After graduating with honours with a thesis on the geographical aspects of Apartheid in South Africa, Giovanni Pasta obtained his PhD in Urban and regional geography at the University of Pisa (1986). Subsequently, he was a teacher of Economic geography in secondary high schools in Italy. Since 1992, he works as a researcher at the University of Pisa. He also held the position of Assistant professor of Political and economic geography (1995-2001); Development geography (2001-present); Globalization and development (2012-present). He has been Visiting research fellow at the City University of New York (1998-2005 / 2009-present) and Florida State University (2006-2007); Visiting professor at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka (1994-1995); Visiting research fellow at the University of Cape Town, South Africa (2008). Professor at the Naval Academy of Livorno of Political and Economic geography (2015-2017). He has published extensively on regional and urban planning, ethnical issues, migration flows, post-industrial economic reorganization and its impacts on the territory.