 13(1), 419.

Piovan S.E. (2020). The Geohistorical Approach: Methods and Applications. Springer Nature. ISBN 978-3-030-42439-8

Piovan S.E., Filippini M., Hodgson M.E. (2020). Loss of Wetlands in the Southern Venetian Plain: a Geo-Historical Perspective. Bollettino dell’Associazione Italiana di Cartografia (168), 29-48. DOI: 10.13137/2282-572X/30963

Larcher V., Piovan S.E. (2018). Border Regions Maps as Nationalistic Propaganda Workshops in School Historical Atlases: the Case of South Tyrol. Rivista Geografica Italiana, 125(4), pp. 483-506.

Research Area

• Geo-historical evolution and interactions between hydrography and human activities in alluvial plains
• The role of the environment (e.g. wetlands, weather,…) in relation to the military events of the American Civil War, and the development and decline of water powered mills and mill ponds in the south-east of the United States
• Wetlands, floods and ecosystem services in the Adige-Po plain
• Historical cartography and Geographical Information Sciences
• Geomorphology of alluvial plains

Thesis proposals

Used approaches:

- Geohistorical
- Cartographical
- Geomorphological
- GIS-based
- Historical GIS

Contents:

- Forests as "refuge" (e.g. for intellectual and recreational activities, crimes, in battles, for biodiversity and cultural diversity)
- Historical evolution of wetlands in the alluvial plains
- Cultural tourism and landmarks related to the hydrographical evolution
- Military geography and the relationships between the evolution of the battles and the environment (wetlands, rivers, forests, weather)
- Historical cartography and explorations
- Local Development in coal mines areas of the eastern USA

Geographical areas:

- Venetian plain
- South Carolina (USA)
- South-east of the USA